I was at the Kingston (RI) station (on the NEC) last week, and have never seen so many cars in the parking lot during the week!

I'm not sure how many parking places there are, but if there's 300, the lot is usually only about 1/2 full! (This also includes parking for a bike trail that starts at the station.) Last week, the lot was overflowing, with cars also parking on the roads leading to the station! And by the number of pax that I see getting on and off the trains, I'd say more pax are using trains!

And Kingston is not a major station - so if a (semi) small station is used more, a major station is ... :D

Out of ELP :confused:

Impossible, it would take me days to get anywhere

Lucky you. ;) My organization is less "thoughful" of employees and hence I pay difference out of my pocket to get from 2ed to 1st class. This is not such a great sacrifice as I almost always purchase a Eurorail pass of some sort in US basis where I will be traveling in Europe and the difference in 1st and 2ed class is not that serious. Domestic US is a different story in my part of the country.

747LWW

I now favor the Acela over the Shuttle from New York to DC and to Boston. I already preferred the train (versus driving) for New Haven and Hartford trips.

interesting that this thread is 5 years old.

I avoid air travel at all costs. Based out of Seattle I have ridden the rails to Cleveland. Chicago, Toronto, Eugene, Vancouver and Los Angeles in the pas 3 years. I have flown only to Manchester England, Amsterdam, Paris and Hawaii.

As a fellow ELP traveler, I agree! Heck, it is quite a drive to get anywhere!

I was looking at US train fares the other day vs flying and some away from the east coast are not good.

eg
Las Vegas to Dallas (just some random route I tried)
$194.
6 hour bus ride to Los Angeles and the 44 hours by train in a reserved coach seat.
If I wanted a compartment, add $400+ onto that so around $600.

Flying costs anything from $49 + tax upwards and takes a couple of hours + hanging around at the airport etc.

Routes like Washington DC to Philladelphia for $50ish aren't too bad but anything over a distance I would not go near the train (unless of course the route was really scenic but even then I'd rather drive at my own pace).

Back home in England, I live about 3 hours north of London so the only way to fly is to head 2.5 hours north to Newcastle or the same west to Manchester and then pay around $100 for an hour long flight.
Far easier to pick up a cheap train fare for sometimes £11 / $16 and get there in 3 hours or less.

I moved last year from Phoenix to North Carolina and since then I've taken the train on a lot of trips where it's cheaper than flying significantly and easier than driving. Raleigh-DC is about $45 on the train and a very enjoyable ride. RDU-DCA is frequently around $200 one/way and the drive is miserable.