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Over the past 15 months I have traveled on the Texas Eagle, Sunset Limited, Empire Builder, Capitol Limited, Lake Shore Limited, Pennsylvanian, and several regional corridor trains between Washington and Philadelphia.The Amtrak on-line reservation and information system is amongst the best that I have used.  I use it to plan trips and make reservations.  I have never had a problem with it.I have met many interesting people on Amtrak's trains.  Oh, I have bumped into a few soreheads, but most of the people that I have met have been very nice.  And some of them have been uniquely interesting.Most Amtrak employees are cheerful and helpful.  But about ten per cent of them need to repeat charm school, although Amtrak is no different than other commercial transport providers.  Watching the countryside glide by at 79 mph, for the most part, is fast enough to give one the sense that he or she is getting there; it is slow enough to be able to enjoy the many beautiful sights America has to offer.  Reading a good book or chatting with fellow passengers in the lounge car or having an afternoon snooze is some of the neat things that I enjoy on Amtrak.  When traveling over night, I book a sleeper.  It is a different experience than traveling in a coach.  If you have a discourteous passenger across the aisle in the sleeper, you can close the door.  If you are in a coach, you may or may not be able to move your seat.  If you are next to an obnoxious passenger in a coach from Philadelphia to Pittsburgh and you cannot change seats, it can be a long trip.  On a plane you can say goodbye to the obnoxious person in an hour or so. The wine tasting and quiz on the Empire Builder for first class passengers was great.  Knowing the start date of Amtrak got me half a bottle of wine. Late running trains, especially the long distance trains, are a turnoff.  Of the trains that I mentioned above, only the regional trains and the Pennsylvanian were on time.  The others were off the advertised by as much as five hours.  Fortunately, I did not have any close connections.  The food on the Empire Builder was OK.  The food on the other trains was passable at best.  The food on the Eagle and Sunset, at least, is pre-prepared off site and warmed up on the train.  It does not compare favorably with the food served up by a good restaurant; in fact, if a restaurant served up Amtrak style food at the prices charged on the train, it would be out of business in short order.The biggest step that Amtrak, or any provider could take, to improve passenger trains in the U.S. is to focus on the enhancement of existing corridors and the development of new ones where they make sense.  This is where they are likely to attract a significant number of riders, and where they could, if the U.S. developed a rational transport policy, cover at least their variable operating costs.
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