A travel startup is charging a staggering $18,500 for a six-person charter aboard a private jet–style rail car hooked onto an Amtrak train, so passengers can travel in “ultimate luxury” with a chef, steward and other out-of-this-world amenities.
Philadelphia-based Lunatrain is offering the high-end service on two Amtrak routes — a 36-hour California Zephyr run from Emeryville to Denver priced at $18,500 for six, and a 12-hour Coast Starlight trip from Oakland to Los Angeles that costs $10,000 for a group of six.
The first Coast Starlight departure left Oakland at 9 a.m. on Jan. 15 and sold out at $10,000.
The inaugural California Zephyr run departed Emeryville at 8:15 a.m. on Jan. 16 and was also fully booked at the $18,500 price point.
The opulent, restored 1950s-era cars feature glass dome ceilings, plush leather seating, a full dining room stocked with fine china and crystal and a media room with a flat-screen TV and bar.
They also boast five bedrooms including a master suite with a double bed and private shower, and an open-air platform for passengers to step outside while the train is stopped.
“This is above first class service, closer to the experience of chartering a private jet,” Mike Avena, founder and CEO of Lunatrain, told the San Francisco Chronicle in December.
“Our trips offer a chance to travel in ultimate luxury and view the scenery in a way that our passengers have never seen it before.”
Lunatrain acts as a booking marketplace, curating private railcars owned by independent operators and coordinating the logistics much like an online travel agency.
Luxury trips aboard privately owned railcars have long been available through roughly 60 independent operators across the country, though booking them has often been fragmented and difficult to navigate.
The company’s New York–New Orleans route — which includes overnight service between the Big Apple and the Big Easy — costs more than $28,000 for a party of six, according to its booking site.
“If you want to charter a rail car, we can go anywhere that Amtrak goes,” Avena said.