5 Ways British and American Train Travel is Very Different 

UPDATE: I did not know there was a rail strike unfolding in the US when I posted this video. Didn't want you to leave confused as to why I didn't mention it.

To be fair to Amtrak, federal law requires that freight service make way for Amtrak trains, not the other way around. The freight companies don't care and the law is rarely (if ever) enforced. Thus, the passenger service is needlessly and illegally held up through no fault of its own. I'm sure Amtrak has other issues that cause problems, but this one in particular is not their fault.

When I was a boy, 70 years ago, the US had a much more comprehensive passenger rail network. I lived in a small town, with a population of about 4,000, in northern Kansas. There was a 'local' that went through town twice a day. It went to two larger cities, one at each end of the route. People regularly rode it to one of the two, did their shopping, went to a doctor's appointment or something similar, and returned the same day.

There was a very comprehensive passenger rail network in the US well into the 1950s. It was mostly dismantled over the following decades because , as you point out , the government built the world’s largest automobile expressway system and kept motor fuel taxes ( and therefore prices) some of the lowest in the world and also supported the great expansion of passenger airlines.

That price you found for the Empire Builder from Chicago to Seattle would have been for a seat in coach. For sleeping car accommodations, you'd be looking at closer to $500-$1,000, but you'd have a bed for 2 nights & free meals in the dining car (so think 2 nights in a hotel + 2 days' worth of restaurant meals, plus you're not having to drive a car cross-country).

Took Amtrak today! It is really funny going from the super-fast part of the Northeast Regional, zipping past cities, to the slow section poking through Virginia countryside. Definitely the nicest way to do a trip from New York to Virginia, though.

When I was a child my mother and I traveled from New York to Los Angeles by train and back twice. Loved it.

I've taken Amtrak a few times. I really enjoy it if time isn't an issue. Bring all the food you want with you and plenty of space to chill often

a tip for yanks planning to visit the UK: if you're going to be hopping city to city, look into the britrail pass. it's a multiday pass especially for visitors to the UK, and IIRC, we paid $100.00 (US) each for first class tickets for two days.

I love the train. I live in South Carolina, but I love to visit my home state of Connecticut at least once a year for holidays or as time and pandemics allow. 16 hrs. But, it's cheep and you don't have to take your shoes off. The view is nothing you would see driving in a car. Plus, there is a bar and somebody else is driving. 🤣

Hello! American Lady here. I usually fly if I have to go out of state. Jets are much faster and cheaper than passenger trains. I only wish our railways were halfway decent and economical.

I once rode Amtrak from Washington, D.C. to Oakland. It was a nice trip, but it took four days and five nights. It's a great way to travel cross-country if you have time, but not if you're in a hurry. California is working on a high-speed rail system through the central valley that eventually is supposed to connect Sacramento, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and San Diego. It's very far behind schedule and over budget.

I take my kiddos on Amtrak to nearby cities on occasion. While it is less stressful than driving (as others have pointed out), Amtrak travels so slowly, and is so often behind schedule, that no time is saved. I miss European trains!!!

we took the Empire Builder (amtrak) from Wisconsin to Seattle last spring. While you can do it in a Coach seat, if you can (catch a sale) get a sleeper room! it's much more comfortable and meals are included. going through Glacier Nat. Park at sunset was amazing!

My parents used to love to take the train from VT to PA. It was a nice ride and they didn't have to switch trains. We used to do from Baltimore too. It was so much nicer than flying.

The problem is in the US, many people believe public transportation is for poor people with the possible exception of the NE Corridor.

In the US, outside the Northeast Corridor, passenger rail is an adult amusement ride.

I live in the UK and have travelled a lot in the US while on vacations and would always choose to travel by train, if possible. City to city has not usually been a problem. I have been Denver to Washington DC, DC to Seattle, Chicago to LA and have always had a sleeper compartment with shower facility, plus meals are included. It does cost a lot more than flying and takes hours longer, but if I’m on vacation and not in a rush to get anywhere, it is a wonderful way to travel and to see the country. I am flying to Canada shortly and will taking a train journey from Nova Scotia to NYC, via Montreal and Niagara. Then by train from NYC to the Florida Keys. I can hardly wait!

