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Comment on I'll take it to all 2 place it goes!

KoboldCoterie@pawb.social ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

I’ve had to take a train from Boston to NYC and back a few times. Round trip, it costs anywhere from $200 to $500 depending on whether you want to leave / arrive at a reasonable time or not, and it takes about 5 hours, which is slightly longer than driving takes. Incidentally I can fly from BOS to JFK round trip for about $200, assuming reasonably early booking, and the flight is about 1 hour. So this doesn’t surprise me at all.

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FunnySalt@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago
Had a similar comment in mind. The cost for a coach seat on a train to the nearest destination city that there’s actually a route to costs about 3x as much as a round trip flight (budget airline) and takes over 24 hours. I would prefer rail were it practical, but it’s not.

No secret that our rail systems suck though. I have taken trains in Europe and Japan, and those experiences were great!

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- arrow74@lemmy.zip ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago
  Only reasonably priced am amtrack route over seen is Trenton to New York. Takes about an hour and goes from $15 to $60 depending on time.
  
  I’m sure it can get higher at particularly peak dates
  
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Mouselemming@sh.itjust.works ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago
I’m not disagreeing with you but I think we all need to start including airport hassle time into our statements of flight times. In my limited experience train stations involve less of that bullshit, although obviously you can only go when the train is ready, as opposed to starting your car and hitting the highway. Neither Logan (Boston) nor LaGuardia (New York) is swift or easy, especially if you have any baggage, and there is also the travel time to actually get into the city, which can easily add another hour in traffic. Train stations tend to be in the heart of downtown.

(Tbf, I in Los Angeles live much closer to LAX than to Union Station so ymmv)

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- KoboldCoterie@pawb.social ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago
  Train stations definitely have less bullshit, but it’s a 5h trip vs a 1h trip in this case. I could have spent 3 hours in the airport before the flight each way and added 30 minutes to get from the train station to the airport and back, and still saved time by flying.
  
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  - HeyThisIsntTheYMCA@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
    I have one hour flights (three hours including time traveling to and from airport) that are 24 hour train trips. Twenty six including time traveling to and from the station. Like, some areas aren’t conducive to rail.
    
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  - Mouselemming@sh.itjust.works ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago
    Well I certainly acknowledge our train system sucks. Try comparing LA-to-NYC times. Just adding to the difficulty, there seem to be 2 completely separate systems (still both Amtrak) that you have to change over in Chicago. And the 3 hour layover isn’t considered reliable enough to book as one trip, you have to plan to spend the night there.
    
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Dojan@pawb.social ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
This happens in Europe too.

A few years back I had to go to my company’s northernmost office. It took about 20 hours of travel, 19 hours of which was on trains, and I didn’t even reach my destination. The train couldn’t get far enough because of the snow, and was replaced with a bus. Only I couldn’t go on it, and so my company shelled out about another $170 for a taxi from one town to the other.

All in all, trip there and back costed ~$500, not counting the taxi.

Meanwhile, looking now, I could take a flight instead. I’d have to take a train or a bus to the airport, that’ll take about two hours of course, but it’ll cost me about $30. The flight will take 1½ hours, and will cost $150 including the trip back. So, about $210 for the entire trip.

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adarza@lemmy.ca ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago
flight time is actually closer to 80-90 minutes between the two cities. plus taxi time of 10-20+ minutes at each end… plus dealing with getting to and from the airport, maybe parking, and random tsa shenanigans inside.

compare that to the actual 3.5 hour acela route that starts at ~ $74, that directly connects midtown manhattan to south station or back bay.

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- KoboldCoterie@pawb.social ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago
  That price is certainly not representative of what was actually available when I was booking. There were $99 tickets but only if you wanted to leave at 5AM or arrive after 4PM. If you want to leave between 8-10AM and arrive at a reasonable time, there were no coach options and business class was $200+.
  
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- Hueristic_Autistic@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago
  Let’s also compare that time to the round trip of Boston to Worcester and back using the regualr commuter rail. The amount of time it takes to get from Boston to Worcester via CR, is a plane to New York and back.
  
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OS2Warp@lemmy.zip ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
Trains had their chance after 9/11 and blew it. If they were as cheap as the airlines it would’ve become the way to travel (especially considering no TSA).

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Zwiebel@feddit.org ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago
Damn in Germany that would be about 100€ if you book early, 200€ if you want to leave tomorrow at prime time

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- arrow74@lemmy.zip ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago
  D-Ticket and ride 3 trains and take 3 times as long to get there, but it’s cheap
  
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- KoboldCoterie@pawb.social ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago
  We don’t have high speed rail, either, so that trip would only take you (by my understanding) about 1.5-2 hours.
  
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  - Zwiebel@feddit.org ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
    Well we barely have high speed rail in germany too, just a few sections that are shared with slower trains.
    
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koella@lemmy.zip ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago
Chinatown bus ftw

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debris_slide@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
It really depends on where your starting and ending destinations are. Also, if you book Acela far enough in advance, which you’re assuming for the flight, it’ll usually be cheaper than flying, especially factoring in the cost of getting to the airport.

A reporter tried this back in 2021 and there was only a five minute difference between train and flying. Trains are also less affected by weather.

Every situation is unique, but I’ve found the train to be the better option on several occasions.

businessinsider.com/timing-myself-taking-the-trai…

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stenAanden@feddit.dk ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago
Same story with trains through Sweden. Takes too long and is somehow more expensive.

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Zizzy@lemmy.blahaj.zone ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago
It can and often is worse for the environment in the US too. Pretty much anywhere outside the NE corridor.

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