Jeremy Corey-Gruenes, Paths to Peace

This summer we decided to take a family trip. Our daughters wanted to ride a train, and they wanted to see a musical. So we needed to find a show in a city accessible by Amtrak.

We chose Chicago. The planning was easy. Chicago is an amazing theater city, and in minutes I found tickets to the musical “The Emperor’s New Clothes” before heading to Amtrak’s website to check out rail options.

I love traveling by train. I road trains first while studying in Europe in the early ’90s. At that time a college student could buy a monthlong Eurail pass for less than 400 bucks, and it would cover unlimited coach tickets to just about anywhere on the continent. The trains ran on time, and if you were trying to save cash you could buy overnight tickets and sleep on the train rather than paying for lodging. It was fantastic.

For our Chicago trip I learned we’d have to drive to either St. Paul or Winona to catch Amtrak’s Empire Builder. We opted for Winona and booked our tickets. For about $450 we had round-trip tickets for four — not as great as the old Eurail pass, but not too shabby.

I noticed something after only a few minutes at the station in Winona. Folks who travel by train in the U.S. are different. I’m not talking about those riding short commuter routes; I’m talking about those taking longer trips with tickets that won’t save you time or money over flying.

People were interested in chatting with one another, with striking up conversations with strangers. No one on the train seemed stressed out. No one was in hurry. They seemed to view the train trip itself as a fun part of their vacation or adventure as opposed to a necessary leg of the journey they’d rather sleep through or forget.

Our 4-year-old daughter, Rosa, for example, typically only stops talking to eat and sleep. For those sitting behind us on the Empire Builder, she was added entertainment. They could have stood up and easily moved to another part of the train had she really gotten to them. (Perhaps just knowing that option existed helped them.) But I suspect we would have driven people insane had we been trapped on a plane together for any extended time.

Not feeling trapped is one of the best things about being on a train. The seats are spacious; you can move about freely, visit the dining car if you want a meal, and really appreciate the landscape as you pass through it.

Our final stop was right downtown at Union Station, which was within walking distance of our hotel. We didn’t have to check any luggage. We just grabbed it from the storage area on our way off the train.

In all honesty, our trip from Winona to Chicago wasn’t quite as dreamy as my memories of the Eurail. There were delays. Our planned 5 1/2 hour trip took about seven hours each way. I’ve since been told that this is just what you have to expect with Amtrak. I know our modest population density makes replicating Europe’s ultra-efficient rail system virtually impossible, but we could do much better.

The most obvious problem, of course, is money. Despite recent improvements to the funding of high-speed rail construction, the U.S. hasn’t invested seriously in passenger rail lines for more than 70 years. The infrastructure just isn’t here for truly efficient passenger rail service. For example, on the way to Chicago we had to stop and wait for bad switches on the line to be repaired, and on the way back a freight train was given precedence on our track before we departed, which delayed us at Union Station for 90 minutes.

A less obvious but equally formidable obstacle to train travel in the U.S. is a cultural one. When you travel by rail, you give up some of the “freedoms” that we American’s like so much. Most people would drive on a regional trip to Chicago. Cars equal freedom here, but this freedom sometimes isolates us from one another and can often lead to more annoying and less convenient situations. Try parking in downtown Chicago sometime. But sacrificing immediate convenience for larger gains doesn’t seem natural to us. Remember, we’re the ones who feel the need to designate special lanes on freeways to reward carpooling because apparently the intrinsic social, environmental and economic rewards of sharing rides aren’t enough.

The federal government has recently encouraged states to invest more in rail by awarding billions in grants for the construction of high-speed lines, and a year ago Warren Buffet invested $26 billion to acquire the Burlington Northern Santa Fe railroad, explaining simply that trains move more goods on far less fuel than other shipping methods. While BNSF does not carry passengers, Buffet’s investment guarantees the expansion of BNSF’s rail network, and the company has a history of cooperating with Amtrak and other passenger services that run on its network. So maybe the future is brighter for passenger rail.

Who knows? Maybe our little trip to Chicago will one day be more common. I hope so. Next to bicycling through the woods on a smooth trail built — incidentally — upon an old railroad bed, taking the train is the most peaceful ride around.

Jeremy Corey-Gruenes lives in Albert Lea with his wife and two young daughters.