One reason that there are few Amtrak trains on long-distance routes is that the freight railroads that own the track fight tooth and nail against every additional train. Boswash is different because Amtrak owns the tracks. Also, while a seat on Amtrak train is fairly cheap, a roomette will rival business-class airfare.

Living in the Northeastern U.S., I'm fortunate to live and work within walking distance to two train stations. You'd think I could easily commute by train, especially since taking the car always results in getting stuck in traffic jams both ways. Every time I've used the train, I get stuck--either at the office or I get stranded between stops because my connection never shows up. So, in my experience, the train is good for a fun day going to NYC to walk around. Never when you have to be somewhere at a specific time. On a recent trip to the UK, I had the opportunity to experience the British rail system, and I was impressed. Trains were on time, there were lots of them and I love the beverage/snack cart. Of course, my experiences are only anecdotal, and this guy actually did his research with facts and figures!

I loved the trains when I visited Britain. So much easier to get around. Love your channel.

Can't wait to see video with you and Beesleys. I've been around a lot in the UK by train but here in the USA only from Chicago to New Orleans back in the mid 90s. It was pretty fun and I certainly saw a part of the USA I would have just flown over.

I live in the US, and I've never taken a train. I can't even think of anytime anyone I know has taken a train. Planes are great for long distance travel. And for everything else there are cars.

There is an amtrak train called the auto train. It runs from Lorton VA just south of DC to Stanford Florida just east of Orlando. It's non-stop other than a stop in Florence South Carolina to change crews. It is slower than a regular amtrak since the train is about half a mile long in the back is where your car is stored. It takes about 16 to eighteen hours. It parallels Interstate 95 for the most part then Interstate 4 the rest of the way.

Thanks for mentioning density. Everyone thinks a bullet train is cool but many don't understand that density makes it economically feasible or not

I've traveled a lot in Europe by train, as I had a Euro Rail Unlimited pass one summer. The British trains were OK, but the trains in Germany were truly impressive....and of course, on time to the second.

I'm glad you found Amtrak and had a nice experience, I've been able to ride the Northeast Corridor from New York to Baltimore from Philadelphia, and on the West coast from Eugene, Oregon to Portland and Seattle. It's wonderful if you have patience for the occasional delay, and you see parts of this country that are very nice and unique. It's a shame we don't have more rail service, but we're a huge swath of land and fuel is expensive..

Passenger trains are subsidized, for the most part, by the governments in both the USA and the UK/Europe while airlines, in the USA, are private ventures.

Good to see a fellow Grimbarian on the internet! I always found the trains leaving Grimsby to be more crowded than those arriving, but that’s no great surprise, is it?!

Total non-sequitur here...Love your teapot.

On a practical level, if you take Amtrak across the country, it is very uncomfortable to be sitting in a seat for 48 hours. If you book a sleeper suite which has a bed, then it will cost 4 to 5 times as much, although meals will be included. It will be quicker and cheaper to fly instead.

