Amtrak trains trace the Pacific Coast, climb the Rockies, cross the Great Plains and head up and down the Eastern Seaboard. Among signature services, high-speed Acela trains ply the Boston-Washington Corridor, Autotrains transport winter-weary northerners to sunny Florida and West Coast passengers make connections along the Coast Starlight's LA-San Francisco-Portland-Seattle line. Long-distance trains, with first-class Sleeper service, criss-cross the country. Frequent (multiple daily trip) regional services are largely concentrated on the West Coast... between Chicago and Midwest cities... and in the Northeast. The vast national passenger rail network connects some 450 destinations across 46 states.

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New England

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Mid-Atlantic

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South

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Mid-West Chicago, IL

Four separate stations handle METRA's eleven commuter lines. Union Station (trains to Antioch, Fox Lake, Elgin, Aurora, Joliet and Manhattan; Amtrak; two blocks to CTA Blue Line), Ogilvie Transportation Center (Geneva, Harvard/McHenry and Kenosha, Wisconsin; one block to CTA Green Line); LaSalle Street Station (Joliet; CTA Blue, Brown and Orange Lines) ; Millenium Station/Randolph Street (University Park; two blocks to CTA Blue, Green, Purple and Red Lines). Ogilvie's main entrance is diagonally across the street from Union's Madison Street entry.

South Shore commuter trains connect with points halfway across northern Indiana including Gary-Chicago International Airport and South Bend Regional Airport. Selected Chicago stations include Millennium/Randolph, Van Buren Street, Roosevelt Road/12th Street, McCormick Place and 57th Street.

Dallas Union Station, Fort Worth Intermodal Transportation Center, and DFW Airport are principal stations along the downtown-to-downtown trackway.

Trains traveling via Downtown Albuquerque's Alvarado Transportation Center (Amtrak) head south to Belen and an airport shuttle link; and north, as far as Sandoval County/US 550. By 2008, service is expected to reach Santa Fe.

In just over eighty years, "The Ties That Bind Alaska"'have been enmeshed into the sustanence, hopes and pride of the USA's 49th state, As a major freight hauler, the railroad lends crucial access to gold and oil fields and to remote project sites and railbelt outposts. As mover of some half-a-million passengers annually, ARR's range of services are geared to answer the needs of several traveler demographics. Year-round passenger service between Anchorage and Fairbanks runs daily in summer, weekly from September to May. A "whistle-stop" branch loop runs selected days in summer; weekly at other times. Also: Coastal Classic (Seward) and Glacier Discovery excursions from May to September.

Metrolink's ridership and trackage surpass all but the biggest services Back East. The seven-line network courses from Ventura to Riverside and San Berdardino; The Valley to Orange County and onto an Oceanside rendevous with San Diego's Coaster commuter rail. Downtown, at Union Station, Metrolink hooks-up with Metrorail transit and Amtrak.

Coaster whisks Southern Calfornian commuters up and down San Diego's Coastal North Country, six days a week. Line runs Santa Fe Depot to Oceanside where it dovetails with Metrolink Commuter Train service out of Los Angeles.

From MUNI's 4th & King Station, Caltrain's Baby Bullet express trains shoot between San Francisco and San Jose in less than an hour. Connections include frequent shuttles to San Jose International Airport and VTA light rail in San Jose (Amtrak and ACE rail transfer).

Runs during peak weekday hours provide inland commuters as far east as Stockton with basic workday rail service to Silicon Valley and San Jose.

Seattle's rail services remain rudimentary at best. Sounder commuter rail's North Line links Everett to Seattle; South Line service connects Seattle and Tacoma. Trains operate during rush hour only, with weekend service limited to Seahawks and Mariners game days. LIght rail is in its infancy with but a single 1.5mi/2.5km line through downtown Tacoma.