Amtrak

I would have given this ride 5stars easily if Amtrak didn’t completely bone us on our short trip to Burlington.
Was taking my 2 year old for his first train ride and had my 3 month old with me and we were going to go out to Burlington and grab a hotdog out there…
First the Cary station is very nice. Free parking, the station is clean, it has a little kiosk to buy water and candy. The people working the station are extremely friendly and helpful. The lady at the kiosk saw me trying to get some water and immediately offered me a free bottle of her water. Extremely friendly. The guy that sold me the ticket told me if I buy the ticket 24 hours in advance o could save 10%. Awesome news for our next trip.
The train was on time, they helped me with the stroller, the conductor on the train got us a set of seats with a table. So pleasant.
We left the station a few minutes late as they has 2 handicapped people to assist getting on, no problems.
First stop Durham. We arrived oh 40 minutes late. Apparently some truck got stuck under a bridge and stopped the train. I was oh *#%^… I had a narrow window to get to Burlington, grab lunch, get back to the station and get get home. Now with the 40 minute delay. Lunch was out the window. Just glad I brought backup lunch for my 2 year old. He was taken care of.
Burlington station is very nice. The man working there also extremely nice.
Trip back wasn’t as friendly, but the trains are extremely clean. Free internet. They have bathrooms with changing tables.

Less than mediocre experience, in spite of Obama’s $ 8 billion input. Train 75 stopped twice on the way to Charlotte
(So much for High Speed Rail.)
No food, just a soda machine

The station itself is updated with a decent size parking lot. The train was clean. My only complaint is that I took it in late July and they maintained a temperature of 77 degrees in the train cars. (There was a little thermostat in my car) For someone who tends to get carsick (yep, as an adult), high temperatures do not help. So, unfortunately it was not the most enjoyable ride for me.

The Cary, NC transfer station is a fun place to catch a train. While it lacks in modern amenities, food court, etc, it does have cleanliness and a recent 700k renovation. The boarding crew is very informative and conscientious about train status and method of boarding. They even played a great game for the kids where they had to count to 20 while the train arrived from about 20 seconds out. What a great way to ensure kids stay excited about going on the train.

The new Amtrak station in Cary is nice… quite nice actually. After waiting a couple years for it to be converted from what was an unmanned shelter stop for Amtrak adjacent to the (was then) DMV to this new full service Amtrak station, it is worth it.
A nice brick modern building off of Academy Street, it is very convenient to the heart of «old Cary» that I remember from my younger days. Inside, it is bright, open, and very clean. There are a large amount of «pew type» of seats in the waiting area (see pics). There is also an automated kiosk for buying or printing out tickets, but moreover, there is a manned service desk with hours now of 6am-​11pm (I was told these hours could change in the future as they see the need change). The large seats work well in that when I have gone by there, especially Thanksgiving week, this place was pretty busy. I’m sure it can accommodate more than small individual type of seats.
I used Amtrak to see the folks near Winston-​Salem for Thanksgiving and loved it. I plan on using this station a lot more in the future. Of course, it can use more parking (especially around holidays) but what place couldn’t use more parking, anywhere? Bottom line: it’s nice… a welcomed part of the western Wake area.

The new Cary Amtrak station is awesome! It’s clean and big… and free wi-​fi.