| rev:text
| - The employees are nice, polite people and the train seats are comfy with lots of legspace and outlets, but oh my god, Amtrak trains are almost NEVER ON TIME. Grab a book or something in case you wait from 30 minutes to two hours for the train to arrive so you can board it. It's because the railroads are prioritized for shipping cargo, so the train will stop and wait for long periods of time for them to pass. This means you, the passenger, will most certainly be delayed. I do not recommend taking the train if you have to connect to another ride or be somewhere at a specific time.
Regarding ticket prices, it competes with Greyhound in terms of cheapness. Usually buying tickets a month in advance will give you the lowest price of $15. Then a week later, it pops up to $22, then $29, and finally anywhere from $30-159 on the week or day of your travel day. Once the normal seats sell out, your only option is to buy a ticket for the bedroom style compartment (which is in the $100s). It is ridiculously expensive, so I suggest buying a ticket from Peoria Charter or Greyhound if you miss the $15/$22 prices. It goes to Union Station and from there, $5.25 will take you via Metra to the suburbs. Hence you pay less then a bus ticket if you plan accordingly.
The train itself is really nice and clean. Pick a nice smelling passenger to sit with and you'll be fine. My only bad experience was this creepy old guy who kept talking on the phone then fell asleep on me. Ughhh. They have a cafe with tables in the back of the train that sells lots of food like donuts, Starbucks coffee, Redbull, fruit, etc. It also has a bar where a nice man in a suit and tie will mix you a drink or give you a beer. The wifi sucks though and is not reliable in my opinion. Greyhound and PC do it better, but Amtrak is much more roomier and inexpensive.
|