Thanks for a most interesting piece. I am from the UK, living in Canada but over the last 20 years have travelled every Amtrak route except for a couple of short sections - and these I hope to "bag" now retired and post-lockdown. You cannot beat train travel to relax and appreciate the scenery and the sheer scale of the country. While a lot of comments have compared frequencies and speed of service, there are some additional differences between the US and UK in how a trip proceeds that are worth mentioning. 1. Amtrak does not sell more tickets than seats - like an airline - so you will have a seat or berth somewhere (but conversely trains may "sell out" at busy times). If a sleeper, berth will be indicated on the ticket, if coach class, the coach (car) number may be on the ticket, but a crew member may assign you a seat on boarding if the train is busy, otherwise not. A UK train ticket may come with a seat reservation but not always - so you could end up standing all the way, even for a premium fare. 2. In the US, there is a distinction between commuter lines and long-distance lines - separate operators and separate tickets needed - while in the UK this is blurred, and some trains serve both commuters and long-distance passengers. This may save changing and be cheaper, but trains may be crowded for part of their route and not have luggage space. 3. At terminal stations and major intermediate stations in the US, you are usually required to stay in a waiting area until your train is called rather than going on to the platform. And most of these have wooden bench seats dating from 19th century when the station was built. In the UK, there are sometimes small waiting rooms, but you are free to come and go from the platform. 4. There are service distinctions of "Standard" and "First" classes in the UK, the latter charging about a 50% premium - but what you get depends on the operating company - anything from a doily on the back of a standard seat to bigger seats and free snacks. Amtrak has a "coach" and "business" class in its northeastern corridor - the latter more expensive and with bigger seats and free snacks and a designated waiting area. Acela trains are more highly priced and offer an extra level above this. But on long-distance services the distinctions are "coach" and "sleeper". With coach you get a very large reclining seat, and for sleeper there are various types of rooms at different prices, which also vary according to how close to sold out the train is. But sleeper passengers also have free meals (not alcohol) in the restaurant car, and on some services like the Coast Starlight up the west coast, there is free wine tasting and nibbles as well. 5. Aside from trains operating into New York, the main US cross-country services have double-decker coaches and include an observation car (with a snack bar downstairs) something pretty well absent on regular UK trains. 6. Complete strangers on US trains quite often talk to each other, whereas in the UK, aside from a mutual grumble when delays are announced, there is generally pointed lack of eye contact. 7. And sorry, this one is not going to be popular. With British Rail in the 70s, staff had a reputation for grumpiness, but nowadays most train staff in the UK are generally cheerful, even make jokes. General experience with Amtrak over a couple of decades I am sorry to say is far different. With some exceptions, most staff appear brusque at best. You might yourself ordered about, even shouted at if you go the wrong way, and it is not exaggerating to say that Amtrak seems to recruit from the "Boot Camp School of Etiquette". Once the whole carriage I was in burst out laughing at the ridiculously threatening nature of one of the on-board announcements. And this does not "come with the territory" of long-distance trains - the cross-country train staff in Canada appear to like their jobs and chat and joke with passengers - it is quite a different experience.

I loved taking the train. When I lived in Chicago. Now that I am in western North Carolina not so much. I would now have to drive 1-2 hours in order to find a station, depending on whether I wanted to go to Spartanburg/Greenville or Charlotte. But I used to take the Texas Eagle to San Antonio, or I've taken the train to New Jersey, DC, Miami. I took my first train on the old Santa Fe Chief - the first and last time that I took coach. Always took a sleeper/roomette after that. Age might have had something to do with it, p,us your meals are paid for.

Aside from a short trip from Nashville to Franklin, Tennessee with my kindergarten class (probably around 1961), I’m not sure I’ve ever ridden in a passenger train in the US. And the one longer train trip I remember making in North America was with my family from Montreal to Quebec City in 1967. I remember being impressed with it, as one might be at age 11, but the main thing I remember about it are glass bowls on the tables in the dining car with flowers in them that bobbed with the movement of the train.

An interesting comparison is the comprehensiveness and a rate comparison between freight shipping via rail in the US vs. Europe. US freight rail far outstrips Europe in efficiency and low cost. That is one of the things that helps keep our highways more bearable for passenger vehicles - we have fewer semi-trailers on the roads per ton of freight moved, simply because of our rail network. I think you hit the nail on the head with your analysis. Our distances and population density just make train travel a poor third or fourth choice. Lastly, especially in those areas where it would do some good, it has become financially impossible to obtain the land to expand rail service. Land is just too expensive, and the regulations simply too encumbering. I suspect that European governments, with their more centralized and powerful administrative systems can likely make such extensions of service happen far more easily.

When our family traveled in Germany in 1985 - non-German speakers - a nice man pointed out our track and told us - don’t get on any train except the one there at the time on our ticket. Whoosh whoosh - trains in and out - we got on the right one! Nothing like the long amount of time you have for boarding in the US! 😅 I have mostly traveled tourist trains in the US - like a coal fired narrow gauge along the Colorado - New Mexico mountains- fabulous ride! There was even an open top car at the back, so you finally understood why people wore hats and had traveling clothes in the olden days. We had so much ash on us and in our hair!

