{"id":287,"date":"2023-03-30T04:06:35","date_gmt":"2023-03-30T04:06:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/eoinodwyer.com\/scribblings\/?p=287"},"modified":"2025-07-21T07:37:11","modified_gmt":"2025-07-21T14:37:11","slug":"train-travel-in-north-america-is-bad","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/eoinodwyer.com\/scribblings\/train-travel-in-north-america-is-bad\/","title":{"rendered":"Train Travel in North America is Bad"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Part of why I wanted to do this trip was to see how difficult it would be to travel across the continent. I’m a big proponent of rail travel as building out a network of high speed rail (similar to the Shinkansen<\/a> in Japan) would reduce our carbon emissions, help end our dependence on cars, and make it easier and cheaper to travel between cities. There was a high speed rail meme<\/a> going around the internet a while ago that’s burned into my brain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wouldn’t the map in the top image be nice? I appreciate that they even worked in some Canadian cities, which was very thoughtful, and a new high-speed CPR would be very cool. The depressing thing about the above map, however, is that the current rail system doesn’t even come close to the same coverage. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Navigating the Current Network<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

DC to Montreal<\/h3>\n\n\n
\n
\"Map
The completely insane route to get to Montreal from DC<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

You’re probably wondering, for starters, why I’m not travelling by rail to Montreal. Well when I booked my trip a few months ago, I searched for trains between DC and Montreal and the only result it gave me was a three step journey that looped back through Toronto. This would take about 38 hours<\/strong> if I left at 10pm on a Sunday. For reference, driving from DC takes 9.5 hours<\/a> according to Google. So I booked a flight instead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yesterday I got told about the Adirondack route<\/a> which goes directly from New York to Montreal. It had been cancelled during the pandemic but was supposed to be up running again soon. I checked rome2rio.com,<\/a> but found there still wasn’t a direct train, but I could take an 8 hour bus ride from Albany to get there a little quicker (12 hours in total). That still seemed horrible.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Today, just as I was finishing typing up this blog post, I tried Amtrak again, and the Adirondack is finally back running all the way to Montreal. If I cancelled my flight, I could get to Montreal in a measly 15.5 hours or so. It’s hard even for me, with my love of trains, to justify the expense and the time with the switch now. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Montreal to Chicago<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

But why not rail down from Montreal to Chicago? The Windsor Corridor is basically a straight shot from Montreal down to Detroit so that should be easy enough. Well taking the train to Windsor is a mere 10 hours which is about the same as driving. That’s not a bad trip. But there’s no connecting train across the water<\/em>. You have to bus or drive over to Detroit and then take a 5.5 hour train to Chicago. And that’s going to have to be the next day, because the schedules aren’t going to line up. Also the Detroit Amtrak station<\/a> currently looks like a sad Taco Bell. I think I’ll probably end flying for this section as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Map
You would think this route was easy, but you’d be wrong<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Freight Right of Way<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Okay so crossing the border by train is pretty horrible. But it’s also bad inside of Canada.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a previous post, I noted that The Canadian <\/em>only averages about 49km\/hour over its trip. Now even though the rail cars got manufactured in the 50s and rock back and forth a lot at high speed, it can easily hit speeds of about 120km\/hr. But what holds it back is that it has to give right of way to every freight train it meets as it travels on CP<\/a> and CN<\/a> lines. At various points, the train can easily be up to 8 hours behind schedule. A few years ago, it was sometimes 45 hours behind schedule<\/a>! These delays are factored into the final arrival time, but they make what could be a 2 day trip into a 4 day one. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It also seems like catching the train at any stop other than Toronto or Vancouver would be an absolute nightmare. As the train is basically a hotel on wheels, it’s not such a big deal. However if we actually want people to use rail instead of more carbon-intensive transport like flying it would be nice to have trains that run on time. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Conclusion<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Long distance rail travel in North America is a hot mess of cancelled routes, slow trains, missing connectors, and terrible timetables, and only a giant weirdo like me would attempt a trip like this. But the food is really good<\/a> on The Canadian<\/em> so that’s something. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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