Which route(s) do you travel the most?

Based on your locations and travel habits, which Amtrak routes do you (or would you) travel the most?

In my case, because of where I live, and my transportation needs, I would probably travel on one of the Northeast Regionals most of the time.

:hi:

Da Wolverine to/from Chicago

Heartland Flyer (school in Norman and family/travel connections in Fort Worth) and Pere Marquette (home in Grand Rapids and business/travel connections/fun things in Chicago).

CZ, east or west as it is the only way for me to get anywhere by rail.

SarahZ said:

Da Wolverine to/from Chicago

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Just like Da bears of Chicago?

Being from Philly I ride Acela, Regionals, and Keystones most often. As for LD trains since most of my LD train travel finds me in Chicago, I'm normally using the Cap one way and the Cardinal or LSL the other way.

Since I started riding Amtrak frequently in 2012:

19 Silver Star

4 Crescent

4 Northeast Regional

3 Capitol Limited

3 Empire Service

3 Silver Meteor

2 Carolinian

2 Piedmont

1 Autumn Express

1 Coast Starlight

1 Empire Builder

1 Lake Shore Limited

1 Maple Leaf

1 Pacific Surfliner

1 Pennsylvanian

I will be moving from the Tampa area to Chicago next Summer at which point my most travelled route will likely become the Capitol Limited, although I will have far more routes to choose from.[emoji2]

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I live an hour from Spokane. And two of my favorite destinations are Seattle and Glacier Park. Therefore the clear winner is the Empire Builder.

Since the Texas Eagle is the only Train that comes through Austin, it's the winner by default!

If forced to pick one route to ride most, I'll take the Starlight!

The Northeast Regional between HFD and WAS.

You might as well relabel your question:

Where do you live and where do you most want to go?

Not to mention Amtrak does have ridership data. Plus I do remember posting a similar poll (although I did include defunct routes as well).

And we know what Acela150's answer for LD would be if it still existed...

SWC frpm Chicago to LA or Fullerton and back.

Home station is Newton Kansas. The Chief gets me to the rest of the system. I live in Oklahoma so I have to drive three hours north to get on at 3 AM. Have been NEW-CHI so many times I can look out the windows and know where the train is at all times. Have been west three times and next month going all the way to LA.

The California Zephyr is my usual train ride.

Other than a 1 day round trip to Burlington back when AGR Double Days still offered a minimum of 100 AGR points, I ride the CZ west to Sacramento.

Ottumwa and Osceola are both 95 miles from my home. OTM is staffed. OSC isn't.

I get to ride the train an extra 80 or so miles in each direction if I board at OTM.

Bob Dylan said:

Since the Texas Eagle is the only Train that comes through Austin, it's the winner by default!

If forced to pick one route to ride most, I'll take the Starlight!

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If you want the Sunset Limited she's all yours. :lol:

I can't argue with the Coast Starlight though. Amtrak's most varied route with the best viewing car (PPC) and least amount of sightseeing downtime.

In order of frequency:

Amtrak Cascades (at least a couple of times a year)

Coast Starlight (once or twice a year on average)

Empire Builder (once a year on average)

Southwest Chief (once every couple years on average)

The Empire Builder is overrated in my view, although it is the direct train east for me. When I have time and money, I use a Coast Starlight/Southwest Chief combination. The SW Chief is a sentimental favorite because my first overnight train ride was on the AT&SF Super Chief and the route always reminds me of that. Also, while not as dramatic as parts of the EB, the SW Chief has good scenary for longer stretches.

If we are discussing our favorite route, it would probably be the California Zephyr or Empire Builder for me based on the videos and pictures I have seen. I will be able to speak from personal experience after my winter trip, but considering my favorite scenery is snow and mountains I doubt I will be disappointed. However, they will still not be my most travelled route anytime soon. Although I greatly enjoy riding Amtrak, it is as much a transportation method for me as it is an experience in itself and I have few connections in the Western states. All of my domestic intercity trips are by Amtrak, but my trips are usually planned around the destination rather than the individual route. For example, I recently have taken around 6-7 Amtrak trips per year, 3 of which are Tampa-Raleigh round trips which is not a particularly scenic or enjoyable route. It certainly doesn't help me that Florida is essentially a full day of travel time from any long-distance connecting trains west (with the exception of North Carolina, where two connections can be made to access the southbound/westbound Crescent).

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My most frequent travel route is from Oregon to see family in Boston. Before AGR II, I took all sorts of routes to get there and back -- however I could manage to route the trip in order to get a different train (FINALLY got to take the Card on my last AGR I trip, when I went w/o Hubby who wouldn't ride it because it doesn't have a full diner).

Now that it's AGR II, my route will almost always be WIH (Wishram WA, in the Columbia Gorge) to BOS via the Empire Builder and Lake Shore Ltd. I love the CZ, SWC, etc, but can't justify the extra expenditure on my budget. Nor do I wish to spend more points on my trips, and take fewer of them. There may also be opportunities for Hub and me to go to California together, and I will enjoy the Coast Starlight as a second-most-frequent route.

City of New Orleans north and south from home station, Newbern

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CZ and the Wolverines, Grand Junction to Jackson, MI.

Where I live, the NER is pretty much my only option w/o driving to Richmond.

And since my sister's family lives near Harrisburg, PA, my usual route is the Regional + Keystone.

Empire Service, ALB-NYP, several hundred times.

Followed by NYP-WAS by a few hundred times.

(Work used to take me to NYP quite a bit. Then had a job in DC where I commuted almost weekly, so roughly 30-40 trips a year for 4+ years.)

After that, probably the Crescent (once or twice a year in both directions).

Then LSL (3 times this year, after a drought of over a decade.)

Northeast Regional to Philadelphia from either Norfolk or Newport News.

We have probably taken the most trips on the NEC ; Acela, Business Class and Coach to WAS. ( 20+ trips), followed by the CL (16 trips) ( HFY, ,WAS,PGH- CHI). Then the going gets thinner A/T (9 trips), CZ (6 trips) CHI-DEN, CDL (6 trips) PHL-CHI, Crescent PHL-NOL (2 trips), EB (2 trips), (CONO) CHI-NOL, 1 trip. . Have yet to ride the S.W Chief or Sunset Ltd.but we don't usually have the time to travel that far West just yet.

Since September 24, 2013:

Coast Starlight - 38 times

Hoosier State - twice

Empire Builder (Portland Branch) - once

Southwest Chief - once

San Joaquin (Sac Branch) - once

San Joaquin (Oakland Branch) - once

Coming up next:

Coast Starlight: 4 times

Texas Eagle (422): once

California Zephyr: once

Averaging 8 to 9 trips per year.

Most common trips (Top 3):

Coast Starlight, between Klamath Falls and Portland (11 trips)

Coast Starlight, between Klamath Falls and Sacramento (9 trips)

Coast Starlight, between Klamath Falls and Los Angeles (6 trips)

Living in Nashville my favorite train trip is a Southwest or American flight away. My favorite Amtrak train I ride two or three times a year is the full trip Chicago to Emeryville on the California Zephyr. Love the trip between Denver and Grand Junction the most but the Sierras Reno to Colfax is just a spectacular. Will be riding the CZ both directions in December just so I can ride in Car 532 and 632 while the sleepers are still on the rear end of the train.