Train vs. Plane RACE Between DC and NYC

which is faster a train or a plane i'm jeb brooks from greenergrass.com and if you keep watching you'll find out along with me i have no idea in one part of the united states they're supposed to be pretty evenly matched it's the northeast corridor and in this video we're going to try both between downtown washington dc and the empire state building in new york on the same day to see which one's faster here's the plan i'm taking acela the fastest train in north america from here in washington to new york it's a trip that's scheduled for just under three hours from station to station once we get to new york we'll head to the empire state building and stop the clock from there we'll restart the clock and head over to laguardia airport to catch a flight to dc's national airport before making our way right back to where we started the corner of 10th and pennsylvania northwest the flight is only supposed to take an hour and a half but we're measuring total travel time from city center to city center so keep watching to find out which one wins and what it all costs but for now let's start the clock and head to union station [Music] now maybe the biggest advantage of uh traveling by train is just how easy it is it's it's really simple i mean we literally uh got out of the car walked right right in and here we are in the lounge without any effort at all no security no lines no nothing which is a real advantage now amtrak recommends that passengers get here between 30 and 45 minutes before their train departs some of you like to cut a little closer than that based on the comments i've read in my other train videos but we chose to follow that guidance there's gonna be announcement 20 minutes before the train departs to board directly from the lounge which is really cool boarding's about to begin we're going to head over there and get on the train [Music] there it is home for the next three hours or so let's get this train moving and that marks an on-time departure [Music] now i know many of you who are like used to uh trains in japan or europe won't be that impressed at 120 miles an hour but uh i am this is amazing baltimore is the second of seven stops between washington and new york the stops are short and accounted for in the two-hour 52-minute schedule unlike most of the routes amtrak runs the tracks on this northeast corridor are owned by amtrak which should minimize delays but will it work out this way on this trip subscribers will know i'm a little disappointed not to see meatballs in the menu but this salmon it's really good really good as i mentioned acela is north america's fastest train it runs between washington and boston with 16 stops along the way and can reach speeds of up to 150 miles per hour although a cella is designed to travel up to 165 [Music] as we approach the top speed on our leg between dc and new york that was 135 miles per hour it was time for me to amp up my own energy level the entire journey to boston takes almost 7 hours at an average speed of 66 miles per hour because of congestion on the northern part of the route it's not possible to maintain at high speed the entire way our portion dc to new york achieves an average speed of about 82 miles per hour including stops philadelphia one of my favorite cities looking good so far [Music] i was surprised to see how turbulent this trip was the tracks were surprisingly uneven i wondered whether our flight would be this bumpy [Music] new acela trains will be phased in beginning this year and i can't wait to check them out if you like travel content like this be sure to subscribe and ring the notification bell so you don't miss out on new videos like this one and you can even watch these videos on amtrak thanks to the free wi-fi that's available on the train speaking of new videos i'll have a complete review of acela coming to the channel really soon next stop new york city and we're held up the crew announced that due to congestion ahead we were delayed but they didn't say how long it would take and every second counts in this race [Music] and that was quick it was only about call it five minutes easy we're on our way here we are um officially past our scheduled arrival time kind of crawling along it just makes me wonder will the plane be faster and after that brief delay we were soon pulling into penn station it's really great that so many trains uh let off right in the center in the heart of a city uh makes it convenient but our trip is not done yet we've got to get to a central point so we're headed to the empire state building wow holy cow this place is absolutely amazing and i'd love to explore it more but we've got to keep making our way over the empire state building before we can stop the clock to say we've made it to the center of new york city the clock is ticking oh who is going to win how fast will the train be how fast will the plane be the anticipation builds okay we've just arrived the base of the empire state building it took us four hours 24 minutes and 27 seconds to get from pennsylvania and 10th to right here at the empire state building but our trip is not over yet we've got a little time to kill before we uh hop in an uber to laguardia to fly back to dc in order to find out which is faster so keep watching so you don't miss it [Music] let's go uh look we're giving ourselves a little extra time i cannot deny that uh traveling by air is a little bit more stressful like i feel more anxious about getting to the airport on time than if i were just going to walk down the street to the train station but let's get going we got into a cab an hour and 45 minutes before boarding we figured on 45 minutes to get to laguardia and based on a poll of subscribers arriving at the airport an hour before boarding seems reasonable [Music] traffic is definitely the x factor here but i'm looking at the clock and i really think this is going to be close i really have no idea where it's going which is going to win the train to the plane but i think it's going to be close the real question remains will the extra time required to get to and from an airport outside the city take more or less time than starting and ending the trip in the city center now i wonder what the travel time is between dc and new york on a motorcycle we arrived at laguardia about an hour and 20 minutes before boarding ahead of schedule but new york traffic can be unpredictable another knock against air travel i interrupt this programming to say this new terminal is beautiful i can't wait to explore laguardia and have more time but right now we're in a race yet another knock against air travel having to dispose of this nice bottle of water from amtrak i usually don't worry too much about the length of the security line because i'm fortunate i have pre-checked and also have clear so it's a little quicker for me that said right now i just checked the times on the screen back there and they're five minutes or less so uh security is really not a factor here but regardless because of when we got here and sort of the buffer we've given ourselves that extra security uh time is sort of baked into this easy breezy through security that was about five minutes but even if it had taken longer than that arriving an hour before boarding would be plenty of time to get through a security line even at laguardia if you