VIA Rail Canada is hoping to convince budget-conscious luxury travelers to give up cruising on the oceans and instead head through the wilderness. The Montreal-based Canadian intercity train company is pushing tourists to embrace a four-night, three-day "land cruise" that will go coast-to-coast and provide meals and accommodations in between. The offer is making its way out through press releases and currently sits at the top of the official @viarailbuff Twitter feed. There are, however, a few minor glitches. Let's go to the blurb:

Though travelers can't expect casinos and nightclubs on board VIA Rail, many favorable comparisons can be drawn, including private sleeping accommodations, inclusive meal service and additional on-board amenities. Ready to "set rail"? VIA Rail's flagship service, the Canadian, which has been designated as one of the "World's Top 25 Trains" by the Society of International Railway Travelers... offers travelers one of the most comprehensive vacation options in Canada.

]]> Omri 2009-11-09T16:34:24-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2009/11/2/16615/7877

Alright so how broke Amtrak is and how badly they need more passengers and cash is old and negative news. So how about some good news for train travel? Just a few days ago, it was announced that Amtrak is planning for WiFi on its Acela trains by 2010. This is what their passengers badly need, and hopefully the Northeast's few Acela routes are just the beginning.

2010 may be just around the corner, but frequent Amtrak passengers have been vainly attempting to connect to a network onboard for months now. For instance, when we chugga-chugged our way for fifteen hours (each way) between NY and the Midwest in March. Oh yes, we found an open network or two that moved with our train, but couldn't successfully connect. What's that about? ]]> JetSetCD 2009-11-02T17:14:21-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2009/10/6/8448/77227

Back in middle school, one of our friends got a scanner for his computer—it was cool at the time, we promise. The logical thing was to immediately make fake hall passes, so we totally understand what Jonathan Moore was thinking when he did something similar. Instead of wandering the hallways, this IT expert made more than £12,000 in fake train tickets. His copies were pretty good since they allowed him to travel totally free for about two years.

He would have continued on his merry way except a ticket taker with a good eye finally ruined his free ride. One day in Brighton an inspector noticed a color variation in his ticket, and then another 11 fake tickets were discovered in the plastic wallet where he kept all his contraband. So instead of getting busted for just one ride, he pretty much got busted for every ride he ever took. It didn’t help that the local police found over 70 designs for forged tickets on his computer. ]]> kjb 2009-10-06T09:03:54-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2009/9/25/143536/094

Amtrak's Northwest Corridor, already busy in anticipation of the 2010 Olympics, just got a little bit busier. As of August 19th, the train company has added a second daily train to the Seattle-Vancouver portion of their Cascades route, a network of rails that bind Portland to Vancouver and back. The new train means that travelers now have direct daily round-trip service starting all the way at the bottom of the route and all the way till the end.

Amtrak Cascades connects Portland to Seattle with four daily round-trips, and then travelers are routed to their final destinations accordingly. They're celebrating their 10th anniversary this year, with the expanded Seattle-Vancouver route being a part of that. For the rest of the celebrations, which include promotions and events, there's even a dedicated 10th anniversary page.]]> Omri 2009-09-25T16:58:49-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2009/9/14/44857/3018

On the whole, Japan is a dream for travelers; it's full of polite people who go out of their way to help tourists. But that can all come to an abrupt stop when you get on a train in Tokyo (or, to be fair, probably any big city). That's when the gropers appear, and we don't mean the fish.

Authorities are warning travelers—especially females—to watch out for subway passengers who feel the need to grope them. They say they're particularly concerned at the moment because many of the recently-nabbed gropers say they have been inspired by websites on groping. One recent offender said in his defense: "He had viewed a website that detailed how and when to grope people and wanted to confirm if the hints worked..." And he'd even traveled 60 miles out of his way to ride a train line the website listed as being "easy" for groping. ]]> amandak 2009-09-16T08:58:53-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2009/6/29/32850/7719

Urban blog Infrastructurist just published a heartbreaking post bemoaning 11 gorgeous American train stations that have been demolished. One that's thankfully been spared: downtown Los Angeles's Union Station, routinely referred to as "The Last of the Great Railway Stations."

Opening in 1939 and costing $11 million, the station quickly became a central destination for the West Coast's passenger trains. It was not uncommon during the 1930s and 40s for 7,000 passengers a day to crowd into the station, which still provides the hub for Greater LA's many rail services. Even if you're not a passenger it's an architectural treasure worth incorporating into your Los Angeles tour. ]]> Omri 2009-07-01T17:39:44-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2009/5/21/213628/132

Ok, so they didn't actually say "Trains are cooler than buses" but Amtrak must be feeling the pressure of the new cheap bus travel craze. Their trains don’t have power plugs at every seat, and don’t have WiFi beaming through their cars. So the only thing they can do to compete is to cut fares on their routes, in hopes that people haven’t permanently forgotten about the train.

Regional routes in the Northeast will be cut by up to 25 percent for the peak summer travel season. If high-speed is more your thing, Acela price cuts from earlier this year will stick around through the summer. Start booking your New York to Washington tickets now, they start at about $50 each-way. Too bad that’s like $49 more than taking Boltbus.

To take advantage of these lower rates you need to travel between June 2 and September 3, and you’ll have to book two weeks before you’re ready to go. Maybe if they allowed you to book a bargain fare at the last minute, they could get a few more butts in the seats.

Related Stories:
·Amtrak Cuts Northeast Fares By 25% [Boston Globe]
·National Train Day Means Amtrak Is Still Chugging Along [Jaunted]
·Train Travel [Jaunted]

[Photo: jmueller99] ]]> kjb 2009-05-22T12:40:29-05:00 Search Jaunted string http://www.jaunted.com/search/