The Wonderful World of Amtrak!

So my train adventure has wrapped up and I thought I would share some of my observations with you nice people. Like I mentioned before, it was pretty positive, with just a few caveats to advise you of.

First of all, and this is the main one, they kept the trains friggin' cold! Especially the overnight train I took from Atlanta to D.C. It was cold enough that it kept me from sleeping (granted it wasn't the only thing keeping me from sleeping, but it was maybe the biggest part). Most of the people on the train were better prepared and had blankets and/or hoodies, etc., to wrap up in. I was reduced to tucking my arms back through the armholes of my t-shirt, which helped a little but not enough. And are they really hot during the winter? Are the conductors just overzealous with the thermostat? I don't know, but I have a feeling this may be the case.

The seats are similar in design to your standard airplane seats, but with way more legroom and a little more lateral room. So this is more than enough, especially if the train is not very crowded and you end up with two seats to yourself (all the trains I was on had two seats on either side of the center aisle). But if the train is packed, like the ATL to WAS train was, and you end up next to a pretty big dude, and if you, like me, aren't exactly small, things end up being a little claustrophobic. Given all of that, though, if I'd just been warmer, things probably wouldn't have been nearly as bad.

So here are some perks of which you may or may not be aware: there are plug-ins all over the place, so if you want to bring a laptop or dvd player (or even if you need to plug in your cel, or something) those are easy to find. I wasn't planning on bringing my laptop -- and then it broke right before I left, anyway -- but if I'd known then what I know now I probably would have wanted to. Part of what this means is that if you're in a billable-hours type profession but need your laptop to do your work, you can take it with you and not worry about your battery tanking. And you'll have lots of time, too. Most of my trains left acceptably close to on-time, but the actual travel is slow. It's comfortable travel, though, with only a constant light jostle that makes even light airplane turbulence seem dramatic.

There's also the carbon imprint issue, which is a great point but one I'm not going to shove down anyone's throat. It's very much in line, though, with the general idea that mass transit offers both economical and environmentally friendly travel options. It's pretty cheap, too, for the most part. The Crescent Line that starts in New Orleans and ends in New York can get an individual back and forth between NOLA and Atlanta for a little less than $60, one-way. It pays to plan ahead, though, as some tickets can rise pretty dramatically in price as the trains fill and departure time looms. (The only ticket I felt like I paid too much for was the ATL to WAS leg, which is yet another reason it was kinda miserable.)

I'm not sure what the future holds for Amtrak. It's in a weird grey zone as a government agency in that it's expected to be run like a business but almost by default can't be successful or profitable. It definitely has its fair share of powerful critics, including John McCain, which may or may not explain why the entire state of Arizona is devoid of Amtrak stations. Ideally, it would be great to have Japanese/EU-style bullet trains one day, but that seems kinda unlikely to happen anytime soon. Even just an east coast one, or maybe a New York-Chicago-L.A. express would go over pretty well, I think, trading off a little bit more travel time for a lot more comfort and reliability -- maybe even productivity.

Here're some links.

Amtrak Official Site

Amtrak Wikipedia Article [includes history and discusses recent controversies]

Guest Rewards Program