The first time I took Amtrak with my family, the train overbooked. In other words, we had to spend it where the crew had to be. There were a few other people with us. One guy spent all night getting up and down in order to get things in and out of the upstairs compartment. It was not a pleasant experience. Luckily, on the return trip, we got a regular seat and we could see the views. It was much more pleasant. I don’t like Amtrak. On the other hand, my family took the train after watching musicals in London. You’re right about it being packed. I like them better in the UK. I thought that you were going to mention about the doors. There are so many more of them in the UK, so getting on and off are easier.

The Northeast corridor is quite good, but yes, outside of a few commuter rail services, US rail generally sucks terribly.

A year or two before covid a friend of mine from England came to the US on a 3 month holiday. He started in New York, then took Amtrak to DC before coming to see me in Cincinnati. Amtrak only stops here once a week usually between 1 and 2:30am on its way to Indianapolis and Chicago. The following week I took him back to Union Terminal and he went to Chicago. From there he went to New Orleans on Amtrak with a stop off in Memphis, then went back to Chicago and took Amtrak to Denver. In Denver he got a rental car to complete the rest of the trip going up through Yellowstone to Seattle, then down the WA, OR, and CA coast before turning back east and ending the US portion of his trip in Las Vegas.

Yeah sometime early 2000's I had a friend come to visit the US from Ireland... He wanted to see as many of his guildmates (from our game) as he could while here... he mentioned taking the bus and train... and we were like ... Um... you do know that the buses in the US and trains are NOTHING like the UK... like you can be on that for days and hours... and hours and hours... and the buses in the US tend to come and go from some pretty shady parts of town... but yeah... he kinda found that out.

American rail travellers don’t have to suffer with Northern as their local franchise, or Avanti cancelling pretty much every train my partner and I try to get to London and back.

I rode on Amtrak from near Washington DC to Cincinnati, Ohio and loved it. You get a better view as it winds in and out of tunnels through the mountains of Virginia and W Virginia. Loved the view at night as it followed the Ohio river and came to Cincinnati and crossed over the bridge. It was beautiful!

Love riding Amtrak. In fact, leaving Wednesday at 11:00 for Detroit. It arrives at 8:00pm. Almost the same time as driving as I'd have to try and get thru Chicago. And then the stop and go..stop and go..Give me the train everytime.

from the UK's NetwrokRail website: Network Rail owns, operates and develops Britain’s railway infrastructure   That’s 20,000 miles of track, 30,000 bridges, tunnels and viaducts and the thousands of signals, level crossings and stations. We manage 20 of the UK’s largest stations while all the others, over 2,500, are managed by the country’s train operating companies.

I'm a regular Amtrak rider -- that is, when they don't CANCEL. I commute 4-7 times a month, Hammond/Whiting----Dearborn on the 'Wolverine'. I book my tickets well in advance, only to be notified of CANCELLATION. It's quixotic and maddening. Amtrak spent a ton of $$$$, tearing down and rebuilding the HMI station in 2020, never opening the station house. The unpredictably of Amtrak has forced me to fly Midway-Detroit.

As alluded to in the video, the US train system is optimized for freight. As a result, we have about twice the portion of our freight traveling by train as in Europe. If you were to optimize for passengers, freight traffic would suffer significantly and there would be a huge increase in road freight traffic. If you want both excellent freight rail and excellent passenger rail, you really need two separate rail systems. And there simply isn't enough demand (nor is there likely to be such demand in the future) for a multi-trillion dollar investment in a nationwide passenger rail system. Amtrak is a hobby, not a business.

_IMPORTANT_ the Asailor or Acela line is called the northeast corridor and has the track geometry dating back way further than the first world war, and overhead equipment from the 30s and 40s barely unchanged, speeds usually throttled by some pieces of infrastructure or geometry

You found the area where US infrastructure is severely lacking. We’re missing so much in good train infrastructure; the UK is amazing in this regard. But I think a better price comparison would be London to Liverpool (which I did for ~£40) or even Edinburgh, vs DC to NYC (which generally runs $120-$200. I think on the trips I’ve taken I have always paid significantly less for trains in the UK vs the US, which has been limited to the NE corridor (cities between DC and Boston), except for Eurostar which is pretty pricey (but an experience).

