Amtrack

My second trip in three weeks on Amtrak Palmetto — Train 89 from NY Penn Station to Wilson, NC. Amtrak train personnel must be recruited from freight railroads transporting cattle. Boarding instructions at NY Penn were clearly announced. Passengers detraining at Washington DC in the front cars and those traveling south of the capitol in the rear cars. Passengers were routed accordingly by Amtrak personal during the boarding process. Prior to departing NY Penn Station a conductor checked seated passengers to ensure they were in the proper cars. About ten minutes after the train departed NY Penn Station another Amtrak employee appeared in our car. This employee announced the car was designated for passengers destined for the last three station stops. All other passengers needed to relocate to another car. Passengers advised this Amtrak employee the conductor informed all passengers they were in the proper car. This Amtrak employee responded that the conductors were not familiar with his «seating plan». Several passenger were forced unplug laptops phones etc and relocate with their heavy luggage. Two elderly passengers who struggled with their baggage to initially get seating now were forced to relocate. Kind fellow passengers assisted. I refused to relocate. Approaching Philadelphia the rude Amtrak attendant woke me up asking why I had not relocated. A dirty look sent him on his way. Amtrak has a disjointed boarding process which greatly inconveniences passengers for no valid reason. My car, which the Amtrak attendant claimed to dedicated to the three final stops had in fact passengers destined for all stations south the Washington, DC. The conduct of those Amtrak employees who attempt to unnecessarily relocate passengers boarders on harassment. The Amtrak employees oversee seating are rude and have attitudes. As the bathrooms become dirty on this long trip the same attendants threatened to lock the bathrooms if passengers made them any filthier. This train had two extended station layovers which Amtrak could have scheduled bathroom maintenance. The other option for Amtrak is to train their useless seating attendants on cleaning and servicing bathrooms. For those hearty souls wishing to replicate the experience of cattle being transported by rail Amtrak will be very accommodating.

The ugliest dang station I’ve ever been to on the planet earth. To make matters worse they rub it in your face with images on the pillars of the original Penn. To remind you to regret that ONCE there was a majestic palatial station the likes of the grand central, retiro, union, stations built at the turn of the golden era century… It’s so sad to think that someone with such bad judgement led a while committee of people with worse judgement into destroying the original Penn station and erecting this horrific, unsettling labyrinthine, gray, dingy, fugly dungeon with railways.
I can say nothing good about this b**hole of a place and just can not believe our greed, desire for more not better is manifest in this Penn Station.
You have to go here to take a train, there is no other choice, just don’t spend too much time here. Arrive at boarding time and be swift as you rush through.
Godspeed…

I’m writing this review as I sit on the train heading back home to NYC. I definitely prefer to fly because it’s a lot faster. However, Amtrak is my newest transport to NC and back home. I usually drive but it gets very tiresome especially if you’re the only driver. The commute is long but very comfortable and relaxing.
There’s a variety of stores, restaurants and delis for you to get your goodies for your train ride within Penn station. I’ve never purchased items from the café cart but at least there’s an option if you don’t have your own stash of food and drink like I usually do.
I looovve the comfortable seats and great leg room on Amtrak trains. You can freely get up and exercise your leg without troubling your seat mate too much. I have to have a window seat to enjoy the beautiful scenery and diversity of communities that you pass. The staff are pretty friendly and funny. I love that the staff always help you on/​off the trains as needed. They have a few stops where you can get off the train for 10 to 15 minutes to smoke or stretch.
Make sure you bring some headphones because it can get noisy with people talking loud to each other or on their cell phones. I plan on checking out Amtrak for some other quick getaways closer to home and so should you. :-)

Very busy. My train was going from NYC to Boston. Delayed 1.5 hours. Not too happy. The trains themselves are nice and relaxing. There is a snack car, quiet car, coach car.
If your lucky to have money and book an Acela train good for you. Those are too pricey for me. Double the costs.

