Passenger Trains > Is rail passenger travel good for your mental health?

The quote from Mark Twain about travel suggests that people who travel, and encounter people of different backgrounds, economic strata, etc are less likely to be narrow minded and bigoted than folks who stay in their own little corner of the garden.. And associate with people like themselves.

In my train riding experience, I've met lots of interesting people, and lots of boring, anti-social folks. Employees and fellow passengers. In stations, dining cars, in the lounge, etc.  And, I'd like to see more of the world.


“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime.”



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/06/19 09:09 by Lackawanna484.

A one word answer "Yes!"


Chris

Yes, as long as you don't read the passenger board's habitual complainer threads. lol

It depends on how smoothly the operation goes.  If you've seen the 1970 movie "The Out-of-Towners" starring Jack Lemmon and Sandy Dennis, you'll know what I'm talking about. 

Definitely yes. But  rail travel would be even better for mental health if  a better more reliable service were provided. It can a bit stressful wondering if your train's loco is going to make it to its end point, your car attendant will be competent,  Food will not run out (assuming it's even available in the first place) or that some Darwin award candidate will drive in front of your train as happened to us on the City of New Orleans last year causing a four hour delay. While the later is beyond the passenger train's control, the other issues that seem to happen somewhat frequently are under the control of the train operator.

As Chris Said "Yes" !
I lost my wife this spring and took a ride on Via's corridor and "Ocean"
Then I did a Amtrak trip on the "Empire service" then the "Lake Shore LTD", then "The California Zephyr" then the "Coast Starlight" then "The Southwest Chief" then "The Lake ShoreLTD " home
It worked for me!!! :):):)


Mudrock Wrote:
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> A one word answer "Yes!"
>
>
> Chris

Likewise, a one word answer from me too:  Absolutely!

viatrainrider Wrote:
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> Likewise, a one word answer from me too: Absolutely!

Me Three!

andersonb109 Wrote:
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> Definitely yes. But  rail travel would be even
> better for mental health if  a better more
> reliable service were provided. It can a bit
> stressful wondering if your train's loco is going
> to make it to its end point, your car attendant
> will be competent,  Food will not run out
> (assuming it's even available in the first place)
> or that some Darwin award candidate will drive in
> front of your train as happened to us on the City
> of New Orleans last year causing a four hour
> delay. While the later is beyond the passenger
> train's control, the other issues that seem to
> happen somewhat frequently are under the control
> of the train operator.

If you worry about these things while riding long distance trains on Amtrak, you don't have the mindset to enjoy riding long distance trains in the USA.

On one of my many trips West on the California Zephyr, I had dinner with a woman who was a dermatologist from Chicago traveling to a medical conference in San Francisco. I asked her if she was enjoying the beautiful scenery in the Colorado Rockies. She replied, "I'm not much for scenery". That was the end of our conversation. It's an education in the enormous diversity of the human experience, that's for sure.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/06/19 16:48 by DesertLine.

Condolences on the loss of your wife gaspeamtrak. I find taking a long distance trip on Amtrak a wonderful mini escape from every day routines despite having to always have the obligatory repair kit ( duct tape, door stoppers etc.) handy to fix the rattles and such and watching America pass by the window is the best part. I always bring reading to do and rarely get much done as gazing out the window is much more interesting. 

   And second only to watching America go by the window is the fun of meeting new friends at all 3 meals at least on the western trains. The " new enhanced" disaster on the eastern trains has pretty much killed that aspect east of Chicago. 

   Oh well, all things pass and perhaps when Delta Dick leaves sanity will return??

   Hope springs eternal.  Merry Christmas to all. Ross Rowland 

Commuting via train versus driving has been nothing short of a life-changer for me in terms of stress reduction.
It's been almost 20 years and I will never go back to commuting by car. 

SP4360 Wrote:
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> Yes, as long as you don't read the passenger
> board's habitual complainer threads. lol

Take a look at the god of all things coal down below.  

My wife points out that this is actually a mental health twofer—I am more sane because I take train trips, and she is more sane because I leave the house to do so. 

I ride the rails to collect miles off locomotives. It’s called bashing. It’s cost me thousands of pounds/euros/dollars over the last four decades.
I have a pointless massive log of rail journeys/moves/miles.
So I’ve started off mental and am now totally insane!!

Englishman in America

Posted from iPhone

SBB in Switzerland and JR Nozomi in Japan are great for mental health. Trains in India... not so. 

ctillnc Wrote:
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> SBB in Switzerland and JR Nozomi in Japan are
> great for mental health. Trains in India... not
> so. 




I'd be ok with some of the Indian railway service, depending on class of service. Would not do 3rd/ class in India in any case. Maybe 30 years ago.

There's a range of good to bad. Level / class of service makes a difference, at least on-board.  And the rider's expectations, hardiness, sex, age etc. are factors. As with most things in life, demographics of the service area is highly correlated with a good experience.

For instance, Switzerland is to India as India is to Congo. This is a dangerous place:
https://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/riskingitall/2017/09/surviving-swallow-dr-congo-train-death-170923135544892.html

Swiss trains are nice because of Swiss people. Congo trains are awful because they are full of Congolese. People make the place.

So the answer to the original question is "It depends".

 



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/08/19 06:44 by Duna.

march_hare Wrote:
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> My wife points out that this is actually a mental
> health twofer—I am more sane because I take
> train trips, and she is more sane because I leave
> the house to do so. 

Thanks for the chuckle...it sounds like my wife.

Posted from Android

Random thoughts about people we've met on trains:

When I took the Amtrak Zephyr across Wyoming in 1981, I met two English ladies in the lounge car.  They were amazed at how big the US is.  One said she was from London, and the other was from Sussex.  When she said "Sussex" I commented, "Isn't that where Sherlock Holmes retired to?" and she replied, "Oh yes, he's still there, keeping his bees."

In 1993 we visited England, and, after visiting the Isle of Man, took the train from Lancaster to Euston Station in London.  For part of the trip, we were seated with a retired civil engineer, who pointed out all the significant structures along the way.

A few years later, coming back from Seattle to LA, our fellow diners at both lunch and dinner included people who worked in pension benefits--my wife's "day job" for many years.