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Originally Posted by EdFNJ
One of our friends just took it last week as well. It was a trip from hell. They paid for an expensive room and it wasn't available when they got there so they put them up in a linen closet  . It takes up to 4 HOURS to get your car off the train unless you pay EXTRA for "priority removal." Autotrain has secondary track priority over Amtrak regular trains which means they might have to pull over to wait for a regular train to pass. You still have to drive to or from Sanford or Lorton VA. If the train has mechanical issues it's like getting stuck between exits on Rt 75. You can sit forever.
About 3 years ago another friend was taking it DOWN to FL from NJ and it was cancelled when they reached the boarding station at Lorton VA without notice so they ended up driving down anyway.
Edit: For us it's a 19 1/2 hr drive split into 2 days at a decent hotel to NJ from here. Otherwise it's ??hrs to Sanford and a bunch of hrs to (or from) Lorton then waiting for the car to get rolled off so the trip timewise is a LOT longer than driving. |
Has NEVER taken 4 hours to unload our car (5 trips). They share the track with CSX who owns the right of way and has priority. The Auto Train is AMTRAK and is a regular train. AutoTrain is the most profitable so slowing it down for a less profitable train makes no sense. As has been said many times, if it doesn't work for you don't use it, not sure why folks who have never taken the ride continue to trust youtube or friends as a definitive authority.