Two night trains

08-25-2002

Like many travelers with a romantic spot in their hearts for trains, I generally enjoy riding the rails.

Not counting commuter trains, I've taken dozens of rail trips over the years, usually daytime journeys of several hours. During my student Eurail Pass days, I spent many nights sitting up in a European coach or passenger compartment amid the comings and goings and snoring of my fellow passengers, trying to snatch a few hours' sleep.

But I'd never sprung for a sleeping compartment, which, back then, seemed the height of luxury. To be able to stretch out flat in a private, comfortable space while the train rocked its way through the night; to sleep, perchance to dream; to be awakened in the morning by the knock of a porter at my door bringing breakfast just before arriving at the terminal -- now, that was the way to enjoy a night train. Even today, night trains seem a relaxed way to arrive somewhere without the anxieties of catching early morning flights, compounded by the hassles of rush-hour.

Recently, I had opportunities to sample the overnight accommodations offered by Amtrak between Chicago and Pittsburgh and Scottish Rail between Inverness and London. In addition to comparing the two rail services, I was able to compare them against the same journeys by air. Here's what I discovered.

Economy wasn't the issue on my first trip, a long April weekend in the Windy City. Since AirTran was still flying directly from Pittsburgh to Chicago, I was able to get a one-way flight for $54, a few dollars less than the $60 cost of the reserved seat on one of three Amtrak trains that travel between Chicago and Pittsburgh each evening. My sleeping compartment added $150 to the price, but, after all, this was for research purposes.

(Now that AirTran no longer flies directly to Chicago from Pittsburgh, one-way flights are considerably more expensive: $110 on AirTran via Atlanta or $485 one-way nonstop on US Airways. Round-trip reservations on US Airways can be as low as $118. It's also noteworthy to add that if I had been traveling with a second person, the sleeping compartment would have been the same price.)

Thus, the cost of my Amtrak trip from Chicago to Pittsburgh totaled $204, with a scheduled duration of 10 hours. That's compared to my $54 70-minute flight from Pittsburgh to Chicago; although of course, getting to and from the airports added three or four hours to the total travel time and another $17 to the cost: $2 for the 28X bus to Pittsburgh International and $15 for the shuttle bus from Midway to Chicago.

When it came time to leave, I arrived at Chicago's Union Station half an hour before my scheduled 9 p.m. departure, only to learn that the train would be an hour late leaving. The waiting area was comfortable enough, and true to the prediction, some 200 other passengers and I were on the platform boarding the train at 9:45, with the conductor assuring us that even with the late departure, we'd be in Pittsburgh as scheduled at 8 the following morning.

The cabin attendant showed me to my sleeping compartment, which was quite comfortable and well-appointed, with wide windows and individual temperature controls. The two opposing seats slid together to form one wide cushy bed that easily accommodated my 6-foot-2-inch self. The second berth, a bunk-style bed, slid down from the ceiling on tracks. The compartment also had a small sink, a commode and a tiny video screen that offered a selection of three movies.

By the time I had stowed my bag and figured out how things worked, the train was under way. I left my compartment to check out the train's other features, but since it was nearly 11 p.m., the canteen and dining car were closed. I returned to my compartment and watched a movie for another half-hour. Then I switched off the light, contemplated the dark countryside sliding by and let the slow rolling of the train rock me to sleep.

Sleep I did, surprisingly well and for most of the night, until the cabin attendant knocked on my door at 6:45 a.m. to tell me breakfast was being served. Unfortunately, I didn't realize getting up right away was urgent, because by the time I got dressed and made it to the canteen at about 7:20, it had closed and two attendants were taking inventory of the packaged Danish, juice boxes and coffee cups, which for some reason had to be done 30 minutes before the train arrived. While it wasn't a big deal since we were shortly due in Pittsburgh, it did strike me as a customer-inconvenient policy, the only sour note on an otherwise generally enjoyable journey. The train pulled into Penn Station on time, and I jumped onto a Port Authority bus and was home before 9 a.m.

The schedule and pricing on the Scottish Rail journey were comparable to my Amtrak trip. Departure was at 8:40 p.m. in Inverness and arrival at Euston Station in London at 7:50 a.m. The cost of the passage and sleeping compartment was about $180, roughly twice as much as a discount flight from Inverness to London, not counting the cost of an extra night in a hotel or of getting to and from the airport.

My compartment on the Caledonian Sleeper was more than adequate, though more Spartan and not as modern as the Amtrak compartment. Two narrow bunks folded down from a partition wall, so that the sleeping was done more or less across the tracks rather than parallel to them. There was a sink, a selection of in-transit magazines and a package of toiletries, although the toilet itself was down the hall.

Because we boarded earlier in the evening, departed on time and I was traveling with companions, we sat up in the lounge car for several hours, enjoying drinks and sandwiches while watching the darkening Highlands flash by. And flash by they did, since the welded track rail bed was much smoother than Amtrak's, allowing the train to travel at a greater speed.

I turned in about 11 and had no trouble drifting off nor sleeping through the night, awakening refreshed at about 7:15 a.m., when the porter knocked on my door, presenting a breakfast tray with tea, juice, Danish, a small box of corn flakes and container of milk. We pulled into Euston Station right on time.

Both night train trips lived up to expectations, depositing me at my destination on time and well rested. While the Amtrak rolling stock was superior, or at least newer, the rail lines across Scotland and England provided a far superior ride. Customer service on Scottish Rail seemed considerably more attentive, but neither train could be classified as plush.

Yet when compared to spending a night in a hotel and rushing to catch an early flight to make a morning meeting, both trains offer a more relaxed alternative. Given the opportunity, I'd take either train again.

Of course, my on-time arrivals may have been fortunate, and, with the deepening Amtrak budget crisis, how much longer night trains will be running in this country is anyone's guess.

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