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  #51  
Old 04-22-2011, 12:13 PM
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The Acela is great if you live in Boston, Fairfield County, CT or DC. I've ridden it a number of times and had a great trip to the city. Those, however are the only situations where riding a train is economical.

Even in Europe, it was not only more convenient to drive, but cheaper given the places I wanted to go. EUrail passes, TGV/ICE/CNL whatever are ridiculously expensive.
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  #52  
Old 04-22-2011, 12:25 PM
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Same goes for non-biz flying, imo...
If it's a ~10-12 hour drive, we don't even think about airplanes; the door to door time, (and not having a car), is similar for flying vs driving.
And, flight prices are costly and going up by the day.
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  #53  
Old 04-22-2011, 01:38 PM
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#1 I'm not in any hurry and the ride is very enjoyable

#2 Got relatives in LA. No need to drive

#3 The Amtrak rates are cheaper for seniors

#4 Save the wear and tear on the cars

#5 I love trains.....

Too many positives for me not to do it.....

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Originally Posted by Thunder22 View Post
800 miles round trip SF/LA
assume 20mpg
40 gals @ $5/gal = $200
takes about 6 hours depending on traffic.


The Coast Starlight is $165 round trip from Oakland to Union Station and takes what? 12 hours?

For $35 I'm driving.

(and that $35 difference is probably offset anyway by needing to take a cab or some other form of transportation once in LA).
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  #54  
Old 04-22-2011, 02:07 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Quicksilver View Post
#1 I'm not in any hurry and the ride is very enjoyable

#2 Got relatives in LA. No need to drive

#3 The Amtrak rates are cheaper for seniors

#4 Save the wear and tear on the cars

#5 I love trains.....

Too many positives for me not to do it.....
And thats what makes the world go round
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  #55  
Old 04-22-2011, 07:28 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Meiac09 View Post
Even in Europe, it was not only more convenient to drive, but cheaper given the places I wanted to go. EUrail passes, TGV/ICE/CNL whatever are ridiculously expensive.
In Germany, we take the train between major cities, and only rent a car for the portions where we explore the countryside. After ringing up a large petrol bill for a 10-day, 46 US mpg 118i the first time, we learned our lesson. Stick to the ICE except for country exploring.......
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  #56  
Old 04-22-2011, 09:47 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Quicksilver View Post
#1 I'm not in any hurry and the ride is very enjoyable

#2 Got relatives in LA. No need to drive

#3 The Amtrak rates are cheaper for seniors

#4 Save the wear and tear on the cars

#5 I love trains.....

Too many positives for me not to do it.....
#1 excellent, my father loves the ride too
#2 they have to drive, they spend money on gas, you're just not spending it
#3 the fare i quoted was the senior rate
#4 true
#5 they've always spoken highly of you

I love driving too much. I've driven the LA<>SF (not to mention SD too) round trip probably 20 times and each time I see something new.

Enjoy the train. My father is obsessed with them, he goes to the Stroudsburgh and Scranton stations just to watch them pull the freight trains through. He and my mom have become friends with the engineers and conductors too. I gave him my scanner a couple of years ago so he listens to the yard and intra/inter train communications too.
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  #57  
Old 04-22-2011, 09:59 PM
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Originally Posted by AzNMpower32 View Post
I've taken Amtrak a few times in Virginia. Yes, it takes longer (usually an additional hour versus driving) but it's dirt cheap ($25-40) and I don't have to deal with the stress of driving, potholes, speed traps, or any of the items associated with piloting a vehicle. Plus the seats are great, and tons of legroom.

If Virginia and NC can get the Amtrak Southeast corridor running on I-85, that'd be brilliant. I'm annoyed that Americans won't pay for an electrified one like in Europe (typical short-sighted thinking) which would allow true high speeds around 200km/h, but it beats the current Carolinian service which runs via Rocky Mount/I-95.
There are reasons why the US can't do a high speed electric train like in Europe:

(the #1 reason is cost, just to explore the possibility and install a proof of technology is $8 billion, and that's probably going to be in California. Which I think is ridiculous considering the earthquake possibilities)

1) The tracks are used for freight and passenger trains, today you can't run both on the same tracks without significant modifications to one or the other. Only France runs freight (mail) on a bullet train track and they are very few.

2) the US already has more mileage of electrified train/subway than Europe.

3) Major metro areas already have electrified trains that are better than european trains and move more people (the LIRR for example)

4) The us is almost twice the size of western europe. The sheer size of the project is cost prohibitive.

Just a few thoughts. My father is a big train guy. He rattled those off in about 3 minutes.
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  #58  
Old 04-22-2011, 10:01 PM
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Shooting yourself out of a cannon would be cheaper than driving and put less wear and tear on your car too. I think I would melt down all of my gold and run my car on that before I rode the bus or a train.

Gas is expensive though. My wife ran the X nearly dry and it cost $96.xx to fill up with premium the other day. I think I will stop pumping at $99 when the prices go up. I would cry if it cost more than $100.
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  #59  
Old 04-22-2011, 10:14 PM
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Originally Posted by FSETH View Post
Shooting yourself out of a cannon would be cheaper than driving and put less wear and tear on your car too. I think I would melt down all of my gold and run my car on that before I rode the bus or a train.

Gas is expensive though. My wife ran the X nearly dry and it cost $96.xx to fill up with premium the other day. I think I will stop pumping at $99 when the prices go up. I would cry if it cost more than $100.
every day is saturday for retirees. My mother couldn't tell me what day it was yesterday lol. they got nothing but time.

For me though, 12 hours on a train? I had better be in a sleeper cabin with a hooker and a good single malt
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  #60  
Old 04-22-2011, 10:22 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Thunder22 View Post
every day is saturday for retirees. My mother couldn't tell me what day it was yesterday lol. they got nothing but time.

For me though, 12 hours on a train? I had better be in a sleeper cabin with a hooker and a good single malt
Awesome...and agreed.
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