AmTrak Carolinian: Slower But So Much Nicer
by Sami Grover, Carrboro, NC, USA on 05. 3.08
Some of us have already posted personal accounts of our AmTrak experiences, but even with AmTrak ridership at an all time high, in the US many folks we talk to still seem skeptical about taking to the rails. So when we took The Carolinian from Durham, NC up to New York for Thursday’s launch of the Natural Products Association’s Natural Standard, we thought it only right that we post on our experience.
The first thing to be said, when comparing AmTrak to rail travel in other parts of the world, is that it is slow. There is no denying that a rail journey of some 500 miles should not take eleven hours [from previous experience, the journey can also be considerably longer in the hot summer months due to slower speeds for safety reasons]. But other than that, we must say the experience was a dream. And considering that only half of the journey was electrified – from Durham to DC we were on slower diesel power – with some investment in upgrading the infrastructure, the journey could be both much quicker and considerably greener.
Staff were courteous, friendly and attentive at all times. Boarding and disembarkation were ridiculously easy when compared to air travel, and the opportunity to get up and walk around, grab a beer in the dining car, and watch the world go by was one hundred times more relaxing than either sitting in traffic or being scrunched up in your seat watching in-flight movies. Interestingly, the train was full, and we overheard a good number of conversations in which people admitted to this being their first time on the train - often citing high gas prices as their reason for trying something different. Could this be the beginning of a rail renaissance in the US?
And while we half wished that the train would have on-board internet, so we could catch up on email, we must admit we quite enjoyed the time away from the inbox – catching up on a little writing, reading up on some reports that had been sitting around for too long, and yes, maybe taking the occasional nap after a cold beer in the lounge car. Thank you AmTrak, we’ll be seeing you again soon.
::AmTrak::via site visit::
I've taken the Pennsylvanian between Pittsburgh and Philadelphia a few times in the last 5 years and there is a noticeable difference each time I go. The last time, the conductor warned me that the train was full enough that I may actually have to share the adjacent seat with someone :) There are electrical outlets within easy access of most seats and if there isn't one at your seat, the crew will help you find a seat that does have one. And if you have a bluetooth phone with a data plan, internet access isn't a problem. 5 years ago, there wasn't even cell phone coverage for the majority of the route, now it's ubiquitous. My only complaint is that the foot rests are way too far away from your seat - there is just too much leg room!
I think that many of Amtrak's long-distance trains get an unfair bad wrap, with people forever complaining that they are no match for "modern european trains." Many times they are pretty comparable to European long distance trains. Sure, the more popular commuter routes go 200+ mph, but take a comparable route, such as the train from Paris to Barcelona, which is just over 600 miles, and it takes somewhere in between 10 and 11 hours, a little bit faster than the Carolinian, but not by much.
However, your point stands true, when you look at other corridors in Europe that have had even slight improvements, the travel times decrease impressively.
Amtrak could do something to add wireless internet access to their trains. That would be relatively inexpensive and be a MAJOR attraction for business travelers.
Just imagine how green and quick train travel in the US could be if the government spent just half of what they give the airline industry on improving Amtrak and rail infrastructure.
I'm stunned! I hadn't realised that america was so far behind the rest of the world in regard to train travel! It looks like development of the train over there stopped when planes started flying! Look at Japan, China, France and even in the UK we're seriously upgrading our rail networks to be able to travel faster and easier by train.
I love train travel, but live in the midwest and the schedules from big city to big city are really hard to deal with (Chicago to Minneapolis/St.Paul, as an example of what I'm talking about). I've kind of lost hope that this will ever be fixed, but I always check Amtrak when trip planning to see if this is a trip I can do by train. Usually I come away shaking my head. When I lived on the east coast I used the train quite a bit and it was great.
AmTrak is already quite heavily subsidized by the government. If it weren't for the massive subsidy they receive, they would have closed their doors long ago. According to a disgruntled AmTrak attendant I met on one ride, Carl, the problem is that AmTrak execs blow all the money on lavish parties. He announced this to us over the intercom when he was explaining why we wouldn't be meeting up with the dining car on our ride.
Is there any AmTrak in Houston?
One of the biggest drawbacks for AmTrak travel is that there are often delays caused by the fact that rails are shared with freight haulers, and the freight trains have priority, because they own the rails, AmTrak just leases access. The last time I took AmTrak out of DC into Pittsburgh we were 2.5 hours late because of freight priority delays. For a trip that's scheduled to take nearly twice the time of driving, (6.5 times longer than flying) tacking on extra time for those sorts of delays makes travel outside of the Boston-Washington corridor with the Acela trains and all of that really untenable unless you're willing to take time away from your trip in order to build in a cushion for lost time in transit.
I rode the Carolinian from Baltimore to NC a few years ago. It took 13 hours! The reason why this line is so slow is because the tracks going through Virginia are owned and operated by Norfolk Southern and CSX. They don't give priority to passenger trains. That's why you'll get sidetracked while a scrap metal train passes by you. They make more money from shipping freight than from leasing to Amtrak so of course they won't give Amtrak the right-of-way. It's sad but true.
In NC the lines used by Amtrak are owned by the State-owned NC Railroad company, so i think they're a little bit more friendly towards Amtrak traffic.
I recently went from Little Rock, AR to Modesto, CA. We were 22 hours late! The tracks are shared with Union Pacific and they have priority over the tracks. So if you are a little bit late you get in the way of the Union Pacific trains and you constantly have to pull over and wait for them to pass. Total snowball effect.
This can get very annoying especially since the trains get hot when they aren't in motion. We had a cabin and we were still uncomfortable. I don't know how the rest of the people in economy must have felt.
There is no direct train route from Little Rock to Modesto. We stopped in LA and had to take a bus from there to Bakersfield where we continued on our way. You would think that CA would have a better developed rail network!
The CA line did not have a cabin but all was well. It was a short jaunt and it was extremely clean and well kept. It also traveled much faster.
We were not looking forward to a return trip. We ended up buying a car in CA and driving back! We didn't even bother with the refund.... hopefully things change.
I take the train often between Philadelphia and DC and it is always on time--2 hours exactly. Last time I took it, I literally got to the station three minutes before the train was to board, printed out my e-ticket, and hopped on--one major advantage over airport lines and security. Do agree that longer routes need some help in terms of timeliness. Recent trips from Pittsburgh-Philadelphia and DC-Raleigh were both about an hour behind. Room for improvement, but I still love the system and will continue to support it when I can.
Another reason why it's slow, besides the low speed limits on some portions, is that the train actually goes Southeast out of Raleigh to Selma before heading up I-95 on the CSX "A" line (or main line). There used to be a much straighter route on the CSX "S" line (that basically follows US 1), but some of the tracks have been removed.
The good news is that there are plans to increase the speed on this route, and the proposed improvements are impressive.
The bad news is that the Environmental Impact Statements have been taking forever for it, since it involves laying new track on a right of way that's been abandoned since the 70s. Unfortunately, the timetable for the Southeast High Speed Rail Corridor was delayed again on Friday. They're now talking about the Tier II EIS finally being done in 2011, which would allow construction to finally begin. That's just ridiculous for a process than began in 1999.
I understand environmental concerns and impacts on wildlife when laying new rail, but it seems like the overwhelming environmental benefit for rail vs. highways would cut some slack. That's not the way the NEPA works, unfortunately. It reminds me of how wind power installations get held up because of other environmental concerns. There's a lot of concerns to balance.