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Comment by kvetching | Hacker News Reader

Most don't know this but the US still has passenger trains and it appears it could be the cheapest way to travel across the US in 2022.

https://www.amtrak.com/tickets/departure.html

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> it could be the cheapest way to travel

Inter-city buses are the cheapest way to travel if you don't own a car. For example a train ticket NYC->Washington DC is over $100. A bus ticket for the same trip is $30.

The train will be more comfortable and possibly faster, though.

I traveled coach from CHI(IL) to SAC(CA) with a mountain bike in tow on the Zephyr for $120 at the end of October.

Not aware of anything comparable cost-wise, especially bringing a fully assembled ready to ride mtb along.

Annoyingly however, even a Greyhound bus does the trip faster than the Zephyr. Such is the sad state of passenger rail in the US.

For what it's worth, it's possible to get a NY -> DC ticket (or vice versa) on the NE regional for about $30. You just need to book sufficiently far in advance (IME, around two months). Usually not a weird time either -- I paid $64 for a round-trip weekend ticket during normal hours (early afternoon both ways).

Source: I've taken that train at least 150 times at this point.

Nobody who wants to get across the country in a reasonable amount of time and on schedule should contemplate Amtrak.

If you want a sightseeing tour, that's another matter, it's great for that.

As a Brit, I'm used to rail journeys taking an extra hour or two due to delays or cancellations. When working and living in the US, I dropped off a friend at Denver station on my way to fly home for Christmas. Upon returning , I didn't know whether to be amused or horrified when he revealed that his train to LA had been delayed by ..... a day and a half !! What?!!! He said he spent a very long happy time, basically a whole day, in the bookstore though, and didn't seem to have any complaints about it, said it wasn't unusual to be that delayed. ;)

It was indeed great for seeing the country when I was a teenager. These days, the idea of living out of something similar to a first class airline seat does not appeal and sleepers are outrageously expensive.

Depends on how you define 'cost'. Much as I really wish I could travel by train, 1) there's relatively limited number of places you can go on Amtrack unless you're in the Northeast. 2) Even when served, the path between A and B is often 'non-optimal'. For example, to get from Atlanta to Denver, I have to either go hundreds of miles out of the way looping through New Jersey and Chicago, or South through New Orleans only to have to get on a bus north in El Paso, which means 3) every trip takes far longer than the alternatives. Even if A and B are on the same line. For example, Atlanta to New Orleans is more than 12 hours by train, but I can drive there in less than 8 and fly there in 1.

Amtrak is ok for a leisurely vacation stroll across the country; it's not an alternative for regular business travel.

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