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One of the (many) problems with Amtrak is that they pretend they're an airline. Booking well in advance is the only way to get a good rate, "walk up" prices ar

One of the (many) problems with Amtrak is that they pretend they're an airline. Booking well in advance is the only way to get a good rate, "walk up" prices are pretty high. I mostly have experience with the Northeast Corridor, and this is the baseline level of service that we need nationwide. I've been on some of the other routes, and the quality of the service on those lines pales in comparison. That said, the route from NYC to Montreal is really beautiful north of Albany. It just takes about ten hours to get there.

VWWHFSfQ 6y ago
> It just takes about ten hours to get there. This is just always going to be the problem. It's ok for some mild entertainment but it's not viable for regular travel. A flight to Montreal is like an hour and probably half the price.
- mjmahone17 6y ago
  It’s a little absurd that a trip of less than 400 miles takes 11 hours on a train. That’s a terrible average speed. With pretty reasonable high speed rail, that should be no more than a 4 hour trip. At which point it is very competitive with flying in terms of time. For cost, it looks like a round trip on Amtrak is typically $200, whereas a round trip flight for two weeks from now is around $300.
  - bsanr2 6y ago
    Even now it really depends on where your priorities lie. Going from Rhode Island to Maryland or back, I had to arrive at least an hour and a half (more like 2 hours) before takeoff to get through parking and security. That meant leaving the house 2-3 hours before takeoff. Then, a 2-hour flight, and another hour and a half dealing with baggage and transport home. That two-hour flight was more like 6 hours of my day, a majority of it spent in uncomfortable settings (driving, in the security line, in a cramped plane seat). Compare to Amtrak: 30 minutes to the closest station, and I can arrive immediately before boarding; 7 hours on the train, but in fairly spacious seats, with free WiFi, and then 20 minutes home from the station. I much preferred the relatively relaxed nature of train travel, and it only bit out an extra hour or two of my day. With high speed rail it wouldn't even be a contest.
- mgbmtl 6y ago
  It's an international flight, so the price is more expensive relative to a flight between two US cities. Usually it's 300 USD to fly compared to 140 USD by rail. Two things to keep in mind by rail to Montreal: customs add 1h, and in summer, if the rails are too hot, per Canadian regulations, the train cannot go faster than 50km/hour or something ridiculously slow like that, which adds another hour or two. Onboard wifi only works when in the US, and because of the mountains in upstate NY, the signal can be very flaky and slow.
ghaff 6y ago
>Booking well in advance is the only way to get a good rate, "walk up" prices are pretty high In all fairness, that's pretty true in a lot of places. It certainly is in the UK in my experience. I'd actually have said at least the Acela isn't particularly onerous in this regard.
- throwawayboise 6y ago
  This was true in Denmark last I was there. You could buy an "orange" ticket online, well in advance, for a significant discount, which I used for a planned trip into Copenhagen from Jutland.
alkonaut 6y ago
Rule #1 of travel pricing is you can’t risk charging too little for business travel because they subsidize the price conscious travellers. Leaving on an earlier train because a meeting ends early is exactly the kind of thing business travellers pay good money for. But that’s also indiatinguishable from this kind of random walk in travel that leisure travellers would love to see - so it can’t happen. If you want business travellers to pay 3x for that convenience you can’t give it to everyone for less than that.

VWWHFSfQ 6y ago

> It just takes about ten hours to get there. This is just always going to be the problem. It's ok for some mild entertainment but it's not viable for regular travel. A flight to Montreal is like an hour and probably half the price.

mjmahone17 6y ago
It’s a little absurd that a trip of less than 400 miles takes 11 hours on a train. That’s a terrible average speed. With pretty reasonable high speed rail, that should be no more than a 4 hour trip. At which point it is very competitive with flying in terms of time. For cost, it looks like a round trip on Amtrak is typically $200, whereas a round trip flight for two weeks from now is around $300.
- bsanr2 6y ago
  Even now it really depends on where your priorities lie. Going from Rhode Island to Maryland or back, I had to arrive at least an hour and a half (more like 2 hours) before takeoff to get through parking and security. That meant leaving the house 2-3 hours before takeoff. Then, a 2-hour flight, and another hour and a half dealing with baggage and transport home. That two-hour flight was more like 6 hours of my day, a majority of it spent in uncomfortable settings (driving, in the security line, in a cramped plane seat). Compare to Amtrak: 30 minutes to the closest station, and I can arrive immediately before boarding; 7 hours on the train, but in fairly spacious seats, with free WiFi, and then 20 minutes home from the station. I much preferred the relatively relaxed nature of train travel, and it only bit out an extra hour or two of my day. With high speed rail it wouldn't even be a contest.
mgbmtl 6y ago
It's an international flight, so the price is more expensive relative to a flight between two US cities. Usually it's 300 USD to fly compared to 140 USD by rail. Two things to keep in mind by rail to Montreal: customs add 1h, and in summer, if the rails are too hot, per Canadian regulations, the train cannot go faster than 50km/hour or something ridiculously slow like that, which adds another hour or two. Onboard wifi only works when in the US, and because of the mountains in upstate NY, the signal can be very flaky and slow.

ghaff 6y ago

>Booking well in advance is the only way to get a good rate, "walk up" prices are pretty high In all fairness, that's pretty true in a lot of places. It certainly is in the UK in my experience. I'd actually have said at least the Acela isn't particularly onerous in this regard.

throwawayboise 6y ago
This was true in Denmark last I was there. You could buy an "orange" ticket online, well in advance, for a significant discount, which I used for a planned trip into Copenhagen from Jutland.

alkonaut 6y ago

Rule #1 of travel pricing is you can’t risk charging too little for business travel because they subsidize the price conscious travellers. Leaving on an earlier train because a meeting ends early is exactly the kind of thing business travellers pay good money for. But that’s also indiatinguishable from this kind of random walk in travel that leisure travellers would love to see - so it can’t happen. If you want business travellers to pay 3x for that convenience you can’t give it to everyone for less than that.