know anything about me you know i love airports and this is just absolutely spectacular as i said i can't wait to get back and check it out some more [Music] flights between the major urban hubs in the northeastern united states have traditionally been branded as hourly shuttle flights with extra amenities we got a little time in the lounge here so exploring that while we um wait um this is definitely different than the acela lounge but uh it's nice to have a place like this to come to be fair a shuttle ticket even in first class does not get you access to the admirals club i have a membership because of a credit card you can also buy a day pass but it's sort of an additional component you probably don't have to deal with if you're booked in first class on the acela and just like that it's time to head to the gate this is going to be a horse race i mean it is neck and neck i cannot wait to find out which is faster the implicit question every passenger traveling through laguardia has is not whether there'll be a delay but rather how long that delay will be [Music] so far so good and that's what you call an on-time boarding but it's not like we'd left yet we were still sitting here at the gate and by this point in the train journey we were well on the way [Music] a little delay with weight and balance it's not really clear but i guess we're still on time we've got two minutes and despite that threatened delay we pushed on time and quickly made our way across laguardia's taxiways another bit of good fortune for us one of the reasons laguardia is being rebuilt is to reduce the congestion that's plagued it for years this march day was a beautiful one for travel the flight was in fact smoother than the rails although that was really a function of our good fortune there wasn't any turbulence which brings up an important point a summer storm a nor'easter or a blizzard will disrupt air travel much faster than train travel once we were in the air we were offered a choice of beverages but there were no snacks on offer let alone salmon there just wasn't time also the internet was down unlike trains airlines intentionally pad their schedules the flight is marketed as an hour and 28 minutes but our actual gate to gate time was 58 but again that's not the whole story both train stations are much closer to our beginning and ending points than the airports i looked out the window as we made our way back down the coast and thought about how these two modes of transportation provide two completely different perspectives what was up close and personal on the train was suddenly microscopic and out of reach on the flight [Music] and when we pulled into that gate our trip still wasn't done we gotta head downstairs grab a cab and head to pennsylvania in tenth to finish this up and find out who's faster of course speed is what you came for but there are other factors to consider too in terms of comfort the train is significantly more pleasant than the plane it's easy to get up and move around and if you're traveling with friends or colleagues you can book a seat like we did with a table to get work done but if you're flying you're pretty much sitting exactly where you start speaking of work though the train wins here too the station to station time of nearly three hours means you have almost all of that time to get your work done including phone calls and unless you're in the quiet car by the way the wheels up to wheels down time on the flight is 44 minutes that means at best you're looking at 20 or 30 minutes of heads down work for what it's worth the service food and drinks were better on the train too there just wasn't much of anything on the plane now let's talk price i booked these tickets on the same day about two weeks before travel your price may be different but my first class ticket on a sella cost 146 dollars let's tack on the 12 uber to union station and the total cost was 158 the first class ticket on american was 160 plus a 50 new york cab ride and another nine for the dc taxi that brings the total air cost to 219 and sure you could use public transport to reduce these costs or not book first class but even if you don't my train ticket was definitely cheaper but how about speed after a train a plane two cabs and an uber we're back exactly where we started here at the corner of 10th and pennsylvania that was more fun than a person should be allowed to have and uh hey let me know if you want to see more challenges like this in the comments below i'd appreciate it but regardless let's get down to it as a reminder the train took four hours 24 minutes and 27 seconds the plane clocked in at three hours 28 minutes and 20 seconds so by about an hour the plane takes it so now that our formal presentation is over it's time for some editorial comment from yours truly i really thought this was going to be closer everything on the flight just worked perfectly but the train was delayed amtrak just couldn't overcome the five minutes we sat there and then the 15 minutes we spent slowly rolling and the fact that our flight just went really smoothly it was like clockwork next time i may not get to the station so early but that wouldn't have made a difference you know given the time span we're talking about here and look all that said i think the airplane is going to beat the train most of the time on this particular city pair barring some unexpected traffic or weather delays or something like that but i prefer the train for the reasons i highlighted earlier and that's probably going to be my choice next time but between now and the next time see ya on the rails or in the sky [Music] we're going to make our way up to new york city and then i'm jeff brooks from greenergrass.com and i'm about to find it that's the plane is a quick check in we're at one hour so we just landed or just landed we just arrived in baltimore so uh hey hey it happened today half a tuesday on the chesapeake bay i don't know what that is but uh suzanne just said it the train clocked in that's not right uh so um that's not right four hours 27 minutes and 24 minutes okay we've just arrived at the base of the empire state building i usually don't wait or how many people do you think on this plane took the acela up this morning let me know in the comments i think the answer might be two yeah you see the capital behind hold on hold on not on yet it's not on yet it won't do that because you're recording okay to the left to the left my left okay it's recording now it should say recording in the corner second uh editorial comment dc is so much better than new york i mean like hands down and that as they say is a wrap

Channel: Jeb Brooks

Views: 264,999

Rating: 4.9096951 out of 5

Keywords: high-speed rail (transit service type), business travel, amtrak train, washington dc, new york city, train (transit vehicle type), acela, acela first class, plane v. train, plane vs. train, acela express, northeast corridor, penn station, amtrak acela, high speed rail, amtrak trains, train station, trip report, amtrak review, first class train

Id: aVLnQFTazz8

Length: 17min 13sec (1033 seconds)

Published: Sat Mar 20 2021

Reddit Comments

[u/Gravity_Axe]

Plane was an hour faster, but the train won things like comfort, ability to work, and price.

[u/bpwnz]

Disappointed there's not the third option of Clarkson in a supercar, but I'll watch anyway.