One thing you have forgot is the famous British Railcard where passengers can get 1/3rd off this applies for 'two-together', under 25s, Senior over 60s, Trans-Pennine on their website will do special 55 year olds and over offers. My greatest ticket bargain(with railcard was travelling first class to a location 2 and 1/2 hours out of London from Luton (having to go into London for some bizarre reason) for £40 travelling first class all the way, this included a free meal in the first class lounge in London Kings Cross and hot free meal on the train home!

I only traveled long distance by train once in my life from the Bay Area to the Mojave desert, ironically to pick up a car. My only other train experiences were local metro train routes and the Napa Valley wine train tour. Otherwise train travel in the US isn’t feasible for most intra or inter state travel.

As an American who loved four years in England I can say that both there and here my motivation for taking the train in either country was always nostalgia for a golden era. Never for any imagined benefits. Planes are always faster (everywhere in the world) and private cars are always the most versatile.

Appreciate the comparision, in all fairness both countries used to have much more extensive rail networks. Both saw their respective downfalls, the U.K. had the Beeching Axe and British Rail, in the U.S. it was the Interstate Commerce Commission and the rise of the highway and air travel.

Really like that set. Pretty awesome set up from the home.

I’ve never been on Amtrak, but I’ve always wanted to do that cross country run🐝🤗❤️

Differences in bus travel: it exists everywhere in the U.K. Even tiny islands have at least some bus service, usually for taking elderly people to the post office to pick up their pension.

It's probably a rabbit hole you won't want to go down, but being old enough to be your mum (or possibly your gran), I remember when freight trains were decimated with the Beeching cuts in the 1960s. Areas that depended on freight, eg on the Tamar valley lost industries almost overnight. Were there similar cuts in America?

I lived in Germany for 3 1/2 years and one of the biggest differences that I still miss is how easy it is to get around by train. I don't know if they still do this but it was also incredibly cheap especially if you could get a group & split the cost. The closest you will find to Europe in the US will be the Northeast corridor between DC & Boston or commuter rail that will connect small segments such as the Metra in Chicago.

My friends who have traveled to Europe, love the trains over there. When I was a child, I traveled by train twice round trip to Los Angeles. I loved it.

UK has railcards which reduce the cost by 1/3 for regular travellers. Travelling outside peak times reduces cost. The UK and some other European countries are beginning to get discount operators which can reduce cost on popular routes, which is where prices tend to be highest. Many routes have more than one operator increasing competition. Slower trains also tend to be cheaper. Split tickets are another way of reducing costs.

I've heard a lot of whinging from British folk about their train service but, in my limited experience, it is excellent. I've used the trains in England and Scotland and every experience has been good. I'll be traveling to Wales next month and will fly into Manchester which is 3+ hours from my destination at Holy Head but I expect no trouble in getting there. Being able to board a train at the airport is insanely wonderful. The air connections into Manchester and the train connections from there make it my go-to airport (and it avoids the madness of London).

Honestly, there are a lot of problems with high speed rail in the United States. The Northeast Corridor (Trackage the Acela runs on) is often limited to below the top speed of 150 MPH that service offers. In Connecticut for example, the Amtrak Acela and Northeast Regional services rarely travel above 100 MPH because the track infrastructure is not very good. And of course Connecticut is pretty much just buffer space between cities like New York and Boston so people in Connecticut aren’t going to want to pay for something they aren’t going to benefit much from. So you’ll be riding Amtrak and be like, “Wow I’ve been in Connecticut for two hours now.” Major cities in the U.S. are also much further apart than cities in the UK of course, so the cost to maintain the tracks is higher. It’s just a difficult problem. The Amtrak Hartford Line (also served by CT Rail) is the closest passenger route to me, but it’s still about a fifteen or twenty minute drive. That line goes from new haven, CT to Springfield, MA, passing through Hartford on the way. This summer there were very few trains on that track, maybe five a day due to construction. And it’s a 45 minute drive to new haven to get a train on the northeast corridor. This really illustrates your point on how spread out everything is, and why people still won’t ride trains that often. Sorry for the rant, I am sort of a train nerd lol

