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Tuke, 30, takes the Cardinal several times a year, even though its on-time performance is just 46 percent, mostly because of heavy freight congestion around Chicago and worn tracks in Indiana that limit speed. Still, Tuke said he finds it a comfortable and relaxing way to travel. Amtrak prices, like airline tickets, can vary according to how far in advance travelers buy their tickets, and whether they opt for coach or first-class. A one-way coach fare from Cleveland to New York City, purchased three weeks in advance, costs $67 to $89. Riders often complain about delays on Amtrak's long-distance routes, though overall on-time performance has improved from 30 percent in 2006 to 80 percent in 2009. Backups can be caused by the dispatching practices of freight railroads, which don't always give preference to Amtrak trains, and a lack of track capacity, according to a 2008 U.S. inspector general report. Amtrak made changes last year to the Lake Shore Limited -- a Chicago-based train that crosses northern Ohio
-- adding a sleeping car service on its Boston leg, overhauling the dining cars and changing the schedule so that the New York leg arrives earlier in Manhattan.
The schedule change added $700,000 in revenue, the agency said. Last month, Amtrak rolled out wireless Internet access on its 110-mph Acela Express trains between Washington and Boston. It is evaluating whether to add Wi-Fi to other routes. The prospects of better service in Ohio are being closely watched in Toledo, which has the busiest train station the state, drawing 54,488 Amtrak riders in 2009. Toledo has a stake in the proposed Cleveland-to-Cincinnati route because later stages in the plan call for a Toledo-Columbus branch that would extend to Detroit. Beth McCray Gill of nearby Ottawa Hills, Ohio, said she's a devoted Amtrak rider, even though her trains to Chicago for weekend getaways board about 5 a.m. or 6 a.m., depending on schedules. Return trips get her back in Toledo around 11:30 p.m. or 2 a.m. "It's all we've got at the moment, so you have to work with it," the 58-year-old Gill said.
[Associated
Press;
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