I was pretty happy within the Amtrak facility inside of NYC Penn Station a few weeks ago.
The boards are clear and easy to read. The place is as clean as you’re gonna get inside of Penn Station.
Use your ticket to get into the Amtrak waiting area. The seats aren’t for sleeping, but they’re perfectly adequate for waiting.
I’m not crazy about the mad dash and zero line control to get onto your train once it arrives, but if you can handle that you’re golden.

Booked a trip for 2 to DC. The train was oversold and there were no seats. The customer service in helping to review this situation was appalling. This caused me to miss an event. Costing me hundreds of dollars. If you need to be somewhere I wouldn’t rely on this service.

I was a bit worried when we decided to Amtrak it from NYC to DC. I’d never done a train before. Okay, the one that loops Disneyland and Big Thunder. Oh and when I travel to Hogwarts. But never an Amtrak. I barely survive an airport. What is a train terminal like? Will there be a soul sucking TSA line? Will there be food to eat or will I have to knock over a vending machine for breakfast? What if Jesse James robs the train?
So we get to the station and basically see this massive crowd all standing in the middle. We see «gates» but nobody seems to be inching towards one. We ask a «Red Cap» what is going on and he brusquely says to look at the board and await the track announcement and hurries off with a push cart. A local overhears and explains that you do stand around. The only way to get on early is to «hire» the Red Cap to take you and your luggage. They get the insider scoop on where the train will load. The local suggested since we were a family it would be a good idea to do so b/​c it is first come first serve on seats. We find a different Red Cap (because I wasn’t tipping the other cranky jerk) and are led to a sitting area. He comes back about 10 minutes before the announcement is made and leads us to down to the track and we get on board first! Now we know the secret. Worth the few bucks especially if you do have kids.
The terminal itself seemed okay. Clean restrooms. No TSA but there was a lot of police and even military security. I noticed the police were very nice to answer traveler questions. God bless NYPD.
Basic food court. I hit up the Dunkin for coffee and a muffin.
The ride. Smoother than I expected. Guess I expected Big Thunder. Comfortable chairs with ample leg room. There is a food car selling snacks and the lady manning it even gave my girls bead bracelets. We only bought chips so not much to say there. The ride from NYC to DC is not too scenic (though admittedly I snoozed a bit). Ticket guy came through and I noticed he made it a point to talk to really young kids.
Thankfully no train robbers. Not a bad experience! Next time I’m keeping the train in mind!

Much better than flying along the major East Coast hubs. I hate the hassle of getting to the airport, security, possibility for long flight delays, and the chance for turbulence. Trains are on time (in general), comfortable without the stress of flying.
Sometimes that boarding process can be a little hectic because hundreds of people are basically funneling through the small entryway into the track entrance. However, once you’re through the bottleneck, it’s fine. You basically find your seat and just park yourself there until you get to your destination. You can use your eticket on your phone, so don’t worry if you don’t have the physical ticket. Make sure there is a little code square for them to scan.
There is a food area on the train, but I didn’t get to it. They come around every so often with trash bags, so it’s convenient. Free Wifi, but you lose signal intermittently.
The Acela is the line with the fewest stops, but it only ends up saving you half an hour or so, so if you’re not in a hurry, just take the regional. It’ll be cheaper. If you want reserved seating, you can upgrade to business class. It’s not that much more, and if you don’t like the hassle of finding your own seat, this may be your best bet.

Subjectivity… if you’re reading this on a delayed Amtrak you’ll probably want to punch me…
I’ve yet to experience any (substantial) delays on this service (NY /​Boston & NY /​DC) so can’t complain there.
The biggest difference from the UK is the staff, the conductors mainly… always on point, they run a tight ship (train)…a quiet car is just that, quiet… efficient and not without a good line in banter too…
I don’t use it enough to complain about the prices (but that’s the world over).
Would have been 5 stars except the boarding at Penn Station which is chaos… the polite American ‘line’ system goes out of the window and it’s every man, woman and child for themselves to squeeze down one tiny escalator.

