Travel

[kitcat51]

I love cars, never want them to go away. Traveling by train is fun but going by car is my always first choice.

[rrpell]

@LoriMI

Hi fellow Amtrak traveller!  It was nice hearing of your positive experience.   I enjoy trains. 

Last winter, I was traveling from DC to Boston on ACELA.  On a particular section of new track they made an announcement "Ladies and Gentlemen we are now the fastest train in the US."  We were going a little over 150 mph.  Wahoo!

I've travelled on fast speed trains in Europe and, at that moment, I felt really proud to know we are evolving our trains in a similar fashion.

I live in New England and travel regularly to Boston on the Nor'Easter.  Something I missed, this year, was to take advantage of the one day Amtrak put on the Great Dome Car before it went to Vermont/New York for the fall foliage season (9/2/2017).  I am going to make sure I do it next year😀

[AuntG]

@LoriMI, does a roomette give you a potty? That's one thing I would prefer not to share.

[Drythe]

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@AuntG wrote:

@LoriMI, does a roomette give you a potty? That's one thing I would prefer not to share.

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@AuntG

I can’t speak for @LoriMI , but every one I’ve seen did.

[missy1]

Do you get see the cities, like a cruise ship? Does the train let you off for so many hours? How does this work?

[Alter Ego]

I also have a question...

I've looked at the Amtrak site, but I rarely have the time involved to do a train trip. It also seemed like the train made a lot of stops. A lot!

But, since I've never really investigated further, I was wondering if there really were many stops? Also, how long did it take to get from one location to the next?

[rrpell]

I travel Amtrak's Northeast Corridor so I thought I would post some info on this route.

Amtrak has announced 28 new trains will be put into service, 2021, in the Northeast Corridor.  They are designed to travel at 160 miles an hour.  Here is a video showing what they will look like:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=WH-3FsmU6KQ

Currently, Amtrak's Acela train travels from Boston to Washington in under 7 hours.  It has minimal stops.  There are three "classes", coach, business and first class.  First class comes with hot meals served to you at your seat.  There is a cafe car for everyone which serves sandwiches, etc.

The Northeast Regional (the regular Amtrak train) stops at more stations.  It can take 9 1/2 hours.

Tucked away in the Boston, New York, Washington and Philadelphia stations are the "Club Acelas".  If you are traveling first class or with sleeping accommodations, you can ring their doorbell and be let into Amtrak's special lounge area. (They are not well marked.)   They are quiet, comfortable areas with complimentary refreshments. It is a nice place to wait for your train. The attendants are very helpful and can even make changes to your tickets.

The trains are transportation so they are not like a cruise ship.  They keep going.  They try to run on schedule, picking up passengers and dropping them off.  If you wanted to see a city, you would have to get off the train and then, catch a later one to continue on your journey. 

[World Traveler]

@rrpell Thanks for your informative post. It is very helpful. 

[LoriMI]

Roomette you share, bedrooms are private

[Bridgegal]

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@Vivian Florimond wrote:

My husband and I traveled extensively through Europe, mostly France, for over 20 years. We always went by train. The high speed trains, TGV, are absolutely fantastic. You can travel from city to city in no time. I SO wish we had these trains in the US. We really missed the boat...or should I say train...on this one.

I agree.   I wish we had them too but it's not going to happen.   We can barely keep amtrak alive much less anything new coming along.

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