
Amtrak Residency - danso
http://blog.amtrak.com/amtrakresidency/
======
ChuckMcM
This is a cool idea, my wife and I did the cross country ride (Oakland to
Washington DC) in sleeper cars and it was a lot of fun. Some great scenery and
a lot of time to think. Weird things at the time were the plastic utensils in
the dining car seemed a bit jarring, and of course train stations in the USA
can be fairly tawdry compared to European stations.

There are lots of things that challenge rail in the US, perhaps the most
obvious is private ownership of the rails themselves, as opposed to freeways
which are state owned and maintained. That shifts a lot of costs on to fewer
payers. It also means the rail owner's trains get priority (in this case
freight) so scheduling is quite difficult to maintain. There is also a
tremendous amount of bureaucracy and complexity built into the system which
I've found resists even modestly determined prodding. As part of an exercise
in home schooling we tried to find out what it actually cost to put in the San
Jose light rail in order to compare that to what we had learned about the
Northern Pacific Railroad at a wonderful museum in Sacramento. All of our
efforts to get what I had assumed was just boring public data were met with
suspicion and resistance. That was pretty weird.

~~~
nostromo
I think the biggest challenge to rail in the US is just how huge the US is.

Take a common train ride in Europe: Paris to Berlin. You've actually traveled
less distance than from New York to Chicago, and it took 8 hours to do so.

In fact from Paris all the way to Moscow is much shorter than from LA to NYC.

Without some amazing new tech in rail, I doubt it'll ever be a popular
alternative in the US to flying (other than intra-regional trips).

~~~
mikeash
I doubt rail will replace cross-country flights, but there is a _ton_ of air
traffic on shorter routes.

As one example where it's already done, the DC-NYC Amtrak route is quite
popular, despite being just as expensive, if not more so, as the plane ride.
It takes a similar amount of time, factoring in travel to and from airports,
waiting, etc. and is much nicer. There are still a ton of airline flights
between these two cities as well, of course, and those could probably be
supplanted to a large degree with additional improvements.

That's with current American trains, which are painfully slow. Imagine modern
high-speed rail between, for example, DC and Miami. It's a bit over 1,000
miles which would take about five hours. That would be an excellent substitute
for the plane trip, which is about two hours in the air, but tons of time and
hassle at the airports. I have family in South Florida and if such a train
existed at something like a reasonable price, I'd definitely go for it. As it
is, Amtrak on that route takes nearly 24 hours and costs way more than an
airline ticket. I don't see why they get any passengers at all, given that.

Seems like 1,000 miles is about the limit for high-speed trains. How many
pairs of large American cities are less than 1,000 miles apart and have lots
of travel between them? I would bet there are quite a number. Rail doesn't
have to solve _everything_ to solve a bunch of things.

~~~
monksy
If you consider that route pretty bad just consider this: Kentucky and TN do
not have Amtrack. [Well TN has a small segment on its western side that goes N
to S but its pretty much a desert.

This means that if you wish to go from ATL, Raleigh/Durham, etc to Chicago,
you have to make "connections" (good luck making that on amtrack) in either
Charlottesville VA or DC. After that it is still 24 hrs at best.

~~~
brianherbert
Kentucky used to have Amtrak, the Kentucky Cardinal. It went from Louisville
to Chicago and took what felt like 12 hours although not sure I'm remembering
that correctly. It was only $30. I had high hopes for that route, that it
would open up more options to travel by rail from my hometown.

~~~
Zuph
The problem with that was that the short line from Louisville to Indianapolis
hasn't been seriously updated in over 50 years. The speed limit on the entire
section of track is something like 30 mph. Of course folks aren't going to go
by train when it's over twice as long as driving.

There's been some talk of a Louisville-Lexington-Nashville line, but nothing
particularly likely to happen.

------
imjk
This is really cool and a great promotional idea for Amtrak. There used to be
a universally romantic notion about long-distance travel by trains that I'm
sure Amtrak is trying to bring back to the forefront of Americans' minds.
Check out this article by a freelance writer about her cross country trip by
rail: [http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/travel/riding-an-
amt...](http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/travel/riding-an-amtrak-train-
cross-country-a-unique-view-of-america/2012/02/21/gIQAebSjmR_story.html). I'm
sure that's the type of promotion that they're looking for.

