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On Amtrak: You can't get there from here...

Category: Ride Trains

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Written by Roadside Wire

From The Hook, another excellent essay on the frustrations of a wannabe train traveler. It doesn't have to be this way, and it's time we finally fix this.

By CAROLINE ABELS

Published October 1, 2009 in issue 0839 of the Hook

Nearly everything about my recent vacation in Florida was perfect: the beaches, wildlife, sunsets, you name it. My only disappointment? The way I got there.

I took a plane, as anyone who lives 1,500 miles away would. Not that anything went wrong; the trip was pretty stress-free. Instead, I was disappointed that I couldn't take a train-- couldn't stroll to the Amtrak station in my Vermont hometown, board a coach car with plush seats, leg room, and picture windows, rumble down the Atlantic coast and really see America, rather than gazing blankly at clouds from 30,000 feet.

Okay, technically I could have taken the train. But to reach Fort Myers, I would've had to endure an overnight layover in New York, a 25-hour train ride to Tampa, and two-hour bus ride. I wanted to see America, but not lose a third of my vacation before even arriving at my destination.

It shouldn't be this way. Americans, known for technological innovation, shouldn't have to be embarrassed that Europe and Asia have faster, more convenient and reliable passenger rail systems. Railroad travel was once ubiquitous in the U.S., but since the 1950s-- when the automobile and interstate highway system began replacing it-- passenger rail here has become a shell of what it once was. Amtrak's annual ridership was up 11 percent last year, to 28.7 million (a record), but compare that to the nearly 650 million passengers taking domestic flights on American Airlines in 2008.

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