amtrak

amtrak / train — View Comments
19
Apr 09

A lot can be said for traveling by train…

Some people are taking stabs on Obama’s claims of rail travel being green. I didn’t perform a massive survey, but common sense tells me that railroad travel can certainly help the environment. My travel schedule and mode of travel has changed drastically this year. Over the last four years, I traveled ~375k+ miles in the air. Things have changed a bit this year and I have chosen to take more local trips by train.

Here are some of the positives…

* Gives me a solid five hours of mostly uninterrupted time to focus on work.
* Requires significant less “early arrival” time than air travel.
* In my case, the train takes me from city center to city center
* Flexible booking and cancellation policies

There are a few negatives of train travel, but the flexibility of canceling and re-booking is amazing. I fell ill last week and literally waited until a few hours before the scheduled trip, I logged into my account and canceled a re-booked for another date. Try doing this on any airline, its a nightmare, not to mention fairly costly.

My biggest wish for rail travel would be reliable high speed internet service. I have been debating about snagging a 3G card for such trips, but can’t seem to justify the $60/month. I hope the rail companies take a serious look at trying to accomodate business travelers and provide internet (even if it were a paid service). I’d gladly pay $10/day for reliable access. Personally, I’d be interested in paying an annual flat rate. I know I’m not alone.

There is a ton of infrastructure work that needs to be done for the rail system. But, my experience has been fairly solid. It doesn’t compare to the service available in Europe, but wouldn’t require that much to be competitive. Let it be clear when I say not much – it would cost tons and require tremendous amount of work, but I think there are tons of people willing to pay for the service.

What is your rail experience like?