I was pleasantly surprised by my ride on the Northeast Regional to Washington from Penn Station.
Penn Station was as disgusting as ever, but at least one can sit in the waiting area until the last minute.
The train arrived and left on time — miracles do happen! Of course, in the end it was 30 minutes late.
The best thing of all was the Quiet Car. People actually stayed quiet! Amazing! Not one loud pompous cell phone user among them! I was all prepared to be the quiet ‘enforcer’ but never needed to, as I had in the past.

Sunday, 4:00 PM.
Quickie:
+ Customer service
— Logistics (e.g., crowd management)
— Hygiene
And then???
We appreciate the magnitude of Amtrak’s role in public transportation and the effort they put into it. They’ve got to step it up though, the deficiencies are overwhelming.
**********
Constructive comment:
*Directing the crowd or managing lines when train track assignments are announced.

Frankly I think this company is an embarrassment to the country. It is seriously lacking in its service and has zero respect for people’s time. It is not uncommon at all to be delayed for at least 30 mins to an hour while taking the Acela ($ 198 usually for one way) without an apology or compensation offered whatsoever. Amtrak can often be slower than the bus (which costs ~$ 20 – 30 one way) and more expensive than flying (~$ 100 a ticket). It is literally the worst train service I’ve taken in a first world country (vs France, Spain, UK, Japan, etc). Also, don’t expect to pass the time with some food or drinks during a delay. Despite the hefty $ 198 one way and 3.5hr+ journey, nothing is offered except for the awful wifi that is so slow you wonder if it even works at all.
Amtrak is just as bad with its customer service. When they last canceled my reservation the night before my departure, I had to wait ALMOST TWO HOURS (till I gave up) just to speak to someone at 10−11pm at night for a problem they created! They offered me no alternatives except to call them. It was a completely waste of time and could’ve been all mitigated simply by Amtrak offering a callback service or allowing me to make the necessary modification online! Sadly, the company considered neither of these options and after so many incidences, I don’t think customer service is a priority for them.
Given the abundance of travel options along the New England/​Mid-​Atlantic corridor, there is absolutely no reason to expose oneself to the headache /​stress of this ridiculous company that seems to be able to get away with terrible service all the time! STAY AWAY.

First experience riding Amtrak from Penn Station to Montréal.
380ish miles… it takes 11 HOURS.
At around $ 60 per passenger one way I think renting a car if you have 3 or more people is a better option. Less time consuming and you have complete freedom.
Onto the train, the seats are pretty spacious. Options of having a table and two booth seats or just 2 seats just like a plane. Plenty of leg room, outlets and wifi offered as well.
The ride from Penn to Montréal was brutal. 11 hours. literally the entire day… immigration took a good chunk out of the time as well as the train stopping several times before Albany. The train sometimes goes at like 30mph… so slowww
It’s somewhat of a scenic ride. Other than the lake you just see woods on woods on woods.
Yeah it’s a good alternative to flying or driving. If you’re not in a rush.

I hate flying. So when I can avoid it, I ride Amtrak. I travel often to North Carolina on the Palmetto to Wilson, NC visiting family and Amtrak is the most cost effective way to get there. I like that i am not squished or stuck in mid air with a ear ache. I like that there is no pointless lay-​over. It may take a little longer to get to the destination, but I find it worth it.
This is an ideal way to travel with children of all ages as opposed to running through airports with strollers trying to catch your layover flight or being seated uncomfortably for hours. I have traveled with my 4 year old daughter previously and she loved every moment. The trip to North Carolina is very scenic. You’re able to view way more than on a bus or plane ride. Lots of bodies of water, greenery and historical sightings. If you need more room and want a break from your seat, you can walk through the train and sit in the dining cart.
Seats are comfortable equipped with sufficient leg room, WIFI and outlets. The Café Car serves microwaved processed food (which I avoid by packing food) and ALCOHOL (get your Jack, Jameson, Tangeray, Corona and assorted Wines). The staff is professional and helpful making for a comfortable ride.
The only thing I would change is THE BATHROOMS. Someone should be assigned to maintenance at least every hour. Passengers are sloppy and often miss the bowl. Someone should mop the floors every hour and restock soap and paper towels.
Otherwise, this is the best way to travel.

