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Guest
Last week we took a great train trip accross the continent. Here are the details:
NOL-CHI on the "City of N.O." Somewhat refurbished bedrooms, train arrived 30 min early into Chcago, food was OK+. Overall good service but ride quite bumpy at times. Overall: B+
CHI-GFK on the Empire Builder. I loved this train. They should refurbish all sleepers the same way they did in on the Empire Builder. Ride smoother than on the City. Arrived 30 min late into GFK. Dinner was great (I had the fish, prepared on board and it was delicious). Overall: A
GFK-WIN by car, rented one-way from Avis, about $100. There are also two bus companies.
WIN-VAN on the "Canadian." This train costs twice as much per mile as Amtrak for the same level of accomodation (we did double bedrooms throughout), so my expectations were high. On the plus side: *very* smooth ride, more comfortable beds and better food than Amtrak. However, the food was quite comparable to what I had on the Emprie Builder. On the minus side (and big minus that is), the windows on the dome car were dirty and had not been washed in ages. It spoiled the beauty of the Rocky Mountains. I plan on writing to Via's CEO to complain. Train arrived VAN 15 min before schedule. Overall A- (because of the windows).
In VAN we rented a car and drove up north to Wisthler -- great ski village.
VAN-SEA on the Cascades. Had dinner in the restaurant car. Dinner OK. Ride very bumpy on the Canadian side, relatively smooth south of the border. If only we could convince CN to improve the quality of the track in BC, the train could probably shave 30 min off the schedule and offer a more comfortable ride. Great scenery. Immigration control performed by US officers prior to boarding in Vancouver. In addition, the train stops at the border for customs inspection (why can they not do that in VAN as well?). The train was delayed some after leaving VAN, and was delayed even more at the border. We arrived SEA 25 min late. Overall B/B+
All in all, a great trip and experience! I wish we had more (and better) trains in North America!
NOL-CHI on the "City of N.O." Somewhat refurbished bedrooms, train arrived 30 min early into Chcago, food was OK+. Overall good service but ride quite bumpy at times. Overall: B+
CHI-GFK on the Empire Builder. I loved this train. They should refurbish all sleepers the same way they did in on the Empire Builder. Ride smoother than on the City. Arrived 30 min late into GFK. Dinner was great (I had the fish, prepared on board and it was delicious). Overall: A
GFK-WIN by car, rented one-way from Avis, about $100. There are also two bus companies.
WIN-VAN on the "Canadian." This train costs twice as much per mile as Amtrak for the same level of accomodation (we did double bedrooms throughout), so my expectations were high. On the plus side: *very* smooth ride, more comfortable beds and better food than Amtrak. However, the food was quite comparable to what I had on the Emprie Builder. On the minus side (and big minus that is), the windows on the dome car were dirty and had not been washed in ages. It spoiled the beauty of the Rocky Mountains. I plan on writing to Via's CEO to complain. Train arrived VAN 15 min before schedule. Overall A- (because of the windows).
In VAN we rented a car and drove up north to Wisthler -- great ski village.
VAN-SEA on the Cascades. Had dinner in the restaurant car. Dinner OK. Ride very bumpy on the Canadian side, relatively smooth south of the border. If only we could convince CN to improve the quality of the track in BC, the train could probably shave 30 min off the schedule and offer a more comfortable ride. Great scenery. Immigration control performed by US officers prior to boarding in Vancouver. In addition, the train stops at the border for customs inspection (why can they not do that in VAN as well?). The train was delayed some after leaving VAN, and was delayed even more at the border. We arrived SEA 25 min late. Overall B/B+
All in all, a great trip and experience! I wish we had more (and better) trains in North America!