45-Day Rail pass American Adventure! UK traveler needs some help..

[Ben Jones]

Hello!

I'm from the UK, planning a jaunt across your wonderful (I hope!) country. I've weighed up all the options and, as I'm probably travelling alone, Amtrak seems like the best option.

I've got a question about the "segments" associated with the rail passes. The 45-Day pass has 18 "segments", but I'm not sure where they start and end. Could you take a look at my planned route and give me an idea of how many segments I'll use and if I can travel this far on the 45-Day pass?

Boston - NYC - Washington DC - Chicago - Memphis - New Orleans - Houston - LA - San Francisco - Seattle

Pretty much East to West. Any advice on getting Roomettes along the way would be nice too, I'll probably know what dates I'm travelling on at least 3-4 months in advance (planning to travel in April/May 2013), so if that helps me get a bet easier, all the better!

Thanks in advance for your help!

Ben

 

[Tracktwentynine]

Welcome Ben. I hope your journey will be a great one.

As far as a rail pass is considered, a "segment" is a trip on one train. If you are traveling between cities and must change trains, that would be a 2-segment trip.

To answer your question, I'm assuming the cities you listed are the only cities you're visiting and that you listed them in the order you want to see them. Segments:

1. Boston -> New York -- (frequent, fast trains all day)
2. New York -> Washington -- (frequent, fast trains all day)
3. Washington -> Chicago -- (2 overnight train options. One daily, the Capitol Limited via Pittsburgh, and one tri-weekly, the Cardinal via Cincinnati)
4. Chicago -> Memphis -- (1 overnight train, the City of New Orleans)
5. Memphis -> New Orleans -- (1 day train, the City of New Orleans)
6. New Orleans -> Houston -- (1 tri-weekly train, the Sunset Limited, it runs during the day)
7. Houston -> Los Angeles -- (1 tri-weekly train, the Sunset Limited, from Houston to Los Angeles, it's 2 nights on the train)
8. Los Angeles -> San Francisco -- (1 daily train, the Coast Starlight, it runs during the day) (There are also a few bus+train options that would be 2 segments)
9. San Francisco -> Seattle -- (1 daily train, the Coast Starlight, this section is overnight).

All of the cities you want to visit are linked directly by trains (no transfers required), so each trip is only one segment.

A rail pass allows you to book coach tickets at no additional cost (you still have to make individual reservations; you can't just show up with the pass). Booking a roomette will be an additional cost above the railpass.

Railpasses

Now, there are three railpass options to consider. Since your trip will only involve 9 segments, you could choose any of the three railpasses (choosing the 15-day pass will mean buying one of your segments), and which one will be dependent on how long you want to be traveling.

The 15-day pass allows 8 segments, but you'll only get two weeks from your first trip until your last. It's $429.

The 30-day pass allows 12 segments, and you'll have a month. It's $649.

The 45-day pass will give you 18 segments (far more than you need), but will give you a month and a half. It's $829.

I'd suggest you start doing some test bookings. See how much it would cost to buy your tickets without the railpass and see what roomettes would cost on your overnight segments. Remember, Amtrak prices tickets and roomettes based on how many have been sold. Prices can vary depending on your date of travel (it might cost $100 on Tuesday and $150 on Wednesday and $50 on Thursday). And since the prices are based on demand, if you look on Monday, you might find different prices for the same date when you look again on Friday. It's just like the airlines.

Please let us know if you have other questions! Happy travels.

 

[Ben Jones]

Welcome Ben. I hope your journey will be a great one.

As far as a rail pass is considered, a "segment" is a trip on one train. If you are traveling between cities and must change trains, that would be a 2-segment trip.

To answer your question, I'm assuming the cities you listed are the only cities you're visiting and that you listed them in the order you want to see them. Segments:

1. Boston -> New York -- (frequent, fast trains all day)
2. New York -> Washington -- (frequent, fast trains all day)
3. Washington -> Chicago -- (2 overnight train options. One daily, the Capitol Limited via Pittsburgh, and one tri-weekly, the Cardinal via Cincinnati)
4. Chicago -> Memphis -- (1 overnight train, the City of New Orleans)
5. Memphis -> New Orleans -- (1 day train, the City of New Orleans)
6. New Orleans -> Houston -- (1 tri-weekly train, the Sunset Limited, it runs during the day)
7. Houston -> Los Angeles -- (1 tri-weekly train, the Sunset Limited, from Houston to Los Angeles, it's 2 nights on the train)
8. Los Angeles -> San Francisco -- (1 daily train, the Coast Starlight, it runs during the day) (There are also a few bus+train options that would be 2 segments)
9. San Francisco -> Seattle -- (1 daily train, the Coast Starlight, this section is overnight).

All of the cities you want to visit are linked directly by trains (no transfers required), so each trip is only one segment.

A rail pass allows you to book coach tickets at no additional cost (you still have to make individual reservations; you can't just show up with the pass). Booking a roomette will be an additional cost above the railpass.

