The Twitter does not disappoint in scorching reactions to the 47-hour train ride Amtrak is launching between Miami and Chicago:
“For folks out there who have flown from Miami to Chicago and thought ‘I wish this took 10 times longer,’ check it out,” said an X user
“I prefer taking a train from Chicago to Miami because it is more expensive, takes longer AND is hard to sleep on,” said another X user.
“I’d love to not fly. I hate airports, flying, turbulence, etc. But this, for a family of 4, one way… is embarrassing,” said another X user, showing a price of $2,193.
I’ve been toying with the idea of taking one of these multi-day train rides across the country where the train ride is the entire point of the trip.
I’ve watched tons of YouTubes on it and read message boards about these types of trips. One of the most interesting suggestions that I’ve heard is to eschew the full size room in favor of getting two roomettes across the aisle from each other when traveling with a friend/partner/spouse. These are the reasons.
Having 2 roomettes across the aisle from each other assures that you have access to the better views all the time, while a single larger room will lock you into one side of the train and will sometimes prevent you from enjoying the better views from your private room.
Having 2 roomettes will allow one person to rest while the other one wants to be awake and do something else.
Having 2 roomettes will allow each traveler to have their own space when it’s needed. Being cooped up with someone 24X7 can drive even the closest of friends/spouses/partners crazy!
When roomettes are provided with toilets and sinks, having 2 roomettes allows one to be used as a private restroom while allowing the odors time to dissipate and the air to circulate.
Having 2 roomettes allows you the option to have one set up as a sleeping cabin at all times and the other a lounging cabin at all times. This reason is similar to reason #2.
“We have a target date of 2030 to start that service,” said Jason Orthner, rail division director for the North Carolina Department of Transportation.
Rail improvement will include a mix-used development they call Mobility Hub that will include commercial and retail.
Rail to Wake Forest might be a boon to Wake Forest and that region. I haven’t been to WF in many many years but if it’s a quick train ride and there’s nice things to do near the station, why not?
I can’t wait to drive to the train station, park, wait for boarding on the train, then the hour and a half train ride to Wake Forest to visit my folks + all that to get back to Raleigh, walk to my car, and drive back to my apt!
Much more efficient than the current 30min car ride up Capitol
Certainly if you have a car, it’s a great luxury and expense. Feel free to use it. In the future when Raleigh has much higher density there will be people that prefer to use a car less or be carless all together. Thanks to infrastructure and transit enhancements like this one.
I knowwwww haha I’m just being annoying. It is actually pretty cool, especially for my cousin who does NOT have a car and would be able to visit our grandparents without needing to bum rides.
To be clear, at this point, I think this is less about people from Wake Forest riding the train to Raleigh, and more about enabling people from WF riding the train to Greensboro, Charlotte, etc without having to drive to and park in downtown Raleigh, Cary, or Durham.
I don’t consider owning a car in America a great luxury. It’s pretty much everyone except the very poor and the few people on here who pretend we all live in some European urban paradise. I also think we’ll all be long dead before Raleigh becomes a high density carless city, if it ever happens at all.
I’m completely fine with more transit options, but I’m with Jake on this one (except that it’s spelled “Capital”). Driving is a lot more convenient from Raleigh to Wake Forest. If it helps people up there take the train to Charlotte, I’m happy for them. Just doesn’t really move the needle for me… Which is fine.
Is it currently the most convenient option? Yes.
Is it literally the only option outside of peak hours? Also yes.
Is it efficient compared to known alternatives? No, not really.
“Not sure why this is so difficult to understand, but maybe this isn’t about your needs today… The number of people who will be making travel decisions based on the future’s infrastructure, rather than today’s infrastructure, is huge! There are one million people living in Wake County today, and close to two million in 30 years. Most of those 1.89M people in 2050 will not be doing the exact same commute that made sense in 2020. Creating those new options now will allow some of the 2.8 billion trips they’ll make in 2050 to not be on the roads!”
This is a serious question. With Trump reelected and clearly aligned with the anti-transit / pro car crowd, how does this affect the viability of the SEHSR corridor?
I’m wondering the same. We’re already funded for downtown to Wake Forest, so I guess that sticks? Plus the ROW is purchased. It also seems like rail travel is gaining bipartisan favor in North Carolina, so I expect to see more advocates for it on the state level.
It’s also worth keeping in mind that Trump’s previous administration tended to favor states that went red in 2016 when it came to the minimal funding they allocated for rail and transit. So… yay for that I guess?
I’m guessing other Corridor ID routes that are still in study phase, like Wilmington to Raleigh, are going to make virtually zero progress over the next four years though.
