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Tags: Amtrak / Trains / Train Travel / Acela / On-Track WiFi / Technology / → All Tags

Amtrak Competes With In-Flight WiFi By Adding Internet To Acela In 2010

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?

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Amtrak Opening Up Northwest With Even More Seattle-Vancouver Service

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.

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US Senate Votes To Allow Amtrak Passengers To Bring Guns Along

The United States Senate, in a ringing endorsement of the 2nd Amendment or something, has taken the bold stance that passengers riding on trains should be allowed to transport handguns as checked baggage. Apparently everything else has been taken care of, so they had time to get to this:

The Senate voted Wednesday to permit passengers on the Amtrak passenger railroad to transport handguns in their checked baggage... 'Americans should not have their Second Amendment rights restricted for any reason, particularly if they choose to travel on America's federally subsidized rail line,' said Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., who made the proposal. Current Amtrak policy, put in place after the bombings of passenger trains in Madrid five years ago, prohibits weapons, including firearms, from being carried on its trains.

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Tags: Fall-Foliage-Map / Fall Foliage Travel / Fall Travel / Outdoor Travel / Amtrak / Train Travel / Vermont Travel / → All Tags

Fall Foliage Travel: Amtrak To True Maple Syrup In Vermont

Live in on the east coast and have a serious craving for some real, true maple syrup on your pancakes before you head out for fall foliage-spotting? There's no other option for such a weekend trip then other than Vermont, with its 50 state parks and late September fall foliage peak.

Actually, the trip to Vermont should be just as packed with red, orange and yellow scenery if you hop on Amtrak's Vermonter, which originates in Washington DC, and goes up through Delaware, New York City, Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont almost to the Canadian border.

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Passengers Suffer Through A Hot Night In Broken Down Amtrak Train

Less than a week ago, passenger aboard a Continental Airlines regional jet were stuck on the tarmac in Rochester, MN, during storms for over 12 hours, with no permission to leave the plane and no clearance to resume their flight. They had no food, no room to stretch or properly sleep through the night, and the smell from the bathrooms was overwhelming.

History now repeats itself, but this time it's an Amtrak train that put its passengers through hell. Happening in a different Rochester, this one in NY, an Amtrak train broke down and left passengers with no air conditioning or even lights. The train sat on the tracks for hours until a CSX locomotive was able to tow it into a station. "The train had no power, and passengers say they had to endure hot, sticky conditions inside the cars, with odors from the restrooms adding to their discomfort."

Since we're veteran Amtrak travelers, we've run into littler breakdowns and once a 13-hour one where the train crew fetched fried chicken fast food for the passengers, but nothing overnight and nothing where we would have had to sleep holding our nose. Perhaps we should start traveling with a full-size pillow and a rebreather?

Related Stories:
· Amtrak train towed to NY station after breakdown [Newsday]
· Passengers Forced To Be Cramped Campers Onboard Regional Jet [Jaunted]
· Amtrak Coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: Jaunted]

Tags: Train Travel / San Diego Travel / Los Angeles Travel / Amtrak / → All Tags

Trade The California Highway For Train Tracks And A Surfboard On The 'Surfliner'

If you need to get from San Diego to Los Angeles, or vice versa, the hour-and-a-half car ride could easily double given the horrific L.A. traffic. Avoid the road rage and smog by hopping on Amtrak and taking a two-hour-and-40-minute scenic train trip north. The Pacific Surfliner leaves from San Diego station and travels the Southern California coast to L.A.'s Union Station, and for those looking to go farther, the line goes all the way north to San Luis Obispo.

The stops in between vary according to train, but some include Solana Beach, Oceanside, Anaheim and Irvine. And it's not like this is a rare occurrence; Amtrak makes 12 daily round-trip treks between San Diego and Los Angeles, and between Santa Barbara and San Diego.

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Amtrak Inches Closer to On-Track WiFi in Northern California

While the airline race to be the first with fleetwide WiFi (which Virgin America won) sure mobilized the WiFi supporters over these past few months, it seems as though the hubbub has also awakened Amtrak.

In yesterday's post on Amtrak's summer discounts, a commenter alerted us to the Capitol Corridor's plans to implement on-track WiFi (as opposed to "in-flight") as soon as they find a suitable contractor. This would mean internet access to accompany increased electrical outlets for the 170-mile rail corridor of these Northern California counties: Placer, Sacramento, Yolo, Solano, Contra Costa, Alameda, San Francisco, and Santa Clara.

