I've taken the chicago-NY route he mentions in the story. He has no pix because its dark both ways. The eastbound leaves around late dinner time in CHC (no po

I've taken the chicago-NY route he mentions in the story. He has no pix because its dark both ways. The eastbound leaves around late dinner time in CHC (no point eating before boarding) and arrives before lunch in NYC, and westbound leaves NYC in mid-late afternoon right before lunch hour and arrives around rush hour in CHC. Unless they've changed schedules again. So the time "cost" of taking the train isn't 12 hours vs 3 hour flight (+ 3 hours for security and boarding + an hour each side cab ride... wait suddenly the train isn't that slow after all) The cost of taking the train is you sleep aboard and lose like a quarter of a day of awake time, its nothing. And its a REALLY good working environment. Three points of advice regarding the "expensive" sleeper car: You pay for food unless you get an expensive sleeper, in which case meals are free. Suddenly that room is not so expensive. A hotel out in the burbs or even in a recreational area is cheap, making the sleeper car look expensive; however I'm avoiding staying in NYC or CHC for a night, and hotel rooms downtown are very expensive, suddenly the sleeper is looking like a good deal. Finally the station in CHC and NYC is right downtown. I've gone to business meetings and training in CHC literally two minutes walk from the station, suddenly not paying for a cab to/from Ohare and pay parking for my car at the airport is making the sleeper car downright cheap... As a room a sleeper car is expensive, as a total systemic cost of the overall trip from home front door and back again, its probably cheaper to take the train with a sleeper cabin than to fly.