Originally Posted By fkurucz If there was a bullet train from Denver to LA I would ride it! After riding the EuroStar I realized how much more relaxing rail travel is than air travel, and for short hauls like Denver/LA it would be a viable way of travel.
Originally Posted By Mr X fkurucz, I don't really think cross-country bullet trains are ever going to be viable (maglev, maybe)...it would STILL be an extremely long trip compared to a flight. But like I said earlier, I don't see why they can't focus on smaller, highly travelled regions (they are, somewhat, in the northeast...but it seems like they tried to do it "on the cheap", and we Disney fans all know what results from THAT sort of thinking!
Originally Posted By Mr X Denver/LA...Vegas/LA...LA/San Francisco. Lots of possibilities (and that's just the West Coast...a friend from Texas once remarked to me that Texas was just about the same size as France with a similar number of large cities...and the France train system is pretty maxed out so why not Texas?
Originally Posted By MOLLYSMOM My parents and sisters and their families are taking the Amtrak from Tri Cities, Washington to Anaheim in 3 weeks to meet us in Disneyland. They CANNOT take the train from Tri Cities, however, because, according to Amtrak, "the train NEVER makes the connection in Portland Or." So, once they arrive at the station in Tri-Cities, they will have to take the Amtrak BUS to Eugene, Or. to meet up with the train. The bus ride will take them 11 hours...a drive that would take them 6 by car, but they will be picking up other train passengers along the way. They were NOT informed of this by anyone at Amtrak when they purchased their tickets. I found this out from a fellow LP'er, and passed the information onto them.
Originally Posted By Mr X Oiy! Why did they choose the train at all, anyway? (I'm just curious, because every time I've checked Amtrak is WAY more expensive than a bus and usually more expensive than a flight as well!) That's lame that the Amtrak agent didn't inform them of the bus leg (perhaps because many would opt out?).
Originally Posted By MOLLYSMOM Mr X, you will be VERY sorry you asked me that question!!! Here goes... One of my sisters refuses to fly. She and her family decided to drive to DL, and a friend of hers was going to loan them an RV to use. I should mention that the trip was to take 19 hours by car...this will be important later in the story. My parents then decided to go in the RV with them to help with the driving, and they thought it may be a fun family affair to do so. My other sister and her daughter decided to go along with them as well. Myself, DH and DD had planned since "Day 1" to take the 4 1/2 hour flight. Well, the RV deal went to heck, because instead of 5 in the RV, it would now be 9, so they all then decided that going by train would be fun, and a great way to bond together. The train is costing them about $240 each, and I had found them airfare for $160, but they said that "the trip down there is part of the whole vacation experience." Part of the family is driving down to meet my sister in Yakima, so they can all go together. So, between the car ride, the bus ride, and the train trip, they will spend 44.5 hours to get to DL. (If everything is on time) Remember I said that if they drove themselves it was a 19 hour trip? Plus, this excursion starts on Thursday the 9th, and they won't make it to DL until Sunday the 12th. I have no logical reason why my family is willing to put themselves through this torture...especially since this is their FIRST trip to DL, but they say that they are looking foreward to the train trip. Did I also mention that one of my sisters suffers from horrible motion sickness??? My trip report is sure to be a real doozy. Once I told my family about the 11 hour Amtrak bus ride, I thought for sure that they would "can" the train and fly, but my one sister (the one with motion sickness) still refused to get on a plane. So, instead of being ill for 4.5 hours, she gets to be ill for 44.5. Morons, I tell ya!!!!
Originally Posted By Kennesaw Tom My most recent experience with Amtrack was riding it between Fredickburg, VA up to DC. DC has an exceptional transportation system as the beltway and Hwy 95 are immobile during the day. So rail is the only way to go. I was staying with my brother and his family in Fredricksburg and was missed the VRE trains ( commuter rain into DC ). So jumped on the Amtrack heading out of Richmond going up to DC. The conductor gave me a huge discount on my ticket ( VRE costs $8 per way, while Amtrack cost $19 bucks to go between Fredricksburg and DC ). KJ and I were seated in these super luxurious seats but managed to make our way up to the dinning car. We enjoyed the sights between Fredricksburg and DC while sipping coffee and eating breakfast. We basically had the dinning car to ourselves so stayed there the entire trip. Ah yes, nothing like sipping coffee and eating breakfast while going right through a Marine base while morning callestetics are going on. Traveling along the Potomic was nice too. Mr X, I went to Boston University. I will be back up in New England for a week starting August 4th. I have a family reunion to attend in Vermont on the 4th and 5th. The rest of my trip will be spent in RI.
Originally Posted By Kennesaw Tom In terms of a bullet train accross the country, hey we can dream can't we? For the most part the rails for the Acela are enclosed with a chain link fence. Yes, the Acela takes a good mile of go to come to a complete stop... its a heavy train.. the heaviest bullet train in the world. The incident where the three teenagers were struck occured in southern NJ near Philly. The three teenagers were inside the enclosed fensed area ( they were not suppose to be there ). The train saw them .. .but it takes a long time for the Acela to make a complete stop. The concept for the Acela is a brilliant idea... its suppose to preform like a normal train while in metro city areas then open at full throttle in the less populated areas. And the concept works well. It can bring you from one downtown area to the downtown areas of NYC and DC which is in effect faster than if you had to take transportation from downtown Boston to say Logan Airport.. then fly to JFK and get on a bus/ subway to get into downtown Mahattan, or the same for DC. It terminates in downtown areas. Airports don't do that. Well Logan and Dulles do.. but then you have to get from the airport to downtown in Boston and DC.. and that often takes a while.