~~~
stevenwei
I had a bunch of Amtrak points sitting around that I recently redeemed for a
bedroom sleeper trip between Seattle and Chicago.

It was an interesting experience but not one that I would repeat. It is by no
means a smooth ride, and even with the bedroom I found it quite difficult to
get any sleep. Between the horn constantly going off, the bumpiness of the
tracks, and the hourly stops/starts, I basically ended up staying awake for 2
days straight.

While I was initially able to get some work done during the trip, after the
first night I was way too sleep deprived to be able to continue programming.

But then again, I am a light sleeper, and I have trouble falling asleep on
planes too.

~~~
marquis
I can sleep on a park bench that is on a non-stop roller-coaster (planes are a
breeze) so for me sleeper trains are a delight, but I haven't take one in over
10 years since European flights got cheaper that trains. I do miss those long
train rides across Europe, where you would meet people easily in the
restaurant car. Amtrak I've never tried as I've never had the time nor
inclination for train travel when in the U.S.

~~~
bane
Trains in Europe are a pleasure compared to most of the U.S. system. I'm not
sure if it's because Amtrak shares track with cargo trains or what, but the
ride is pretty bumpy, noisy and much beyond a few hours not worth it with
nothing to do and noway to sleep. I've done 20+ hour trips twice on Amtrak and
I'll never do it again. I can see doing maybe a D.C. to NYC trip, but the
economics of such a trip don't really work out for me over a plane even if
door to door the train is only slightly slower (in fact I actually like the
drive better).

~~~
AaronIG
Higher freight traffic in the U.S. has partially something to do with it.
Buffering strengths here require that a passenger train be able to withstand
800,000 pounds of force without deformation, leading to trains that are nearly
twice as heavy (and thus slower) than trains in other parts of the world.
Europe, on the other hand, doesn't have quite as stringent requirements, and
instead of requiring rigid frames they mandate crumple zones, which are
arguably just as safe. MetroLink in SoCal has started employing something
similar on their cars.

To give an idea just how big freight traffic is in the U.S., freight by rail
is something like 1.7 trillion ton-mile (39.9% of freight by ton-mile). The
total across all modes in the EU is 1.4 trillion ton-mile, of which rail makes
up 17%, so only about an eighth of the U.S. in freight. This has led to fairly
different rail systems.

------
yellowbkpk
For background, this is in response to someone on Twitter asking suggesting
it:
[https://twitter.com/Amtrak/status/416312147551870976](https://twitter.com/Amtrak/status/416312147551870976)

~~~
eli
If that's indeed how it happened, it should be a case study in "Social Media
Marketing."

------
eLobato
I had to travel by Amtrak (forced, I lost my passport and I couldn't board a
plane) from LA to NYC via Chicago once. ($230)

Not only I got to see a lot of places, but I truly accomplished more quality
work than I normally do in a similar time-frame. Nearly zero distractions
other than the occasional beautiful sight and the rest breaks I took, I had
the chance to visit the surroundings of the major stations the train stopped
at.

Perhaps it's my ability to sleep in the weirdest places, but I found the
sightseer lounge car couches very comfortable. I went to bed 1hr or so after
dusk, and I woke up with the morning lights. That's about 8h of sleep or so
every night.

PS: Make sure to download a metric shitton of music before you do this. The
sightseer car (the only place where one can truly work comfortably in the
train) is usually a noisy place.

~~~
suyash
no need for passport for domestic flights.

