Charlotte to Durham by Amtrak

Ikuko and I decided to take the Amtrak train from Charlotte to Durham. It's a scheduled two hour and forty-two minute run through the countryside of North Carolina and we thought it would be a good chance to see some rural scenery. We should have been forewarned by the taxi ride to the station.

An hour before the train was scheduled to leave we got our bags together and asked one of the bellhops to flag us a cab to the station. He put us in an unmarked car waiting at the hotel and told the driver to take us to the Amtrak station.

From my research I knew the station was about two and one-half miles straight south on Tryon Street. The driver pulled out of the hotel and headed east on Trade Street. After a block I asked him where he was going and reiterated we wanted to go to the Amtrack station on Tryon Street. "Oh," he said, "Can't take a left on Tryon." but he did turn and get on Tryon headed south. About halfway there he pulled into a service station and turned around, headed north and got on his phone, apparently asking a friend (foreign language, not Spanish) where the station was.

By this time I had my phone out and was watching the map. I told him the address and which way to go but he was confused and took a couple more detours before finally getting us to the station. When I asked how much, he said it was fifteen dollars. It should have been a ten dollar ride.  I paid him but no tip for him.

Into the station we went. I had tickets in hand but needed to check at least one bag so went to the baggage window. Ended up checking two bags at no additional cost, which was nice.

By now it was thirty minutes until scheduled departure so I went to the window to see about our reserved seat numbers since they weren't on the ticket I had printed off in the hotel. It turns out Amtrak reserved seats in coach are catch as catch can. One of the passengers in line said that some station masters call for parties traveling together so they can board first and sit together but that didn't happen this day. Actually despite the crowd in the station there were plenty of seats on the car bound for Durham so Ikuko and I sat together anyway, even if we were traveling backward.

Forty-five minutes after scheduled departure time the train finally pulled in and we boarded. Well, we were on the way even if a little late. Little did I know that Amtrak plays second fiddle to the freight trains on these tracks.

We hadn't been traveling long when we were off on a side track cooling our heels. Finally a freight went by and we got under way again. We stopped at stations and a few more times for freight trains and finally arrived in Durham about two and one-half hours behind schedule.

Thankfully, delays in modern travel are easily communicated to people who might be meeting the train, as in this case when son and daughter-in-law would have been waiting at the station for those two plus hours without the texting and mobile phone capability we all have these days.

Ikuko and I used to riding Japanese trains so this was a little different. The seats were comfortable and the checked baggage system was efficient. When the train was running it was fairly fast and convenient but when it was sidetracked it was frustrating. The most annoying feature was the apparent disregard for the schedule, especially when compared to the on-the-minute departures in Japan.