Went to san antonio on a budget. Aside from the party people getting on board and wanting everyone to wake up, the ride.... though long...was pleasant. I got repremanded by an employee because one of the drunks hit up on me and i declined their attention. I am not sure what was told to the employee, but i nearly got kicked off the train. The train cars were clean and there was snacks on board. read more

The 51% =3 stars We started out on time and left Austin shortly after our 930 scheduled departure. Our trip up to Temple just to test the water to make sure that I would not get claustrophobic or motion sick was a huge success. We sat next to each other and loved the fact that we could both enjoy the scenery. We talked about how much fun it would be to take a scenic trip and our seats which were much larger and softer than airplane accommodations, I determined I likely would not get claustrophobic or motion sick. It was only a couple hour trip so we didn't do any exploring. I saw other people come and go and I know there were restrooms available downstairs. There was also an announcement from the dining car explaining that the passengers who had accommodation in their own sleeping quarters would also have first seating at lunch. When they were done the general public, (i.e.: coach class) could come down and eat as well. Evidently they also had snacks and food available at the time of the announcement as many people went ahead and got what smelled like a cooked meal along with snacks and beverages and brought them back to their seats. We really didn't know where to go or how to get to the dining car. It was all good -as I really had not planned on it anyway. Before we knew it we had passed through all the little towns including a couple of Amtrak stations and then reached our final destination of Temple Texas and their Amtrak station as the train then went on all the way to Chicago. The latter 49% of our train trial was really smeared. When we got to Temple we took a Lyft and had lunch in S Temple, and discovered there really wasn't much to do there other than shop. We came back to the station and wandered through the museum-which was really quite nice. In fact the entire Temple Amtrak Station was pleasant. Very clean and a nice attendant. (There was one food and beverage machine that was completely out of order.) The other soda machine worked - there were spotless restrooms and we did sit and wait a couple of hours in the air conditioning as it was quite hot outside as we waited for our 4:30 PM departure. Even though you're in a Station no one gives you any updates so until we went outside for the last half hour to await our train ....and I started looking up info on the app ...we did discover that it was running late. About 30 minutes. No big deal. Next time I looked it was over an hour delay. The next time an hour and a half and then after going back to the station to use the restroom and talking to the Amtrak person we found out that it was quite delayed and might be in by 7:30 PM. Indeed it did arrive about that time so that was a three hour delay and I consider that eXcessive even though I do understand it can't be controlled due to so many factors. I guess we left the station around 7:45 PM and it was predicted we would be in by about 9:45 PM. We showed our tickets and were instructed by one of the boarding people to get in the last car which we did. I have to admit I didn't even think about it I just followed instructions. When we opened the door to go in -we found seats in the very back of the train. The two ladies one sitting on the left side of the compartment & one sitting on the right continue chatting about the poor service, the filthy restrooms, the lack of attendants-especially for challenged people..... They were really very negative, & didn't have a nice thing to say. It discouraged me from trying to navigate to the restroom myself. Worse than that, I didn't realize that being in the last car would be very much like being on a roller coaster in the last car and we would be whipped around hither and yon. So between the movement and the smell it was a very unpleasant ride back with a delay about five minutes from the Austin station. We had to sit for 45 minutes waiting for three different trains to go by-evidently train travel with passengers is not a priority so other freight railroad carriers are able to stop the Amtrak trains to get their trains where they need to go. I was pretty discouraged by this but I haven't given up completely. Since this was essentially an experiment and I would say 51% of it was a success I will just end by saying to take the Amtrak train at your own risk. We would highly recommend getting a roomette or sleeping compartment of your own. I did let Amtrak know of my concerns. read more

Amtrak - Amtrak Station - we started in Austin. - Temple, Texas

Better than the bus or a very long Lyft ride, not as fast or strict as the airports but comfy and spacious, friendly staff (mostly), clean restrooms and several food / drink options. Glad I booked these last few trips to Dallas ft worth on the train, made some friends and caught up on some reading while being whisked through central Texas. read more

100% better on return Dallas to San Antonio. Staff more professional, not late, train much cleaner. Every Amtrak ride should be a smooth as this one. read more