photo via flickr sbamueller
My friend Ben pointed out a good article from Boston Magazine’s blog entitled, Why Amtrak is Better than Flying. I regularly visit NYC and often use the high speed train, Acela, from Amtrak on my visits.
According to the post, Amtrak accounts for 54% of the air/rail trips between NYC and Boston and 75% of trips between NYC and DC. The reasons are easy to understand, the faster service of Acela, being treated like a person, and more reliable on-time service all help.
The fact that my 6’1″ frame can comfortably sit in the seats is another perk. I only point this out after reading The Boston Globe article from Monday about airlines reducing legroom, Airlines cut deeper into standard legroom.
Certainly, train travel could be improved – notably between Boston and NYC where the term “high speed” sometimes is more in theory than reality – but hopefully with more funding that will happen shortly. As for air travel, there is nothing on the horizon that gives me hope that the experience will get better.
BosGuy 
I’ll only take Acela from now on. Several of us were traveling from Boston to Manhattan for a business meeting last year. I took Acela while the others flew into LaGuardia. I departed an hour earlier than they did, but my colleagues showed up an hour late, frazzled and frustrated.
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Mitt Romney has promised to to cut the funding to Amtrak if elected. Because more cars on our crumbling infrastructure, more gas and oil consumption is better for America than taking the train
I took my first Amtrak trip to Chicago with the family over the summer. It was very enjoyable. We’re looking forward to doing it again.
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For me it’s not having to go through airport security and arriving much earlier for a flight than the train. Plus, it’s much easier and cheaper getting to the train and to my final destination when taking the train.
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