Flying is a bear. Burning jet fuel in the upper atmosphere has about 3x the warming effect of the same emissions at sea level, but if you live in the USA anyway, it’s frequently the only practical way to travel long distances. We don’t have a good HSR network like Europe or a lot of East Asia. But what we do have is Amtrak.
Amtrak is a bit of an odd duck – it runs on the freight rail system for the most part (the private companies, not the government owns the track). Legally, passenger trains should have right of way over freight, but in practice this often doesn’t happen due to lack of enforcement. There’s a bill to change things. But in general, on time performance leaves a lot to be desired.
Regardless of the difficulties, I’ve take an a look at the Amtrak site from time to time and thought about someday avoiding flying by taking the train. It’s tough to imagine taking the no fly pledge in the USA, but perhaps I can cut down on flying and see more of the country by taking the train. Over time, it turned into a bucket list thing to do. This summer, my sister had twins and it was time to take my family down to see them. It was time to finally give this a try!
I convinced my family to take the Coast Starlight from Seattle to LA. After watching some personal travellogs on youtube about the route and some of the delays people experienced, we ended up renting 2 bedrooms just to make sure it would be comfortable if we ended up spending 2 nights on the train instead of one. In the end, the train got to LA 45 minutes early.
The Good
The scenery is spectacular. Going the North to South route, unfortunately you can’t see Mt. Shasta, but you do get a great look at the Oregon Cascades and the California Coast.
The train passes through some pretty remote areas where you won’t see a road or get a cell signal for miles.
From the observation car (which anyone can get to and spend time in) or the dining car, you get views like these. The food is pretty good too – it’s about $25 for dinner and $20 for lunch, but included if you book a roomette or a bedroom. What’s best is that you get to relax with ample space, get up and walk whenever you want, brush your teeth in peace, and lie down comfortably to sleep. It really is a much better experience than flying!
We also passed the time by reading and watching a couple of movies. In all honesty, it was some much needed time to unwind for all of us. There’s no pressure to be anywhere or do anything. You can just watch the country go by.
There are a few brief stops and some longer ones. We got about 30 minutes in Portland, and many 10 minute stops in Oregon and California. It’s enough to get out and take in a bit of fresh air. Some people apparently order doordash and such on the stops, but we stuck to the dining car.
The not so good
Our train was on time, but it still is a really long way. We left at around 10am from Seattle and arrived at Union Station in LA around 9pm. It’s basically a day and a half on the train.
We went through Davis and Sacramento around dawn, and by the time we finished breakfast we were in Oakland. At that point, I think all of us were happy but about ready to get off the train, but it took the rest of the day and evening to go through most of the state of California and arrive. The average speed of the train (including all the stops) is around 30 mph. The trip would be easy to repeat if the speed were doubled and the time cut in half.
The other thing of note is that the train cars are really old, and they aren’t in the best shape. Everything was clean, but the age of the bedroom cars is certainly showing.
The Carbon Savings
Not as much as I’d hoped for. Here’s what Gemini says, inclusive of the extra warming effect of air travel.
The carbon savings vs flying were pretty marginal for our booking of the 2 bedrooms, and the tickets were a lot pricier. The reasons for the less than impressive carbon savings are as follows:
- The train is pulled by 2 diesel locomotives, not electrified trains like what you see in Europe and Japan.
- The bedrooms take up a lot of space on a heavy rail car. Roomettes have much higher passenger density and coach higher still.
- The route is a lot less direct than flying, and goes over some mountains.
The plus side is the views were beautiful and the experience was a good one. I’d do it again, but I’d do it differently.
Thinking about the future
If I could do this trip any way I want to, with as much time as I want (thinking about my retirement years, or something like that,) I’d do it this way.
On the way down, I’d book a coach seat from Seattle to Klamath Falls in Oregon. The train gets there around 10pm, so it’s about a 12 hour ride.
I’d spend a couple of days in Klamath Falls. It’s a short drive to Crater Lake and to Mt Shasta. I suppose you could rent a car or book a tour. There’s a lot of recreation in the area like mountain biking, skiing, hiking, and ziplining, and it looks like a fun place for a short stopover.
From there, I’d rent a roomette and spend the night on the train (picking it up at 10 pm in Klamath Falls) and maybe someday, if there’s a HSR connection between the San Francisco Bay area and LA, get off and take that in the morning. If not, just continue on down to LA on the Coast Starlight.
From there, I’d fly to Sao Paulo, reducing Seattle to Brazil to one direct flight.
On the way back, I’d probably stop off in Eugene or visit Northern California. The Northbound route features a dawn view of Mt Shasta, which would not be something I’d want to miss. Here’s someone else’s picture from the internet (the rest on this post are my own.)
The result would be a little under half the emissions of flying. All I need is a month’s vacation or more. But hey, I’ll get there someday.
Right now, I’m just grateful to see a beautiful part of the country while it’s still beautiful and spend some time with family.
Until next time, Amtrak.
greenfyi.com 
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