The great American road trip is back – but this time it’s on rails
The US secretary of transportation, Sean Duffy, is hitting the road – and he wants you to ride shotgun. The cabinet official recently struck out from the capital in the direction of his native Wisconsin to promote the Great American Road Trip. It’s an initiative that seeks to honour the country’s 250th birthday, which takes place next year, and helpfully coincides with falling petrol prices that the administration credits to president Donald Trump’s “drill baby, drill” fossil-fuel agenda. Duffy wants more US residents to hit the road. But is the nation’s mobility mogul on the right track?
The road trip is a time-honoured summer tradition in the US and the catalyst of many great literary works, including Jack Kerouac’s On the Road and Jonathan Raban’s Driving Home (my current nightstand reading). Duffy, a former reality-TV star, is perhaps more starry-eyed than most about windshield time. He met his wife while trapped in a motorhome on MTV’s Road Rules in 1998. With nine children, the family is naturally more inclined to opt for road trips due to the sheer economy of scale.
Yet the travel plans of the American public are changing. The US’s national rail carrier, Amtrak, facilitated a record 32.8 million trips in 2024 and its long-distance routes saw an 8 per cent year-on-year increase. After decades in the doldrums, Amtrak is on the cusp of an impressive comeback. New routes, such as the Floridian (Chicago-Miami), recently debuted, while the Mardi Gras Service (New Orleans-Mobile) will begin in August. Its sleek Siemens-designed and made-in-California Airo train is also on track for launch next year.
While Amtrak’s rail network is a far cry from those found in Europe or Japan, its cross-country routes offer breathtaking scope and scenery, as well as a masterclass in clever branding. Traveling from Chicago to Los Angeles via the Texas Eagle and Sunset Limited is roughly three times the length of Europe’s longest train ride. While 65-hour rail journeys are not for everyone, they provide a far more relaxing and picturesque way to experience the US than the monotonous tarmac of the interstate highway system.
In a bid to rouse the road-trippers, Duffy highlighted upcoming events such as next year’s 2026 FIFA World Cup and the LA 2028 Summer Olympics as reasons to get behind the wheel. He has the right idea – I look forward to making a family holiday out of a trip to Los Angeles for the Summer Games – but you won’t find me driving the Pacific Coast Highway. As the veteran of five long-distance Amtrak journeys and one weeklong cross-country road trip, I’m booking berths on the Coast Starlight. The West Coast overnighter hugs giant stretches of the California coastline, where the fabled road diverts inland. Duffy is right that the US is great for a long, winding trip but let’s broaden our horizons – there’s a better view from a carriage seat.
Scruggs is Monocle’s Seattle correspondent. For more opinion, analysis and insight, subscribe to Monocle today.