My son used to travel the US via Amtrak quite often. I was shocked to find out that the ticket price he paid was higher than the cost of a flight to the nearest destination airport. But he didn't drive until he was in his 30s (he's 39), and adding the cost of taxis would have boosted the cost to at least as much as the train ticket. Besides that, most of the destinations he was traveling to have an Amtrak station nearer than the closest airport. One exception was Traverse City, Michigan. It would have been much faster to drive there from the opposite coast of Michigan, where we live. He was only able to take the Amtrak to a certain point (I don't remember if it was Grand Rapids or Kalamazoo), and then had to board a Greyhound bus to go the rest of the way, with so many stops along the way that I think he said that leg of the trip alone took seven hours. That might be what finally motivated him to stop being environmentally friendly by not driving a personal vehicle.

I've taken Amtrak quite a number of times. When I was an undergrad, I took the train home for the weekend. In fact, I went to a downstate university and the Chicago kids would pack the station every Friday and Sunday. Even for a few years after grad school, I'd often take the train to Chicago for Christmas shopping at Marshall Field's and Water Tower, or for day trips or professional appointments. Great dining and good times.

In Serbia, first high speed line opened this year. 80 km in 30 minutes, max speed is 200km/h and price is 400 dinar (about 3.5€).

In the US train travel makes more sense for distances of 30-300 miles. Above that, especially it its often more convenient and even cheaper to fly. Amtrak knows this and that's why they're mostly pushing for rail routes shorter than 500 miles. Also keep in mind that most towns and cities in the UK are less than 500 miles away from each other.

I'm glad that you mentioned that 95% of the rails in the US are owned by the cargo companies👍

The US Interstate system killed passenger train travel and many towns. When I took Amtrak from Harper's Ferry WV to DC I was surprised at how slow it was. The cars on the highway were going faster.

Made it a point to use National rail to get out of London on our honeymoon, first we went to Windsor Castle, via Slough (it took us five tries to say it correctly, Sl-ow (as in “Ow my foot got caught in the closing train door”). Then we did the “Old Mail Route” to Dublin, Virgin Trains from Euston to Holyhead via Crewe. It really was a nice ride up the West Coast Main Line (though we saw no coast until we turned off it to use the line across North Wales Coast Line.) No I cannot pronounce most of the Welsh towns we stopped at (except Conwy, very nice castle), so I will not attempt to say Llanfairpwllgwyngyll… etc.

The price comparison is for. Coach ticket, correct? I know that it's considerably more expensive for a roomette or bedroom on long-haul service. Would love to take the trains from Chicago to the west coast some day. Another issue w/train travel vs. driving is the lack of a car at your destinan. Not as much of an issue in big cities, and I suppose services like Uber & Lyft help too.

I'm unsure if it was a fluke or a regular occurrence but I went from Seattle to Portland last month (Cascades) and it was apparently full according to the announcements. Contrast that with the plane I took to get there and while it wasn't quite empty there were quite a few empty seats. A couple months prior I took Coast Starlight from Albany to Portland and there were quite a few people on that as well, so maybe the PNW takes intercity trains more than most places.

Actually, the biggest problem with train travel in the USA is that Amtrak DOESN'T own most of its track.

When I lived in NYC, I would rarely take Amtrak to Washington, DC (or anywhere really) because it was about twice the cost of a bus ticket and would take the same amount of time to get from a to b. The biggest issue is that the freight companies own the rail lines in the US, not Amtrak. The trains are nicer, seats are bigger, aisles wider, but the cost and time that it takes makes it less and less worth it. There was a time when this country had a pretty extensive rail service as well as public transportation, but the automobile industry killed that.

Am blessed to live by the Northeast Corridor. I won’t travel to New York City any other way than the Acela. It’s a little more pricey than the standard Amtrak service but so much more comfortable. Also, the fastest any train goes in the US is allowed to open up is the Acela on a stretch of track between Mansfield, MA and Richmond, RI. I’ve taken Amtrak from Boston to San Diego via Chicago and LA. That trip took almost 65 hours. I tried going coach class on the way but fought tooth and nail to have a roomette on the return.

