Amtrak

Goatface said:

anyone use Amtrak? Thinking about going from Roanoke, VA to Springfield, MA with a layover in Washington, will i get murdered? do they run on time? need to by trip insurance?

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I take it monthly/bi weekly to NYC. Acela will knock off substantial time from your trip BTW.

Safe as can be. Clean, and I find it relaxing. Try and get a table seat, or a seat with nothing in front of you. Springfield just so you no has very few "nice" neighborhoods.

Goatface said:

anyone use Amtrak? Thinking about going from Roanoke, VA to Springfield, MA with a layover in Washington, will i get murdered? do they run on time? need to by trip insurance?

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I took Amtrak from Austin to DFW once, about 10 years ago and it was a nice change from driving.

The good side was that the seats were very comfortable, it wasn't crowded, you can get up/move around easily, there was no bullshit security theater like flying, and I didn't have to be alert as if I was driving. I think I showed up about 10 or 15 minutes early and hoped on the train when it pulled up (packed a single "light" bag). I brought headphones to listen to music and eventually moved to the viewing car for most of the trip (may have used my laptop too, but don't exactly remember).

The downsides were that it was ~4 hours on the train and someone had to come pick me up at the station in downtown Ft. Worth, which was 45 min from my final destination (roughly 5 hours total travel time, +about an hour for my ride to get to the station) instead of 3 hours if I just drove.

Google says Roanoke to Springfield is almost 15 hours, non stop, so your experience might be different. Union Station in DC looks fairly "nice" and is probably safe enough during the day.

Regardless, driving is one of the most dangerous things average humans do and I wager that you are 10+ times more likely to die in an automotive accident than get murdered on the orient express or in DC (well, maybe 50/50 for DC).

Goatface said:

anyone use Amtrak? Thinking about going from Roanoke, VA to Springfield, MA with a layover in Washington, will i get murdered? do they run on time? need to by trip insurance?

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It's fine. When you can book far enough out and get ~$50 tickets and you have the time it's worth it for regional travel. When you're paying airline prices don't bother. I'm going to disagree with Brahma here and say Acela is not worth it if you are not commuting, you might as well just buy an airline ticket. The Northeast Corridor is a joke compared to 100 years ago.

BrotherWu said:

Taking the California Zephyr from Chicago to San Francisco is on my bucket list. California Zephyr Train | Amtrak

Anyone ridden it? I'd probably bail before SF though because why go to SF?

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That's the one that goes between Denver and Grand Junction. Did that a few times 5-6 years ago. Don't sit near the stairs. The bathroom is right below.