US: An unforgettable 6,600-kilometre journey across the US by train

An announcement sounds on the railway platform early on a chilly morning in Seattle, Washington: Our train can't depart - a mudslide is blocking the track ahead.

After a long wait, disappointed would-be passengers are ferried about 230 kilometres south in buses to Portland, in the neighbouring West Coast state of Oregon. Fog, sadly, obscures the view of prominent volcanoes including Mount Rainier.

Rail passengers in the US, as in many other countries, often face delays, detours and replacement transport. But they're richly recompensed with a wealth of spectacular scenery across thousands of kilometres. Train travel in the US is an unforgettable experience.

You can travel for days, even weeks, through the world's third-largest country with Amtrak, the US national passenger railroad company. Boasting nearly 34,500km of track, it offers more than 30 train routes to over 500 destinations in 46 of the 48 contiguous US states and three Canadian provinces.

We're taking one of the most breathtaking journeys of all: from Seattle to New York City on the US East Coast.

After a delay of several hours in Portland, we finally board a train south to Sacramento, California. The track in front of us shines silver. Adventure awaits.

Sleeper car accommodation is comparatively expensive, and our first night on coach class seats is rather uncomfortable. Having your own blanket and pillow is a must. At 6 am our alarm clock rings, and we change trains from the Coast Starlight to the California Zephyr.

A fellow passenger, a 25-year-old from India who attends college in Chicago, tells us he's decided to be unconventional and chance a train trip instead of flying. Roughly 28.6 million people used Amtrak in 2023, a fraction of the number of US plane passengers.

Amtrak spokeswoman Kelly Just is upbeat though. "In fiscal year 2023, long-distance passenger numbers rose nearly 13% compared with the year before. Amtrak is a strong competitor of airlines in many regional markets," she says.

Amtrak's longest daily route, the California Zephyr, runs from the San Francisco Bay Area to Chicago, Illinois, in 51 hours and 20 minutes - when it's on time. Just says it's the most popular long-distance rail route in the US.

To give passengers the best possible view of the passing landscape, the train has an observation car with picture windows that run the length of the walls and curve up the rounded roof. Swivel seats turn to face the windows.

The car is full as the train winds its way though the snow-capped Sierra Nevada mountains towards Reno, Nevada. When the sun finally dips below the horizon, the passengers' spirits sink too.

But they're wide-eyed again at the windows early the next morning. The lights of Salt Lake City, Utah, are still shining as the sun slowly climbs behind the encircling mountains.

The train gently rocks back and forth, sometimes coming nearly to a crawl, as mountains give way to Utah's deserts, and then to deep canyons. Seeing such a mind-boggling diversity of landscapes in such a relatively short time, an Amtrak survey found, is one of the main reasons people opt for long-distance US rail travel.

Isolated homesteads come into view now and then, in the middle of a desert, just like we know from Wild West films.

As chronicled by the Association of American Railroads, the first transcontinental railroad was completed in 1869 when the Union Pacific and Central Pacific railroads were joined, linking gold-prospecting sites in the West with big cities in the East.

Orange-yellow gorges, blue-green rivers, vast plains scattered with shrubs - the riot of colour alone is spectacular. The Indian student says he expected the long trip would exhaust him, but "the excitement keeps me going."

After 30 hours, the train is curving through the Rocky Mountains towards Denver, Colorado, 1,609m above sea level. From there it heads overnight to Chicago, its final destination. The California Zephyr is fairly empty now, and the morning brings views of seemingly endless maize and soya bean fields.

The train trundles across a steel bridge spanning the Mississippi River, arriving a few hours later - on time - in Chicago. We've got several hours to explore the city before the next stage of our journey begins.

Late in the evening we board Amtrak's Lake Shore Limited, its route skirting the southern shore of Lake Erie. New York City is nearly 20 hours away. The carriages are packed with passengers now.

The weather is lousy, the scenery merely middling, so there's time to reflect on all we've seen.

We head down the Hudson River Valley. And then that iconic skyline appears ahead. We've ridden the rails for five days, through 13 states, about 6,600km. A cornucopia of sights lie behind us, but there's one last fruit to enjoy: "The Big Apple."

We've earned a big bite. 

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