Calling all companies capable of getting California's rail online—how about hooking a corridor up? It's just too bad GoGo only does airline installation because the whole Amtrak network could really benefit from a speedy, nationwide plan like now.

Related Stories:
· Capitol Corridor Wireless Network [Capitol Corridor]
· Amtrak Discounts Summer Fares, Insists Trains Are Cooler Than Buses [Jaunted]
· Train Travel Coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: pandoralyrael]

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Amtrak Discounts Summer Fares, Insists Trains Are Cooler Than Buses

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]

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National Train Day Means Amtrak is Still Chugging Along

Fish out that old conductor's cap and choo-choo whistle from your youth (or your model-railroading days) and prepare to remember that other methods of cross-country transportation exist aside from the airplane. On May 9, Amtrak will celebrate "National Train Day," bringing awareness to the fact that they not only still exist, but have loyal customers and architectural gems of hub stations.

This may only be their second annual shindig, but it commemorates the day of the creation of the first transcontinental railroad and the last 140 years of (somewhat) successful chugging along from coast-to-coast on the US rail system. To envelop current train travelers in this history and invite potential customers to "Discover the Rail Way," Amtrak is hosting events in their Washington DC, Philadelphia, Chicago and Los Angeles stations. No doubt the live music, interactive green exhibits, "VIP" appearances, kids corner, and educational exhibits will go well with your pre-train cinnabon and coffee.

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Slow Travel: NYT Guy Takes Amtrak Across the USA

We've often lamented the sad state of the U.S. passenger rail system, especially when it's compared to other countries, but when it comes down to it, Amtrak is not nearly as bad as its detractors would have you believe. For example, did you know that it's possible to take a train from New York City to Emeryville, California (near San Francisco) in less than four days? It is, and if you're able to add an extra couple of days you can visit a string of neat towns without ever needing an automobile. A writer from the New York Times recently did just that, taking a January journey through the heart of America that he chronicles in an interesting story in this weekend's Travel Section, and it makes us want to ride the rails ourselves.

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Surviving an 18-Hour Delay on Amtrak's Coast Starlight

Usually when we think of late December Amtrak travel through the Pacific Northwest, vivid nightmares come to mind, such as the possibility of being stranded in a snowdrift or having the dining car run out of hot chocolate. For Flickr members Lee and Mary, however, their journey on the Coast Starlight route up from SoCal to Seattle seems to be quite comfy thanks to a private room and plenty of old-timey movies.

In the end, however, Mother Nature decided to flex her muscles and dig them a serious delay:

Our trip northward was hampered by blizzard-like conditions which kept freezing the track switches. We lost many hours on these unscheduled stops while they un-stuck the switches. Then in Portland we had mechanical issues with one of our cars which required them to rearrange the order of the cars. This meant that we ended up spending a second night in the Portland station while they straightened all this mess out. In the end...we were 18 hours late arriving into Seattle!

Not cool, Mother Nature, not cool at all. Thankfully, their full review and video room tour did not include any tales of the cannibalism we'd expect from such a situation. Just for added kicks, let's check on the typical rates for two adults traveling the entire route in a private room: $594. That's what we thought; it's back to the airport for us.

[Photo: TangerineTreeHouse]

Related Stories:
· Lee and Mary's Coast Starlight Review [Flickr]
· Train Travel Coverage [Jaunted]

Tags: Train Travel / Amtrak / Acela / Travel Deals / Recessionomics / → All Tags

Amtrak Gives Acela Fares a Healthy Chop

Funny – we were just bitching yesterday that instead of investing in a tourist-centric Anaheim-Vegas railway, Washington pols should do something about the miserable/overpriced state of Northeast train travel.

Someone at Amtrak must be reading Jaunted comments, because the train service just announced they're chopping the lowest Acela Express fares a whopping 25 percent, following a large drop in ridership throughout the Northeast corridor. We're not sure if that's because of the recession of BoltBus, but either way, we'll take the discount

For tickets bought at least two weeks ahead of travel dates, New York-to-DC fares on the superfast train are down from $133 to $99, and New York-to-Boston seats drop from $93 to $79. Not exactly competitive with those $1 bus fares, but moving in the right direction!

· Amtrak to trim one-way Acela fares by 25% [Boston.com]
· Lohan and Ronson Evidence Amtrak Ascendancy [Jaunted]
· Amtrak coverage [Jaunted]

Photo: [cliff1066]