Amtrak

Clean high ceiling station, some homeless people in the colder season due to the comfy huge benches inside. Some few stores to grab something before you can hop on a train. It is overall nice and easy to navigate station. The bathrooms left nothing to be desired. You can also access SEPTA regional trains here by following the sign. Apparently you have to walk up to the Regional Rails from the Amtrak station. The SEPTA MFL subway and Green Lines/​Trolleys are also accessible by walking outside of this building to the corner of 30^th and Market and then walk downstairs. There are plenty of taxes outside the building on Market and 29^th Street. The Amtrak boarding is downstairs within the building. Check with the receptionist. The schedule displaying board is due for upgrade.

Always clean and easy to navigate around here. Car rental is easy and fast. Getting the train to the airport is quick and easy

I’m a frequent Amtrak user and I was absolutely disgusted at how I was treated by the ticket information woman this morning. She had short straight black hair and she was accompanied by a woman with shaved blonde hair. When I arrived at 7:45 for an 8:05 train, I overheard someone saying the train to NY had been cancelled. I walked closer towards the information woman at the center of the station and asked her when the next train to NY would be and if our tickets would be honored. She rolled her eyes at me and said she had already said all of these things and why wasn’t anyone listening — MEANWHILE, an entire group of people had just walked into the station! I said I was asking because I had missed what she said earlier and she snapped and yelled at me and said «IM NOT SPEAKING TO YOU». Her behavior was DISGUSTING, she was the RUDEST person I have ever encountered. GOD FORBID she do her job!!! I don’t pay THOUSANDS of dollars a year to travel on a service where the people employed are ANGRY at customers and won’t offer the assistance that we PAY FOR. I hope she loses her job as she clearly is not meant to be working in ANY CAPACITY with other people. The grossest excuse for a person, let alone a customer service employee.

On time departure, friendly staff, spacious car, reliable internet– the customer service is worth it alone (to be fair, let me just post a disclaimer: maybe I’m giving them too much credit in the customer service department because I had such a terrible experience elsewhere)
I had a worse than abhorrent experience with greyhound in Washington DC so Amtrak was a breath of much needed fresh air.
It’s the quickest way to get around via ground and the staff that I have encountered in the three to four times I have ridden Amtrak has been polite.
It is definitely a pricier option and gets pretty full, but it is the least hassle, gets you to your destination the quickest, has always been on time (for me), fairly clean, has reliable wifi, and you don’t have to deal with rude, entitled, useless employees like you would if you chose to take some of the other transportation options available. For some reason, the specific car I was in on this last particular trip was extra roomy! So I will tack on another star for that. They also have a bigger baggage allowance, if that matters to you– you can bring two large bags, instead of the standard one bag limit (be warned you have to be strong enough to lift your bags up to place them in the overhead storage compartment).
I very much appreciate that you can just present your ticket via email on your phone, or even a screen shot (reducing the carbon footprint/​paper waste)! Thank goodness. They don’t try to swindle you into paying money because you didn’t print something out, or have hidden fees for baggage.

Have always had excellent experience with Amtrak in Trenton. Today my kids (13) traveled for the first time alone to visit their grandmother in Massachusetts. The staff was so accommodating and friendly, it really put my mind at ease. They have a wonderfully comprehensive policy for unaccompanied minors that the whole group there at Amtrak understood and helped us with. It must be a good company to keep such quality people.

I purchased a ticket online so cool and it actually worked! The Red Cap service in New York Penn Station was very pleasant. My Train to Philly was clean and not crowded. My only complaint is I could NOT understand most of the Conductor’s messages over the loudspeaker. In person he was lovely.

Amtrak is the best option to get to big cities fast. I have taken Amtrak to Philadelphia and Washington, DC and it’s definitely the more glamorous option than the bus. You never have to worry about traffic, the cars are always clean, and the seats are comfy. One downfall is the price. If you are buying a ticket last minute it can be over $ 100 one way, no matter where you are travelling. If you are traveling longer distances $ 100+ are the standard. By buying my tickets a month in advance, I was able to score a round trip to Philly for about $ 80. They also offer student, senior and AAA discounts which helps alleviate the cost.

