Here is a story from The Wall Street Journal that I thought would be of interest: http://meteorologicalmusings.blogspo...or-amtrak.html

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I remember one time a few years ago when the were enormous lines for both the US air shuttle and security at DCA on a Friday afternoon. It was 30 past the hour and I was looking at least at missing the next two, maybe three shuttles to LGA. I called my assistant and told her to buy me a ticket on the Acela leaving on the next hour. Went out, got in a cab to the train station. Got there 15 minutes before the train was to leave, got on and was back in NY before I would have made it on the shuttle.

I had to go to Philly last week and took the Acela and it was great. Good wifi (free), comfortable seats, and no hassle. I have been flying on the Northeast corridor more of late (unless the weather is bad) but I think I'm going back to the train.

Tends to me more accidents on those trains than on planes (it would be interesting to see accidents per miles or passenger kind of stats). In any case, a bad one this weekend:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/articl...2PVL.DTL&tsp=1

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Then there was the crash of a plane in Russia that killed 44 people. I think anyone worrying about safety on Amtrak or flying commercial has some misplaced angst. I suspect the getting hit by lightening comparison is probably a good one.

Amtrak is a very reasonable option for shorter trips. I've taken it many times from Richmond to NYC (about 350 miles, 6 hours) and Richmond to Savannah (500 miles, 9 hours). The door-to-door time is not much longer than flying when you consider airport wait times, weather delays and the like.

The Northeast Corridor and northern Virginia tracks are usually free of delays, but elsewhere in the country Amtrak isn't too punctual.

Yes. I think that is a big problem. Northeast Corridor is great, but apart from that both scheduled times which are long and delays are a problem. The speed on the NE corridor is a lot more than in many other places in the country.

A few years ago we took the kids on Amtrak's Auto Train from Sanford, FL to Lorton, VA. Great trip, they really enjoyed it. I was disappointed, however, that our overall average speed was only about 50 mph for the trip and there are no scheduled stops on the route (one stop at about 2am where the operating crew is changed but no passenger stops). The train reaches speeds of 70 mph at some points on the route but it has to go much slower on much of the trip due to the track conditions.

Of course, in this case, I would have actually liked a few more hours on the train just to have more time to enjoy the ride but that isn't the point.

Does Amtrak have rental vehicle companies at all of their stations?

Acela hits 135 between DC and NY and 150 between NY and BOS. Averages are under 100 though. Still a quick trip.

Yes, rental car companies are available at many of the major Amtrak stations. One quick way to find out if a car rental is available at the station you are going to is to search for a car rental on the Amtrak website under:

http://www.amtrak.com/servlet/Conten...=1248542964141

That would be fun. I'd like to try that.

It is, but for a real hoot try the TGV between say Paris and Montpellier or the fast Shinkansan between Tokyo and Kyoto. I have a distinct memory on the TGV of being drilled back in my seat as that sucker wound up. It was awesome.

High speed rail is travel as it should be, and both the TGV and the Shinkansen are superb examples! The Tōkaidō line between Tokyo and Osaka is increadibly impressive, though it's not actually the fastest. It does 270km/h, but the Sanyō line between Osaka and Fukuoka does 300km/h due to its larger minimum radius curves (4km versus 2.5km).

Thanks..

So that makes it pretty fluid to take Amtrak..

Plus I assume there are no airport fees.^

And no hassle. Walk in, pick up your ticket and go to the platform.