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MarlKarx-1818 t1_irqwahx wrote

My wife did it for a little over 2 years and it got old pretty fast. Spending 3-4 hours of your day commuting can really take a toll.

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Andiwillraiseyouup t1_irt7d58 wrote

Yep, I am in providence now and thankfully not commuting by train on a hour or so ride. Which easily becomes 4 hours of your day. But I did do this for over 5 years between Baltimore and Philly on Amtrak (about an hour ride per the schedules). Consider that the trains will be late or cancelled with some consistency. That if you miss a train you are probably waiting an hour for the next one. That you will a few times a year be trapped on a broken down train in the middle of no where for several hours… you know while you are supposed to be in a meeting or something. That you will get to the train station at least 10 minutes before your scheduled departure and that you will not have easy parking at that train station. The conductors will all be nice except the ones that aren’t and holy shit can they ruin your day when they are an asshole - which you will experience when you ride every day. I assume commuter rail is not super comfortable so I don’t know how easily it would be to get work done, but on Amtrak once you are seated you will have a mostly comfortable ride and I was always able to get work done (which is why I would still choose this over an hour car commute each day). I love trains. I actually kind of miss this hell and I sometimes travel by train to see friends even when it isn’t convenient just to relive the experience. The cafe car is great for a beer and a random conversation. I think 2 or 3 years of it is good. I was definitely burned out after that though. For context before this commute I had a 5 minute bike ride work and before that a 7 block walk. So adding all that time to my commute wasn’t easy to keep up with.

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