Rattle wrote:
It's a little pricey, but the value is there. If only it went down to Atlanta...

The "Crescent Line" passes through DC and through Atlanta. Averaging $150 when bought a month ahead of time, it cost about the same as a flight. But it takes forever. It can take 14 hours - longer than driving. Though the older train gets up to 70+ mph, it stops in every small city (about 20 of them), and some big cities the stops were at least 30 minutes. And unlike the grand transportation terminal in DC, the Amtrak station in Atlanta is in a random spot on Peachtree half way between Buckhead and Midtown, and a good distance away from any MARTA train station (They were going to build a light rail line to the Amtrak station, but that plan got scrapped a few years ago). No parking deck either, so you have to call a friend or get a Taxi.

The faster train and an "Express" route would lower the travel time to 7 hours, which when compared to 5 hours air travel (2.5 in the air + 2.5 on the ground) would make it a good alternative. There isn't demand for the fast train and express route yet, but with air travel becoming more of a hassle and air line tickets becoming more sensitive to fuel prices, hopefully the US interstate passenger rail system will get back into popularity.

RE: Amtrak - Northeast Acela Service