Not All Trains Are Alike
25. Feb, 2010 
2 Comments 
From Virginia, I turned left, heading southward at last. And right off the bat, things changed.
It all started at the train station, where I sat and waited for an hour past departure time before boarding. And that was just the beginning.
Now, I’ve ridden Amtrak all over the West, and it’s always been my favorite way to travel. It’s scenic, comfortable, affordable and eco-friendly: who, I always wondered, wouldn’t want to ride the train?
As I boarded in Virginia, I started to understand: Not all trains are the same. In this part of the country, you don’t take Amtrak if you can avoid it.
Out West, there were big seats and big windows, and the cars were rarely full. You could walk around the train, hang out in the sightseeing car where happy families sat in cushy chairs admiring the view.
Here, the windows were tiny; the dining car was run down and half filled with luggage; and the tables were inhabited by a passel of loudly un-sober people playing cards.
It was a warm, humid day outside. The train car, however, was so cold that everybody was wrapped up in blankets, shivering.
In the back corner of the car, the overactive air conditioner was dripping freezing water onto one of the seats. A little old lady clucked and shook her head. “It ain’t sposed to be like that.”
Freezing water drips from the ceiling onto a seat, right next to a power outlet—
but don’t worry, the outlet doesn’t work.
The people were the saving grace of this train ride—which, as I later realized, was my first hint at the fast-approaching reality of the American South.
For, even despite the weird odors and discomfort in the overcrowded, dingy, freezing-cold train car, people were smiling, and talking. Old women and young college students had amiable conversations, compared backgrounds and family stories. People shared blankets and sweaters, and whenever the train stopped we all rolled our eyes and chuckled at our dumb luck.
We were all in it together, and we knew the train would get us there, and for a couple of hours we suffered through it in good company. After all, it could be worse.
But it could be better. I missed the West.
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You’re right about the condition of some of the trains. But remember: for eight long years, the Bush administration did its best to starve Amtrak to death. In fact, one of the Bush budgets had ZERO funding for Amtrak which would have forced the railroad to shut diwn in 90 days. At one point, Amtrak had more than 100 rail cars in storage because they didn’t have the money to perform minor repairs or routine maintenance. Still, trains are definitely the way to go and, fortunately, we now have a rail-friendly administration in Washington.
Hi Jim!
Rail-friendly in principle, sure. The reality is always more difficult, though it seems like real strides are being made toward upgrading our train systems. So exciting.
I wouldn’t be so quick to blame everything on Bush, but I definitely agree that the system’s been pretty weak for a while. That’s a shame: Amtrak is a beautiful idea. Did you know that freight trains still have right-of-way over passenger trains? That causes huge delays throughout the system, which leads to a major decrease in ridership.
One way or another, it’s worth fighting to get the trains running as they should. I think it’ll happen, hopefully sooner than later, and I’m willing to keep riding the trains even if they’re not perfect.
Totally, totally excited about the idea of high-speed trains.