~~~
mst
But you do need _some_ sort of ID; I'd presume the passport was all he had.

~~~
llamataboot
AFAIK, Amtrak generally checks IDs these days as well

------
pixelmonkey
The inaugural residency ("beta test") happened in February, when an NYC
writer, Jessica Gross, was given a free 39-hour ride between NYC and Chicago
(and back) in a sleeper cabin. She wrote about it in The Paris Review:

[http://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2014/02/19/writing-the-
la...](http://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2014/02/19/writing-the-lake-shore-
limited/)

~~~
Mithaldu
Amtrak must go really slow. In Europe, with a considerably higher population
density, and thus more stops, 800 miles can be traversed in 10-11 hours. That
train apparently takes somewhere close to 20.

~~~
mikeash
In addition to the points made by the other comments, I'd also add that "thus
more stops" doesn't necessarily follow. Amtrak tends to be the subject of a
lot of stupid politics, with the routes and stops determined more by what wins
votes than what makes sense. As a result, a lot of Amtrak routes stop
extremely frequently in pretty small towns.

As an example, the Amtrak train that runs between Washington DC and Boston
(serving NYC along the way, and continuing on to Norfolk, VA) stops not only
at DC's main train station, but also at New Carrollton, MD and Alexandria, VA,
which are not only quite close to DC, but actually on the DC Metro system,
making these stops almost completely redundant.

I count no less than _thirty two_ stops between Boston and DC. The trip is
about 9.5 hours long, so that's an average of one stop every 18 minutes.

The NYC->Chicago trip isn't quite as bad, but still has 19 stops in between.
Along the way, it stops in such bustling metropolises as Elkhart, IN
(population 51,152) and Sandusky, OH (population 25,493).

~~~
dworin
An even better example is the Acela, which makes fewer stops than the regular
Northeast Regional trains, but stops in Wilmington, Delaware (pop. 70,000 and
a 30 minute drive from Philadelphia). Joe Biden, now Vice President and
formerly Senator from Delaware, used to commute on the Acela every day, and
was a strong advocate for Amtrak funding.

~~~
chiph
As soon as the Southeast Highspeed Rail project looked like it was going to be
viable, the mayors of all the small towns along the route started lobbying for
it to stop in their burg.

------
kudu
Rather than a free program for a limited number of people, I would be much
more interested if they offered a similar program for all sorts of people at
an affordable rate.

~~~
Theodores
I think you are right. The idea that you get a proper cabin seems wrong to me,
the best train literature is travelling 'hobo style', not deluxe luxury.
Clearly selling cabins is more profit, however, if sat with the riff-raff with
just a chair to sleep in you can have a more interesting and unexpected
experience.

I was 'fortunate' enough to sit next to a girl that had ideas on me from Grand
Junction Colorado all the way to Chicago. I would not have had that random
encounter had I travelled deluxe cabin class. Writing about the hundreds of
miles of corn fields going by has not a lot going for it whereas an expected
girl meets boy experience has broader appeal. Also on the same coach were a
couple I had met months before in Yosemite. Having them in proximity cramped
my style as far as my new-found lady friend was concerned, this was a
constraint that adds to storytelling. A cabin based romantic experience would
not be so good and neither would a few moments of passion with an existing
partner in a cabin really have the 'Mills & Boon' factor.

Food was a problem on said journey for me, in part due to the train being six
hours late at Grand Junction, by which point I had eaten almost all of the
luxury ready eats I had bought for the journey. Even the six hour wait was
noteworthy - you cannot leave the station as the train could arrive at any
moment. So, for me, it was the random happenings and the constraints of money,
timetable and what you can do in public that made the journey an adventure.

The thing is that you cannot have an authentic travel experience and write
about it at the same time. You have to live life rather than be there to
document it.

~~~
sanswork
I really hate the "authentic travel" term. It reminds me of backpackers trying
to one up each other on how horrible of conditions they've stayed in. Or why
the travel destination they chose is more real than the one someone else
chose. Staying in uncomfortable conditions doesn't make the travel more
authentic or real it is just a different experience.

As for being able to experience it and write about it, you just did. My wife
does travel writing and you don't have to go around with your face in your
notepad ignoring the experience. Just take notes now and then about specifics
you might forget(usually costs and package names) and have your pictures.

~~~
Theodores
Some of my older relatives spend a lot of time going on holiday. They get to
go on coach tours, see lots of airports, take cruises, swim with dolphins and
all that stuff. Clearly they enjoy being waited on at various hotels around
the world or they would not do it. However, it is not like they ever have 'the
time of their life' and an experience that they just have to tell everyone
about. They are content doing what they do, it fills the time.