American passenger trains are largely the fruit of putting General Motors in charge of transportation policy in the years after World War II. For passenger trains this meant Diesel-electric locomotives would supplant steam power and the public expected the streamlined new technology would be faster than cars or buses. When the Diesels proved no faster (and in some cases not as fast) as the steam locomotives, passengers walked away and trains began to disappear. Diesel was well-suited to freight traffic and requires very little physical plant, so railroads are inalterably opposed to electrification. Thus it's unlikely there will be any substantial improvement in intercity passenger trains in the USA.

We have a decent rail system here in the metro area in central UT, there is a high speed commuter rail (Frontrunner) that runs north/south and 3 light rail lines (Trax) in the Salt Lake City area, one that even goes directly to the international airport which makes it so we can take the train directly to the airport, which is quite handy and less expensive than parking there.

My small city has a track that runs right down the center of it, splitting the city. The only trains we have that run through here are freight trains - no passenger trains. However, that is to be expected because right alongside the track are several industries in which the freight trains stop to load and unload. This may happen several times a day. There was a time in which the trains stopped on the track blocking the road crossings causing serious problems because the firetrucks and ambulances were blocked from getting to their emergency calls. After several lawsuits, the trains were made to un-couple at the crossings to allow vehicular crossings (particularly the emergency vehicles). It takes the freight trains more time now because of the coupling and un-coupling that they have to go through, but it makes it safer for everyone. A passenger train, like Amtrak, would be stuck waiting for a while to pass through here if they ever had to use the track.

I once took Amtrak from Springfield IL to Joliet IL. It was supposed to take 5 hours, which is double the time in a car (if I had another way...). It took NINE HOURS. My husband could have driven down, loaded us up, and driven us home in less time than Amtrak.

I've never been on a train but have always wanted to. Now that I'm in a position to travel by train, I've found it virtually impossible to get from where I am to where I want to go without going from train to train to bus to taxi to car....and the only choice I have is to make those transfers in the middle of nowhere in the wee hours of the night. The more I juggle the routes, times and transfer points the more complicated and expensive it becomes. It'd be easier and more enjoyable if I just got on and rode with no particular destination in mind so, I guess I won't be going to see the relatives...by train, anyway.

As an Indy native, I fully agree with trying to avoid I-65.

I used to work for the Port Authority of NY & NJ. Whenever we were out at the airports Brits always commented on the fact there were no dedicated train lines into the city from the airports. Heathrow & Gatwick both had them 🚂

Oddly enough, although I am an American, I have never ridden American trains, but I have ridden quite a bit of British trains during my total of 6 weeks of vacationing there over the years. An easy way for Americans to mitigate the cost is to get the Britrail Overseas Visitor pass. I've gotten one on every trip and it's well worth the money. The only thing I would say negatively is don't bother with the first class pass. Not every line has first class car and if people book the train out with tickets before hand, you're still not guaranteed to get one (although it's usually not a problem since at least one or more them won't show up for their ticket).

Also worth mentioning is American automobile companies have a hard on for killing off public transportation (through lobbying or straight up buying and dismantling them), and this overall lack of public transportation generally means almost everyone in the US has their own car. Because of this, for most people it ends up being easier and cheaper* to just drive where you need to go. *Really, its only cheaper if you don't factor in the overall cost of your car from purchase and maintainence, not just cost in gas like most people calculate.

A flight from Chicago to Seattle is about $90 USD and takes about 5 hours. The US is large enough that it's cheaper and faster to fly long distance.

I have travelled on Amtrak several times. Once from Salt Lake to Chicago. Took 2 days or so but winter scenery through the Rockies is incredible. No fast travel also due to the curves and mountain passes. So the terrain slows down. On one trip we were 9 hours late to our final destination. Recently I tried to book Indy to Oregon. Would take 4 days and $1500 though that was to get a bed on the train. Maybe cover overnight travel. I could get an airline ticked for a fraction of the price. And Chicago Indy is 7 hours? I can nearly bike it at that speed. Takes 3 hours by car. Not sure why but I always feel as if we are about to derail.

