Train Travel: Timeless or Time-Consuming

Recent letters to the editor have aired complaints concerning our gridlocked roads, crowded freeways and congested airports. As such complaints are clearly warranted, I decided this year to do my part and travel by train from my Pasadena home to my parents’ house east of Eugene, Ore. I made the trip this past weekend and found that there could be no nicer and more stress-free way to travel than by Amtrak’s Coast Starlight.

The only drawback, however, was that the train was delayed for a total of seven hours. My total ride to Eugene (that’s one-way from L.A.) took 34 hours! It seems that Amtrak does not own the tracks; the Union Pacific Railway does. That means Union Pacific freight trains take priority. I lost count after the 10th time the train pulled over to wait for a freight train to pass. For long-distance travel, Amtrak is great if you do not have to be anyplace on a particular day. If you have to be there by a certain time, however, it’s either the freeway or the air terminal for you.

Frederick H. Hurd

Pasadena