I hope everyone is doing well and staying safe. Recently, I travelled via train with Amtrak and had a good time! First, if you have never travelled by train, I highly recommend it! Even if its a short or long route, the scenery and overall experience is worth it! I have met people from all across the country and I enjoy hearing their stories. During this pandemic, I still had quite a few domestic trips planned and decided to take the train for a few of them. I have taken the train numerous times and I have not had a bad experience yet!
As I arrived in the station, It was very clean (I could smell disinfectant from outside). I was the only guests waiting for my train that day.
If you are considering taking the train, there is typically signage that can help you find the right tract your train will be arriving on. I was at the Dearborn, Michigan station, which is a smaller station, so there is only two tracks. You definitely won’t have an issue finding the right one, the customer service representative inside the station will notify at least fifteen minutes before arrival where to stand etc.
Amtrak is definitely committed to keeping their facilities as clean as possible during this pandemic! Although the train trip duration time can be significantly longer than air travel, I definitely think its worth doing it at least once! As I approached the train lines, my boarding pass was scanned and I was also given sanitizer!
My journey was about 13 hours long. I slept for most of the train time. If you are wondering, food services are limited but still available. I saw a decent size food menu in the food cart area. At this time, they are not accepting cash. So make sure you have a debit/credit card with you! The bathrooms were clean and equipped with sanitizer.
Personally, I love taking the train! Aside from meeting new people, I enjoy the leg room, free wifi, and outlet sources. I like packing and not worrying about liquid sizes or going over luggage weight limits! I find the train to be quite relaxing. Although some rows were full, most people who did travel solo had their own two seat row (like myself). The seats do recline and there is a foot rest that you can adjust to your liking.
I also wanted to mention that my train fare was significantly cheaper than air travel to my particular destination. My train ticket was $37 (one way) versus the flight price, which
was about
$300. Even if you do travel by plane, I want to note that most airlines are still filling all seats to maximum capacity. This is something I know from experience. I asked American Airlines and United Airlines, and was told just to sanitize seat and wear mask. Delta is the only carrier I am aware of that is actually banning the middle seat. The train seats are definitely larger than most economy size plane seats so Its definitely more comfortable. Although I am traveling during COVID, I personally don’t feel comfortable traveling via airplane with companies who are booking all seats.