Both my husband I rode Amtrak for the first time from New York’s Penn Station to Philadelphia. Penn Station was just a 10 minute walk from our hotel. The ride was only 1.5 hours. Since it was an early morning train ride, we had a whole section to ourselves. There were outlets by the windows that kept our phones charged. The Wifi wasn’t that great. It was spotty and later I just switched to using my data to watch YouTube videos. It was easy to book tickets on the iPhone app. For the return trip to New York, I easily changed my tickets three times because on that Sunday we attended the Pope’s Mass in Philly so I made changes based on when the Mass actually ended and then on the long walk back to the train station we changed our tickets again to catch an earlier train back to New York. We didn’t need to print out tickets, we just showed our phone to scan. Taking the Amtrak train was a pretty pleasant experience for us and if we ever make it back to the East Coast, I’m sure we’ll take another trip on the Amtrak.

The lowest hanging fruit for improving the ride is:
— Reduce the number of announcements
— Reduce the length of announcements (in part by reducing the redundancy of announcements)
— Reduce the volume of announcements

Bought my ticket online through Amex so I didn’t have an option to do an eticket. and the computer was down in the station so I couldn’t print it there. One conductor sent to me to get onto the train anyways and on the train I had to buy another ticket… No communication between workers clearly. Train itself was very clean and convenient compared to a bus. But there is a price you pay for it

My first Amtrak service on Philly to Penn Station. The engine died on the road. Engineer was working to get it back on but it was not successful. Of course, light was off and air condition was off too. It was so hot and humid in the coach and I felt like I was suffocated. People was deadly quiet. The only voice I heard was from the wallow talkie. It is my first experience and most horrible experience. I would never take train ever.
We were stuck in Trenton area for about 50 minutes and engineer was successfully get the power back on! Unfortunately the power was off again in Iselin area. We were stuck in another 20 min with no light and air condition. What a journey!

If I could give negative stars for this rating, I would. We interacted with 4 Amtrak employees today. All four of them are the most miserable people I have ever met in my life. It started with the gentleman on the train taking our money. He was so miserable, we looked at him and said please smile. He said he didn’t want to smile, he was miserable and at work. He proceeded to say «you’re not at work, you’re on vacation». That’s kind of funny since we are both traveling for work. We went to the counter, and because we were early asked if we could switch to an earlier train. They said there was one leaving soon, and if we booked our tickets we would be good. We walked away from the counter with our new tickets, went down the escalator, train gone. We went back upstairs, went to the counter and asked how that could happen. They told us this was our fault risk of switching tickets. Exactly 90 seconds between when we switch our tickets we had already been downstairs and back up to the counter. Our fault? We said we either want our upgrade money that we paid returned or wanted to be placed on the next train. The woman immediately pointed to her supervisor and said «go talk to him». The supervisor then proceeded to scream at us. Yes, thats right. Screaming. He told us it was our fault and we never should’ve asked to be switched to a different train. We said they shouldn’t have sold us ticked to a train that was gone and told us it was our fault. I asked him if he realized we were the customer??? He said we don’t tell him what to do. He tells us what to do! Someone at Amtrak needs to watch a video surveillance of this interaction. Somebody needs to be fired. Never in my life have I had a worse customer service experience. The supervisors name was Jay.

How can Amtrak not be profitable? I’m sitting on a train that was over booked, so it’s standing room only. Imagine getting on an airplane and having to stand? Luckily I squeezed in with someone in the café car.
All this for $ 115 one way from Newark to DC. Clearly Amtrak needs to update its booking software and find a way to properly fill it’s trains.