For me though I need more. I need to not know if I will come out alive, I need
genuine hospitality that need not be paid for, I need to meet people along the
way that are not directly connected to the tourism industry. I need to be
treated as a guest and a human being, not just a nice-enough tourist. I also
don't need to be poking cameras in people's faces or writing about them. In
summary, I need adventure, as in the stuff you cannot have an itinerary for.

In some ways your back-packers comparing notes on who stayed in the scummiest
places are a bit like my relatives, just at a different point in life and on a
different trail. At times on my travels I have crossed paths with them and
their backpacker dives, however, I am typically able to avoid all that. I can
call someone up that I met on the road and stay with them, unannounced. They
might live in some unusual house, have some interesting job and be more than
willing to give me an insider view of town rather than what I would discover
as a tourist. That is what 'authentic travel' is about.

I should say that I have a secret weapon - a bicycle. With a bicycle you don't
stay in the small out of the way places just to be more 'cool'. It is a
necessity, you cannot just blast 500 miles along the big highway, at best you
can do 50 miles in one burst before needing to stop for at least water, and on
little roads 'off the tourist trail'. On the bicycle there is no windscreen
between you and the world, you are actually in it and part of it.

Regarding writing, a retrospective account is always wrong, even if filled
with tedious 'specifics'. There is no way of conveying genuine anticipation
once the moment has gone, in your writing this knowing-the-answer-already
aspect is not something you can disguise honestly, merely feign as the feeling
has passed.

~~~
jasonkester
Careful trying to be the traveliest traveler. No matter how bad ass you are,
there's always a bigger badass somewhere.

I remember a conversation at a little dive hostel in Durban, where the table
was recounting their Bad Flight stories, one upping each other as one does at
dive hostels around the world. After a particularly grim story about The
Gambia, this heretofore quiet older guy mumbles "yeah, I'm never going to fly
Air Ethiopia again."

Conversation proceeded, but after a few more stories, I asked the guy why,
exactly he wasn't planning to fly that airline again.

Turned out he'd personally been on not one but _two_ Air Ethiopia plane
crashes. Crashed two thirds of their fleet single handedly evidently.

The second time, they'd landed in the jungle in the Congo, were detained by a
local warlord, attempted escape, and were gunned down by the local militia.
Back in government hands, the survivors were put on a plane, which sat on the
runway for an hour surrounded by jeeps and shouting men before they were
unloaded and marched off to a shed, expecting to be killed. Several tense
hours later, the "general" came back and said they could go now, and
apologized for the delay, as they needed the plane "to bomb the rebels."

Then he showed us the bullet wound in his back.

Since then, I tend to temper my speech when discussing how authentic my
personal travel experiences are in relation to others.

But I did steal his story.

------
jmount
How about making the paying Amtrak experience nice instead of making a
Potemkin ride? (see: [http://reason.com/archives/2005/12/01/amtrak-
sucks](http://reason.com/archives/2005/12/01/amtrak-sucks) )

~~~
rayiner
Wow, did Amtrak knock up that guy's teenage sister or what?

As someone who has taken train/plane/bus/car between NYC and DC the last
couple of years, I can say without a doubt that Amtrak is the most civilized
way to get between those two places. If I didn't have family in Oregon I'd
never get on a plane again.

~~~
jmount
I am guessing the NYC/DC train corridor is nicer than what we have on the west
coast. I was looking into a holiday ride through silver country here, and the
reviews unfortunately came back a big "heck no."

~~~
LoganCale
I've done cross-country Amtrak travel multiple times and enjoyed it every
time. You just have to be prepared for potential delays and willing to take it
easy and roll with it. If you aren't in a hurry and see the trip as part of
your vacation, then it's great.

~~~
6cxs2hd6
Exactly. Sometimes the mindset is to get somewhere fast. What we really want?
A teleport. But we have to settle for air travel.

Whereas sometimes the mindset "the journey not the destination". That's when
you can appreciate a train, ocean liner, bicycle, or feet.

Having said that, Acela is usually the best of both worlds.

