July 16, 2007

US & Canada | US

My Own Private Amtrak

By Tiffany Hawk

Recapture the romance of rail travel aboard this revamped classic.

The best cure for fear of flying? A long train ride. The side effect? An aversion to trains. Fortunately, Amtrak and Grandluxe Rail Journeys have together hatched a cure — featuring five-course meals, grand pianos and personal butlers. Starting November, a private seven-car Grandluxe caravan will be attached to select, regularly scheduled Amtrak trains (Chicago to Los Angeles and San Francisco; Washington D.C. to Miami). Beyond the niceties of “fine brocades” and “plush bunks,” Grandluxe does offer a demonstrably more humane experience. En-suite showers don’t require the user to be perched on the toilet. You’ll eat in a mahogany-paneled dining car (in place of laminate). Regional cuisine — served on china, not ceramic — will change with the landscape, and if it’s not Michelin-star standard, the free wine should help.

If a long journey on a Vintage Pullman — even one that promises “a return to the golden age of rail” — still sounds as enticing as a sewage swamped airliner, riding the rails may yet be in your future. By 2030 a bullet train traveling at 220-miles-per-hour will cut rail time between San Francisco and Los Angeles to two-and-a-half hours. Now that’s a train worth waiting for.