Hi Folks
We, my wife and I, would like to travel across the USA by train, the same as you can do with a Eurorail pass. Get on and off as you please. We would start in New York city, and finish up in San Francisco. Is it possible. I have sent emails to Amtrak without success. Thanks for your help.
Holiday in The USA by Amtrak
SuperMick on 25/05/2016 - 15:19
Last edited 25/05/2016 - 17:04 by 1 other user
Last edited 25/05/2016 - 17:04 by 1 other user
Comments
I can't recommend Seat 61 enough. We used the info to book sleepers for a family of 6 in Vietnam and Malaysia and it was great.
I haven't used Amtrak in the US except for single journeys, but I am told they can have horrendous delays on some routes - like 11 hours late, that kind of thing.
Maybe not a big issue for a tourist, but potentially a problem. That said, that feedback is from Americans who might be more critical of the service as passenger train travel is a bit of a novelty in a lot of areas.11 hour delay on what may be an 8 hour train ride, which would have take 5 hours to drive or 1 to fly.
Not at all uncommon.
AmTrak is really slow, on average 2-3x slower than driving and 8-10 slower than flying.
Do you really want to be stuck on a train for 70 hours?
Why not do a mixture of train and drive. Give you the opportunity to explore a little with a car. Take a bit of the historic route 66, etc.
Did the train from New York to San Francisco last year and had a great time!
First you need to book the journey from New York Penn Station to Chicago I think it's about an 18 hour Journey , you can book via the Amtrak website. It's nice travelling through upstate New York during the day and then arriving to Chicago the next day.
I would stay a night or two in Chicago, then there are two ways to get to SF. Either via the north on the Empire Builder, or take the route through the mountains on the California Zephyr.
We took the California Zephyr and really loved it.. really great scenery and a very nice train. Initially out of Chicago you spend a lot of travelling through farms - mainly corn!
After this you travel through the Rockies and see some awesome scenery and mountain vistas, after the Rockies you head through the Sierra Nevada range before arriving in Emeryville - which is a bus ride over the bridge to San Francisco.
The train was a lot of fun and you are really well looked after. I recommend the two person sleeper, there are around 8 sleepers per carriage and a dedicated host per carriage. Also each carriage as showers and bathrooms available for the passengers of that carriage. Everything was very clean and well maintained.
Sleeper cabins include breakfast, lunch and dinner. The cabin host will take your preferred time and make the reservation at the dining cart. There is also a takeaway diner serving meals and drinks.
Make sure you are at Penn Station on time as the trains left right on time
We enjoyed it so much that we are heading back to do the Empire Builder route next year.!
Have done the Starlight - Los Angeles to Seattle a couple of times and agree wholeheartedly with the above comments.
Thank you so much for all of your help, it is very much appreciated.
You wouldn't travel on Amtrak for the speed or convenience. I've only done single journeys and although the trains are slow the service is great and depending route there's great scenery you wouldn't see by car. You could also mix in some buses to make it a little easier if you're doing multiple stops or ones slightly off the rail route. Megabus is really cheap and the buses are generally very clean and comfortable(for a bus) and has free wifi and power so you can research and plan on the way.
https://www.amtrak.com/ccurl/631/638/SystemMapMar2015.pdf
and
https://www.amtrak.com/take-the-trains-across-america-with-u…
It looks like you still need to book your seats on the train, and not just spur of the moment decide to catch a train
These are helpful too:
http://www.seat61.com/UnitedStates.htm#Train services in the USA, at a glance
http://www.seat61.com/UnitedStates.htm#USA rail passes