Traveling through east coast using Amtrak

[CJ2001]

Hi

Just wondering if anyone has travelled the east coast via Amtrak using a 15 day pass or a different pass. Is it cost effective & easier than going through airports? Would like to travel from NY down to Orlando & stop in say Chicago, Washington & some other places.

 

[PrincessInOz]

Have a great trip! Sounds like you're going to cover a bit of ground on this trip.


I've travelled NY to Boston and Montreal to NY. My experience with Amtrak is a pretty good one on the East Coast. It is easier by train for journeys of about 3 - 4 hours.

My only suggestion would be consider flying for the Chicago to NY leg. Whilst it isn't the same route, the Montreal to NY train journey took a long time. It was meant to be 7 or 8 hours on paper; but it ended up being close on 10 hours in the end. For that duration of time and distance, we would have been better off flying.

 

[cola]

I've done a few randon Amtrak journeys of 1-5hrs. Usually the station is in a very central area and relatively upmarket or business area of town and very easy to get to, no security to get through, making it all a lot faster than flying, and no issues with trying to drive yourself and park downtown (usually an expensive option).

Buses can be a lot cheaper than Amtrak and not too bad, but the bus depots can be in in some more run down areas of town, I'm not sure I'd consider Greyhound LA again if Amtrak LA was an option.


Some of the Amtrak stations it is worth going for the 'Red Cap' option - it's a free porter, though you obviously need to tip. At some of the larger multi-platform stations, they don't open the platforms until very close to departure time. If you go with a Red Cap porter, you can get to the platform beforehand and they get you on the train itself - some stations the platform is at door level, easy to get luggage in, some stations the platform is at track level which is pretty high to push cases in through the door - the Red Caps solve that issue, and put your luggage where it is meant to be.

We even used Amtrak going from Disneyland to Downtown LA, 45min, free wifi and a dining cart, it was great for $15, and there are commuter trains also for less than $10, no dining car - neither of those get mentioned very often as a transport option.

We just purchased individual tickets rather than a train pass because we did use planes for longer sections so the pass didn't make sense - I think train passes are only really good value if you use it every day. Amtrak often have discounted tickets on various routes, sign up for their newletter.

 

[CJ2001]

Have a great trip! Sounds like you're going to cover a bit of ground on this trip.


I've travelled NY to Boston and Montreal to NY. My experience with Amtrak is a pretty good one on the East Coast. It is easier by train for journeys of about 3 - 4 hours.

My only suggestion would be consider flying for the Chicago to NY leg. Whilst it isn't the same route, the Montreal to NY train journey took a long time. It was meant to be 7 or 8 hours on paper; but it ended up being close on 10 hours in the end. For that duration of time and distance, we would have been better off flying.

Thanks its still in planning stages at the moment - havent even saved anything yet (hoping to win the lotto!!)

That's good to know about the Chicago leg as I have no idea how long it takes to get anywhere.

Was Montreal nice?

 

[CJ2001]

I've done a few randon Amtrak journeys of 1-5hrs. Usually the station is in a very central area and relatively upmarket or business area of town and very easy to get to, no security to get through, making it all a lot faster than flying, and no issues with trying to drive yourself and park downtown (usually an expensive option).

Buses can be a lot cheaper than Amtrak and not too bad, but the bus depots can be in in some more run down areas of town, I'm not sure I'd consider Greyhound LA again if Amtrak LA was an option.


Some of the Amtrak stations it is worth going for the 'Red Cap' option - it's a free porter, though you obviously need to tip. At some of the larger multi-platform stations, they don't open the platforms until very close to departure time. If you go with a Red Cap porter, you can get to the platform beforehand and they get you on the train itself - some stations the platform is at door level, easy to get luggage in, some stations the platform is at track level which is pretty high to push cases in through the door - the Red Caps solve that issue, and put your luggage where it is meant to be.

We even used Amtrak going from Disneyland to Downtown LA, 45min, free wifi and a dining cart, it was great for $15, and there are commuter trains also for less than $10, no dining car - neither of those get mentioned very often as a transport option.

We just purchased individual tickets rather than a train pass because we did use planes for longer sections so the pass didn't make sense - I think train passes are only really good value if you use it every day. Amtrak often have discounted tickets on various routes, sign up for their newletter.[/QUOTED/]

Thanks for the info. Does luggage go in the cabin with you? I thought it might be stored in another compartment of the train? Or can you only take hand luggage on board?

Will definetly sign up for the newsletter then!

 

[cola]

Most of the trains we caught the only place for luggage was in the carriage, either with you on the overhead rack, or near the entrance to the carriage there was an area for suitcases - another reason why the Red Cap porters are good. If you join a train that is already half full and the luggage section is full, I always feel uncomfortable rearranging someone else's bags, and it is usually physically awkward too. The Red Cap porters just move everything around and fit your bag in before everyone else gets on the train so you're not getting in the way of anyone else. We didn't bother with the Red Caps on arrival, only for departure getting onto the train.

