As some of you know, I live in Indianapolis. I have a wedding to attend with my wife in Chicago this weekend. My wife is in the wedding and needs to be there on Friday. Due to work, I cannot leave until the following day.
Because I would prefer to drive back with my wife, taking two cars to Chicago is not my preference. So, I decided to take Amtrak up on Saturday so I could drive back with my wife. I don’t know which fact I am more amazed by.
The good:
I made the reservation less than 24 hours aforehand. Yet, the price was only $22! When you take gas prices and Chicago parking into account that is so much cheaper than driving.
The bad:
The only departure time is 6:50 am and I am told I need to be at the station at 6! and the train takes 5 hours–that is not a misprint–to make Chicago!
The ugly:
I don’t need high speed rail. At $22 and to not have to deal with Chicago parking, if they could just take 3 to 3 and 1/2 hours and leave at 7:45 instead of 6:50, I think there would be a lot of people who would take advantage.
Gabe be glad there is service to Chicago from Indy the only reason is the fact that Beech Grove in right there and Amtrak needs a hospital train to get the broken down equipment to the shops.
Based on half of the round trip fare (the site wouldn’t let me do a one-way), your flight would be between $60 and $75, if you flew instead of taking the train.
That’s about 180 miles, per a map website. That makes the average speed 36 mph - oddly about right if the track speed is 40mph, which wouldn’t surprise me at all.
The bus, on the other hand, offers superior travel times at 3:40, but it sounds rather like the departures I got for arriving at the Amtrak station in Chicago (10 and 12:10) wouldn’t be useful to you.
Sounds like something money will cure (as in upgrading the track).
Rail mileage Indianapolis-Chicago Unionn Station is 196. If a substantial portion of the trip was at 79 MPH, the speed limit on nothing extra special for track and equipment, and that allowed an average 60MPH, the trip would be 3 hours, 16 minutes. By the way, there is about 30 minutes built in for schedule slop. The scheduled running time from CUS to Dwer is 1hr 12 minutes, inbound is scheduled for 1hr 37 minutes. Same 29 mile route getting through the Chicago maze.
Mapquest puts the same downtown to downtown at 183 miles and 3 hrs 7 minutes on the I-65, Indiana Toll Road, Chicago Skyway, Dan Ryan, but with the Dan Ryan torn up you might be able to that time if your name is Andretti.
You are correct that the price is good. Round trip drive at 20mpg and $3.00 gas puts gas alone at $55.00.
Couple of points. 1. I do not think there is any reason to get to the station 50 minutes early. Unless they have swung some equipment and people over from the airport, 15 minutes will probably be way more than enough.
Stay in touch with “Julie” at Amtrak (the 800 number). Since you are on the Cardinal coming out of DC, the risk of the train getting to Indy late is higher than it would be if you were taking the train on the days the train originates in Indy.
Have fun.
Jay
PS: Be sure to get on the Illinois Department of Transportation web site and check out the routing options for the Dan Ryan if the final destination is anywhere north or west of downtown Chicago. The Ryan express lanes ARE closed and between the Skyway and just north of the 23rd street exit cars get to share 2.9 lanes with all the truck traffic.
Some of the delay on the Cardinal is due to heavy railroad congestion as you approach Chicago. On my last trip, (also a Sat. arrival) we had several significant holds for opposing/blocking traffic. I don’t know how much of the delay is due to Amtrak and how much is just general freight congestion. I think the latter is more likely.
Ya know, you could just rent a car one way. Rental fee, $18 bucks for gas at 30 mpg, and you get there in half the time.
What’s an extra 3 hours of free time worth to you?
PS - If you want to take a train ride for the sake of riding the train, wait until your vacation rolls around. Amtrak is more predicated to tourism than to commuterism.
I think you just invented a new word: commuterism. I like it!
Commuterism: the belief that one needs a 300 hp, 5,000# vehicle to drive 20 miles to work in 10mph rush-hour traffic, all the while thinking that if wasn’t for all these other pokey drivers they could really get moving.
Believers are frequently seen at the alter of the gas pump, praying for relief from the gods of high fuel prices.
Adherents of this philosophy can be seen every morning marching in procession slowly towards the headquarters of the corporate gods, and every evening reversing the procedure as they head out to their oasis in their aptly named communities (usually named for the natural resource the development destroyed (i.e. Pine Street, River Hills, Oak Forest Drive, etc).
Indianapolis and Chicago are not in Idaho and I guarantee that the trip will be not one minute less than three hours, there is a 50% chance it will take 4 hours and at least a 10 percent chance that the train will beat the car. And that is with the average speed of the train at a little under 40mph.
And to think Gabe, all that- and you are one of the FORTUNATE ones, to still have a local Amtrak boarding point AND an active ticket window where you can buy a ticket for cash, if you so desire.
Up north here the best they offer is a cement platform 40 miles out into the corn field, and no ticket window[xx(]
I’d be stuck having to either take a cab to board, or worry later how to retrieve my car if I were attempting to do as you plan.
A train beating an auto?! Maybe when pigs fly. Aka, 0% chance.
Unless Gabe’s villa is right next to the Indianapolis Amtrak station, he’s still going to have to bet from home to station via an auto. Unless the wedding chapel is right next to the Chicago Amtrak station, he’s still going to need an auto to get from station to chapel.
You’d be amazed at how much precious time is saved driving straight from home to destination.
It’s pretty obvious that time isn’t an issue here. The issue is not wanting to drive two vehicles when only one will suffice and Gabe taking the alternative of choice, the 5 1/2 hour 180 mile train ride.
So have a nice ride up there Gabe. Enjoy the wedding, soak up plenty of free goodies at the reception.
Yeah traffic in the south half of the Chicago metro area is terrible because of the Dan Ryan construction.
Two weekends ago it took me almost three hrs to get from home in the west suburbs to the Indiana border. A distance of about 50 miles according to mapquest.
If I was driving to Indy that day, it would have taken over six hours to get there and it would have cost me alot more in gas and aggrevation than the train.
In theory it would be faster to drive just looking at it from a distances standpoint but in real world Chicagoland driving time you aren’t going to get there any quicker driving unless you are traveling at about 3a. At that time driving might be quicker.