Railpasses

Now, there are three railpass options to consider. Since your trip will only involve 9 segments, you could choose any of the three railpasses (choosing the 15-day pass will mean buying one of your segments), and which one will be dependent on how long you want to be traveling.

The 15-day pass allows 8 segments, but you'll only get two weeks from your first trip until your last. It's $429.

The 30-day pass allows 12 segments, and you'll have a month. It's $649.

The 45-day pass will give you 18 segments (far more than you need), but will give you a month and a half. It's $829.

I'd suggest you start doing some test bookings. See how much it would cost to buy your tickets without the railpass and see what roomettes would cost on your overnight segments. Remember, Amtrak prices tickets and roomettes based on how many have been sold. Prices can vary depending on your date of travel (it might cost $100 on Tuesday and $150 on Wednesday and $50 on Thursday). And since the prices are based on demand, if you look on Monday, you might find different prices for the same date when you look again on Friday. It's just like the airlines.

Please let us know if you have other questions! Happy travels.

Fantastic reply, exactly what I was looking for. Thank you very much. I guess I was really asking if the travel between those cities was just the one train, which it appears to be, so it's possibly more economical to go for a 30-Day pass. There's lot's to see though!

Anyway, plenty to consider from this.

Thanks again,

Ben

 

[me_little_me]

Fantastic reply, exactly what I was looking for. Thank you very much. I guess I was really asking if the travel between those cities was just the one train, which it appears to be, so it's possibly more economical to go for a 30-Day pass. There's lot's to see though!

Anyway, plenty to consider from this.

Thanks again,

Ben

And if you are considering individual tickets, check out Amsnag (amsnag.net), a user written site that allows you to search multiple days at one time to look for fare/roomette pricing differences.

In addition, if you get a roomette on a segment, the price of the rail fare goes to low bucket.

 

[Swadian Hardcore]

You seem to have a great trip planned. I'll use this guy's explaination and expand on it.

Welcome Ben. I hope your journey will be a great one.

As far as a rail pass is considered, a "segment" is a trip on one train. If you are traveling between cities and must change trains, that would be a 2-segment trip.

To answer your question, I'm assuming the cities you listed are the only cities you're visiting and that you listed them in the order you want to see them. Segments:

1. Boston -> New York -- (frequent, fast trains all day)
2. New York -> Washington -- (frequent, fast trains all day)
3. Washington -> Chicago -- (2 overnight train options. One daily, the Capitol Limited via Pittsburgh, and one tri-weekly, the Cardinal via Cincinnati)
4. Chicago -> Memphis -- (1 overnight train, the City of New Orleans)
5. Memphis -> New Orleans -- (1 day train, the City of New Orleans)
6. New Orleans -> Houston -- (1 tri-weekly train, the Sunset Limited, it runs during the day)
7. Houston -> Los Angeles -- (1 tri-weekly train, the Sunset Limited, from Houston to Los Angeles, it's 2 nights on the train)
8. Los Angeles -> San Francisco -- (1 daily train, the Coast Starlight, it runs during the day) (There are also a few bus+train options that would be 2 segments)
9. San Francisco -> Seattle -- (1 daily train, the Coast Starlight, this section is overnight).

1. Just take any one of many trains on this segment.

2. Same as above.

3. The Capitol Limited (CL) is a big nine-car double-deck Superliner train. Great if you are an active, enthusiastic person. Lots of places to walk around, lots of people. Quite popular and sold out quite early. The Cardinal is a initiamate six-car train that uses tons of different equipment put together. Excellent scenery, rarely on-time, and sold out months in advance because it dosen't run daily and has severe equipment shortages. Get this if you can, otherwise the CL is still good.

4. The CONO is quite similar to the CL. It used to have good on-time performance but it has dropped, probably becuase CN is blocking it with freight trains. It's not that long a trip so it should be fine.

5. Same as above.

6. Another nine-car Superliner, the Sunset Limited has gotten better reliability recently and also got a schedule change. Equipment shortages are again a big problem on this train, but not as bad as the Cardinal. Remember to enjoy the view from the Huey Long Bridge right out of NOL!

7. This is overnight segment on the SL. this segment is so long that it's definately worth paying extra for a Sleeper Roomette. But there are only one and a half Sleepers on this train, and capacity is tight. Book very early if you want a Sleeper.

8. Big twelve-car Superliner. Great view from the Coast Line. Coach is usually enough. Used to be nicknamed "Coast StarLATE" but it has improved. The bus plus train combos are not as scenic or comfortable.

9. See Capitol Limited. Remember that Sleeper passengers get their own lounge on this train, it's not a big luxury but it's decent.

More unofficial information (older route guides are better):

Capitol Limited http://www.trainweb.com/routes/route_29.htm

Cardinal: http://www.trainweb.com/routes/route_50.htm

City of New Orleans: http://www.trainweb.com/routes/route_58.htm

Sunset Limited: http://www.trainweb.com/routes/route_1.htm

Coast Starlight with extra info: http://trainweb.com/coaststarlight/

See www.railpictures.net if you want to know what Amtrak trains look like.

See www.amsnag.com for cheaper fares.