Originally Posted By trekkeruss <<Sure, Japan has a small amount of land which makes rail service make a LOT of sense...but I don't see how that makes them automatically more efficient and more courteous and more punctual though.>> I brought up Japan's tiny size because in America, the distances are so great that it takes too long to travel by rail; most people would rather fly. <<As for all the lines being private, JR (japan railways) USED to be run by the government but it went private (I don't know all the details).>> The Japanese government built a fantastic rail high-speed rail system... and racked up HUGE debt doing it. <<If being run by the government is a bad thing, why not take it private?>> U.S. rail service was private, and it was deteriorating. It would have disappeared altogether had it not been for lobbyists in Washington. <<In any case, as it stands it doesn't work at all, so they might as well try to come up with some solutions, right?>> It could be argued that the Acela was one of those attempts at a solution. <<Europe is pretty darn big, all considered, but they manage to have a FAR superior train service in comparison to America as well.>> But Europe is made up of many countries, each of which is small. Again, because of the size, rail travel competes well against air travel. <<I don't understand WHY my taxpayer dollars go to fund that crappy rail system anyway. Is there a valid reason? I wish Amtrak DIDN'T get any funding...I'd sooner see my hard earned and forcibly taken money go to something more worthwhile (or at least something that works!).>> I would guess that for polticians to suggest that Amtrak be gotten rid of would make them look bad, so they keep it around.
Originally Posted By trekkeruss FWIW, I've only traveled on Amtrak once, from here in the D.C. area to Florida (for WDW of course!) back in the early 90's. I booked a roomette, just because I wanted the full-on experience of traveling by rail. The service was fine; no problems with the schedule, or the employees. I enjoyed the running commentary about the sights the train passed. The only regrets were that I wasn't able to sleep all that well, and that the club car was too uncomfortable with all the smokers puffing away.
Originally Posted By DlandJB Bullet trains will only ever be a dream here because of the cost of dedicated track, for a start. The Acela, as someone pointed out already, doesn't have that kind of track so they had to compromise, but they also did have to adjust track along the NE Corridor for it. It was hugely expensive and greatly delayed in starting. Another friend who was an engineer until recently when he retired used to do the run from DC to NY each day. He didn't particularly enjoy running the Acela. One thing the engineers don't care for is the faster arrival times impact their schedules as far as how much time they are allowed to drive by the union rules. Not to pick on unions, but the rail unions have a huge impact on the costs to run the railroad, by the way...although do remember that railroad employees don't pay into the social securtiy system, but into the railroad retirement system. Where Amtrak ownes the track (I think it is only the NE Corridor) they are making a profit, but not much elsewhere. But no Congressman who has a rail station in his district is going to vote for it to go away. I am a rail fan and have been for many years. Haven't rode Amtrak since the summer of 2003 from DC to Boston and back (long haul) and I have always wanted to ride it on the West Coast and other areas where there are actually things to see. Amtrak, as far as I know, doesn't own the fencing around all of the NE Corridor or anywhere else. Vandalism is constant and people who believe they can beat the odds on the tracks usually end up dead. Hollywood is a terrible venue for the persistant image of being able to outrun a train or that a train can stop in time. It can't.
Originally Posted By Mr X Mollysmom, lol! Classic "family" story. I have some in my family that refuse to fly as well. It's amazing how powerful irrational fear can be (and this coming from a very nervous flyer myself!).
Originally Posted By Mr X **The concept for the Acela is a brilliant idea... its suppose to preform like a normal train while in metro city areas then open at full throttle in the less populated areas. And the concept works well.** I'm sure the train is fine. It just seems like they only went "half-way" by trying to throw the whole thing on the existing infrastructure...sure, accidents happen, but all the high speed rails *I'VE* ever heard of have safety built into the whole infrastructure (elevated tracks so there are never crossings to worry about, stations with safety gates built in, and central lines so the trains speeding through don't go near passengers, etc...). Sure it's great that you can get to NYC relatively quicker than before...but if they'd thrown in a REAL maxed out service like in Japan you'd have the Boston/NYC/Philly/DC stretch done in well under 3 hours I believe (I could be a bit off on this, but isn't Osaka-Tokyo about the same as Boston-DC?)...and that more safely. There's potential for an additional leg up to Montreal even (hey, make Canada pay some! How's that for an idea? ). If that were the case, I'd never bother flying anywhere on the Northeast corridor again, and with all the fear factor built into America these days I think you'd see a LOT of that.
Originally Posted By Mr X Good points Dland... About the fencing and vandalism though, I still just have to wonder why they didn't create this high speed rail service the way they do it in the rest of the world. How come other countries can put it together, but we half-ass it? (even acela fans must admit that it was pretty faulty logic to invest in a high speed train that doesn't manage much high speed because of track limitations?) I guess, beyond size (which I get, but I'm thinking of only NE corridor right now), I don't understand why other countries have their service so much more maxed out...and why it's "impossible" in America.
Originally Posted By Lisann22 Through my non-profit and tribal work I've been to multiple meeting about the High Speed Rail Authority that has been in the planning stages for about 10 years in California. It looks like it's on it's last legs now. I was involved regarding burial sites, greenway belts and using our language with historical names our people used for various areas along the rail for the name of train stations and particular lines. Check it out - I think it would have been a wonderful thing. Check out all the articles under press releases... <a href="http://www.cahighspeedrail.ca.gov/" target="_blank">http://www.cahighspeedrail.ca. gov/</a>
Originally Posted By Kar2oonMan Thanks everyone for the advice and info regarding Amtrak. I should add in fairness that the Capitol Corridor line from the east Bay to Sacramento was excellent. The staff was welcoming and seemed happy to have us aboard. It was the Coast Starlight leg of the journey that was the pits.
