Do people in the US use trains much these days? I guess for local travel the car would be more useful and for long distance you'd fly. I appreciate that a lot of fright would use rail but people? Not so much.
I used to commute every day into London from about 15-20 miles out and these days I travel by train maybe 2-3 times a year but over longer distances (about 200 miles) but even then if I drove I'd probably pop in the car rather than train it anywhere.
There are two lines that get a lot of use: the corridor in the north east, where a lot of major cities are bunched together (DC - NYC - Philadelphia -Boston), and to a lesser extent, California. Amtrak still operates lines across the country, but connections are weird and it's a week's journey to get from one coast to the other. It's really only viable if you have time to kill and hate flying. If I wanted to go west, I would first go to DC and Chicago because of the availability of connections. (Amtrak doesn't even have a station in Alabama's capital: the main one is in Birmingham, with a minor stop in Tuscaloosa to account for the University of Alabama.) Traffic did go up during the oil crunch when gas was $4/gallon, but I don't know how much it has receded now. Greyhound is still the poor man's choice of transit.
I'd like to take a month off, fly to England, and then spend a week just riding the trains..
I'd heard that train travel in the US was..... often problematic, at least for passenger traffic. I'd also forgotten Greyhound! How could I - so iconic in so many movies.
How much is 'gas' there now? I shudder to think what it is here in comparison!
BTW - If you want to ride the rails in the UK I suggest you bring lots of money We probably have the most expensive rail system in Western Europe. When I went to see my Mum a few weeks ago (around 200 miles away) it cost me $130 for a return ticket - 2nd Class.
One issue with Amtrak is that outside the NE corridor, they don't own their own rails: they use the rails of the freight companies, and obviously freight shipments take precedence, so passenger lines are frequently sidelined. Gas varies depending on locale -- Californians pay a LOT in gas tax -- but right now it's about $2.19 - $2.30 per gallon in various Alabama counties.
If I ever did a train tour of Europe, it would be more on the continent -- seeing the mountains and such. Of course, that's a remote possibility for me...I can't exactly take a month off! Perhaps once I've seen enough of the Southeast I'll try England, southern France, Spain, or Germany.
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Better do it quick, too, because it won't be long before the military monopolizes them with freight and troops..
Do people in the US use trains much these days? I guess for local travel the car would be more useful and for long distance you'd fly. I appreciate that a lot of fright would use rail but people? Not so much.
I used to commute every day into London from about 15-20 miles out and these days I travel by train maybe 2-3 times a year but over longer distances (about 200 miles) but even then if I drove I'd probably pop in the car rather than train it anywhere.
There are two lines that get a lot of use: the corridor in the north east, where a lot of major cities are bunched together (DC - NYC - Philadelphia -Boston), and to a lesser extent, California. Amtrak still operates lines across the country, but connections are weird and it's a week's journey to get from one coast to the other. It's really only viable if you have time to kill and hate flying. If I wanted to go west, I would first go to DC and Chicago because of the availability of connections. (Amtrak doesn't even have a station in Alabama's capital: the main one is in Birmingham, with a minor stop in Tuscaloosa to account for the University of Alabama.) Traffic did go up during the oil crunch when gas was $4/gallon, but I don't know how much it has receded now. Greyhound is still the poor man's choice of transit.
I'd like to take a month off, fly to England, and then spend a week just riding the trains..
I'd heard that train travel in the US was..... often problematic, at least for passenger traffic. I'd also forgotten Greyhound! How could I - so iconic in so many movies.
How much is 'gas' there now? I shudder to think what it is here in comparison!
BTW - If you want to ride the rails in the UK I suggest you bring lots of money We probably have the most expensive rail system in Western Europe. When I went to see my Mum a few weeks ago (around 200 miles away) it cost me $130 for a return ticket - 2nd Class.
One issue with Amtrak is that outside the NE corridor, they don't own their own rails: they use the rails of the freight companies, and obviously freight shipments take precedence, so passenger lines are frequently sidelined. Gas varies depending on locale -- Californians pay a LOT in gas tax -- but right now it's about $2.19 - $2.30 per gallon in various Alabama counties.
If I ever did a train tour of Europe, it would be more on the continent -- seeing the mountains and such. Of course, that's a remote possibility for me...I can't exactly take a month off! Perhaps once I've seen enough of the Southeast I'll try England, southern France, Spain, or Germany.
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