I think there was only one train we used on the west coast on which you could do checked luggage, but by that time we were used to it in the carriage and didn't bother.
Security, you can use something like a bike chain to lock it to the luggage rack, but that would probably annoy a Red Cap porter. I just had the suitcases locked and kept an eye on them when people were getting off, but we were only doing daytime up to 4hr trips. Longer distances, we flew.

 

[Aussie Wendy]

I didn't know about Red cap porters - filing that away for future reference thanks Cola

 

[zanzibar138]

Great information thanks all!

We're planning on catching the train from Anaheim to San Diego, so I'll be filing away this information for later

 

[cola]

We're planning on catching the train from Anaheim to San Diego, so I'll be filing away this information for later

Anaheim is very much a small suburban train station, just a platform each side of the tracks and I think a tunnel running under the trainline. Platform is on the same level as the train door so easy to get on or off the train. There is minimal shelter on the platform. It's so small and new they don't have Red Caps - they're mainly found at bigger stations where there is a constant stream of traffic. 40min to Downtown LA with no concern about traffic is great

I found public transport around LA pretty easy to use, very cheap. A lot of the commuter trains are sort of like Melbourne trams, you'll be on a trainline then suddenly going down the middle of a suburban street like a tram, though I think most of the stops were train station type stops. I caught most of the LA public transport by myself during daylight hours and felt safe

 

[zanzibar138]

Anaheim is very much a small suburban train station, just a platform each side of the tracks and I think a tunnel running under the trainline. Platform is on the same level as the train door so easy to get on or off the train. There is minimal shelter on the platform. It's so small and new they don't have Red Caps - they're mainly found at bigger stations where there is a constant stream of traffic. 40min to Downtown LA with no concern about traffic is great

I found public transport around LA pretty easy to use, very cheap. A lot of the commuter trains are sort of like Melbourne trams, you'll be on a trainline then suddenly going down the middle of a suburban street like a tram, though I think most of the stops were train station type stops. I caught most of the LA public transport by myself during daylight hours and felt safe

Thanks for the extra info I don't think we'd be bothering with the red caps anyway, so that's not a problem. Sounds nice and easy to manage ourselves Is it easy enough to buy tickets?

We won't be going to LA on this trip (it's really not somewhere I have any interest in at all), but it's good to know about your experiences. I think I would have been too scared to catch public transport there.

 

[cola]

Sounds nice and easy to manage ourselves Is it easy enough to buy tickets?

You can buy online and print off beforehand but for that line, a train runs every hour. As long as you're not travelling during peak hour I doubt you'd have to worry about booking in advance and it means you could be a bit more flexible with catching the train.
There were ticket machines and a staffed booking office during the day when we caught Amtrak to LA mid-week. Not sure of evening or weekend staffing level....

There is an ART Amtrak Express bus which runs from DLR to the station, or taxi which I think was less than $10 inc tip from DLR, though be warned the taxi drivers seemed to be a bit keen on taking the senic route a few times. The train station in almost in the shadow of the big stadium.

 

[zanzibar138]

You can buy online and print off beforehand but for that line, a train runs every hour. As long as you're not travelling during peak hour I doubt you'd have to worry about booking in advance and it means you could be a bit more flexible with catching the train.
There were ticket machines and a staffed booking office during the day when we caught Amtrak to LA mid-week. Not sure of evening or weekend staffing level....

There is an ART Amtrak Express bus which runs from DLR to the station, or taxi which I think was less than $10 inc tip from DLR, though be warned the taxi drivers seemed to be a bit keen on taking the senic route a few times. The train station in almost in the shadow of the big stadium.

Awesome! That's great info thanks We were planning on taking a taxi, so I'll look out for that. We'll be leaving probably mid-morning on a Sunday, so I might have to find out what the ticketing situation is like, but we'd probably be ok with a ticket machine as long as we make sure we have the right money etc. We don't want to purchase in advance if it would mean locking in a specific time.

And sorry OP for hijacking your thread

 

[dabecs]

We caught the Amtrack from Washington to NY, was faster than the rigamarole of catching a plane (getting to the airport etc) and very handy that in NYC you end up right in Penn Station so very central.

For our trip I found that as the date got closer ticket prices jumped up so my suggestion would be to buy as soon as you are sure of dates.

The train was comfortable and not busy so we were able to spread out as much as we wanted

 

[CJ2001]

We caught the Amtrack from Washington to NY, was faster than the rigamarole of catching a plane (getting to the airport etc) and very handy that in NYC you end up right in Penn Station so very central.

For our trip I found that as the date got closer ticket prices jumped up so my suggestion would be to buy as soon as you are sure of dates.

The train was comfortable and not busy so we were able to spread out as much as we wanted

Thanks dabecs, how long was the journey from Washington to NY?

 

[cola]

WAS-NYP is around 3hr or 3hr 30min depending on what train you get - the express trains can be under 3hr, the all stops can be over 3hr 30min, depending on time of day.