I could literally bike across the Great Plains faster than a train and save enough money to buy a new bike. You first have to take the train to California, then to Oregon, and back halfway across the country.
See, having a more direct route would require building a line through the flattest, most open part of the country and that would just be too hard.
Based on my research, there’s never been a (much) more direct route from Denver to Minneapolis other than the one through Chicago, even at the height of US passenger rail.
It sucks but American trains are just worse as a form of travel than almost every other alternative. On average, takes longer, costs more, and more inconvenient than taking a car or bus. The only place it kinda works is the subway but that’s only because above ground is a hellscape for cars.
If you’re within walking distance of a train line, it sometimes works out alright. But only if there aren’t complications along the way.
The worst part is that the California Zephyr train it wants to route me on seems like it’d be one of the most beautiful train rides I’ve had. It winds through the Rockies, Utah canyonland and Nevada desert, and ends in one of California’s most fertile agricultural regions. I would take a trip like that every weekend if the rail infrastructure was on par with mediocre European systems, let alone Chinese or Japanese ones. Geographically it’s a dream country for trains in the ways that make driving and flying suck.
It is really depressing how bad Amtrak is once you are not just traveling directly along one trunk line.
See, rail travel is cool and good, so it’s not allowed in the US.
Ok but consider the fact that in order for this time to be accurate, you’d have to be biking nonstop for 3 entire days.
I can do it
you can probably buy drugs and still come out ahead. hope the saddle is comfortable.
I mean, yeah. But pick somewhere with a direct connection and it’s potentially useful. About the same time as driving.
If I lived on either coastline I wouldn’t complain. There’s just a particular absurdity to this route. It’s a region defined by its railroad towns, which already has Union Pacific freight lines running those direct Denver>Omaha>Sioux City>Minneapolis and Des Moines>Minneapolis routes. Having no passenger connection between them at all isn’t just a failure to meet modern infrastructure standards, but is a step down from the 1860s. Seeing how thoroughly it’s been hollowed out is a wild experience.
But think of the lost profits for the automobile and fossil fuel companies if they were to restore those railways!!!
Your best bet would I think be the Zephyr to Osceola, Iowa. Then you can get a bus (once a day) to Des Moines, from which there is a bus to Minneapolis twice a day.
Or take the Zephyr all the way to Chicago and get extremely lucky and catch the Empire Builder to Minneapolis an hour after scheduled arrival. Or spend the night in Chicago and catch the Borealis at 11AM the next day.
Your best bet would I think be the Zephyr to Osceola, Iowa. Then you can get a bus (once a day) to Des Moines, from which there is a bus to Minneapolis twice a day.
I’ve taken long distance buses in many countries (none of them claiming to be the richest in the world) and I’ve never seen anything this sad. You have to jump through hoops to maybe get a chance to take the three required buses (that depart once or twice daily) to get from one regional capital to the other?
With this route I get a 12 hour Denver>Osceola trip, $136 for a coach seat/$314 for a sleeper. Then it’s a 15 hour layover for a $119, 6 hour Greyhound trip. It’s a shame that falls into the same trap that I had with the Chicago trains.
I checked again and you could also do the Zephyr to Omaha, which is scheduled to arrive at 5AM, and then you can have a choice of two routes: transfer in Sioux Falls or Des Moines. Both buses from Omaha are scheduled to leave within 2 hours of the Zephyr arriving in Omaha. The route through Des Moines is Greyhound so probably intended to be a transfer and would likely wait for the train (unsure, though).
2 hour window is pretty tight and I wouldn’t count on the Zephyr to hit it, tbh.
Spending the night in Chicago is definitely gonna be your highest comfort option hands down, though.
Yeah my bad I didn’t look too hard at the departure times for the buses.
Doesn’t the Zephyr going the other way take you to Chicago?
It does, but I just checked Amtrak’s site and it doesn’t suggest that route. It suggests what OP has in their picture.
It’s likely because the Zephyr is usually several hours late by the time it gets to Chicago, and the last train from Chicago to Minneapolis leaves within an hour of the scheduled arrival.
Who fucking knows, though. Could just be that Amtrak’s route planner is dogshit, which I would not find unlikely.
When I saw it earlier, the screenshot looked Microsofty, so I checked Bing Maps, and it suggested the same diversion (although now it routes more directly). Maybe that’s the underlying service, and it’s biased towards sending folks via the Pacific Northwest, because even staying overnight in Chicago seems like it’d beat a four-day trip.
So I think you’re right.
