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Taking Amtrak When Snow Cancels Flights Between New York and DC: Amtrak Acela Express Business Class Washington, D.C.-New York – Review

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Today, three-quarters of travelers traveling between New York and the nation’s capital go by train, and roughly half of those going between New York and Boston take to the rails. (www.frequentbusinesstraveler.com) Más...

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mattpilla
Matt Pilla Escritor del staff 4
Planes, trains and automobiles :-)
williambaker08
william baker 1
I agree lol
jcisuclones
jcisuclones 3
Always wanted to take the Amtrak somewhere. Definitely on my bucket list.
99NY
99NY 3
I can remember taking Amtrak from Boston to NY during a blizzard that shut down most of the East coast in the early 2000's. I had booked my ticket months in advance but the line of just-shy-of-fistfighting travelers was something else. People standing in the aisles the whole way from Boston to NY, a lady sitting on the toilet typing on her laptop who would get up and move whenever somebody needed to take a leak. What a ride.
Sanky22
Sanky22 2
That wouldn't happen anymore as Amtrak has moved to all-reserved consists, so there would be enough seats for everyone. Plus, the Acela would never be in a situation like this. Sounds like a fun experience though!
jimcander
Jim Anderson 1
Acela would never be used in a blizzard? Funny. I spend a lot of time in the NE corridor and I can't recall Acela service suspended because of snow.
Sanky22
Sanky22 2
No, the Acela would never have overcrowding problems.
mhlansdell00
Mark Lansdell 1
How about last week??
Sanky22
Sanky22 2
I love trains! (Even more than airplanes!)
mhlansdell00
Mark Lansdell 2
Had I chosen to fly, the trip would never have taken place because all flights to and from New York and D.C. had been cancelled. It’s clear to me that the train may simply be a better way to traverse the Northeast Corridor efficiently.

While I don't find fault with the final conclusion the argument is certainly flawed. Somewhere in the early paragraphs the author said he obtained a seat on the last train before the rest were cancelled. Flights from Atlanta to Boston and New York to Chicago were disrupted for the best part of a week. It takes time to reposition crews and equipment to resume schedules as published. As for the seats, the author has never flown the old rout from St Louis to Hawaii in a 17" seat about 12 hours you can't escape from.

I've lived and moved about the mid atlantic and Northeast states all my life. The trip from DC to NY city is only 31/2 hours by car, baring traffic and weather. In the 50s and early 60s the flight into Friendship, Baltimore or National, DC was expensive and barely beat the automobile. Today with travel to the airport, sometimes driving in the opposite direction of your final D, Parking, security check, check in, taxi time, holding time, flight time, disembarking time and travel time to the final destination, the choo choo will beat air transport most every time. Would you ship a package by air freight from DC to NYC or ship it by truck?. Boston is a little farther and involves changing trains, or used to. Florida from BWI is no contest as long as you don't need a car when you get there. It's only a 10 - 12 hour drive to JAX and an overnight train ride by Amtrak. Even Chicago is only a 12 hour drive out I70.
jimcander
Jim Anderson 2
Amtrak's long haul stuff as a real problem with being on time, thus the nickname Late Shore Limited for the LSL. If it's four hours or less and I can do it on Amtrak, I'll be on the train. Changing at NY Penn isn't a big deal and even in reserved coach, there's more room than coach on any airline. Not all that thrilled with the wireless on Amtrak. GoGo/whoever your carrier uses, seems to be a little better than AmtrakConnect.
pfp217
pfp217 2
Guys, I'm an ex airline employee, and now work for said railroad. It's kinda neat, on the route I work, I see alot of people who used to fly the same route. The air service was cut back because of the airline industry, not by us, but we ( the railroad) are just as convenient as flying used to be for these passengers.

Many look at us as competition but I see AMTK and the airlines as more of a complement to one another. We have many people that will take our trains to hub cities and then fly from there.
mhlansdell00
Mark Lansdell 1
What route are you on?

jimcander
Jim Anderson 1
Where do you recommended it be made available and used at the level of the NE Corridor?

[This poster has been suspended.]

gdui
Gerard Duignan 2
As an "auld Paddy" I've been living in Switzerland for over 30 years now. The country's location in central Europe gives us an ideal base to get to France, Germany, Italy, Liechtenstein and Austria within a few hours and no stress. City centre to city centre...the French TGV gets me from Geneva to Paris in some 3:15 hitting a max of 300Kms/hour. The Italian night train from Milano with couchettes and dinner served by very attentive staff is also a delight.

Okay here in Europe we do not have the same territorial distances to cover like an American client, one of the reasons why our airline industry hasn't grown so well or fast as in the US(not going into such a debate,will still be awake Sunday at midnight...)All my trips(max 5 hours are by train). In the US my only train journey was Chicago(Union Stn) to Quincy & return. I visit MIA twice a year, must check out what I can do from there(come on folks, any ideas, ye're the locals... Irish MD-11
JerrySteinberg
Jerry Steinberg 2
I don't know if anyone will see your comment here and Flightaware isn't a discussion like FlyerTalk. You might want to post the same question in FlyerTalk in the appropriate regional forum to get ideas.
mhlansdell00
Mark Lansdell 2
I've never done an engineering comparison of Europe and the US, but it appears that Europe less the Channel is about a third the size of the US. The US spans 3 time zones if that's an indication. My point is the size of the US makes transportation much more complex than in Europe. In addition, after WWII all of Europe's rail systems were completely redesigned and updated courtesy of the United States for the most part. We're still running on the same rails and routes the were transited by the old steam locomotives. Our rails would not handle the high speeds of the race trains of Europe and until we stop sending financial aid and weapons systems to countries that don't like us very much including some in Europe we won't find the money to improve things like transportation systems rail lines or otherwise.
scottnearsmf
Scott Somer 1
This is the stat that Southwest cites when they made the decision to cease their BWI-EWR and BWI-LGA pairs.
devsfan
ken young 1
The shame of it all is express train service of this kind is largely unavailable elsewhere in the US.

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