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Austin to Seattle - A Train Travelogue
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Chandra Mouli
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This was an exciting and wonderful trip. Since this was my first train ride in the US, I boarded the train with several questions and tried to find the answers myself. Traveling by train is one of the best ways to see the country. It would be great if AMTRAK maintains its published time schedules, but unfortunately this is not the case now. One has to be prepared to expect delays. I met several Europeans on the train and they were bragging about how trains are punctual in Europe. I have myself traveled in Japan, by train and noticed that they are incredibly punctual. India has one of the largest railroad networks in the world, and the trains generally meet the schedules in spite of poor coordination (even the most prestigious long distance trains in India don't have wireless communication facilities). Train stations in the US, particularly in small towns can at best be classified as `sheds' to keep out the wind chill. This is in total contrary to stations in India or in Japan where they brim with activity. One another thing I noticed is the presence of huge 'junk car lots' beside the tracks in most cities. They are an ugly sight (one Belgian lady traveling with me to Oakland, asked me: "Why can't the Americans create a machine to pulverize these junk cars into fine powder and either recycle or pack them in boxes and bury them out-of-sight, underground ?" -- Good question !)
Chandra Mouli
