Amtrak

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Enjoying the scenery. Everybody should go by train. Amtrak reminds me of the simple life long before airplanes and automobiles were invented.

The Detroit rail station was not as terrible as I expected, so I'll give it 3 stars. It is surprisingly very small for such a big city. The location is a considerable distance from downtown (about 6k), but is not so terribly far from the campus of Wayne State University and the city's cultural center area. I had hoped to walk from the station to the Detroit Institute of Arts, but chose instead to take a cab the few blocks distance, as the area appeared a bit dodgy. As I said, it is a small station, so there is not much there and I would not want to spend much time there waiting for a train. Fortunately, Amtrak has a good website which allows you to monitor train status directly through your iPhone. Trains are infrequent (6 per day) and there is only one line. Trains running west toward Chicago (3 per day) depart in the early morning, midday, and late afternoon. The 3 daily trains running in the other direction turn north and go only another 50 kilometers, stopping in three of Detroit's northern suburbs, Royal Oak, Birmingham and Pontiac which is the end of the line.



The trains I rode were themselves comfortable and not at all crowded. The conductors were polite and helpful.