Train travel in USA

realdanbreen

Is Amtrak the best way to travel by rail in the USA ? I'm thinking of the South Carolina region in particular.

endofrainbow

Really depends on where in SC.There's only 2 routes - Savannah to Charleston to Florence to Raleigh/Durham or Savannah to Columbia to Raleigh/Durham.

dennyk

Amtrak is the only way to travel by rail in the US outside of a few areas in the Northeast covered by expanded services from local metro transit authorities, and its coverage in the rest of the country is beyond sparse. If you're looking to get from point A to point B, rail most likely isn't the answer; you're going to want to drive, fly, or take a bus, in order of preference. If you're just wanting to experience a scenic train journey, have a look around for "heritage railways" or "scenic railways"; these are small local operators, often running historic rolling stock, that take regular short journeys along particularly historic or scenic rail routes.

realdanbreen

I'm going to be in Columbia for a while and was just wondering about getting trains to Charleston or Savannah. Neither place is more than 120 mile or so from Columbia and was just wondering if there are daily trains like Cork-Dublin or Limerick-Dublin ?

dennyk

Oh, you sweet summer child... :pac:

I'll grant that you've actually managed to pick one of the few passenger train routes that actually does exist in the US. However, there's only one train a day on Amtrak's Silver Star line ,and it leaves Columbia about 1:30AM (in theory; Amtrak trains on that route have an on-time performance of about 33% and often run hours behind schedule on average, as they run on track owned by various freight companies, who give their own trains preference. Also, these routes are not just city to city, they're many hundreds of miles long, so your train could be delayed at any point along the route hours before it reaches you...). It arrives in Savannah around 4:30AM (again, in theory, probably not in practice). From Savannah to Charleston, there's an 8AM train and a 7PM train, as two different Amtrak lines run on that route, so you're positively spoiled for choice.

Your other option would be via bus, but I don't believe there are any direct buses between those cities and Columbia, so you'd be looking at several hours and likely a few transfers, which means waiting around for ages in some Greyhound stations, and if you want to know what a Greyhound station is like, think Sheriff Street by Noctors, but with more junkies (and probably more guns...).

Don't suppose renting a car is a possibility? That's really the only reasonable way to get around most of the US outside the Northeast corridor which actually has some halfway usable intercity transit links.

Fathom

Generally, trains and mass transit in America are sub-par. Compared to EU.

realdanbreen

dennyk wrote: »

Oh, you sweet summer child... :pac:

I'll grant that you've actually managed to pick one of the few passenger train routes that actually does exist in the US. However, there's only one train a day on Amtrak's Silver Star line ,and it leaves Columbia about 1:30AM (in theory; Amtrak trains on that route have an on-time performance of about 33% and often run hours behind schedule on average, as they run on track owned by various freight companies, who give their own trains preference. Also, these routes are not just city to city, they're many hundreds of miles long, so your train could be delayed at any point along the route hours before it reaches you...). It arrives in Savannah around 4:30AM (again, in theory, probably not in practice). From Savannah to Charleston, there's an 8AM train and a 7PM train, as two different Amtrak lines run on that route, so you're positively spoiled for choice.

Your other option would be via bus, but I don't believe there are any direct buses between those cities and Columbia, so you'd be looking at several hours and likely a few transfers, which means waiting around for ages in some Greyhound stations, and if you want to know what a Greyhound station is like, think Sheriff Street by Noctors, but with more junkies (and probably more guns...).

Don't suppose renting a car is a possibility? That's really the only reasonable way to get around most of the US outside the Northeast corridor which actually has some halfway usable intercity transit links.

Wow! never knew that. I thought the good old US of A was so far advanced that there would be trains every 10 minutes/ So I's rent a car or stay put?

dennyk

realdanbreen wrote: »

Wow! never knew that. I thought the good old US of A was so far advanced that there would be trains every 10 minutes/ So I's rent a car or stay put?

Public transit of any sort in the US is dire at best, and more often nonexistent, outside of a few major cities. There's a reason that over 90% of the households in the US own a car. I'm afraid for you it's probably going to be necessary to rent a car if you want to visit anywhere outside Columbia. Hell, even in Columbia you'll be at the mercy of whatever local bus service they have, which is probably terrible; I've never been there, but just off the top of my head I'd guess their buses run every half hour at best, maybe even just once an hour most of the time, and you'll often need multiple transfers to get from one place to another.

realdanbreen

dennyk wrote: »

Public transit of any sort in the US is dire at best, and more often nonexistent, outside of a few major cities. There's a reason that over 90% of the households in the US own a car. I'm afraid for you it's probably going to be necessary to rent a car if you want to visit anywhere outside Columbia. Hell, even in Columbia you'll be at the mercy of whatever local bus service they have, which is probably terrible; I've never been there, but just off the top of my head I'd guess their buses run every half hour at best, maybe even just once an hour most of the time, and you'll often need multiple transfers to get from one place to another.

What about taxi, are they competitively priced?
I really want to chill and not have to rent a car.

Hazys

realdanbreen wrote: »

What about taxi, are they competitively priced?
I really want to chill and not have to rent a car.

Uber and Lyft are widely used and better options that Taxis in most areas.

realdanbreen

dennyk wrote: »

Oh, you sweet summer child... :pac:

I'll grant that you've actually managed to pick one of the few passenger train routes that actually does exist in the US. However, there's only one train a day on Amtrak's Silver Star line ,and it leaves Columbia about 1:30AM (in theory; Amtrak trains on that route have an on-time performance of about 33% and often run hours behind schedule on average, as they run on track owned by various freight companies, who give their own trains preference. Also, these routes are not just city to city, they're many hundreds of miles long, so your train could be delayed at any point along the route hours before it reaches you...). It arrives in Savannah around 4:30AM (again, in theory, probably not in practice). From Savannah to Charleston, there's an 8AM train and a 7PM train, as two different Amtrak lines run on that route, so you're positively spoiled for choice.

Your other option would be via bus, but I don't believe there are any direct buses between those cities and Columbia, so you'd be looking at several hours and likely a few transfers, which means waiting around for ages in some Greyhound stations, and if you want to know what a Greyhound station is like, think Sheriff Street by Noctors, but with more junkies (and probably more guns...).

Don't suppose renting a car is a possibility? That's really the only reasonable way to get around most of the US outside the Northeast corridor which actually has some halfway usable intercity transit links.

Went anyway and had a ball. You were right about the public transport, non existent. Went everywhere by uber, was great and affordable. From what I saw there is still a sizeable racial divide as in most lower paid jobs appear to be staffed by African americans and most college kids are white. 90& of black people I spoke with had not been outside the states and I would say 75% never heard of Ireland or new where it was.
Ya'll take care now!