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Comment by mattkrause | Hacker News Reader

The actual train trip from NYC to DC is 3-3.5 hours each way, and both ends are smack in the middle of the city.

If you’re flying, Dulles and BWI are 45 minutes from downtown DC (or more); ditto for the NYC end, and you need to factor in another hour+ for security. I think air travel might end up slower—-and it’s certainly less pleasant.

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> and you need to factor in another hour+ for security

Just an anecdote, but with TSA Pre, I haven’t needed more than 15 minutes for security, flying domestically and internationally several times per year for the past few years.

> with TSA Pre, I haven’t needed more than 15 minutes for security

Same. With Clear, that goes down to 5 minutes tops. Add in airport lounges, and showing up a bit early goes from being a nuisance to a pleasure (or opportunity to be productive).

I’m a huge fan of trains, but they’re only marginally competitive for passengers in the Northeast.

At least for the north or south subset of the Northeast Corridor the type of transportation honestly boils down to preference. Train is in the comfortable but relatively pricey and slow end of the equation. I could drive from Central Mass to New York cheaper and faster than train but I hate doing that drive.

This probably depends a lot on exactly when/where you’re flying.

Even if it seemed true for me, I’m not sure I’d bet the price of a ticket (and my schedule) on it always working out.

I was in that boat for a while, but it's been rocky recently at a few airports that I fly in and out of as the number of Pre users have gone up and airports have toyed with the idea of Pre only lines (which sometimes are far from where you actually want to be). I think it's coming back to normal, but there have been several times over the last year where I've considered using the regular line for the same of time.

At which airports? I've seen short precheck lines but I've also seen 1h+ lines.

This is similar to when my wife and I visit the UK, we usually do a week in the south and a week in Scotland. And we traditionally take the LNER between just because Getting to an airport will be a 45-60 minute cab or train, then dealing with security, baggage, etc, so all in all a 3.5-4 hour journey. London Kings Cross <-> Edinburgh Waverley is a 4-5 hour, usually OK train ride (if the A/C is working), and you get on and have wifi (sometimes), and can pull out your laptop and put it on a REAL table.

Okay but you're flying into DCA, not BWI or IAD, and from there it's a ~15 minute metro into the heart of the city.

Agree with you on the other points, though.

Also, for an airport you are looking at spending $30-50 just to get there in a taxi or Uber.

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