Please forgive us if we appear to be a wee bit too zealous when it comes to trains and rail travel – we can’t help it. After living in Europe, we’ve gotten used to the availability, frequency and sheer joy of fast scheduled rail services that girdle the European continent. Looking forward, you will proudly be sitting in your comfy chair next to the fire, telling your great grandkids about how you helped to stop the hegemony of inefficient automobile travel by using rail whenever you could. Please fondly remember Matouring as you pass this wise knowledge down from generation to generation.
And, one of our rail posts wouldn’t be complete if we didn’t mention the USA’s Amtrak service. What can we say? So much promise and so little vision on the part of so many Americans, who continue to bypass this viable and country-wide service. And, in the meantime, the governmental funding dries up. It’s an unfortunate moebius twist of missed opportunities. Choose rail. Choose Amtrak. Lose the cars. Save the planet. Make a difference.
We use Amtrak whenever we can – which is often – so we’re old hands when it comes to knowing how to best use the service. But what if you’ve never traveled with Amtrak before and feel unsure about the whole process? You’re in luck! Amtrak has created this friendly how-to-do-it video (below) that will allay your fears and turn you into a fan. And if you feel like you’ve heard all this before, just recently US President Joe Biden stated that “For years, people talked about fixing this service. where he hailed more than $6 billion in upgrades that will allow trains to travel through the cities at up to 110 mph.”
With the bipartisan infrastructure law, though, we’re finally getting it done,” the pro-Amtrak president said Monday near a 150-year-old rail tunnel in Baltimore, where he hailed more than $6 billion in upgrades that will allow trains to travel through the city at up to 110 mph. It’s the start and – maybe restart of Amtrak’s saga. This will not be your father’s Amtrak. And remember that new startup services such as Brightline are already shuttling passengers at high speed in Florida. They have plans to next go into California. Slowly but surely. Go green. Take the train!
We write about this a lot. Click here for our compendium of rail news and views.
PS: if you are a rail fan, you’ll like Amtrak’s Acela, which can rocket 304 (44 in First Class, 260 in Business Class) passengers in superior comfort at speeds up to 150 mph / 241 KPH.
Daily Amtrak services keep the USA’s East Coast running: New York, Boston & more. Click here to book.
(Some content courtesy of Politico.)