~~~
ghaff
And for Boston to New York, I really find it a lot more pleasant and almost as
fast as flying--especially if you're going into Manhattan anyway. The only
reason I'd fly to New York would be if I had a morning meeting and couldn't go
down the night before for some reason.

That said, you go much further than New York and the train makes less sense
either in terms of time or money.

------
mrgintl
read the fine print. It is not a good deal. From my friend Cate:

I would NOT advise applying, as it means essentially signing away the rights
to the work you send them as a sample just by APPLYING:

"6\. Grant of Rights: In submitting an Application, Applicant hereby grants
Sponsor the absolute, worldwide, and irrevocable right to use, modify,
publish, publicly display, distribute, and copy Applicant’s Application, in
whole or in part, for any purpose, including, but not limited to, advertising
and marketing, and to sublicense such rights to any third parties."

"Applicant grants Sponsor the absolute, worldwide, and irrevocable right to
use, modify, publish, publicly display, distribute, and copy the name, image,
and/or likeness of Applicant and the names of any such persons identified in
the Application for any purpose, including, but not limited to, advertising
and marketing. For the avoidance of doubt, one’s Application will NOT be kept
confidential"

"Upon Sponsor's request and without compensation, Applicant agrees to sign any
additional documentation that Sponsor may require so as to effect, perfect or
record the preceding grant of rights"

~~~
SapphireSun
Doesn't seem like that big of a problem, just don't give them anything you
can't afford to lose control of. It's pretty fair that you compensate them
with free advertising since they're giving you something cool for (otherwise)
free. The deal might not be for everyone, but I wouldn't say it's a bad deal.
If I was running a contest like this, I would have used similar language to
make sure the program created a virtuous circle of coolness rather than
applicants clamping down and keeping the experience private.

~~~
sanswork
From what I've heard(my wife is a travel writer and lawyer/writes a law column
for writers) there are a lot of other questionable clauses in the contract as
well though I don't have specifics. One she mentioned was pretty harsh content
limitations too. She was actually just telling me about it a few hours ago
while we were having a walk so it was random to get back here and find it at
the top of HN.

------
talos
Maybe they should focus on fixing their website so people can look up train
tickets:

[http://www.amtrak.com/home](http://www.amtrak.com/home)

It's the middle of the day on Sunday. WTF.

~~~
scw
Perhaps they can follow up with a "Code for Amtrak" on-train hackathon. Amtrak
is part of our civic infrastructure, perhaps Code for America could run it.

~~~
noname123
Their onboard WiFi is horrible. Tried to stream PornHub on a train ride but
lagged constantly, instead had to settle for a erotic story podcast. Very
unsatisfying.

~~~
JacksonGariety
that's funny

------
saosebastiao
I took Amtrak from Sacramento to Salt Lake City once, and by the end of the
trip I certainly felt like I should be establishing residency. I guess this is
one way to turn lemons into lemonade.

------
nether
Stunning photo of the California Zephyr line, Chicago - San Francisco:
[http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f6/Amtrak_Ca...](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f6/Amtrak_California_Zephyr_Green_River_-
_Floy%2C_Utah.jpg)

~~~
mdturnerphys
It's really fun for me, being from Utah, to have it pointed out that this is a
stunning scene. I was pretty disappointed when I clicked through—it honestly
just reminds me of boring car rides. Thanks for helping me continue to realize
how much I've taken the scenery of my home state for granted.

------
heydenberk
The brilliant thing is not the nature of the program, but the timing.
Americans are driving less and less, for a lot of reasons, but in my opinion
the desire to use mobile devices in idle time is paramount.

~~~
recusancy
Is it true that Americans are driving less and less? Is there data to back
that up? Just curious.

