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this post was submitted on 08 Dec 2023
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If I could ride a train, instead of flying across the US, that would be so nice. Hop on one train, take the travel time to read, wfh, relax and avoid traffic.
I also find it ironic how central to the web Chicago is looking when Saint Louis put up that fight so long ago.
There's an Amtrak station blocks from my home. I've had destinations in mind with Amtrak stations nearby. Amtrak is effectively not capable of connecting stations unless the same train serves both. For example, Raleigh NC to Altoona PA. Amtrak can't say "Take the Silver Star up to New York, hang out in Grand Central station for two hours, take the Globular Condor or whatever the Westbound train is called to Altoona." I guess "You can't get there from here" is easier to program.
Lol, it's the Pennsylvania 43, I've been taking it a lot recently - but their site may have been upgraded since you last tried it, because they told me basically that exact thing in reverse for how to get to Jacksonville from Pittsburgh when I was poking at it last week, so it might be worth giving it a go again if it'd be helpful.
Edit: lmao, I gave it a go, and nope, it says "we do not have any travel options." Taking a look, I'd bet it's because the Pennsylvania 43 leaves at 11AM, and the Silver Star arrives at 7:10PM, so maybe it has rules requiring same-day departure between arrivals to be consider "the same trip"? The Pittsburgh->Jax route has much shorter connections. Also you could connect in Philly if you'd like, if I'm tracking the Silver Star's path correctly - the 43 goes NY->Philly->Altoona
Edit 2: yeah, it seems like it just doesn't consider taking the Silver Star to the Pennsylvanian as an option when going to West PA from SC - like, even getting to Pittsburgh the only option it gives is heading to Washington DC then using the Capitol Limited from DC - which is completely reasonable, but means missing out on the extra stations you get with the Pennsylvania 43 like Altoona. I wonder if these routes between places are hand-written?
I tried the same exercise and it’s so frustrating most people would give up. It took way too long to get to a route map, so I could find out Altoona connects to Philly and Pittsburg
Booking a trip as one thing didn’t work so I tried booking two legs: Raleigh—>Phil, Phil—>Altoona. This approach lets you specify different dates, so your logic about different days doesn’t hold …
Then I had to give up. Amtrak’s site is broken for iPhone/Safari so each operation was delayed by as long as a minute or more and I was never able to proceed far enough to see schedules. No one uses a smartphone these days: clearly just a fad
This is why I find the response “people don’t use rail much in the US, there just isn’t the demand, we have to wait until there is demand” so annoying. It’s like Amtrak sucks, I would have spent innumerable more time on trains if Amtrak wasn’t overpriced crap that makes you book far in advance like a fucking airline flight in order to get a reasonable ticket price.
I pretty much only utilize commuter rails like the MTA in Boston because they are so much more functional and affordable.
Me and my family members have tried a few times. "We're going there and coming back, this is kind of a pleasure trip, I'm in no immediate hurry so going slower than an airliner is acceptable, let's see what Amtrak can do. In almost all cases, Amtrak's answer is "We can't do that."
The ONLY train that serves my local platform here is the Silver Star. They don't want you using it for short-haul trips like from here to Raleigh, so there are routes I'm locked out of unless I drive myself to Greensboro. The Silver Star is served by one physical train, it comes through here at about 9 at night and about 6 in the morning, and those hours aren't even a little stable.
The navigation a passenger has to do to get from here to the West coast by Amtrak is more complicated than needed to drive yourself. I can get from here to Los Angeles on street signs alone. Amtrak is I suspect deliberately unhelpful.