Train Travel

[AndyinPA]

I like Union Station in Chicago, although not so much the commuter area, and it's weird getting there from the actual station. But the first-class waiting room is absolutely gorgeous. You can tell the station in DC needs work, but you can also see that it has good bones.

[keith]

Chicago Union Station here has a lovely waiting room. The concourse area is dreadful.

[northland10]

I like Union Station in Chicago, although not so much the commuter area, and it's weird getting there from the actual station. But the first-class waiting room is absolutely gorgeous. You can tell the station in DC needs work, but you can also see that it has good bones.

I don't see the "getting to the concourse" area as being weird but I have been through there many times so I go in an out of the many entrances. I suppose it is odd as you can enter through the headhouse (the building with the waiting room), across the street at the to all white tower which takes you to the concourse, from the 2 entrances on the north and south side by the river (where you go down to the mezzanine level and the down again to the concourse). There is also the far north entrance that brings you to the far side of one of the north side platforms. This is useful if you come from one of the north departing Metra trains and need to go to the north part of the loop, or, as I once did, arrive at Ogilvie on a Metra-UP train and walk across the street to the north Union Station entrance to catch an Amtrak train.

Okay, maybe it is little weird.

[AndyinPA]

[AndyinPA]

https://abcnews.go.com/Business/wireSto ... -104448057

BATON ROUGE, La. -- Louisiana is a step closer to connecting its capital city to New Orleans via a revived train line.

Gov. John Bel Edwards has signed a service development agreement that will advance the return of intercity passenger rail service between Baton Rouge and New Orleans, about an hour-long commute.

The agreement, signed Thursday, is a breakthrough for a project that has been in the works since 2008.

“All eight years I’ve been governor, I’ve been working to reestablish rail service between Baton Rouge and New Orleans,” Edwards told WBRZ-TV.

According to the agreement, passenger service could start as early as 2027. The plan is to start with one round trip a day. More rides will be added as riders increase. Along the route, passengers can expect stops in Gonzales, Laplace, and Jefferson Parish.

“An Amtrak line connecting Louisiana’s capital to the largest metropolitan area in the state will have immense economic benefits for both cities and the parishes in between,” Edwards said in a news release. “Not only will this service potentially reduce the number of vehicles on the roadways which will result in less congestion, but it will also connect communities through employment opportunities and allow for more transportation options for festivals, sporting events, and concerts.”

They have just elected a republican governor, so who knows if this will go through. See Christie: NYC tunnel.

[Volkonski]

It’s a brand new route on the world’s most famous train – but it’ll cost you $8,500 one way

https://www.cnn.com/travel/paris-portof ... index.html

In June 2024, the world’s most iconic luxury train route — the Venice Simplon-Orient-Express — will be heading to Italy’s Ligurian coast for the first time in its long and prestigious history. Those illustrious carriages will be rolling from Paris to Portofino on a two-day journey. The price tag, for those whose budgets stretch to it, is $8,500 one way.

Elsewhere in Europe, a direct train route between Italy and Slovenia is being revived after more than 100 years, with the launch of a new high-speed seven-hour service from Milan to Ljubljana on the cards “as soon as possible.”

[AndyinPA]

I won't be doing that one!

I'm having a hard time deciding on a last-minute train trip from here to San Francisco next month. I really want to take a trip through those mountains in the winter, but other things going on have kept me from making the final decision. Wait much longer, and there won't be any sleepers left, so my decision will be made for me. There already are no coaches left, but I wouldn't do that. Cannot sleep in coach on a plane; cannot sleep in coach on a train.

I have friends who were on that train, maybe 40 years ago, but it was a different route, though, and I think it was longer.

[Slim Cognito]

I've rescheduled my ABQ trip, flying into KC and taking Amtrak to ABQ. It's 17 hours by train, leaving at 10:30 pm and arriving at 3:30 the next afternoon. The last time I booked a sleeper, but that trip was canceled by Irma. This time I went all out and got the bedroom. And if ABQ fits the bill, I'll start making plans to move there.

[AndyinPA]

The bedroom is nice. Lots of room to spread out; your own toilet and shower, although you will probably forgo the shower in only 17 hours. I just like the extra room. And you really can see out both sides of the train if you keep your curtains open. That's actually what I like best, and I will pay the extra on the routes with the most spectacular scenery, one of the best things about taking a train.

Enjoy!

I may be going to ALB in October on the train again. I have a friend who is moving from Santa Fe to there in the next month or so.

[pipistrelle]

Amtrak plans to add routes. I hope this is independent of any administration's whims.

https://www.amtrakconnectsus.com/maps/

[northland10]

Amtrak plans to add routes. I hope this is independent of any administration's whims.

https://www.amtrakconnectsus.com/maps/

Some of the Illinois/Wisconsin routes are things they have been working on for a while. The Rockfort one originally was intended to go out to Dubuque but it has been scaled back. There has been some debate on whether Metra should run it and not Amtrak (treating it more as a local commuter route), though Rockford is outside of the RTA footprint.

A Madison route was one of the proposed high-speed routes, which included a plant in the Milwaukee area to construct the trains until the governor at the time killed it. I guess it was communism. However, it is freedom to give a bunch of state money to privately owned basketball team.

[Volkonski]

National Guard and State Police Will Patrol the Subways and Check Bags
Gov. Kathy Hochul, amid a series of violent crimes on the subway, said she would deploy 1,000 members of the State Police and National Guard to the transit system.

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/06/nyre ... 595e2e6e66

Gov. Kathy Hochul said on Wednesday that she would deploy National Guard soldiers and State Police officers to the New York City subway system, where they will patrol platforms and help check bags.

Ms. Hochul said a large show of force in the system, which is operated by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, a state agency, would help commuters and visitors to the city feel safe.

Additional law enforcement officers would add to an already large presence in the subways, where Mayor Eric Adams ordered an additional 1,000 officers in February following a 45 percent spike in crime in January compared with the same time last year.

Ms. Hochul said she would deploy 1,000 members of the authority, the State Police and the National Guard to “conduct bag checks in the city’s busiest stations.”

“These brazen heinous attacks on our subway system will not be tolerated,” Ms. Hochul said during a news conference, referring to a number of recent high-profile assaults.

There will be 750 members of the New York National Guard and an additional 250 personnel from the State Police and the M.T.A.

They will be working with the New York Police Department to make sure no weapons are brought into the subways.

The NYC subway system is the busiest metropolitan rail system in the nation with 25 lines, 472 stations, and nearly 250 miles of track.