Word: amtrak
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...Forget spontaneity. Had I planned ahead, I could have upgraded our Amtrak trip with a private sleeping compartment. When it comes to hotels, Brian Beihl, a father of three and president of the travel-products company Family on Board, recommends paying extra for a real one--the kind that helps with luggage...
...first Amtrak train left New York's Penn station. And from that moment on, the company never stopped losing money, expanding its fleet to include 260 trains serving 512 stations scattered across all but five states. Granted, since its inception, Amtrak has raked in more than $24 billion in federal subsidies, which sounds like an awful lot of money but which is actually just enough to keep the company?s hopes alive without committing absolutely to its salvation. It's divided between trains making long journeys, such as our Florida jaunt, and those making relatively short hauls, such...
...March, just a few years after pledging to achieve financial independence by 2003, Amtrak asked for another $30 billion commitment for federal subsidies in order to close what they call America?s "rail investment gap." Seemingly unanswerable questions continue to plague the company: Is America just too big for a national rail system? Should Amtrak be confined to a few regional services? Will Americans miss Amtrak if the whole thing just withered up and died...
...prices keep rising and the number of seats appears to keep shrinking. And those of us looking to get between points A and B in the fastest and cheapest way possible are stuck with an unenviable choice: Spend around $150 to (maybe) get a seat on a N.Y.-D.C. Amtrak train, or spend slightly less to fly. Standing in the aisle of an oversold unreserved train this winter, I (belatedly) began to wonder if underneath all this frustration, someone is trying to tell me something. Something that probably sounds a lot like, "Buy a car, dummy...
...Anyway, we had a wonderful time. And that?s precisely my point, and the point I hope everyone at Amtrak, and everyone who?s trying to help Amtrak, will latch on to. As everyone who?s ever backpacked through Europe knows, rail travel can be everything we expect: Exciting, punctual, even a little bit romantic. At the heart of Amtrak are the beginnings of a great rail system, and whether it's a matter of tough love (i.e. less federal funding) or not-so-tough love (as much money as they can spend), I hope someone will figure out exactly...