Had a perfectly fine experience with the ticket counter clerk here today. Finished my biz trip early and transferred my train ticket with no problems to an earlier time.
Relaxing ride and much better than sitting in traffic driving to and from NYC.
What I like about taking Amtrak down to Philly 30^th Street station is that there is car rental on site and always seems to have cars available. Quick trip from NYC and I’m on my way to see clients. Seems so many people here complain about the service and staff at this location but I have never had any bad experiences with the ticket counter people. Just lucky I guess.
Prices can vary based on time and train line. Some are more expensive than others. To me it’s worth the cost to avoid road rage at rush hour! Comfy seats, food/​bar car, free wifi so I can get work done, and outlets at every seat all seems good to me.

Always take the acela express — 1^st class. Food quality is surprisingly better than some
Restaurants ive been to! The customer service has always been attentive and they dont make me feel pressured or uncomfortable! Drink service was always on pt and i have never been disappointed!

$ 103 to New York? If it wasn’t for needing to get to a flight and not wanting to risk megabus delays, I would never spend that much. It wasn’t even a nice or fast train because it took an hour and a half, they are just profit seeking. I would be willing to bet this is the most expensive train ticket on a non-​high speed train for a 100 mile journey in the world.
Why do they receive federal assistance with fares like this?

Well really cool train station in Philly, came here on Labor Day weekend. The train ride from Penn Station was only $ 39 and was quick, like 1 hour 20 minutes.
Philadelphia is the birth place of America and wish I could have spent more time doing the tourist thing. The waiting area is pretty large with benches to sit. There is a very large homeless population in Philly, seems more visible here than in New York.
Amtrak ride was comfortable and very fast, if you even want faster you can book Accela which is 1 hour to Philly from Penn Station at $ 100 one way.
My best advice book in advance when you wait till the last minute you will be charged premium. I paid $ 39 for one way and my friend wanted to get a ticket the day before Labor Day Friday and it costs $ 91.

Yes! I’m a definite fan of Amtrak. Gets me to Lancaster, Harrisburg, New York, Baltimore & beyond quickly, and with minimum hassle. Though Philly-​New York fares are exorbitant, other routes are not nearly as pricey. It’s nice to be able to plan a trip without worrying about parking, parking tickets, traffic, where to buy gas, etc, etc. The cars have pretty much all been clean & orderly.
I’d say Amtrak’s better than a bus, (to the same destinations, of course), since the seats are bigger & more comfortable, you can walk around & stretch your legs, bathrooms are actually useable, and you don’t get caught up in traffic.
I’ve been on two long-​distance trips on Amtrak, to Atlanta & New Orleans. If you’re planning a long-​distance trip, try to spend the extra fare & go for a sleeping car. Coach, long distance, can be fun/​enjoyable/​interesting/​depressing/​annoying/​hell-​no!, depending on how you can handle sitting next to the same person for hours & hours (or days & days). In sleeper cars, your meals are included. One day, I’d like to take the train to California… one day…
Meals on Amtrak are actually pretty good. Don’t expect gourmet, 1950’s ambiance, etc, but they’re perfectly acceptable, and definitely better than airplane food. Some of their selections in the Café car for shorter distance are a little pricey for what you get, but it’s still descent.
A good option for short to medium distance travel.

The train was clean and quiet. It was peaceful and the conductor was nice. For a quicker and more pleasant ride, the extra few bucks are so much more worth it than taking a bus.
NYC — Penn station — Quickest is 1 hour, cheapest is $ 50.
DC – Union station — quickest is 1.5 hours, cheapest is $ 50
Atlantic city — quickest 1.5 hours, cheapest $ 10.
Baltimore — quickest time is 58 mins, cheapest is $ 40.
Richmond — quickest is 4 hours, cheapest is $ 62.
Boston — quickest time is 5 hours, cheapest is $ 90.
Chicago — quickest is through Pittsburgh but its a long trip
*** TRIVIA — nashville is the only large city in the US with no Amtrak train :(
You can make advance reservations for sleeping accommodations and bicycle storage, but it’s very limited. My main problem is that they don’t allow pets on board (even certain service dogs)… Not cool…

Nice and simple ticket kiosks and organized lines down to the trains. Plenty of staff handling questions during the regular work commute hours, but quieter on the weekends.
And only 1 hr from Philly to NYC!