Review: Amtrak Heartland Flyer from Fort Worth, TX to Norman, OK

Yes, I did it again. Another Amtrak train trip. This trip was a lot shorter than our overnight trips on the California Zephyr and the Texas Eagle trains. But still, it was fun trying something different.

Why take the train?

Before I get into my review, you may be wondering: Why take the train when we could just drive?

• Trains are better for the environment compared to cars and planes
• Train seats are wider and have more legroom than both cars and planes
• Train schedules are less affected by inclement weather
• Traveling by train allows all passengers to walk around, sleep or work instead of keeping an eye on the road

On the flip side, taking the train is less convenient because you have to go on their schedule, not yours. You also have to make your way to the train station instead of leaving from your house.

In our case, my daughter and I wanted to try something new to visit my son at college.

Amtrak Heartland Flyer

The Amtrak Heartland Flyer train runs daily from Fort Worth, Texas to Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. That’s it! It also stops in Norman, Oklahoma where the University of Oklahoma is located. The trip from Fort Worth to Norman is about 3 1/2 hours, which is about 30 minutes longer than driving by highway (assuming you don’t make any pit stops by car). I bought our tickets a few weeks in advance online for $30 one-way and $25 for the return.

We got a ride to the train station. Since there is only one departure per day and the train arrived hours earlier, we didn’t have to wonder if our train would depart on time. It pulled into the loading zone 25 minutes before departure. The Heartland Flyer only has two passenger cars.

The conductor scanned our tickets, and we went upstairs to pick our seats. There are no assigned seats, and there are seats that face forward and backward. We chose two that faced forward.

The seats are large compared to airplane seats with a width of 23 inches and a seat pitch of 50 inches (compared to most airplane seats with a width of ~18 inches and a seat pitch of ~32 inches).

We had plenty of room to store our backpacks on the floor in front of us, although we could have used the overhead bins. Each seat has an adjustable tray table, and there is one set of power plugs by the window.

The window is large, and we could adjust the curtain.

Each train car also has seats downstairs as well as 5 bathrooms per car.

After we had been traveling for a few minutes, the conductor announced that the snack bar was now open. The train doesn’t have a full dining car like the overnight trains, but a snack bar is located on the bottom level of the first passenger car. See the menu here.

The ride was fairly smooth, and my daughter and I both fell asleep. Before we knew it, we had arrived in Norman. The station is just a few blocks from campus, and my son picked us up.

On our return trip, we walked the 1/2 mile from our hotel to the train station to catch the train back to Fort Worth. The ride was uneventful, and we both slept again.

Overall Thoughts

I’m glad we tried the Heartland Flyer. We had a good experience. On both trips, the train was fairly full of passengers. We saw families, work commuters and college students. This shorter route appears to be less affected by freight train delays than some of the longer Amtrak routes.

When my whole family goes to Norman, we will still drive our car for the convenience. But, I like having the option to take the Heartland Flyer train if it’s just one or two of us going. I wish there was a similar route between Dallas and Houston! I’ve seen news articles for years about a Dallas/Houston line, but it has never come to fruition. I love train travel in Europe, and I wish it was more plentiful and convenient in the middle of the USA.