A view of America from the tracks, as shutdown strains air travel
A federal shutdown has left air travel more difficult for some passengers, with the impact felt most visibly at airport security lines, according to an Associated Press account by Bill Barrow. Barrow described Atlanta’s airport as descending into “organized chaos,” with long waits tied to fewer security screeners on duty when unpaid federal employees called out.
Barrow said he needed to reach Washington for the NCAA basketball tournament and decided that flying carried too much uncertainty. Instead of relying on the shortened window that air travelers often build around security queues and gate changes, he booked an overnight Amtrak trip he described as a 650-mile journey.
In Barrow’s telling, the shutdown didn’t just slow travel—it forced a reset of expectations about convenience. He contrasted the typical “cache” of Delta’s Atlanta-to-Washington flights, which he said usually take about two hours gate to gate, with the possibility that TSA security lines could at least double overall travel time in the situation he described.
Barrow wrote that the train offered a different kind of reliability: no standstill lines, no TSA agents, and no ICE agents at the station, along with seating that he said was assigned in boarding order rather than through predetermined zones that can funnel crowds. He also described coach conditions on Amtrak as relatively spacious for passengers and said the train had Wi-Fi, while noting there was no in-seat service or satellite television.
On board, the atmosphere included humor and a sense that passengers were trading one set of hassles for another. Barrow said he heard a crew member joke, “I’m no TSA agent.”
As the train moved through the East Coast, Barrow said the trip also became a lens on history and the broader forces that shape movement across the country. He wrote about Atlanta’s rail-related origins, describing the city’s earlier name “Terminus” and its development as a rail intersection, then connected that history to how rail networks have changed as other transportation modes gained favor.
Barrow also described seeing a range of travelers, including groups he said boarded in Greensboro, North Carolina, and others whose experiences reflected what he framed as a more plural mix than what previous generations in his family might have seen. In the dining car, he quoted Agatha Grimes describing her own recent problem with airport travel, and he quoted Beretta Nunnally, a self-described “train veteran,” laying out what they saw as the practical advantages of rail for their trip.
When Barrow arrived in Washington, he wrote that he paused at Union Station’s hall and looked up at the Capitol dome, then turned back to the political conditions shaping the trip’s necessity. He said the Senate reached a bipartisan deal to fund the Department of Homeland Security except immigration enforcement, while House Republican leaders rejected it, leaving the stalemate in place.
Barrow concluded that he was a “weary traveler but renewed citizen” and said the train carried him forward toward his game, even as the shutdown continued to disrupt the travel patterns many people take for granted.