How safe is it to travel by train?

By the time I actually do this trip I'll be 21 and I can hold my own pretty well, (police training) Just curious how safe it is to travel by train.

I plan to make a round trip from out here in Modesto, California, taking a northern route to Chicago then taking a southern route back through amtrak.

Hey thanks for any tips.
Oh and I plan to travel alone on this round trip. Mostly for the fact all my friends are still to scared to leave or they're too cheap to go for the trip.

i travelled on a train once, it was a headache to me, i would rather fly

I've traveled many times via train...I have never ran into a problem as far as safety goes. However being comfortable
(its a very shaky ride) and the duration of the trip (days, going your route).....I'd rather fly.

Hi, I've done a similar trip. I got the train from Syracuse, NY to Boston to Washington DC to South Carolina to New Orelans to Memphis to Chicago and finally to New York. This is iwhat I found.

The trains were very safe...I never felt threatened on the train......just be careful though as some train stations can be in bad areas....when you arrive at a stop make sure you have a place to go.....don't walk to your hotel if it is nighttime....just get a cab and then get your bearings during the day...Amtrak staff are very nice and very helpful...you'll meet some real characters. We just got the cheapest tickets so we found the seats not to be that comfortable....we did some overnight trips...but we brought sleeping bags and just tried to sleep in the seats we had...and it was fine.

There is usually a refreshment carriage on the train...so you can get a coke and some pretzels or something if you are snackish...you can also bring your own food.

I would reccommend it. Flying is ok....but you will get to see so much more of the country doing an amtrak trip....trust me...it'll be something you will talk about for years to come!

Good luck

Wow, Amtrak is the greatest. I've traveled several times from Seattle to Dallas, TX and back again and always have a wonderful time.

It's a very safe way to travel. Each car has two Amtrak employees on it (car attentants) and they have security people on the train too. If there is a problem of any kind, the conductor can and will contact the local police or EMT and they will meet the train a few minutes later and take care of the situation. On one trip I was on an elderly gentleman had a heart attack and the conductor had a ambulance meet the train within 5 minutes - the train stopped and the EMT's boarded the train, stablized the gentleman and transported him by to the nearest hospital.

The food in the restaurant car is excellent and they also have a snack bar and a lounge bar. They show movies in the observation car and the California Amtrak trains have a kiddy car with fun toys and cartoons to keep little kids busy and happy. The California trains also have wine tasting in the observation car before dinner while it travels through the Napa Valley.

The sleeping cars are really comfortable and very secure (you lock yourself in at night) and I highly recommend you get a single sleeper if you're going to be on an extended trip of more than 2 days - a single sleeper sleeps two so you need to convince one of your friends to go with you. The sleeping cars also have showers. You can also plug in your portable DVD player in your room. Another advantage to getting a single sleeper is that then all of your food and beverages are free which saves you about $50 a day.

Within a couple of days you will make new friends on the train and you'll have a lot of fun - there are always a lot of college students on the train. On the southern route back you'll have about a 4 hour stop in San Antonio while they divide up the train so you'll have enough time to walk around San Antonio if you want.