Just logged on to amtrak.com to buy a one way ticket to Chicago for a Monday train a couple weeks from now. Price for a ONE WAY ticket has gone up yet again to $37.00!!!!!
Thanks to a slow day at work, I decided to do the math on this to see exactly how much of a ripoff Amtrak really is. At $1.70 a gallon for gas, even if you were to drive a Hummer H2 to Chicago, it would only cost $21.00 in gas to get there. If you've got a Prius, driving would run you less than $5.00. A 38 foot Winnebago would cost about $32.00. In fact, you would need a vehicle that gets only 6.2 MPG for Amtrak to be the less expensive option. Did I mention I'm having a slow day at work?
Moral of the story: Don't waste your time looking at Amtrak as an alternative to driving. Even if you have a vehicle large enough comfortably sleep 6, it's still cheaper to drive. I also don't imagine Amtrak's reliability issues have been resolved by the price increases, so the extra cost really doesn't get you anything other than a strong likelihood of a 90+ minute delay in reaching your destination.