Epic and global train trips

Orange County Register via The Wichita Eagle reports on epic train journeys around the world.

Writer Gary A. Warner shares some of his favorite train trips

VIA Rail: Vancouver-Jasper. The route from Vancouver to Jasper in the Canadian Rockies is called "the ski train" in winter. Come summer, the 1950s dome car features views of pine forests, vast lakes and some of the tallest peaks on the continent.

The Indian-Pacific, Australia: This epic 2 1/2-day Australian rail ride from Sydney on the Pacific Ocean to Perth on the Indian Ocean covers 2,704 miles.

Rovos Rail, South Africa: A fatal accident has cast a shadow over the once exemplary record of this luxury train that operates throughout South Africa and sometimes to the north. Rovos excursions in the past include an epic trip to Victoria Falls on the Zimbabwe-Zambia border and then on to Dar es Salaam in Tanzania.

Southwest Chief: The successor to the classic Santa Fe train roughly parallels old Route 66 from Los Angeles to Chicago.

Read the full story: Great train journeys: riding the rails around the world

Photo by Bruce C. Strong / MCT

Ride Amtrak, expect delays

The Washington Post reports that more people are riding Amtrak trains but on time arrivals are less frequent.

Though many trains do run on time, or close to it, rail passengers frequently find themselves stuck in travel purgatory, because some unforeseen situation has tripped up Amtrak: A sluggish freight train is blocking the way; the engine's power source has conked out; a ne'er-do-well cow has wandered onto the tracks; there's cleanup on Track 1. The causes are legion, the delays legendary.

"It's a love-hate situation," said Jim Wrinn, editor of Trains magazine. "There's this promise of a really nice ride and experience, but it's really not there."

Still, many starry-eyed travelers continue to harbor hope that their Amtrak trip will succeed, especially now that the other modes of transportation are failing us.

Read the full story: Amtrak ridership is up, but passengers grouse about frequent delays

Photo by Jennifer Beeson Gregory / The Washington Post

High-speed rail "coming to America"

The Wall Street Journal's Middle Seat blog reports on reactions to $8 billion of federal stimulus money going to high-speed rail development.

Airlines were upset because high-speed rail could signal competition and "further erode their customer bases."

In two or three decades, Transportation Sec. Ray LaHood said at the FAA annual forecasting conference, U.S. cities will be connected by high-speed rail – whether airlines like it or not.

"Let me give you a little bit of political advice: Don’t be against high-speed rail," Sec. LaHood said. "It’s coming to America. This is the president’s vision, this is the vice president’s vision, this is America’s vision…. We’re going to get into the high-speed rail business."

European and Asian countries such as Taiwan (picture right) already have high-speed rail lines.

Read the full story: LaHood to airlines: get onboard the high-speed train

Photo from Stephen Fung.net

Board the train to a National Park

National Parks Traveler reports on visiting East Coast parks via train.

Look for tips on what trains and parks to visit near Boston, Philadelphia, New York, Baltimore and Washington D.C. among others.

Washington, D.C. Among the easiest NPS areas in the country to reach by train are those in the nation's capital. Once you arrive at Union Station you don't even need to leave the building to make a connection to the city's Metro system—or you can just walk from the station to some key sites. Even if you aren't traveling by train, the food court in the lower level of Union Station, together with several restaurants elsewhere in the building, offers a variety of choices for reasonably priced meals.

This is a series and NPS will also have trips for Central and Western regions soon.

Read the full story: Visiting National Parks by train - Eastern U.S.

Photo from Wikimedia Commons

Ride the rails on the "10 greatest" train trips

ABC News.com reports on 10 of the "world's greatest train journeys."

Among the journeys is the number 7: Hejaz Jordan Railway (picture right) through Syria and Jordan where "you'll be off rattling along tracks built by the Ottomans, through dusty red countryside, little towns and under tunnels through towering gray mountains."

Also on the list is Switzerland's Glacier Express (that we at Ecotravel News have been on and highly recommend for beautiful mountain scenery), The Eastern & Oriental Express from Singapore to Bangkok, Thailand, and the Settle-Carlisle Railway through England's countryside.

Read the full story: World's 10 greatest train journeys

Photo from ABC News.com

Tell me about what's rolling by my window

MSNBC reports on the free Rails & Trails programs offered to Amtrak riders this summer.

National Park Service volunteers will be on board the trains giving historical context to what's rolling by the windows.

“Riding the train without the guides is like watching the Travel Channel with the sound off,” says NPS Programs Coordinator Jim Miculka. “If you turn on the volume, you can learn what that mountain or river or historic site is.”

Read the full story: Free interpretive programs for Amtrak riders

By train, car, or bus?

The Associated Press via USA Today compiled a list to answer the question of "what's the greenest way to travel?"

It explains how to determine which form of transport leaves the smallest carbon footprint depending on distance, vehicle size and class.

Read the full story: What's the greenest way to travel?

content note: the AP now only allows subscribers to view and use their content; so that's why most of the AP stories we use here have been printed elsewhere.

Labor Day holiday vacationers taking public transport

USA Today reports that travelers will be riding more trains and buses this Labor Day holiday to avoid high gas prices.

"'We're anticipating holiday ridership to be about 10% higher this year' than last, says Amtrak spokeswoman Karina Romero.

The United Motorcoach Association, which represents 900 charter and tour bus operators, also expects more passengers this weekend. 'We have seen a pickup since fuel prices went up,' President Victor Parra says."

