Amtrak (USA)

I'm a HUGE fan of Amtrak, which travels the breadth and length of the USA. It doesn't have as many stops as the Greyhound does and therefore it mainly services larger Towns rather than little places. I travelled from Miami to New York City by Amtrak and it took 33 hours in total but was the most relaxing and chilled out part of my Holiday. I was able to pick my Seat (make sure you get there early for that!!) and I settled myself in after my Ticket had been checked. There is a Food Car on Board and it's like a little restaurant - You go in and order whatever you want and then pay for it straight away (don't forget to leave a small tip!!). ...  Read the complete review

I like Amtrak, the rail service in the USA. I chose to travel with them to get from New York to Chicago, a journey, by train, of about 18 hours. There are two brilliant things that I remember about this journey, and one (serious) negative. Let me get the negative out of the way first! The food. I was not expecting the food to be brilliant, or to be cheap. It was reasonably cheap, but it was awful! I had a burger and chips, which being from the UK, I expected to be French Fries. They were, of course, what I would call Crisps. Ok, my mistake. Still, I have never had a burger served with Crisps before. The Crisps were ok. ...  Read the complete review

I've traveled extensively in the USA and Canada by rail, notably during a one month rail trip that formed a complete circle from Montréal to the Pacific and back again. Many segments of that trip, and many other individual trips have been with Amtrak as a 'coach' (seated economy) passenger. To understand Amtrak you need to understand the rail system in America in general. Amtrak is unlike any European railway system, and subtly different from its nearest comparison, VIA Rail in Canada. Amtrak is technically a private company owned entirely by the government. It owns very little track - just a stretch in the electrified and heavily used 'North-East Corridor' ...  Read the complete review

In April 2003 I took a holiday to the good ole US of A to do a coast-to-coast trip, but as I don't drive I was in quite a dilema as to the best way to get around. Really there are three options: Flying - Expensive but fast Greyhound bus - Cheap but very slow Amtrak - Cheap (by UK standards) but still quite slow I chose Amtrak mainly because of the price and the idea I didn't have to sit in a cramped bus seat for my journey. I looked at the Amtrak website, and planned my route which was Washington DC - Charleston WV 9 hours $35 Charleston WV - Chicago IL 12 hours $40 Chicago IL - Reno NV 47 ...  Read the complete review