Hipster lifestyle website discovers cross-country train travel

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Joined
Sep 19, 2014
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Location
Washington, DC and Pittsburgh, PA
Whether your reaction is "uh-oh" or "great, hipsters will rejuvenate Amtrak," here it is:

http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/affordable-cross-country-train-trip-240767

It's targeted at a readership many of whom have probably criss-crossed Europe by train but never dreamt about doing so in their own country. (And, regretfully, are in for a rude shock if they compare our trains to many other countries'.)
 
I ate dinner on the empire builder with a college student visiting the USA from England. When someone at the table said "oh, I wish we had trains like yours" he replied with "I think you have very nice trains. The trains in England are always very late."
 
For some reason I knew it was from aparmenttherapy.com. :p

I see the same pattern in the comments section, people longing for the good old days of white glove services, lamenting over today's lack of good food and luxury, all the while forgetting nowadays Amtrak traveling is a government subsidized program.
 
I have to defend the UK trains... They may be late at times, but in my own experience, 95% arrive within a few minutes of published timetables. To say "they are always very late" is a gross misrepresentation. :p

Ed.
 
Well, I was riding Amtrak before it was cool!

(I dunno. I have mixed feelings about hipsters taking over things; I've seen prices rise in places that became "cool" and of course there are all the gentrification concerns. But it is nice to have people who care about something I also care about and who can maybe help keep it alive).
 
I have to defend the UK trains... They may be late at times, but in my own experience, 95% arrive within a few minutes of published timetables. To say "they are always very late" is a gross misrepresentation. :p

Ed.
Likewise for Amtrak trains. Ha.
I wouldn't use the 95% OTP,check the monthly stats,it varies widely!
 
I have to defend the UK trains... They may be late at times, but in my own experience, 95% arrive within a few minutes of published timetables. To say "they are always very late" is a gross misrepresentation. :p

Ed.
I agree, Caravanman....I've had good experiences on UK trains, maybe not as punctual as in Germany and Austria, but far superior to Amtrak.

From https://www.amtrak.com/historical-on-time-performance: "A long-distance train traveling over 550 miles would be considered "on-time" if it arrived at its final destination within 30 minutes of its scheduled arrival time. On-time performance is only calculated and measured at the end-point of a train route." By that fairly elastic metric, the Capitol Limited (my most-traveled train) was on-time 50% of the time in December and 62.4% of the time in the last 12 months. The Cardinal was 55.6% and 51.3%, respectively. And those are with generous padding in the schedules.
 
Acela Express 90.8%

Keystone 90.7%

NE Regional 84.%

It would appear Amtrak does a pretty good job when they are in control of the tracks. (Numbers above are for December 2016).
 
Nationally, Amtrak is behind UK though but the UK is at 79.1% nationally for "period 9" (13 November - 10 December) - Data from "network rail"
 
Why does this grown woman have her foot up on the wall? (to be fair, there's a guy, too, but he almost looks like a kid. Still?)
 
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As much as the whole "hipster" scene can be a bit cringeworthy, I'm happy to see any group of people potentially having increased interest in, and use of, Amtrak.
 
There are lies, damn lies, and statistics. :) .

Most UK train delays are caused on the heavily used, overcrowded and congested commuter lines into and out of big cities. My genuine feeling is that if I board a train in Nottingham, and travel to London, outside of the rush hours, it will arrive on time almost always.

Perhaps our UK student in post #3 was referring to his commuting woes.

Anyway, delays mean one can spend more time "enjoying" the ride. :p

Ed.
 
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I don't know what generation will take to the rails in the future but I can tell you that almost all the people of every age whom I speak on the subject with have no idea that you can travel long distance on Amtrak. AFAIK, long distance train travel has never been advertised as such. People are familiar with the NE corridor it seems but mention that you travel to DEN, LAX, NOL or CHI by train and you see an expression of wonder on their face.
 
In Amtrak's first decade, and the existence of the 14-day $150 USA Railpass, train travel became VERY cool among younger people -- of which I was close enough in age that they didn't treat me like grandpa.
 
if Amtrak wants to fill their trains, the affordable rail pass is the way to do it. All they need is a statistical study on the LD trains and the ridership by season. Where the trains are lightly used, sell two week rail passes (for that specific train) to help fill them up and also offer on-board upgrades to sleepers when they have not sold out in advance. Full trains = higher revenues. BTW, with the presidential inauguration this week, it seems that many NE corridor trains were completely sold out.
 
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