Still trying to keep up to date on Massachusetts Amtrak and commuter rail service improvements. This article is good news not only because it shows Amtrak is focusing on the Northeast region, but it also shows increased ridership which is such an important talking point in improving service across Massachusetts.
From A to B with Z’s from boston.com
“The decision to bring back sleeper cars is part of a broader campaign to attract riders at a time when overnight train travel has surged 7 percent between October and March, compared with the same period in 2007 and 2008. Officials attribute the increase to riders who fled high gas prices last summer, then stuck with the train because they liked it. The Boston-to-Chicago line, which saw a 1.9 percent increase during the period, is one of six trains nationwide targeted for upgrades.”
I traveled from Springfield to Martinez California on Amtrak in 2000. It was an amazing trip. You see a side of the country (the good and the bad) that you can’t see from the highway or from a plane. The Midwest and the Rocky Mountains were an exceptionally beautiful part of the trip.
I have ridden the train from Boston to Seattle. It is a most wonderful trip. Everyone should do it once in their life, and I am glad the sleeper car from Boston to Albany is back. If only they could reduce the travel time from Boston to Albany to something more reasonable than 5 hours and 40 minutes. 340 minutes to go 199 miles. 35 miles per hour is not exactly a high speed line.
Not so bad from Springfield. And even quicker if you drive to Albany, but the point is to ride the train, not drive.
They need to speed up the service for sure.
I wanted to pass along that May is not the best month to try and book travel on the newly-restored Lakeshore sleepers.
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p>It seems that MUCH NEEDED right-of-way maintenance is scheduled during May, and the Lakeshore is only running on Fridays and Saturdays. I tried to book a Boston/Chicago round trip, and discovered you can’t there from here by train. Amtrak offers, instead a 5+ hour bus ride between Albany, NY and Boston.
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p>The track is in atrocious condition, it’s been allowed to deteriorate for a very long time (as in a decade or more), so the repairs are very good news.
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p>Oh, and by the way, as nearly as I can tell it is not possible (using http://www.amtrak.com) to book a BOS-NYP-CHI round trip without an extra night in NYC on the return leg.
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p>Sadly, we still have a ways to go before Amtrak is a viable option. Subsidies or not, I can go to the United Airlines website and, in five minutes, book an under three-hour round-trip for two that costs under $600.
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p>I have to be in Chicago on May 15th for my daughter’s graduation from college (yay!). I would love to travel by train. I can’t do it. That’s a real shame, and that’s a micro-example of why our national transportation system is so royally screwed up.
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p>I have to say that I wonder what genius scheduled the very public announcement of the new sleeper service during a month when the train only runs two days a week. Hello! Wouldn’t it have been better to schedule the press release after the repairs are completed?