(The following story by Kerri Westenberg appeared on the Minneapolis Star Tribune website on December 19.)
MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. — In the lounge car of the Empire Builder, Amtrak’s popular train that runs between Chicago and Seattle, a Mennonite family of five gazed out expansive picture windows at fields speckled with frost. Seniors ate sandwiches brought from home. A foursome on their way to Chicago for a “Sex and the City”-styled girl’s weekend played a boisterous game of cards.
Across the aisle, a young man traveling home to Boston from college added high-volume commentary, fueled in part by the whiskey he was drinking. Seven empty mini-bottles were lined up on his table. It wasn’t yet noon.
My family and I were in the early stretch of our Amtrak adventure — from St. Paul to Chicago and from there to New Orleans — and no loud sot could snuff out the glow of rail travel. But just in case, we scurried back to our passenger car.
Our trip on Amtrak to visit relatives during Thanksgiving week started as a lark. We booked it because we were weary of flying, we wanted to see the country without the hassle of driving and we figured, rightly, that it could be fun. Turns out, it also saved us money.
The cost of the round trip, booked last January, totalled $1,067 for my husband, my 6-year-old daughter and me, and included a sleeper car with our own bathroom and all meals on the two legs between Chicago and New Orleans. With the bedroom, which accounted for $341 of the total, the price came close to matching that of three airline tickets. But Northwest’s fee for the first checked bag could have added $90 round-trip (at $15 a pop each way for three suitcases). Plus, we didn’t have to take a taxi to the airport; Amtrak’s Midway station in St. Paul has a free parking lot.
The relative ease and affordability of the train helps explains why Amtrak’s ticket sales have increased 11 percent since last year.