I’ve used Amtrak service for many years to travel up and down the east coast when I didn’t want to drive myself.
If you haven’t rode Amtrak lately, they have upgraded their service from many years ago. Amtrak still has the café car, quiet car and sleep cars for extended travel. There’s free wifi and outlets near each set of seats. While the wifi is free, you’re unable to stream movies or music from your smartphone, tablet, or computer. This is how their wifi service is setup and nothing that can be changed by the staff.
Amtrak also offers service across the country as well.

I don’t love Amtrak. The seats are fairly clean and the staff is friendly but that is about as positive as I can be.
The restrooms are filthy and smell like terrible disinfectant. The ride on the train is very shaky and bumpy. If there are more than 20 people on the (free) WIFI, it is super slow. The 2 trains I took didn’t have food or beverage service which is crazy on a 3.5 hour ride.
Lastly, the train is usually late.

Amtrak is generally the most comfortable and reliable mode of public transportation in the Northeast. I’ve taken mainly the Northeast Regional and Keystone between Philly and New York, but I’ve also taken the Acela service several times and the train up to Albany.
Generally, the train is on-​time, although I have had delays. The seats are comfortable and café car is great for grabbing a snack or drink (although expensive). I like the ability to book in the app, the generous rewards program, and the ability to get a full refund or make changes generally without penalty.
However, taking true high-​speed trains in Europe that run at 300 Km/​h (186 mph) has spoiled me, and Amtrak does not even compare to the level of service in Europe. Trains in Italy and Spain cost a fraction of Amtrak’s prices and run at 2 – 3 times the speed. The lack of public investment in rail leads to a train system that is ages behind other developed countries. I would ride Amtrak much more often if it offered the reliability and speed of European rail.

This was my first time taking amtrak and it was a decent experience. I was already for warned that the train leaves exactly on time. I had already printed out the train ticket in advance then got online for the train.
I sat in a seat and got comfortable for the long ride. The train departed on schedule and hit every stop on schedule. We stayed in the Washington DC station for a half an hour switching power sources. I brought food with me but the train ride was so long I got hungry again.
I had a terrible ham and cheese pretzel bread sandwich, a bottle of water and a little red wine for almost $ 30. Smh the sandwich was terrible and too costly. Next time I take the train I will be bringing 2 meals lol.
The train from Virginia to nyc was over 9 hours but I was able to relax, take a nap and watch movies. The seats were pretty comfortable, they recline and there’s a meal tray for food or laptops. The seats are a two seater with outlets for your gadgets which is a plus. No need to worry about anything dying but you from the long commute lol. The ride wasn’t as bad as I was expecting.

We traveled on Amtrak from Penn Station, New York City to Wilson, North Carolina. When you board in New York City you are guaranteed your choice of seats. Free wifi and power outlets are available for your mobile device and PC however the free internet was so slow we could not even stream a movie or watch Orange Is The New Black, (the series just started I was ready for my very own marathon).
We experienced signal problems as we enter the state of North Carolina and we set in one spot for about 45 minutes which set our arrival time back hour and a half, however the staff was very informative, friendly, and apologetic for the delay.
The café car is it is expensive, $ 8.00 for a salad, $ 2.00 for bottled water or coffee, so unless your a baller (Ebonics for you got money to throw away), bring your own snacks.
The bathrooms are also sketchy so good luck with that, however I still prefer the train because I love traveling throughout the countryside during the daytime and seeing all the wonderful sights from New Jersey, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Washington DC, Virginia, and North Carolina.
Bring a blanket the air conditioning is on full blast.

