Amtrak EHS — Attraction in New York

Whoa! A transportation company with the guts to have online reviews? That got you 5 stars instead of 4. Airlines won't let you leave reviews.

Anyway. I haven't been on a train in 3-4 years. I just got back from an Amtrak to D.C. Palmetto doing down. Acela coming back. By the time you deal with airports and ground transport . . . Amtrak really is a better/faster way to go in the Northeast.

Palmetto is an older train, but it 's actually bigger and has more comfortable seats than Acela biz class. Acela is looking a little threadbare here and there.

Service is actually very good - both trains. Conductors and dining car folks friendly and efficient. The train was clean. Although they wiped nothing down except for the lavs. (typical gvt. do as we say . . .)

The new Moynihan Train Hall in NYC is superb. No more Penn, that crime against humanity. So the trip begins with something...

The trains are generally clean and the trains are often on time. Conductors are friendly (especially if you are a regular commuter). Unless you ride the first class Acela, the food in the cafe car is not that great but is sufficient. Ample leg room and some cars have footrest. They now have a cancellation policy where you are not fully refunded for the ticket.

The app is very good and quite useful. However it does not easily purge old 10 trip tickets. E.g. I have 3 listed that are now expired and the current ticket is not in the list. Not something that would happen to most riders so only an issue for a few people.

Not 5 stars because some of the reward policies do not make sense... eg: if you consistently get a multiride ticket, you can not use any upgrade or companion coupons when you travel on those...

Amtrak originated as a bail-out for the freight lines, and has never had the support it needs from the federal government. It's ironic that the one mode of transport--passenger rail--for which the federal government has expressly assumed full responsibility gets the least federal money, while highway and air transport, supposedly "private enterprises", get greater and greater subsidies from government. Europe, Japan, and China all have first-rate passenger rail. Why...