~~~
reportingsjr
Yep, it is true! I think currently we are back down to ~ 1992 VMT (vehicle
miles traveled) after peaking in 2004.

~~~
heydenberk
And the US population is 10% to 20% bigger than it was the last time it was
this low, so the VMT per person is trending downward even more. Here in the
northeast corridor we're trying to figure out what to do about a bunch of
pending plans to add lanes to highways.

------
conorh
This is a great idea! I traveled on Amtrak a few years ago from NYC to New
Orleans (30 hours) with my wife and young daughter and had a great time - it
just a pleasant way spend some time, talking, reading, thinking. During the
day we set up a little play area for my daughter in our sleeper car and she
loved watching everything go by. We were by far the youngest in that section
and we often sat with retired folks at meal times (and had some great
conversations).

------
chetanahuja
_" Applications will be accepted on a rolling basis"_ Hah... Good one.

~~~
nnnnni
Yeah, I saw that and had a good chuckle. It's nice to see that humor isn't
completely dead!

------
tomphoolery
Although it was impossible to get important work done over a VPN over Amtrak's
Wi-Fi (I really need VPN access for my job), it was still a fun journey from
Charlotte to Philadelphia on my way home from a new years party. I worked from
home that day, and while I was mostly incommunicado I could still get a lot of
code work done on my own machine that I'd been putting off.

I would definitely do this.

~~~
lisper
> it was impossible to get important work done over a VPN

Why?

~~~
fulafel
Many Windows-based corporate VPN clients like to tear down the connection on
every little net hiccup, forcing you to do redo your SecurID or whatever
login. And Windows IP stack likes to tear down your TCP connections on any
brief loss of link, so eg. your SSH session cannot survive this type of event.

------
100k
Awesome idea. I wish coding counted. :)

~~~
lifeformed
Me too. Well technically, you "write" code. Maybe you can spin it that way.

------
MichaelTieso
I for one am super excited for Amtrak and what this will mean for the travel
industry. As a travel blogger that has been in the industry for a long time,
I've worked with several brands that have no idea what to do with "new media".
This is setting a fantastic example for other brands that will hopefully catch
on.

------
j2kun
As a millennial, I recently discovered the sleeper-car Amtrak experience. It's
by far my favorite way to travel.

------
danielsiders
There are apparently serious strings attached[1]

[1][http://dduane.tumblr.com/post/79161065289/the-amtrak-
residen...](http://dduane.tumblr.com/post/79161065289/the-amtrak-residency-
why-i-think-this-is-a-terrible)

------
Zigurd
I applied. I'll let you know how it goes.

------
zomgbbq
This promotion is of course targeted toward writers but how amazing would it
be to have 2-5 focused days to hack while on the train? Perhaps mobile
connectivity would be an issue in some locations but the upside of the focus-
time would probably be greatly productive. A train hack-a-thon.

------
rtfeldman
I'd love to do this for coding, except the onboard wifi is unusable. I tend to
prefer Amtrak to any airline in basically every area except wifi, which is
bizarre considering how recent a development in-flight wifi is.

------
audiosampling
Or just try the virtual alternative :
[http://mynoise.net/NoiseMachines/railroadNoiseGenerator.php](http://mynoise.net/NoiseMachines/railroadNoiseGenerator.php)

------
nayefc
The one thing Amtrak needs to be focusing on now is fixing their terrible
ancient, expensive trains.

------
yanatan16
Why is it restricted to writers? Is it less expensive than two one-way
tickets?

~~~
shagie
Its based on the idea of an artist in residence (Wikipedia:
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artist-in-
residence](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artist-in-residence) ). Another odd
travel related residency is Heathrow's writer-in-residence:
[http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-
london-14371775](http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-14371775) .

The idea of the artist in residence is to get away from one's daily routines
and environment into a new and enriching environment for the artist. Its not a
"get from point A to point B" that they're giving away its a "experience
riding around the US on the railway and talk with the people who are on the
train or see the scenery so that you can become a better writer." The start
and end of the trip are purely coincidental.

As to if its less expensive than tickets: section 10 of the official terms
shows what will be given: a travel voucher for 1 person on a sleeper train for
between 2 to 5 days that would be worth about $900. The key here is _given_ \-
free is much less than the cost of tickets.

------
ataggart
Why is this a good thing?