There was an older Russian woman with glasses sitting in the seat across from me slugging shots from a big ol’ bottle of vodka. She’d look around to see if anyone was there and quickly take a drink from the bottle. I couldn’t believe my eyes at first. I just stared at her wondering if she was really drinking. After a 10 hour ride from hell I wish I had been drinking too.
There were also a couple of Amish people sitting there staring in wonderment and giggling. I kept staring at them too. Later on when I became very very delirious and more candid I met a girl who worked at a NYC modeling agency. I’m pretty sure all she wanted to do was sleep but I kept cracking jokes. I just needed to talk to someone. I WAS GOING INSANE. She was fine about it thank god.
Then I got a watered down hot cocoa from the cart. Uck!!! So nasty! And overpriced! I think I ate something too but can’t even remember.
Back when I was in college I experienced this ride from hell and vowed never do to it again in my life. The hours I spent on this train added up to being way longer than my visit with old friends. Next time I will pay the $ 500 to fly. Even though it’s an adventure I can’t deal with the mental anguish of riding this thing all the way up and down New York State. I imagined myself jumping off that train many times. Thinking hm if I got off at the next stop I wonder if anyone would give me a ride home???

Es gibt Menschen, die schlafen in Flugzeug und Zug sofort ein.
Bei Amtrack ein böser Fehler!
Wir haben die amerikanische Traditionseisenbahngesellschaft schon ein Paar Mal genutzt und beide Male hieß unser Ziel Washington D. C.
Mit dem ersten Trip unterbrachen wir einen 11tägigen NYC-​Aufenthalt für einen Kurztrip in die US Hauptstadt. In drei Stunden lässt man sich gemütlich von New Yorks Penn Station zur Washingtoner Union Station kutschieren (hört sich an wie die Poststation in einem alten Western, oder?)
Eine tolle Erfahrung war allerdings der 11-​Stunden-​Ritt mit Amtracks «Palmetto» von Savannah, Georgia, gen Norden.
Die Abteilgrößen im «Palmetto» sind typisch amerikanisch: riesengroß! Selbstverständlich bieten Fußstützen geplagten Füßen angemessene Abstellfläche.
Die Fahrt aus den Südstaaten nach «Wash» (im Lokalslang) führt nicht nur durch superspannende Landstriche wie Sumpfgebiete oder Küstenstriche, sondern auch durch typisch amerikanische Kleinstädte. Kleinstädte, die so klein sind, dass während des Zughaltes die Hauptkreuzung des Ortes leider gesperrt ist, weil der Zug Überlänge hat und der kurze Bahnsteig nicht ausreicht.
Der Service an Bord ist ein supersympatischer. Das Zugpersonal sollte in Deutschland mal Fortbildungen veranstalten: Über Lautsprecher wurden die Passagiere detailliert darüber informiert, wann etwa das Bordbistro schließt und wann es wieder öffnet. WiFi im Bistro war selbstverständlich und funktionierte einwandfrei. Hielt der Zug mal länger an einer Station, wurde durchgesagt, dass der Halt länger dauern würde und die Raucher unter den Fahrgästen die Chance für eine schnelle Lulle nutzen sollten. Aber nicht zu weit vom Zug entfernen bitte!
Very old school die niedlichen Einstieghilfen an den Bahnsteigen, denn Barrierefreiheit ist bei Amtrack noch nicht angekommen. Bereits beim Einstieg, vorbei am uniformierten Schaffner, sind die Billetts vorzuzeigen und keinesfalls kann man jeder Tür einsteigen, sondern nur an bestimmten.
Wir kleben am (leider etwas verschmutzten) Fenster und genießen die vorbeifliegende amerikanische Landschaft.
Als wir uns «D.C.» nähern, donnert die sonore Stimme des Conductors durch die Lautsprecher: «Ladies and Gentlemen –welcome to Washington D. C., the United States Capitol!»
Da nehmen wir glatt Haltung an!