Mind the Gap

Thursday's debacle left me in a bitter mood for a couple of days. Besides having a portion of my trip cut short, I wasn't happy with the way I was treated by Amtrak's crew in an emergency situation. All of us were confused and needed help, but no one took charge. Even a little empathy, or humor could have gone a long way for 200-plus weary passengers. And it didn't help that I was alone, and didn't have anyone to talk to. Moving on, the rest of my trip ended up going pretty smoothly. My two flights Friday morning were on time, and I made it to Raleigh by noon. I was able to spend time with my family, and we celebrated Passover together that evening. The last leg of my journey to D.C. wasn't anything I hadn't seen before. I got to the beautiful Raleigh Union Station around 9:30 a.m. Saturday, for my trip on train number 80, the Carolinian. The train was running about a half hour late, and I had time to relax in the station, which opened four years ago.  As a ...

 So... this is where things get hairy. As I wrote in my last entry, you really couldn't have asked for a train ride to be going better than to be rolling along between Miami and Jacksonville, and to still be on time! It's rarity for long distance trains in America.  After we left Jacksonville, I began the process of trying to fall "asleep," which basically means closing my eyes and shifting around in my fully-reclined seat for several hours. About 11:30 p.m., our train came to a sudden halt and the electricity went out. No one was sure what had happened, but I heard a conductor say "it didn't sound good." Not exactly what you want to hear, especially at night. Most passengers were still up at that hour and some were speculating whether we had hit a vehicle, or something. No one seemed to really know. The crew made no announcements, as it usually does not during nighttime hours. At one point I heard a passenger say a conductor told them we struck a pipe, ...

This morning was nice because I didn't have to rush, with an 11:40 a.m. departure out of Miami. I was able to enjoy a leisurely continental breakfast downstairs, then pack up and grab a sandwich from the Subway across the street.  I chose to Uber to the Miami station instead of taking the TriRail this morning, due largely to the heavy suitcase I had with me. Additionally, it is also a bit of a walk from the TriRail Station to the Amtrak station (They are close, but not adjacent).  Miami's current Amtrak station was built in 1978, and is on the north side of town. As I mentioned, it's not easily accessible by public transit. Also, the station definitely isn't terribly aesthetically pleasing, I must say. I hope Miami is able to get a new modern station at some point. It's a large, beautiful city that deserves one.  Anyway, train 92, the northbound Silver Star, was waiting when I got there to take me north to Raleigh.  We boarded about 20 minutes before departure, and ...

I spent the night at an old family friend's home in Coral Springs, about 15 minutes from Deerfield Beach. Around 8 a.m. I took an Uber to the TriRail station in Deerfield Beach where I had gotten off yesterday. The trains generally run about once every hour, but sometimes more often during heavy travel periods. Tri Rail is the main heavy rail commuter service that serves the Miami metropolitan area, stretching from West Palm Beach at the north end to Miami International Airport at the south end. My train ride from Deerfield was about an hour to the Miami airport station. It was overall a very smooth, comfortable ride. Tri Rail's trains operate in push-pull mode, similar to many commuter systems. And the coaches are bi-level. I eventually reached Miami's airport train station. This is the meeting point of the Tri Rail, Miami's above ground Metrorail system and the airport's MIA Mover system. It also has a bus station. There have been plans for Amtrak to one day move ...

I'm not exactly sure what time I "woke up," but day started to break when we inched our way into the Savannah station. Throughout the night we seemed to be hauling along, but then stopped for several minutes outside the Savannah station, before pulling in at a snail's pace. At this point we were running about 2 hours late, due to this delay and the hour we lost in D.C.  Savannah's station, like several on this route, is outside of the downtown area. It also happens to be the meeting point between two north-south routes. The Raleigh-Cary-Columbia route, that this train takes is one. The other runs through Fayetteville, Florence and Charleston. It's used by Amtrak's Silver Meteor, Palmetto and Auto Train.  As the sun began to rise, we made a stop in Jesup, then an hour later got Jacksonville -- our first stop in the Sunshine State. Jacksonville is an extended stop for passengers who wish to briefly disembark and take in some fresh outside air on the platform...

Other than going to visit my immediate family in North Carolina, I can't say I've traveled much since the start of the pandemic. But I've been wanting to ride the rails somewhere new, and the Miami area seemed like a good destination, given that I've never been there and they have a fairly extensive public transportation system.  My trip began April 10, with a ride on Amtrak train #91, the Silver Star. Initially I had reserved train #97, the Silver Meteor, but Amtrak has temporarily suspended the service as part of its COVID-related cutbacks. I believe the Meteor is set to return in May. I got to Union Station more than an hour before the scheduled 3 p.m. departure. As it happens, the train was 45 minutes late from New York, so I had plenty of time. The Silver Star runs daily from New York to Miami. It travels south down the main East Coast rail corridor, heading through Richmond, Petersburg, Rocky Mount. This portion of the route was old hat to me, having done it so ma...