I just spend the weekend in Phila and found the cheapest way there was to fly to BWI from Atlanta and then take Amtrak to 30th St. This included and overnight stay at BWI, which just goes to show how expensive flying in and out of Phila is these days…
I also had to piece the trip together myself. Too bad the Amtrak and airline schedules aren’t integrated.
Here are some random observations:
It is really pretty easy to get between the airport and the train station. Shuttle runs frequently, is well marked and the trip is short.
BWI rail station is a tiny and is a dump - considering the number of people using it on a Friday morning - it could use some upgrading. How about a joint MARC/Amtrak/BWI project?
The BWI station staff were very good. I saw an agent go out of his way to give a 3 yr old girl a paper Amtrak hat and coloring book. Just fabulous to watch happen!
I spend an hour and a half down at the end of the platform taking pix before my train came. Not a single hassle. [:)]
The center track has 1983 140 RE rail (rolled in June of 1983, so it’s exactly 30 years old) - the old PC standard that Amtrak adopted. It must have been put down with the early 80s NECIP that put the bulk of the concrete ties in place. The other two tracks had newer 136# rail (which is NS’s std). For comparison, NJT and CR use 132 RE rail.
The ride quality has gotten much worse in since the 80s and 90s when I last rode this part of the corridor. The interlockings, which were always rough, were even worse and there were some other bad spots as well. A lot of the route was pretty good, though, just not “rock steady” like it was 20 years ago.
The Amfleet coaches are just as good as they always were. The “peel and stick” interiors were nice and clean, the seats comfortable, and the ride nice and quiet.
No. $700 difference. $1100 for the Crescent. $400 for NEC/BWI. That’s WAAAY too large a difference.
The Airtran/Southwest flights were $110 each. Amtrak was $42 and $32. Hotel was $100.
Flew up on Friday AM. Arrived Philadelphia just after the Crescent. Left Philadelphia at 9:30 PM Sunday, about 5 hours after the Crescent. Arrived in ATL about same time as Crescent.
Your description of your recent NEC trip is most interesting and informative.
On more than one occasion, when going to DC or Philadelphia, I have stayed at the LaQuinta near BWI. It has a shuttle to the airport as well as the rail station.
Clearly, the BWI station is not 30th Street or Washington Union Station. But it works.
If the extra six hours on the ground was for business purposes, you need to factor its cost into the calculation… If it was for personal purposes, it still has value, although it is implied and may be different than the time for business.
In addition, at least in my case, I have never gotten off an overnight train feeling completely rested. For years I would not admit it to my non-rail friends, but I suspect very few people get as good a nights rest on a train as they do in a good hotel bed.
There are approximately 24 weekday trains a day from BWI to Washington’s Union Station. The one way fare is $6.00. It is $3.00 for seniors.
I have found that hotel prices in the Baltimore area can be as much as 50 per cent less than in D.C. for the same class of accommodation. Baltimore, by the way, is worth a visit. The harbor area is neat. And the B&O Railway Museum is worth a visit.
I always felt very good and very rested after a night in sleeping accommodations on a decent train. There were exceptions, like a derailment causing a bus bridge in the middle of the night, or a sleeper on a local train that the railroad truly wanted to discontiniiue and thus left couopled to the switcher while sorting cars at a junction in the middle of the night, but those were exceptions. And the huge joy of waking up in the morning after a good night’s rest with thoughts of good French Toast in the diner and a whole day sightseeing on a transcontinental, well that was really living. When Amtrak did provide a shower, on a few trips toward the end of my USA and Canadian travels, I still opted to simply scrub myself with a wet towel and stay in the roomette or bedroom, however. On one business trip I spent five successive nights in sleepers: NYNH&H Owl, Boston-NY, PRR-Southern. NY-Greensboro, Southern-WPRoute-L&N, Greensboro-New Orleans (streetcar riding included), KCS, NO-Shreveport (and rode the trackless trolley there as well as attended to business), and KCS-MP Shrreveport-St. Louis. I would have liked to take the NYC back to Boston, but had to fly back to make a meeting. That particular year I think I spent about 10% of my nights in sleeping cars and thoroughly enjoyed it.
Me, too. Mostly because I thought I would be missing something! Never had any trouble getting to sleep, but staying there after 4 hours or so was tough. I tend to wake up when the train stops…
BWI is an alright station. I used it about a month ago when going to 30th street on a Regional as well. Generally for me the limit is a bit over 750-900 miles for a train trip be it overnight or daytime so Southwest does indeed work from there.
The regional I was on was literally completely sold out, middle of the week, about 2 PM. One guy walked around looking for the last seat. They could easily be running 14 car regional trains and filling them it seems.
Must have been a bit unusual. The average load factor on the NEC regional trains in 2012 was 48.3 per cent. To be sure, the load factor can vary significantly from day to day and segment to segment, but I am hard pressed to believe that the capacity constraints on the NEC are as great as some claim. The average load factor on the Acela during 2012 was 62.5 per cent. It would be nice to see the load factors for each day and each segment of the NEC for a year.
In 2008 I asked Dallas Area Rapid Transit for the load factor for each of its bus and rail routes. I never believed that they would give it to me. They did. I got each route as well as every bus and train for the first half of 2007. The even sent me the data on Excel spreadsheets. Now I am testing my luck again. I have filed a Freedom of Information Request with Amtrak for similar information on the NEC. It will be interesting to see what I get.
I think load factor is at best a rough estimate for availability of space on a train. The reason is that not all riders get in at the first station and ride all the miles up to the last station. People get on an off during the trip. Load factor is the relationship of passenger miles to seat miles. If you have people riding for relatively short distances (such as BWI to Philadelphia) the seats can be filled on that part of the journey may there may be empty seats before BWI and after Philadelphia.
Unlike the private railroads that preceded it, Amtrak does not sell more tickets that it has seats, not even for short distances. That will tend to decrease the load factor.