Is it expensive to travel by train in the US?

Question

Is it expensive to travel by train in the US?

Answer 1

Wow! "Laurina" hit the nail on the head. She is absolutely correct.  Rail travel in the United States is, for the most part, only slightly more expensive that traveling by Greyhound bus, the cheapest form of passenger transportation, and much less expensive that air travel.  Trains are dramatically more comfortable then both bus and air, but their big drawback is that because of some silly routings  they are the slowest .

Answer 2

about or more expensive than greyhound bus, but definitely moer comfortable. it's not that expensive compare to plane but takes hella long.

Answer 3

If your not a US or Canadian citizen Amtrak (the major railway here) offers the USA rail pass to international visitors. It allows you unlimited travel on the Amtrak system for 15 days for a more reasonable price if I remember correctly.

Answer 4

I have noted that often it is more costly than flying because you need to buy food.

Answer 5

the train ride isnt that much but if it's a long or overnight ride they will kill you with the charges for a sleeping room and food.

Answer 6

No not really , but if you can drive , get a rental car The Us has about the cheapest and best rental car service in the world, and its very safe driving there. train service is ok back east, but limited on west coast, harder to get to certain places.

Answer 7

It's generally cheaper than driving unless you have at least 4 people in the car.

Answer 8

Mike-

Its more expensive than Greyhound, but cheaper than flying in most cases.  

I say most cases because my wife and I travel by rail.  No we are not some old fuddy-duddy rail freaks, both of us are 36 and work for the United States Department of Homeland Security.  

Its a matter of knowing what the procedures are in the airports and working on the other side of the fence watching you folks go through the c**p that our employers actually believe is a necessary part of every person getting on a plane.

I can understand them checking folks that have foreign passports, (personally everyone with a foreign passport regardless of country needs more scrutiny), but for those of us who are citizens of the country and are not going on international flights overseas its overkill.  At least that is our opinion.

So to aviod needing a tube of Preparation H and Desitin, we just take the extra time and travel by rail.  The staff on Amtrak has never been an issue and its always been a great trip.

The expensive part is when you upgrade from Coach to the sleeper options, which in our part of the world, there are two sleeper options on the train we use most, (Coast Starlight #14 North Bound and #11 South Bound).  

Our last set of tickets cost us $750.00 Round Trip.  This includes the sleeper, (Roomette) and all of the meals on the trip.  Yes the meals are included when you purchase any of the sleeper options.

So if you are comparing Coach Prices, she would be correct in stating they are about the same.  However, on a long trip like we take, (San Jose, CA to Seattle, WA @ 22.5 Hours), getting the sleeper is a better deal than coach.

Now if you are going to be only on the train for a few hours, then coach will serve you well.

But look at it this way.  For the price we paid, we are getting our own private berth, which converts to a pair of chairs for the day, and a pair of bunks at night.  Plus your own table and power outlet.  Downstairs in the cars there is a common shower room too just in case you need to clean up.

Restrooms are all downstairs too.

But here is the best part.  There is a lounge car and parlour car on the train.  So if you stay in your compartment for the whole trip you are missing half the fun of meeting new people and having a good chat with them.  

Several of the people that we now keep contact with, we have met on the train.  Its been really nice to meet the new folks, and talk to some of the old timers that still remember rail travel from the 1930's and 40's before flight was a real option for travel.

Best of all is the scenery that you will experience on your trip.  Depending on the route you are going to travel I would suggest that you take your camera with you.  If you don't you may be sorry you didn't.

In any event, have a good trip and enjoy it!

Answer 9

slightly more expensive than greyhound, but definately worth it, busses are more like cattle cars, call 1-800-usa-rail for train info. or go online at amtrak.com