Amtrak

What hackers pick instead

• SBBRecommended for booking any Swiss journey by selecting origin and destination, with reliable trains. Common caveat: the support helpline costs money.11recommend
• ÖBBRecommended for a coordinated national rail network across Austria's states, with cheap fares when booked early. Single tickets without subscriptions or discounts are often considered costly.8recommend
• SNCF TGVFast, mostly on-time high-speed rail across France that pays delay compensation and is pleasant to use. Strikes are the main caveat.6recommend
• NS (Nederlandse Spoorwegen)Plans door-to-door trips across rail, bus, ferry and biking, with frequent intercity trains and a good on-time rate. Critics say it is getting more expensive and less attractive.5recommend
• Swiss Federal RailwaysPeople recommend Swiss trains for their excellent, friendly service, fixed pricing that needs no reservation, and routes that even climb mountains.5recommend

Every quote

The 40 most detailed of 51 comments. Each links to the original.

1. Amtrak is decent on very specific routes and still an absolute joke to anyone who has used trains in Europe, Japan, Taiwan

   Mixed · Jan 2026 · in “The chess bot on Delta Air Lines will destroy you (2024) [video]”

2. that train corridor is overwhelmingly successful as well so the idea that amtrak isn't a good deal is at odds with reality

   Recommends · Apr 2026 · in “Waymo in Portland”

3. The family and I are looking at taking a X-country trip on AMTRAK and it looks to be significantly cheaper than flying.

   Recommends · Jan 2026 · in “London–Calcutta Bus Service”

4. I ALSO love taking it from Oakland or Richmond to Sacramento and sipping a beer while I look through the window

   Recommends · Mar 2026 · in “Midnight train from GA: A view of America from the tracks as airports struggle”

5. Ride it once and you'll realize why it's the better way to travel in every way but cost and time

   Mixed · Mar 2026 · in “Midnight train from GA: A view of America from the tracks as airports struggle”

6. Prices are comparable to the dirtiest, cheapiest dirt cheap flights with no checked baggage

   Recommends · Mar 2026 · in “Midnight train from GA: A view of America from the tracks as airports struggle”

7. When I take Amtrak, it's because I want to look out of a window for a few dozen hours

   Mixed · Jan 2026 · in “London–Calcutta Bus Service”

8. it was the highlight of that year for me and one of the best memories of my life

   Recommends · Jan 2026 · in “London–Calcutta Bus Service”

9. The experience and the people I've met make it worth it.

   Recommends · Mar 2026 · in “Midnight train from GA: A view of America from the tracks as airports struggle”

10. METRA and Amtrak in the Chicago area works quite well

    Recommends · Jan 2026 · in “At least 21 killed in Spain after crash involving high-speed trains”

11. a ticket is only $30-50, so about a tank of gas

    Recommends · Jan 2026 · in “London–Calcutta Bus Service”

12. Beautiful all the way, but incredibly slow

    Mixed · Mar 2026 · in “Midnight train from GA: A view of America from the tracks as airports struggle”

13. Amtrak doesn't get priority reliably enforced outside the Northeast and the delays are legendary.

    Criticizes · Aug 2026 · in “It's Easier Than Ever to Fly Private Without Your Own Jet”

14. Amtrak tends to be quite a bit more expensive than the equivalent trip by air. And far slower.

    Criticizes · Sep 2026 · in “What will our economic future look like?”

15. It was originally scheduled to enter the chat at 2:42 AM, but was delayed until 6:01 AM.

    Criticizes · Nov 2025 · in “Britain's railway privatization was an abject failure”

16. In the Midwest, there are no guarantees with trains other than you'll get there.

    Criticizes · Mar 2026 · in “Midnight train from GA: A view of America from the tracks as airports struggle”

17. It has conflicting missions so it's never going to be competitive in service.

    Criticizes · Mar 2026 · in “Midnight train from GA: A view of America from the tracks as airports struggle”

18. So Amtrak here is the worst combination of inconvenient and slow.

    Criticizes · Nov 2025 · in “FAA to cut flights by 10% at 40 major airports due to government shutdown”

19. Losing $1.8B/year ($55/ride) isn't anything to be proud of.

    Criticizes · Sep 2026 · in “Growing proof that autonomous cars save lives”

20. But it was more expensive than flying and like 25 hours.

    Criticizes · Jan 2026 · in “London–Calcutta Bus Service”

21. Take it all the time going to NYC even though it's not really very convenient for me to get to a northern station.

    Mixed · Apr 2026 · in “Why Japan has such good railways”

22. space! wide seats and leg room are awesome (I'm 6'5" so this is everything)

    Mixed · Jan 2026 · in “London–Calcutta Bus Service”

23. it's probably cheapest to either get a hotel and take Amtrak in the morning

    Recommends · Nov 2025 · in “California DMV approves map increase in Waymo driverless operations”

24. Kind of glad I picked Amtrak to go down and visit family for Thanksgiving

    Recommends · Nov 2025 · in “FAA to cut flights by 10% at 40 major airports due to government shutdown”

25. I've done the 30 day Amtrak pass before and it was fantastic

    Recommends · Jan 2026 · in “The chess bot on Delta Air Lines will destroy you (2024) [video]”

26. they have dynamic pricing that rewards literal last 5m

    Recommends · Mar 2026 · in “Midnight train from GA: A view of America from the tracks as airports struggle”

27. As an American I would take DB over Amtrak any day

    Mixed · Dec 2025 · in “Germany's train service is one of Europe's worst. How did it get so bad?”

28. Outside of that it's both better and worse.

    Mixed · Mar 2026 · in “Midnight train from GA: A view of America from the tracks as airports struggle”

29. one I wholeheartedly recommend

    Recommends · Mar 2026 · in “Midnight train from GA: A view of America from the tracks as airports struggle”

30. Round-trip coach on Amtrak from Indianapolis to Las Vegas in my early 20s is definitely a fun thing I'll never do again.

    Criticizes · Mar 2026 · in “Midnight train from GA: A view of America from the tracks as airports struggle”

31. Literally blue haze air and you smelled the smoke in your clothes for several hours afterwards.

    Criticizes · Jan 2026 · in “London–Calcutta Bus Service”

32. It doesn't own most of the rail it operates on, and that rail has been actively getting worse

    Criticizes · Sep 2026 · in “The largest electric aircraft just flew [video]”

33. government is very good at taking a politically popular service and preserving it

    Criticizes · Dec 2025 · in “NYC congestion pricing cuts air pollution by a fifth in six months”

34. Sounds like Amtrak in the US, except here you get no compensation at all.

    Criticizes · Dec 2025 · in “Kidnapped by Deutsche Bahn”

35. because of how Amtrak is organized in not sure that it would be possible

    Criticizes · Apr 2026 · in “Waymo in Portland”

36. tech bolted on that make something simple worse and complicated

    Criticizes · Oct 2026 · in “"I'm Embarrassed on Behalf of the Tech Industry"”

37. The last time I took Amtrak I was delayed over 24 hours.

    Criticizes · Mar 2026 · in “Midnight train from GA: A view of America from the tracks as airports struggle”

38. its often many hours late, and only leaves once per day

    Criticizes · Apr 2026 · in “Waymo in Portland”

39. is rarely on time even independent of rail congestion

    Criticizes · Mar 2026 · in “Midnight train from GA: A view of America from the tracks as airports struggle”

40. Fees are also very high for such a slow option.

    Criticizes · Apr 2026 · in “Waymo in Portland”