Posted by Alan Hakim on November 30, 2005 at 21:37:33 from 212.137.199.76 user awhakim.
In Reply to: Re: Planning Rail Routes posted by Eric Abraham on November 29, 2005 at 15:44:00:
Another train question - how many of you in the USA have traveled Amtrak - within the past year? last five years? ever taken a train?
I have very occasionally travelled by train in the USA. I'm not sure that San Francisco to San Jose counts as Amtrak, but more recently - less than 20 years ago - I went from Boston Mass to Albany NY. The first time, we took a plane, and although it was only quite a short flight, we were tipped out at Springfield Mass, and had to hang about for 45 minutes before resuming our journey. The second time, I found there was a very convenient afternoon Amtrak train, so we took it. All was well until we reached Springfield Mass, where someone threw a punch at the barman in the diner, and we had to wait for the police to come and take him away. We eventually arrived very late at Albany. I have taken against Springfield Mass.
On the other hand, it is clear that the railway staff are enthusiasts. This was the time when we were building the channel tunnel, and our waiter in the diner asked detailed questions about it. And Americans have this reputation of not knowing about overseas.
As for SouthWest trains in UK, about a year ago they did a massive reworking of their timetable, with the major objective of making the trains run to time. This has been so effective that our local trains are usually punctual to the minute and , more remarkably, slightly quicker than last year.