Trip Report: Amtrak Train Service - Baltimore to New York City
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There are many options to travel within the Northeast - plane, car, bus, or train., Each option has its pros and cons and each option ranges in terms of price, availability, convenience, and total travel time. I was traveling from Baltimore to New York and the best option for me in terms of price, availability, convenience and travel time was Amtrak Train. Amtrak is the train service within the United States and they are known for transporting a lot of people in a lower cost but also not have the greatest quality of service - this is definitely NOT European train travel. The most popular route for Amtrak is probably the Northeast Corridor which provides service between Washington, D.C. to Boston with stops in Baltimore, Philadelphia, Delaware, New Jersey and New York. Because it is the most popular they have timings throughout the day starting early in the morning until late evening. There are also 2 different trains going - the Acela which is the business class or the regular class trains. Since we were going for a leisure trip we booked the regular fare on the regular train - this review is a compilation of three different trips that I took on the same route.
I had picked up the train at the BWI Airport Station - this was the second major stop on the train as thefirst major stop was in Washington, D.C. Sometimes the train started from D.C. and sometimes it started from other stations but a lot of individuals got on at certain stations - I had chosen the BWI Airport station because it was convenient to park and it was spacious so it was easier to get on the train. The fare that I had booked did not have assigned seating so you choose whichever open seating was available. I had booked the ticket online and had downloaded the ticket through my phone app; booking the ticket online was very convenient but trying to modify or change the ticket online proved extremely difficult and Amtrak customer service was not helpful.
The trains that I took generally were scheduled to depart Baltimore BWI Airport Station in the afternoon - 3p to 4p - and arrive into New York around 7pm or 8pm. When the train arrived, there was a noticeable smell of the restroom that permeated the train - it was not a great welcome to train travel. Once we got on, the train was laid out in a 2-2 section with every seat being an aisle or window - thankfully there were no middle seats. As I said, there were no assigned seats so you just choose whichever open seat was available. Some individuals would put their luggage on the seat to prevent people from sitting but by the third station this had to be removed given the volume of people arriving.
The seat itself was wide and felt comfortable but the seat-pitch or legroom was a bit tight. Each seat contained a tray table to work on and power ports next to the window. Wifi was supposedly available in the train but it did not always work. Overall, the train looked and felt decent but a little worn for wear so it needed to be updated and upgraded.
In the end, we arrive into New York City Penn Station generally on time. I also took the train on the reverse routing - New York to Baltimore - and the train was the same but in NY station there are many tracks but you do not know which track your train is on. The track is announced 30 minutes prior and everyone has to rush down a tiny escalator to the appropriate train track. Whomever designed it was not thinking about when it was a large volume of people and it is extremely annoying to take a train like that.
Given all this, would I take the train again? It would not be my first choice and the price would have to be right. If you book in advance, there are plenty of airline and bus options in a variety of choices that can provide the same service so in the future those would be my first choice; if the price was right and no other options were available, then I would not avoid the train.
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