About Train Travel

With colorful route names like the California Zephyr and the Southwest Chief, U.S. train travel conjures up the era of ornate movie palaces and band concerts on the village square. A particular route can have a personality all its own. The Empire Service through upstate New York has a more refined, New England kind of flavor. Yet, a change in Chicago to the City of New Orleans with stops in St. Louis and Memphis brings a more earthy, southern-laden flavor to the ride.

U.S. trains sometimes are held up by blocked crossings. Departure and arrival delays of an hour or more are not unusual. A stop-and-smell-the-roses attitude helps. Look upon long distance train travel as a much-needed departure from society's rat race.

On trains, there is not the seat confinement that you find on an airplane. The result is more interaction among passengers and train crew. Also, the freedom to roam the aisles with a pause in the dining car that some trains feature is quite pleasant. At the least, all trains offer the more casual loungette or cafe car with a wet bar. Sleeper cars are available on most routes for long-distance travelers but even the lower-cost coach seats are adequately comfortable for sleeping.

There's no need to keep your eyes on the road while riding a train. Amtrak routes traverse some of the most breathtaking scenery in the U.S. Some routes feature Amtrak Superliner cars with extra-large windows. Can you imagine what it would be like to ride this kind of car through the Rocky Mountains (California Zephyr) or the northwest's Cascades range (Amtrak Cascades)?

The future likely lies with train travel because it is a very green mode of transportation. Trains can be set up to run on electricity more readily than automobiles, thus bypassing the polluting effects of internal combustion engines. Additionally, it is more economical to lay railroad tracks than to construct an interstate highway.