I was looking at Amtrak schedules to see if I could start taking the train to Harrisburg and/or Washington (my two most frequent work-related destinations) instead of driving. Then I would be able to do all sorts of great stuff while traveling, such as work, sleep, listen to my ipod, sleep, talk on the phone, play video games.

As I suspected already, Pittsburgh is in a perfect location for a lobbyist to use rail travel. I can get to both destinations without making any transfers, and they both offer daily service. So, I took a closer look:

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Harrisburg
	Driving	Rail	Change
TIME	3:40	5:25	+1:45
COST	~$140	$68	50%
Washington
	Driving	Rail	Change
TIME	4:30	7:45	+3:15
COST	~$220	$84	>50%

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Cost is significantly cheaper than driving. The only down side is the time involved. Both are considerably longer, as expected. But the real concern is no option for an out & back in one day, as I often do with my trips to Harrisburg. For Washington, that’s not a problem, because I don’t really do one-day turnarounds. Although the extra six and a half hours round trip travel time is a bit off-putting. Especially since that only puts me into Union Station, not my hotel.The schedules work out well. For Harrisburg, I would be arriving at 12:45 pm and departing the next day at 2:36 pm. Over 24 hours, including both afternoon and morning meeting time. Washington is even better. Arriving at 1:30 pm and not departing the next day until 4:05.

Maybe I’ll try it for my next overnight trip and see how it goes.