Monday column - Leg room with a view: An old Amtrak classic

June 16th, 2008 at 11:20am Thomas V. Bona

Our vacation was going to be like “Planes, Trains and Automobiles.”
My wife and I are visiting ballparks around the Midwest and out East later this month. We planned to fly from Rockford to Detroit; rent a car to Pittsburgh; take Amtrak to Washington, Baltimore and Cincinnati; and then Megabus to Chicago.
But then the Rockford to Detroit flights were canceled. So it’ll be “Trains, Buses and Automobiles,” a lesser-known movie.

(Speaking of the Steve Martin/John Candy classic, I’ve seen it about a million times, while my poor wife has seen about a million individual snippets I force her to watch every time it’s on. We once had our own experience reminiscent of that movie: Late at night in Pennsylvania, I turned the wrong direction on a divided highway — “You’re going the wrong way!” — but fortunately we weren’t hit by two trucks.)
Despite our change in itinerary, I’m still excited for this trip because I’m a baseball fan and a transportation geek. My wife, who also loves baseball, is just excited to spend time reading while sitting on trains and buses.
I’m most excited about traveling by train, a rare pleasure since I moved to the Midwest. Normally, I just don’t have the time to take the more leisurely jaunt Amtrak provides, so I usually fly. But I love Amtrak because of no long security lines, more leg room and getting to eat in the dining car.
“It’s much more comfortable than any other surface mode,” spokesman Marc Magliari said Friday while traveling to Bloomington-Normal. “I’m right now looking out the window as we’re passing vehicles on I-55, going faster than you’re legally allowed to drive.”
Sure, there are delays on some routes, particularly long-haul trips that share tracks with busy freight operators. But these days, there are plenty of delays on other trips. Again, the legroom helps.
Magliari’s favorite view on the routes we’re taking is passing through the New River Gorge in West Virginia on the Cardinal train. He said we can sometimes see rafters in the river, and there used to be a lot of bungee-jumpers off a particular bridge.

Amtrak ridership has risen for five consecutive years, and officials expect to hit 27 million passengers in 2008. About half of the increase is attributed to high gas prices; the rest is because of added services and steps taken to increase reliability. Recent actions by Congress could help it leverage the freight railroads to make more progress on those delays.
Speaking of delays … someday we’ll have Amtrak again here in Rockford (knock on wood). That’s up to Illinois lawmakers and the long-debated capital plan.
That’s the biggest benefit of vacation: a week and a half to stretch my legs out, lean back and not think about that nonexistent capital plan.
Staff writer Thomas V. Bona may be contacted at 815-987-1343 or tbona@rrstar.com.

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