I had some vacation time and I’ve never ridden a train before, so I thought I’d look it up. I’d seen a few YouTube videos and it looked like something I’d like. I’m not a fan of air travel at all.
I went to look up tickets and was shocked at the price. I could drive for cheaper and faster including my own stops. I could fly for cheaper and faster and wouldn’t have to pay for a sleeper car or hotel. It seems like there’s no benefit to taking a train at all. Even the hassle of flying is worth the time and money saved.
Ps and why does a sleeper car (the thing that had me curious from YouTube) $1000/night?!
Unless you are being oddly specific with your definition of passenger rail, there absolutely is.
Brightline for instance.
Brightline is commuter rail. We have a bunch of little trains connecting to close cities. What we don’t have more than one of is passenger rail, where you can hop on a train in Seattle and get off in New York.
From the article I linked:
AFAIK the Amtrak route from Seattle only goes to Chicago, you would have to change trains to get to NYC anyway.
ETA: I am pretty sure you would have to change in Portland too as the only route out of Seattle goes south IIRC.