AMTRAK AMERICA

 

Yeah, we have some passenger rail service in this country. I wish we had a lot more, like Europe or Japan. We have good memories of being whisked from Avignon to Paris on the TGV, or Tokyo to Kyoto on the Shinkansen. Our town has service to Kansas City and Chicago. It takes a little longer than driving but is so much more comfortable. Looking forward to October when we go from Prague  to Vienna to Budapest by train.               

AMTRAK

 

Passenger rail service in the US. This is the Amtrak train coming into downtown from Chicago, the only one that comes from this direction. None of the sleek lines of the Shinkansen or TGV, but it’s something. Outside of the Boston - Washington corridor, we just dont' have the population density. This is America. We drive or fly.                        

Goin' To Kansas City

Amtrak, our national passenger railroad network, runs just a line or two over from the MetroLink platform seen yesterday. It's westbound, so it's going to Kansas City. 

Amtrak, like our local transit system, leaves something to be desired. We can take it from here to Chicago or Kansas City but it's really slow. The network is better in the northeast between Washington and Boston but that's where population is most concentrated. Amtrak can't hold a candle to the trains in Europe or Japan (Japan's transportation system is incomparable) but we just don't have the population density. Too many big, empty spaces. With air service, why would you want to take a train from, say, here to Denver or San Francisco to Seattle?

How I've loved the TGV and the Shinkansen. But here we drive or fly.                

Amtrak In The Sun

 

A passenger train crosses over Broadway on its way to Chicago. It may be January but it looks like it might melt.