Read the full story: More holiday travelers will bypass gas pump

Amtrak boasts Northeast ridership up 28%

Ecotravel News already reported earlier this month on the rise in Amtrak train ridership in California.

Now USA Today reports on the almost 30 percent increase in riders on Amtrak's Downeaster line that goes from Portland, Maine to Boston.

The line now is usually filled to capacity and the service has had to add a fifth additional train run and train cars to meet demand.

Amtrak is now trying to negotiate a sixth train trip with the rail owners Pan Am Railways and ways to expand the service up to Brunswick, Maine.

Read the full story: Amtrak's Downeaster posts 28 percent ridership gain

Amtrak ridership up dramatically, thanks to high gas prices

The Sacramento Bee reports on the significantly higher levels of people traveling by train between California cities this year.

Amtrak says their nationwide ridership is up 11 percent since last year as more people are traveling by their service now that gas prices have gone up.

"'It's been quite surreal in some cases,' said Amtrak spokeswoman Vernae Graham, citing instances of as many as 200 standees on Pacific Surfliner trains traveling between San Diego and Los Angeles. "

Graham also says that the largest increases in ridership are for distances under 500 miles.

Popular routes in California between the Bay Area and Sacramento have seen a 19 percent increase.

Article author Janet Fullwood writes that her Bakersfield to Stockton train was completely full to Fresno.

Read the full story: Train travel hopping with new riders

SF Chronicle ponders green travel

The San Francisco Chronicle tries to answer the question of how to determine the "greenest" form of travel for your specific needs.

They compared and contrasted car, airline and train travel with various carbon footprint scenarios for all.

They determined that: "It's either cut back on carbon emissions in applications where it's relatively easy or decide that our only truly green alternative is to stay home."

Read the full story: No easy answer to "greener" travel mode

Florida without a car

Today is Earth Day; but since we at Ecotravel News make everyday Earth Day, we will as usual just inform eco-interested readers on the latest environmentally-friendly related travel story that caught our eye.

Miami Herald reporter Marjie Lambert was given the task of traveling through Florida sans car.

For her five-day trip she actually had to take the train to three cities and - gasp - walk to all her sightseeing destinations. American cities are not made for walking especially when lugging a suitcase, I'll give her that, so her car-free trip was actually a real challenge that even Ecotravel News would not enjoy undertaking.

Ms. Lambert had a healthy attitude however and by the end of her trip relished in her brush with slow travel, especially since it was cheaper than driving:

"Each leg has taken at least an hour longer than the same trip by car, and cost some convenience. But this journey is part of the growing trend of slower travel with its own pleasant compensations -- the leisure of the train ride, the scenery not visible from I-95, the absence of traffic jams and metal detectors -- and I know I've gotten a real deal."

Read the full story: Florida by train, cities by foot

Lhasa train excites tourists, but with no mention of environmental or cultural controversies

LA Times travel writer Susan Spano recently made a trip on the new-ish train connecting Beijing and Lhasa. Unfortunately it was more about her own personal observations rather than any insight into the environmental and cultural problems that the train line created. Mostly it was "white person in China" drivel such as:

"When it was time to eat, we filed into the dining car for an unappetizing meal served on tin plates: potatoes, cabbage, greens, a slice of Spam, half a hard-boiled egg and rice."

She did mention one line about the controversy of the train exploiting the mineral riches of "Tibet," but without doing the homework of what "Tibet" really is. Tibet proper consists of the provinces Kham, Amdo and U-Tsang. What westerners call Tibet is really the Tibetan Autonomous Region, or TAR, predominantly in the U-Tsang area. Kham and Amdo lie in China. When the Chinese government "liberated" the region of Tibet in the 1950s it sliced through the middle of the historical Tibetan area and created the TAR in 1965 for "administrative purposes." The Chinese slaughtered and drove out thousands of Tibetans including the Dalai Lama for their own selfish ruling purposes. Western nations refuse to do anything about the "Tibet situation" because of their own dealings with cheap labor and manufacturing that China represents.

The train to Lhasa has brought cultural and environmental concerns. Firstly, it will bring more of the Han Chinese (the predominant chinese ethnicity) to distill the already distilled Tibetan culture. A major health concern from this is the heightened risk of HIV/AIDS which could blossom under the "frontier-like" conditions created by the railway construction and subsequent tourist industry.

Secondly, the environmental concerns of building and running a train over previously undisturbed natural areas has been addressed by the U.S. Embassy in Beijing. The embassy released a 2003 report criticizing the Chinese so-called environmental protection during the building process. The protection and health of the natural tundra and native species disturbed during the building of the rail line were of major concern. Another key point was the long-term effects hundreds of travelers will have on the delicate eco-system. Where will the waste and garbage be disposed of? How will the train disturb wildlife's natural migrations? And what will be built to support the tourists at proposed rest stops during the train ride?

Glad to see that for western writers the thrill of the train ride is much more important than what the full cost of the train line really represents.

Read more about the entire region of Tibet: The Government of Tibet in exile
Read the U.S. Embassy report: Environmental protection along the Qinghai-Tibet railway
Read the full LA Times article: Beijing-Lhasa Express the train ride of a lifetime

Stay tuned for more "white person in China" stories from Ms. Spano because the paper touts that luckily she: "will take us behind the scenes in Beijing, from its hutongs to its luxury hotels. She will also explore lesser-known corners of China that are made for the cultural and adventure traveler."