Another problem with public transportation here in America is, the public. Case and point: NY Subway

Amtrak from Richmond, VA to DC or NY is the way to go actually. It is 6 1/2 hours to NY by train. It is worry free and you can drink alcohol on the way. Try that on I 95! Some fares are $69 USD round trip.

My dad sent me to college via train once because he would save $100 vs a plane ticket. And I arrived at college 24 hours late and missed my first day of classes. I had a 6 hour layover in Chicago, the first train missed this by 4 hours. We were late because of one mud slide, hitting a trailer full of 2x4s that was being pulled by a truck, and running over one lawnmower. Lets just say I've sworn off train travel.

My hubby and I traveled Amtrak across the country, from Cleveland to LA, and also Seattle to LA, we had a private rooms which makes traveling a bit easier. I never had such wonderful service as I had from the Amtrak staff. We knew that the schedule could very well be altered due to freight trains needing the rails. We are retired and could handle the bad schedule which we really didn’t have an issue with. I enjoyed talking with the passenger, meet a gentleman from the UK and actually sat next to a person, on our Seattle trip, that was from our neighborhood, small world! I hope we have the opportunity to travel the rails again.

A big part of difference is the way that American cities are organized. More and more, businesses and attractions are located on the fringes of cities, or outside the city proper (there are exceptions, like New York or DC, but there is a reason that train travel is still popular in those cities but not the rest of the country). European cities typically have all their hotels, entertainment venues, shopping, museums, office buildings, etc, within walking distance of the main train stations.

You're right about distances between places in the UK versus the US, and the emphasis on driving in the US affects the experiences in both countries. On a side note, if you like train travel, and am interested in traveling in Canada, I suggest the Rocky Mountaineer.

Unfortunately for AMTRAk, CSX in particular does not prioritize their traffic this way as they are not passenger train friendly at any stretch of the imagination. Norfolk Southern does have an office train that travels down their lines used for God only knows what and travels through the Cleveland area almost once a week or so.

Dude, you kill me. Laughing out loud, alone, in the dark, when I should be resting up for work tomorrow.

My wife is in love with that yellow teapot.

I live in the northeast, the only area of the country where most of the rail is Amtrak-owned. I love taking the night northeast regional train to visit my friends in other east coast cities, they're quiet, relatively comfortable, and cheaper than flying if you book far enough in advance. As you mentioned, there's Acela service for high-speed (soon to be updated to be even higher speed) and between DC and New York it actually carries more people than flying. Even commuter rail in NJ, MD, MA, and NY is fairly good too because their rail is mostly independent or part of Amtrak. Political lobbying on the part of automotive companies is a big part of the decline of American rail. Car-centric infrastructure expansion was rampant post WWII and few small towns across the US retained their rail service except in areas where it had been entrenched for almost a century at that point. There are a handful of small towns in middle America (where i grew up) with dense downtown areas that would once have had a rail connection to the bigger cities of the state and you could transfer to an intercity rail line, but they're all but a relic now. In my hometown, there is even a museum with a trolly that runs for about a mile, but its rail used to go all the way to the big city which itself used to have many more trollies, that have since been replaced with highways that demolished and separated the neighborhoods that used to be linked through rail.

If you can never pay the walk up price for a Ticket in the UK. Book several days ahead and save massively on all but commuter routes. Plus look for time of day discounts, travel out of peak times. Use a discount offer to save on many trips.

I love Amtrak for all of the reasons you said.

Between London and Edinburgh on Lumo is £30 lowest ticket

HEYYY LAWRENCE lol i did hop freight trains from 20 to 22, traveled up and down the east coast and as far west as reno but I'm no Indiana jones.. two dear friends of mine died in mobile Alabama in a rail yard. They slept in an open top gondola car with big metal beams in it. Come morning they jockey'd the cars around and the beams fell on them. RIP Keith and dylan

You were exceptionally kind to 'merica, seen UTub vids where continental express train was 'sidelined' , ( note excellent use of UK metaphor! ) by freight trains only for 5 hours!

Since you’re in Chicago I was hoping you’d talk at least a little about Metra (and other commuter rail services in the US)