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I take the train between NYC, Boston and Providence very frequently (dozens to hundreds of times a year), and to DC occasionally (MBTA between Providence and Boston, usually). When I worked in NYC, I could leave Providence on an early train and know I'd make it to Midtown in time for work. Boston and NYC (and DC) both have good public transit, so I can hop on a bus or a train on either end to get around the city. The northeast corridor has decent trains, at least compared to the rest of the country from what I can gather.

tl;dr I live in the Northeast without owning a car and it's OK

Our shitty rail infrastructure might have to do with the interests of the automotive industry [1]

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Motors_streetcar_conspi...

For the past 2 years I've rode Acela weekly between NY Penn and Washington Union Station and it's a breeze...show up 10 minutes before the train leaves no problem. Definitely beats flying or driving if you're going to/coming from within either city...at least until they add airport-style TSA.

Amtrak is slowly clawing back on their advantages (such as the new policy of forfeiting fares for no-shows), but are heads and shoulders above airlines in terms of comfort, free-wifi, etc.

Finally, it's almost always on-time or early, which compared to flying between DC and NYC would be insane to think of (Northeast Regional Trains are less so).

Last rant about flying -- it's funny to think that you probably spend less time in the air flying 250mi from DC to NYC than you do going 15mi in your cab after you land.

Yes and no.

Years ago I commuted between Washington and Baltimore. It was mostly OK, but one hot summer all trains were run at lower speeds because of track expansion. The MARC commuter trains were lowest priority and I got home late quite a few evenings.

And there is not a lot of flex if things go wrong. A fellow I know got to Washington something like five hours late once after somebody stepped in front of the Acela in Delaware.

DC to NYC has horrible reliability outside of weekday commuting hours. Trains are very often seriously late. And this is despite the routes being quite expensive. Weekday Acela service is on time and nice, but the price is still ridiculous.

The train is more comfortable than driving I-95, but it's definitely not cheaper and only faster if your end points are right near the stations. I don't own a car and if I want to get up and down the east coast I check Enterprise car rental for specials. For a three day trip rental + tolls + gas + insurance is still often well over $100 cheaper than the train and doesn't take more time. This isn't even considering added costs like cab rides to and from the train station.

One thing for business travel is that you can almost always work on the train. For me, that means when I have to deal with some disaster or meeting, I don't lose a weekend with my kids.

That's a northeast centric viewpoint though... Outside of there, many/most businesses are no longer in urban centers, and getting to the office park in the burbs is a pain.

"For a three day trip rental + tolls + gas + insurance is still often well over $100 cheaper than the train and doesn't take more time."

Sure it does. It takes all the time that you're spending paying attention to traffic.

On a train (especially one of the new ones with power outlets, wifi, etc.) you can make productive use of that time, read for pleasure, or even just catch up on your sleep.

The time spent on driving is simply burned up. Gone.

Sure the activities that you can do while driving are more limited than the train (can't sleep, no matter how much I want to :-)), but that doesn't mean they are nonexistent. You can read via audiobooks, or you can listen to music, or podcasts (I came to love my 50 minute commute a couple years ago when I realized each direction was almost the exact length of an episode of This American Life).

I also find talking on the phone is a great way to pass the time during a commute—I have many friends and family members where I find quite often that we're talking on the phone because one of us is driving.

"I also find talking on the phone is a great way to pass the time during a commute"

That's as dangerous as driving while (slightly) drunk, and "hands-free" devices don't make much difference, if any.

http://www.distraction.gov/download/research-pdf/comparison-...

I don't know of any studies with respect to listening to audiobooks while driving, but I would be surprised if they weren't also distracting (probably directly proportional to the level of interest the driver has in the book).

Conversing with a person who is actually present in the car with you is also distracting, but in that situation you also gain some safety by virtue of having another pair of eyes watching for danger, so it's more of a wash.

> That's as dangerous as driving while (slightly) drunk, and "hands-free" devices don't make much difference, if any.

I don't care—I'm willing to take that risk. For me it's better because I'm a super aggressive driver when I'm focusing solely on the road. Talking to somebody (or listening to someone talk) distracts me just enough so that I'm not super competitive—I'm happy to slide over to the right and go the speed limit in the slow lane.

> Conversing with a person who is actually present in the car with you is also distracting, but in that situation you also gain some safety by virtue of having another pair of eyes watching for danger, so it's more of a wash.

I highly doubt that. The other person may add more eyes but they have no control. I can't think of a single situation where back seat driving has actually helped me avoid an accident.

"I'm willing to take that risk"

You're not the only party involved here.

"The time spent on driving is simply burned up. Gone." Only if you choose not to enjoy the journey - just because you're not able to read or do other activity doesn't mean it's not to be appreciated.

That might be true if you're driving through a national park.

It's less true of the New Jersey Turnpike.

You can also, of course, enjoy the journey just as well on a train. Arguably more, since you can actually pay attention to the scenery rather than the guy riding your bumper or the one who changes lanes at random, for no apparent reason.

