How Amtrak is taking advantage of this year's solar eclipse
On Monday, August 21, much of the United States will see at least a partial eclipse. In Illinois, the only place where you'll be able to see a total eclipse is in the southern Illinois city of Carbondale and some of the surrounding area.
Amtrak has two state-sponsored trains - Saluki and Illini running between Chicago and Carbondale during the day, and the City of New Orleans stops at Carbondale in the middle of the night on the way to New Orleans and late at night on the way back to Chicago. So, of course, Amtrak tried to take advantage of it. It would be foolish not to. In fact, the eclipse first came to my attention when I got an e-mail from Amtrak offering discounts for the trip a few months back.
I did actually entertain a thought of taking advantage of it... but I quickly decided against it. The eclipse was supposed to start at 11:52 AM, reaching full eclipse at 1:20 PM. The earliest train I could catch would get me there at 1:45 PM - and that's assuming the train actually makes it on time. Which, as long-time readers of this blog will tell you, is a huge if. Sure, I could have taken the City of New Orleans, but then, I would have had to figure out where I would spend the night, and how much would it cost, and the whole thing just didn't seem worth the trouble.
Somebody at Amtrak and/or IDOT must have realized it, too, because, on August 6, they announced that they would be running a special train on the day of the eclipse.
Scheduling-wise, it's actually a pretty neat way of handling. Sure, you'd need to be at the Chicago Union Station at night, but you can sleep on your way there (state train coach seats aren't quite as comfy as long-distance seats, but they are more comfortable than anything you can get on a plane, or a bus), and you can buy yourself coffee and some breakfast (Amtrak cafe/lounge car food may be overpriced, but it's decent food). < One stumbling block was a price point - normally, Chicago-Carbondale tickets are much cheaper than that. But this didn't seem to be that much of a deterrent, because the tickets sold out in 24 hours.
Of course, with less then a day to go, the whole thing may not live up to the hype - in Chicagoland and a lot of other nearby areas, the weather is expected to be cloudy. But Amtrak had no way of knowing that when they planned this whole thing. If anyone's eclipse experience is ruined, it would be because of Mother Nature, not Amtrak.
Amtrak has two state-sponsored trains - Saluki and Illini running between Chicago and Carbondale during the day, and the City of New Orleans stops at Carbondale in the middle of the night on the way to New Orleans and late at night on the way back to Chicago. So, of course, Amtrak tried to take advantage of it. It would be foolish not to. In fact, the eclipse first came to my attention when I got an e-mail from Amtrak offering discounts for the trip a few months back.
I did actually entertain a thought of taking advantage of it... but I quickly decided against it. The eclipse was supposed to start at 11:52 AM, reaching full eclipse at 1:20 PM. The earliest train I could catch would get me there at 1:45 PM - and that's assuming the train actually makes it on time. Which, as long-time readers of this blog will tell you, is a huge if. Sure, I could have taken the City of New Orleans, but then, I would have had to figure out where I would spend the night, and how much would it cost, and the whole thing just didn't seem worth the trouble.
Somebody at Amtrak and/or IDOT must have realized it, too, because, on August 6, they announced that they would be running a special train on the day of the eclipse.
Scheduling-wise, it's actually a pretty neat way of handling. Sure, you'd need to be at the Chicago Union Station at night, but you can sleep on your way there (state train coach seats aren't quite as comfy as long-distance seats, but they are more comfortable than anything you can get on a plane, or a bus), and you can buy yourself coffee and some breakfast (Amtrak cafe/lounge car food may be overpriced, but it's decent food). < One stumbling block was a price point - normally, Chicago-Carbondale tickets are much cheaper than that. But this didn't seem to be that much of a deterrent, because the tickets sold out in 24 hours.
Of course, with less then a day to go, the whole thing may not live up to the hype - in Chicagoland and a lot of other nearby areas, the weather is expected to be cloudy. But Amtrak had no way of knowing that when they planned this whole thing. If anyone's eclipse experience is ruined, it would be because of Mother Nature, not Amtrak.