Amtrak's EMPIRE BUILDER Is A Civilized Way To Travel

I know what you are thinking: The word "Amtrak" has become synonymous with laughably poor service and schedule unreliability as bad or worse than the Big Six conjures for us. Probably many readers are writing off this particular blog post merely on the basis on my headline.

But before you click your browser to another place in the ether, consider for a moment the possibility that not all Amtrak trains are operated as poorly as the NY-Florida service or the Sunset service between L.A. and New Orleans. In fact, my family of four enjoyed two days and two nights of superb, friendly service, good food, grand views, and on-time performance in a Family Room (sleeper) aboard the Empire Builder from Seattle to St. Paul over the Thanksgiving weekend. It was so relaxing and so unexpectedly positive that I want to share it. I heartily recommend it!

First, some background about Amtrak's transcon western trains. There are four possible routings:

• The Sunset Limited from the Crescent City to Los Angeles via the old Southern Pacific Sunset route (now Union Pacific) along the bottom of the country;
  
• The Southwest Chief from Chicago to L.A. via the old Santa Fe railroad route (now BNSF Railway) which used to be the way of the fabled all-Pullman Super Chief through the Southwest;
  
• The California Zephyr from Chicago to San Francisco along the old Burlington Route (now BNSF), Rio Grande (now UP), and Western Pacific (also now UP) tracks through the heart of the Rockies west of Denver;
  
• And finally, the Empire Builder from Chicago to Seattle and Portland along the old Burlington Route (now BNSF) to the Twin Cities and thence via the old Great Northern "Hi-Line" route (also now BNSF) straight across the top of the country through Glacier National Park in Montana to Idaho, Spokane, and across the Cascades to the Pacific Northwest.

So why is their any difference among these trains? Well, partly because Amtrak is forced to use tracks of the freight railroads that formerly operated the passenger trains (until 1971), and the BNSF Railway does a better job than the Union Pacific in moving Amtrak trains across its territory on time. Another reason for service differentials is that regional Amtrak management styles determine how each of these long distance trains are operated.

The point is, there IS a difference in both service and on-time performance, often a BIG difference. Whereas the Sunset Limited is sometimes 10-12 hours late (for many reasons which I won't recount here), the Empire Builder is mostly on time. In fact, it has the best on-time performance of any western long distance Amtrak train.

AND the Empire Builder has the best service. Thanks to years of cutbacks and underfunding, Amtrak has gone to prepared boxed meals on most of its long distance trains--but not on the Empire Builder. It still has a full service, cook-to-order diner that prepares three hot meals a day. On our train the staff was friendly, efficient, helpful, and downright nice. The service was fast and excellent, and the meals were good to very good.

And did I mention that all meals are complimentary for passengers who have paid for sleeper accommodations? You pay only for alcohol; all else is free. Even the tasty 8 oz. flat iron steak (corn-fed beef, hand cut, aged 21 days) that would otherwise set you back $21.

The Empire Builder consists of Amtrak's "Superliner" cars, which are all high-level, which translates into good viewing of the gorgeous western scenery. There is even a full-length high level dome lounge car, with seats facing the floor-to-ceiling windows on both sides. We sat for hours with our kids watching the snow and the Rocky Mountains through Glacier National Park in Montana. What a thrill! And the lounge bar served us beverages of all sorts all day long and into the evening. Very relaxing and civilized.

Sleepers, too, are high level Superliner cars, and most accommodations are in the upper level. The big double bedrooms even have their own toilets AND showers.

Our "Family Room" (Amtrak's name for our type of accommodation) slept four in comfort (two adults, two kids) and was on the lower level, with toilets and a shower down the aisle. It was extremely private and quiet, since the lower level does not have the end-to-end walking corridor of the upper level.

Family Rooms--just two per sleeper car--are at each end of the lower level and are full width rooms, that is, we had a window on each side of the train. This was possible because there is no corridor beyond the Family Room; we were essentially on a cul-de-sac. This made the room very spacious and comfortable.

Each sleeper has a dedicated attendant, and ours was always available, very nice, and helpful. She even offered to babysit our kids while we accepted Amtrak's invitation to an "adults only" wine-and-cheese tasting (a mid-afternoon affair held in the diner between lunch and dinner). We graciously accepted, and had great fun sampling 3 reds and 3 whites and 6 cheeses.

OK, it wasn't the best vino we've ever had by a long shot (we are very fond of grape nectar), but it WAS a LOT of fun! Zipping along at 79 MPH or faster through the vast stretches of the Great Plains in eastern Montana past Havre while sipping and nibbling was exciting--and quite unexpected, frankly.

I had thought the train experience would be a good one for our kids, but I had steeled myself for poor service on Amtrak. I was wrong: It was great service, and the wine tasting was another innovative example of good customer service. The folks running it made it light and fun for everyone, and at the end asked some seriously dumb and funny questions as an excuse to give away the remaining bottles of wine. We enjoyed our free bottle of Washington State Chard with dinner, and it was delicious!

And here's the final kicker (if all that fun wasn't enough): We left Seattle dead on time; we lost over an hour due to some snow delays en route; and we arrived St. Paul dead on schedule on the second morning of our trip. How many times has an airline provided good on-board service lately and been on time to boot?

In the interest of making this quick to read, I have left out a lot of detail. If you're interested, email me with your questions. Bottom line is I recommend the Empire Builder if you have the time and the inclination. It's a great way to see America and have fun doing it!