I've reached the conclusion that the East Coast... "commuter" corridors are simply a different matter, although from what I read they have problems, too.

I live at a cross country termination point, and I have had friends and family travel here by Amtrak. They are always, invariably, many hours late.

For their return trips, the departing trains generally leave from this originating station on time. They simply have no chance to make it down the tracks in a fashion that comes anywhere close to maintaining their schedule.

As offensive as anything, is the simple unreality of the schedules and their continued persistence of said schedules, year after year.

If they were more truthful, at least the unsuspecting one-time or occasional traveller could plan accordingly.

> I've reached the conclusion that the East Coast... "commuter" corridors are simply a different matter

I reached the same conclusion and have had similar experiences to your friends and family. 5 years ago I took the Charlotte-Raleigh train a handful of times over the period of a year or two. Only once was it on time when arriving at my destination, and only once did it depart from my departing station late (by an hour). The worst I experienced was about a 5 hour delay in-transit, putting the time at 2AM instead of 9PM.

I quickly dropped the train as a reliable mode of transportation.

You're spot on. The East Coast corridors are managed by a separate business unit than the Midwest routes. Differences in managent vision and population circumstances have led to the large gap in quality between the two services. Essentially one management unit sees train service as a 'public duty' and the other management unit sees train service as 'value creation', leading to a service in disrepair with little/no profits and a service with decent quality and sustainable profits, respectively.

I doubt a lot of people commute daily between NYC and BOS, but you're right, its worlds apart from "cross country" travel. The Northeast also has a high concentration of large cities

The train system in Europe is a dream. It's reliable enough that I've done insane train-plane-bus transfers through several countries that wouldn't be possible in the US(even if you did s/country/state.

I grew up in the Northeast too so I didn't get my license until after I graduated college.

There was this mini-fender bender in Florida that the other driver caused where the cop asked if it was revoked because of too many points because he couldn't quite understand a middle class person using primarily public transit.

> Meanwhile, I have friends who work for companies who write the software that control train scheduling throughout the country. After what they've seen, they refuse to ride on trains, and from the stories they've told I don't blame them.

Can you tell us more about this?

The stories are mostly the mundane sort of terrible, rather than of the outlandish and entertaining variety. You know, impossibly buggy software plagued by decades of half-rewrites and no documentation or tests, the sort of stuff that's typical for most big companies except that this particular big company is responsible for shepherding untold quantities of earth-scorching chemicals via an infrastructure so archaic that they often have no idea where the trains actually are unless the conductors call in personally and read out the signs of the towns they're passing through. Hair-raising close calls. Problems that we have the technology to affordably solve, but are merely too apathetic to. I'm enough of a non-expert that if I attempted to relay anything more specific then I'm afraid that I'd just be talking out of my ass.

I should note that my friends do not work for Amtrak specifically, or even necessarily have anything to do with Amtrak. However, I can tell you that there are definitely major companies involved, if you're looking for a particularly Fight-Clubby response.

Interesting (terrifying) synopsis. I might have to borrow that last bit, too: "he was a bit too fight-clubby for me".

Just ask the Amtrak people and they will give to a realistic expectation.

The issue for east-west trains is that the track usually owned by CSX or another freight railway, and the thousands of tanker cars heading for Albany, NY for transfer to barges to New Jersey oil refineries have priority over everything except the trains that bring in produce from the West Coast.

I frequently ride Northeast corridor trains Amtrak owns 95% of those tracks. The trains to NYC usually run +/- 10 minutes of schedule, depending on the number of people embarking at midpoint stations.

Of all of the transportation providers that I deal with, Amtrak is the lowest hassle and best experience. Consistent pricing, no security theatre, comfortable cars and friendly staff most of the time.

CSX freight also causes delays between Chicago and New Orleans. When I was delayed, the conductor claimed that CSX was in violation of either state law (IL) or the rail-sharing contract they have. I forget which.

I've heard a conductor on the Lakeshore line out of Chicago vent similarly. It was something like, the contracts with CSX specify a dollar amount based on the on-time percentage Amtrak achieves, which Amtrak thought would guarantee priority, but it turns out that CSX would rather leave money on the table than give Amtrak the least bit of priority.

I honestly suspect CSX actively hates Amtrak at some level of management. You've got these passenger trains running fixed schedules 3-5 times a week and you can't run them on time? I can't believe that is an accident.

If Amtrak was not government-funded it would have gone out of business decades ago, and appropriately so. Intercity passenger rail no longer works in the USA. The automobile and air transport infrastructure works so much better for most people. It's time to give it up.

Edit: I'm not saying that commuter and regional rail can't work, it clearly does in the right circumstances.

When Amtrak owns the tracks, it's a far better experience. I had similar (horrible) experiences riding the coast starlight between San Luis Obispo and Sacramento, but when I stuck to the commuter lines between Sacramento and the bay area, or LA and San Diego, it was always pleasant.