Amtrak does have the “auto train” which runs from just outside DC to just outside Orlando. You load your car on the train and ride the train rather than driving that distance. It’s apparently really popular with both snowbirds as well as vacationers
There’s also rumblings of potentially setting up a new Auto train route from NYC to LA. I have wonder if they’ll do the obvious thing of making a stop in Chicago as well given most long distance Amtrak services stop in Chicago
This is also how the Channel Tunnel between Folkestone in the UK and Calais in France works, sans any amenities other than a toilet. Drive on, get taken under the strait, and drive off at the other side.
I remember watching a documentary about the chunnel back in the early 00s and the narrators highlighted how it’s enabled day-tripping to the other country for some folks, and spoke with a British couple who went to France to do some shopping that day
It’s also pretty normal in europe - It’s pretty cheap if you compare it to the cost in fuel and wear on the car if you want to make a long distance vacation, and it beats driving long hours of mostly highway during the time where EVERYONE drives into vacation and traffic jams are common.
We used to have that in France but I think they killed the service in the late 90s or early 2000s. It was typically paired with night trains, I thought it was a pretty cool system.
For like 30 seconds I was thinking ‘car’ meant automobile and I was picturing like someone’s SUV hitched to the back of a train.
I should get some coffee.
Amtrak does have the “auto train” which runs from just outside DC to just outside Orlando. You load your car on the train and ride the train rather than driving that distance. It’s apparently really popular with both snowbirds as well as vacationers
Neat!
If anyone else is curious, there’s a lengthy blog post with some photos here: https://www.aboomerslifeafter50.com/travel/is-the-amtrak-auto-train-worth-the-ride-heres-my-take-going-to-florida/
And a Wikipedia page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auto_Train
There’s also rumblings of potentially setting up a new Auto train route from NYC to LA. I have wonder if they’ll do the obvious thing of making a stop in Chicago as well given most long distance Amtrak services stop in Chicago
https://www.trains.com/pro/passenger/intercity/private-company-ameristarrail-proposes-cross-country-auto-train-service-with-amtrak/
This is also how the Channel Tunnel between Folkestone in the UK and Calais in France works, sans any amenities other than a toilet. Drive on, get taken under the strait, and drive off at the other side.
I remember watching a documentary about the chunnel back in the early 00s and the narrators highlighted how it’s enabled day-tripping to the other country for some folks, and spoke with a British couple who went to France to do some shopping that day
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It’s also pretty normal in europe - It’s pretty cheap if you compare it to the cost in fuel and wear on the car if you want to make a long distance vacation, and it beats driving long hours of mostly highway during the time where EVERYONE drives into vacation and traffic jams are common.
We used to have that in France but I think they killed the service in the late 90s or early 2000s. It was typically paired with night trains, I thought it was a pretty cool system.