I will have to travel to DC once a month for like a day or two. My company has approved me to take a train if i want. Union Station is like two blocks from where i need to be so travel once im there is not a problem.

Has anyone taking the train from Raleigh to DC? how was it? is it better than driving?

7/30/2016 9:31:11 AM

I have taken the train a number of times, from Greensboro to DC. Obviously it stops in Raleigh.

If someone else is paying for it, it's much better than driving. Pretty smooth ride, even has its scenic moments, and you can read, work, sleep, watch TV, what have you. My only complaint about it was that it could get pretty expensive, by my unemployed standards, like $80 each way from Greensboro.

Amtrak doesn't have the greatest reputation, but it's only ever screwed me once (they cancelled a train and I had to take the bus). Of the dozen or so times I've made the trip, it's been 30-60 minutes late a few times, but it's also been early a couple.

Driving it can be pretty miserable, there's a bunch of construction making it one lane near the NC/VA border and then everything north of Richmond is prone to traffic jams any time of day.

In other words B+ would ride again, I'll probably be taking it from Baltimore in a month or so to see friends in Durham.



[Edited on July 30, 2016 at 9:38 AM. Reason : ]

7/30/2016 9:36:03 AM

$80 each way is a lot cheaper than you can drive when you factor in maintenance, wear, and depreciation on your vehicle.

7/30/2016 10:14:34 AM

well i drove a rental this past time:

$70 - two days rental fee at corp rate
$60 - parking
$40 - gas
General head aches - traffic there and back. parking. picking up and dropping off rental car.

I think a train would have been well worth it.

7/30/2016 11:33:50 AM

Train is always the way to go

7/30/2016 11:34:57 AM

When I take the train to DC, I drive to Richmond to board it.

For whatever reason, the train from Raleigh or Durham is a much longer ride. 5-6 hours or more.

The 2 hour drive to Richmond up 85 (from Durham) is devoid of traffic until maybe Petersburg.

The train from there is 2.5 hours... so I suppose the time is almost comprable. Definitely what I prefer though.

7/30/2016 1:30:58 PM

I've done it a few times. It's way slower than driving but you can drink and watch movies on your laptop so I'm a fan.

7/30/2016 6:26:14 PM

I've done this before as well. I'm not necessarily much of a train fan, but for me it beats the hell out of driving in the DMV area.

8/2/2016 8:24:03 AM

+1 for train to DC especially if you need to get to the city center.

8/2/2016 9:41:56 AM

I live in D.C. and come back to Raleigh for State games about eight to ten times a year. Not perfect, but I recommend it over driving.

Pros -
- Can work while on the train (if you have a flexible work environment), saving vacation, or just surf the webs
- Drops you in the heart of D.C. and Raleigh
- Usually cheaper
- You're not driving

Cons:
- Somewhere south of D.C., Amtrak no longer owns the rails, which sometimes forces significant delays. Last fall when I came home for the Clemson game, it took me 9.5 hours due to something with CSX. Only experience like that so far, but it still sucked. Going north from D.C. is fantastic and almost down to the minute.
- Still takes a while, even if the train is timely

8/3/2016 10:06:39 PM

I've taken the train from Raleigh to DC a few times and it always took fucking FOREVER (8-9 hours) and I wanted to kill myself because it's a long, slow, and boring ride. Granted, this was pre-smart phone/iPad days, but I wouldn't want to repeat the experience even today.

I haven't made the drive in over a decade, but I used to do it half a dozen times a year or so when I was at State. I used to be able to make it under 5 hours pretty consistently, but traffic is probably worse these days. I think the suggestion to drive to Richmond and board the train there is probably the best way to maximize efficiency.

8/3/2016 11:50:52 PM

The trains seats are comfortable and you have a 110v plug at each seat. I used to ride it to Salisbury all the time to visit family. You can also move around the train so you dont get stir crazy. The seats are not assigned usually and you can also go to the dining car and post up at a table for a while if you are tired of just sitting in your seat.

It sucks the train takes so long and can be unreliable at times, that rules it out for a lot of folks. The other side of that is you are not driving so you can chill and do whatever you want (sleep, work, eat, waste time online, read, drink alcohol, etc) You will get there more well rested than driving that far alone. It is way cheaper taking the train when traveling alone as well. I would definitely try the train, you will probably like it.

8/16/2016 2:58:34 PM

I will be travelling on company dime so time is not an issue.

I have to go back next month, will do train.

8/16/2016 3:34:12 PM

Back in the day (like very early 2000s) I used to bring my Sprint phone, laptop, & data cable on the train so I could get on the internet while train riding. The thing was that mobile data back then was like 1G or 1xRTT or whatever. It was literally so slow all you could do with it was talk on AOL instant messenger. To browse the web you had to go to the browser settings and "turn all images off", if you really wanted to see a pic you could right click on it and display it manually...but that would lock up your connection for a while.

There was no texting then so even that seemed cutting edge at the time.

8/16/2016 3:42:29 PM

don't check a bag, it take a long time to get it if you do

8/16/2016 5:43:13 PM

Quote :

"The seats are not assigned usually"

On the Carolinian/Piedmont (the main one that goes from Raleigh to DC), they do want you to one seat when you're in the coach/business car -- after you sit down, they put a ticket over your head that says where you're going, so you can't buy a short trip ticket and then stay on it all the way. But yeah, you can mosey down to the cafe car. On those trains it's usually not very crowded so you can spread out some at one of the tables.

8/16/2016 7:47:24 PM

Not really related to a trip to DC but one time about 5 years ago I took a train from Charlotte to Raleigh. Somewhere in the middle of rural NC some idiot literally shot a gun at the train. Apparently trains have bullet proof glass. A bunch of cracks formed but outside of that it was fine. One of the people that work for Amtrak said that kind of shit happens like once a month at least and wasn't even phased by it. Seriously, wtf?

8/17/2016 10:06:27 AM

I never knew that but I believe it. The trains run through rural areas and I guess it would be possible for a hunter to accidentally shoot a train since 99.9% of the time nothing is on the tracks. There are also assholes that would shoot a train as well.

8/17/2016 10:22:17 AM