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Since August I have made three round trips from Georgetown, Texas to Dallas on the Texas Eagle.    OK, the Eagle does not stop in Georgetown, so I have to drive to Taylor or Temple.  Taylor is approximately 27 miles from my house; Temple is approximately 40 miles from it. The fare was a bargain.  It was $21 each way from Taylor; $15 each way from Temple.  This is before the senior discount.  My first two trips were in coach.  Over the Thanksgiving holiday, because I anticipated the train would be crowded, I priced a seat in a roomette.  Much to my surprise, the first class fare from Temple to Dallas was $56.95, which included the senior discount, or just about what it would cost me to fly on Southwest Airlines.  Moreover, had I taken the plane, which I do quite often, I would have had to drive to the Austin airport, which is approximately 46 miles from my house, plus pay $7 a day to park in the long term parking lot.  Driving to Dallas costs me approximately $42 each way.  Lunch in the dinner is included in the first class fare.  I had the veggie burger going and coming.  It is priced at $7, which means that the net cost of the first class fare was $51.95.  Taking the train is a good deal as long as I don't need a car in Dallas.  Since I was staying downtown, with ready access to DART, I did not need a car.  However, on two occasions, since I was attending the Dallas Symphony, I made sure to book a hotel close to the symphony hall.  I don't cotton to the idea of being on public transit in Dallas late at night. The downside of using the train lies in the fact that there is only one train a day.  Thus, if the train runs into a major delay, I would be stuck in Dallas overnight, since there is very limited bus service between Dallas and Temple.  Fortunately, the trains was on time all six times.  In addition, the schedule is very slow, in part because of the dwell times in Fort Worth, especially for Number 21.  It is scheduled to arrive in Fort Worth at 1:25 p.m. and depart at 2:10 p.m.  On the day I returned to Temple it arrived in Fort Worth at 12:45 p.m., which resulted in a very long dwell time in Fort Worth. I would use the train more often if we had more than one train a day in the I-35 corridor as well as train service from Austin to Houston.  Better means more frequencies and faster schedules.  It is no secret that I favor discontinuing the long distance trains in favor of more frequent and better corridor service.  DFW to Austin and San Antonio would be a good place to start in Texas.  If Amtrak was not hobbled by its long distance trains, it might have the resources to improve corridor services where it makes sense.  The corridors don't have to be high speed.  If they have an average speed of 75 miles per hour or thereabouts, along with improved station facilities, I believe that they could attract a reasonable passenger load and come close to covering their operating costs.
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