It doesn’t seem like high-speed - or any speed - rail will be able to be built at scale any time soon. The reasons for the decline of rail are many: fewer tracks paired with the rise of freight trains, the rise of highways as cost-effective competitors, and most simply and most crucially, the fact that new rail isn’t being built. Passenger rail is actually slower now than it was in the 1920s. Unfortunately, things haven’t improved much since then. Long-distance trains in the US are very, very slowĪ hundred years ago, the US was a rail innovation leader.
#TRAIN RIDE ACROSS AMERICA HOW TO#
So if you’re thinking of making the journey, here’s what to expect, and how to make the most of your trip. But if you’re willing to put up with the delays, it’s also (in my opinion) the most rewarding way to travel around the country, with beautiful views you can’t see anywhere else, more comfort than a car or plane, and the opportunity to meet people from all over the US - and world. Long-distance trains in the US are abysmally slow, and until (unless?) we get high-speed rail it’s an inefficient and sometimes frustrating way to travel. Take Vox’s survey here.ĭespite all its positives, rail in America has serious issues. We want to get to know you better - and learn what your needs are. It can also be inexpensive: I did this all with a flat-rate rail pass, which allowed me to take a certain number of segments within a set time period - more on that later, too.
An analysis from areas of Europe with more environmentally friendly trains found the environmental benefits to be even higher. UK data shows taking even a less-efficient train has about one-sixth to one-fourth of the carbon footprint of flying, and about one-fourth of the carbon footprint of driving a non-electric car. Taking the train is not only more scenic, but is much more environmentally friendly than either driving or flying. Most of all, I met people with wildly different life experiences from me - people rebuilding their homes after Hurricane Ida, blues musicians from Chicago, overnight commuters through the Great Plains for work, people talking about their experiences in the military, or farming, or being grandparents. I saw beautiful sunsets in northern Washington and Chicago and the Arizona desert. I saw the quaint lakes of the Upper Midwest, the humid clouds of the Mississippi Delta, the breathtaking mountains of Montana, and the endless hills of West Texas. (I flew from Los Angeles home to San Francisco because of timing issues, which is a big problem with US rail - something we’ll get into later.)Īlong the way, I learned about America. So this summer, I decided to take four more long-distance trains: San Francisco to Seattle, Seattle to Chicago, Chicago to New Orleans, and New Orleans to Los Angeles. Last year, I took the Amtrak from Chicago to San Francisco in coach, and loved it so much that I did it again.
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