Thought I would start this thread and hopefully it can warp into another huge political based argument (just kidding). On a serious note I am genuinely curious if others have encountered folks from Europe traveling on Amtrak for the first time and what their feedback was. I know what railfans in the U.S. think but I have run into at least two Europeans in my travel on Amtrak and I have not heard any negative comments so far…just the contrary. To be fair that could be because they are more polite or view themselves as a guest and do not want to offend. So will go over the two that I remember:
First: Older Amtrak period on the North Coast Hiawatha Vista Dome car headed to Milwaukee from Twin Cities: European from Sweden riding on a USA Rail Pass. Stated he loved the dome car and Europe does not have those and he also stated the food was well above what he was able to get on Swedish trains. I don’t remember the year exactly but being the polite American I think I did bring up the Swedish Chef character from the Muppet Show which was running at the time.
Second: Hiawatha Service in Milwaukee Intermodal Train Station waiting to board the train to Chicago. German lady asking about the trains and was surprised to learn the U.S. was sourcing new cars and trainsets from Siemens , she was returning to Chicago, I think. She liked Amtrak as a service.
I lived in Melbourne, Australia, from 1999 to 2004. One of my Aussie colleagues rode Amtrak between New York City and Washington, DC. She had been on a business trip to the U.S. She commented favorably on the ride.
Last year, while riding the Sunset Limited from El Paso to San Antonio, I sat next to an Aussie in the lounge car. He lives in Melbourne. We talked for more than an hour. It was his third trip on Amtrak; all of them have been on one of Amtrak’s long-distance trains. He was headed to New Orleans for a conference. He said whenever he travels to the U.S. for business, he allows time to take Amtrak for at least part of the journey in the U.S.
It definitely depends. I’ve heard of people from North America who go to Europe say that our trains (including VIA Rail) are complete trash in comparison. As for Europeans well they travel a lot by trains in general while most people in North America have not unless you live right along a rail corridor. My friend in Germany has a car for their family and it doesn’t leave their house for 2 weeks at a time, and they will take the train every now and then depending on where they are going, usually within Germany because inter-country trains can be a bit unpredictable with timing as the Swiss will often point out. This is largely due to the punctuality of their trains unless they are coming from a different country.
And as for my own comparison while I rode on Rail in Germany I have not here but there are a lot more stops available in Germany than there are here with the network being much larger. So purely due to that I would argue that they have a better train system.
It’s great that you got to hear European Responses on Amtrak though.
The North Coast Hiawatha ran 1971-79, so at least 46 years ago.
Two years ago, a German friend from Hamburg rode the CZ round trip from Chicago. She mostly enjoyed the experience, especially scenery. Her only negative comments concerned long stops in the middle of nowhere.