I take the train between NYC, Boston and Providence very frequently (dozens to hundreds of times a year), and to DC occasionally (MBTA between Providence and Boston, usually). When I worked in NYC, I could leave Providence on an early train and know I'd make it to Midtown in time for work. Boston and NYC (and DC) both have good public transit, so I can hop on a bus or a train on either end to get around the city. The northeast corridor has decent trains, at least compared to the rest of the country from what I can gather.
tl;dr I live in the Northeast without owning a car and it's OK
Our shitty rail infrastructure might have to do with the interests of the automotive industry [1]
For the past 2 years I've rode Acela weekly between NY Penn and Washington Union Station and it's a breeze...show up 10 minutes before the train leaves no problem. Definitely beats flying or driving if you're going to/coming from within either city...at least until they add airport-style TSA.
Amtrak is slowly clawing back on their advantages (such as the new policy of forfeiting fares for no-shows), but are heads and shoulders above airlines in terms of comfort, free-wifi, etc.
Finally, it's almost always on-time or early, which compared to flying between DC and NYC would be insane to think of (Northeast Regional Trains are less so).
Last rant about flying -- it's funny to think that you probably spend less time in the air flying 250mi from DC to NYC than you do going 15mi in your cab after you land.
Years ago I commuted between Washington and Baltimore. It was mostly OK, but one hot summer all trains were run at lower speeds because of track expansion. The MARC commuter trains were lowest priority and I got home late quite a few evenings.
And there is not a lot of flex if things go wrong. A fellow I know got to Washington something like five hours late once after somebody stepped in front of the Acela in Delaware.
DC to NYC has horrible reliability outside of weekday commuting hours. Trains are very often seriously late. And this is despite the routes being quite expensive. Weekday Acela service is on time and nice, but the price is still ridiculous.
The train is more comfortable than driving I-95, but it's definitely not cheaper and only faster if your end points are right near the stations. I don't own a car and if I want to get up and down the east coast I check Enterprise car rental for specials. For a three day trip rental + tolls + gas + insurance is still often well over $100 cheaper than the train and doesn't take more time. This isn't even considering added costs like cab rides to and from the train station.
One thing for business travel is that you can almost always work on the train. For me, that means when I have to deal with some disaster or meeting, I don't lose a weekend with my kids.
That's a northeast centric viewpoint though... Outside of there, many/most businesses are no longer in urban centers, and getting to the office park in the burbs is a pain.
"For a three day trip rental + tolls + gas + insurance is still often well over $100 cheaper than the train and doesn't take more time."
Sure it does. It takes all the time that you're spending paying attention to traffic.
On a train (especially one of the new ones with power outlets, wifi, etc.) you can make productive use of that time, read for pleasure, or even just catch up on your sleep.
The time spent on driving is simply burned up. Gone.
Sure the activities that you can do while driving are more limited than the train (can't sleep, no matter how much I want to :-)), but that doesn't mean they are nonexistent. You can read via audiobooks, or you can listen to music, or podcasts (I came to love my 50 minute commute a couple years ago when I realized each direction was almost the exact length of an episode of This American Life).
I also find talking on the phone is a great way to pass the time during a commute—I have many friends and family members where I find quite often that we're talking on the phone because one of us is driving.
I don't know of any studies with respect to listening to audiobooks while driving, but I would be surprised if they weren't also distracting (probably directly proportional to the level of interest the driver has in the book).
Conversing with a person who is actually present in the car with you is also distracting, but in that situation you also gain some safety by virtue of having another pair of eyes watching for danger, so it's more of a wash.
> That's as dangerous as driving while (slightly) drunk, and "hands-free" devices don't make much difference, if any.
I don't care—I'm willing to take that risk. For me it's better because I'm a super aggressive driver when I'm focusing solely on the road. Talking to somebody (or listening to someone talk) distracts me just enough so that I'm not super competitive—I'm happy to slide over to the right and go the speed limit in the slow lane.
> Conversing with a person who is actually present in the car with you is also distracting, but in that situation you also gain some safety by virtue of having another pair of eyes watching for danger, so it's more of a wash.
I highly doubt that. The other person may add more eyes but they have no control. I can't think of a single situation where back seat driving has actually helped me avoid an accident.
"The time spent on driving is simply burned up. Gone."
Only if you choose not to enjoy the journey - just because you're not able to read or do other activity doesn't mean it's not to be appreciated.
That might be true if you're driving through a national park.
It's less true of the New Jersey Turnpike.
You can also, of course, enjoy the journey just as well on a train. Arguably more, since you can actually pay attention to the scenery rather than the guy riding your bumper or the one who changes lanes at random, for no apparent reason.
I've reached the conclusion that the East Coast... "commuter" corridors are simply a different matter, although from what I read they have problems, too.
I live at a cross country termination point, and I have had friends and family travel here by Amtrak. They are always, invariably, many hours late.
For their return trips, the departing trains generally leave from this originating station on time. They simply have no chance to make it down the tracks in a fashion that comes anywhere close to maintaining their schedule.
As offensive as anything, is the simple unreality of the schedules and their continued persistence of said schedules, year after year.
If they were more truthful, at least the unsuspecting one-time or occasional traveller could plan accordingly.
> I've reached the conclusion that the East Coast... "commuter" corridors are simply a different matter
I reached the same conclusion and have had similar experiences to your friends and family. 5 years ago I took the Charlotte-Raleigh train a handful of times over the period of a year or two. Only once was it on time when arriving at my destination, and only once did it depart from my departing station late (by an hour). The worst I experienced was about a 5 hour delay in-transit, putting the time at 2AM instead of 9PM.
I quickly dropped the train as a reliable mode of transportation.
You're spot on. The East Coast corridors are managed by a separate business unit than the Midwest routes. Differences in managent vision and population circumstances have led to the large gap in quality between the two services. Essentially one management unit sees train service as a 'public duty' and the other management unit sees train service as 'value creation', leading to a service in disrepair with little/no profits and a service with decent quality and sustainable profits, respectively.
I doubt a lot of people commute daily between NYC and BOS, but you're right, its worlds apart from "cross country" travel. The Northeast also has a high concentration of large cities
The train system in Europe is a dream. It's reliable enough that I've done insane train-plane-bus transfers through several countries that wouldn't be possible in the US(even if you did s/country/state.
I grew up in the Northeast too so I didn't get my license until after I graduated college.
There was this mini-fender bender in Florida that the other driver caused where the cop asked if it was revoked because of too many points because he couldn't quite understand a middle class person using primarily public transit.
tl;dr I live in the Northeast without owning a car and it's OK
Our shitty rail infrastructure might have to do with the interests of the automotive industry [1]
[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Motors_streetcar_conspi...