Although America has dozens of national parks and monuments, there is no single train that connects them all. Rather, you will need to determine what parks you want to see and try to match an existing route to your parks of choice. Most of America's train service is operated by Amtrak. Certain Amtrak routes have stops that abut some of America's most spectacular national parks. For instance, the Empire Builder train goes from Chicago to Seattle. Along the way, the train goes right by Montana's Glacier National Park. To explore the park, get off the train at the West Glacier Park station.
Other Amtrak train routes that go near national parks and monuments include the Texas Eagle (Arizona's Saguaro National Park and New Mexico's White Sands National Monument); the Coast Starlight (Crater Lake National Park and Lassen Volcanic National Park) and the Southwest Chief (Petrified Forrest National Park and the Grand Canyon).
Travelers who wish to expand their U.S. national park system experience beyond just parks and monuments will be pleased with the National Park Service's Trails and Rails program. In partnership with Amtrak, the Trails and Rails program partners national park rangers with specific Amtrak train routes. Rangers give interpretative insight into some of the NPS sites along the given route. As of 2009, the Trails and Rails NPS sites/tours included Texas' Amistad National Recreation Area (on the Sunset Limited route), New Orleans Jazz National Historic Park (on the City of New Orleans route) and Juan Bautista De Anza National Historic Trail (on the Coast Starlight route). Note that the Trails and Rails program only runs in the spring and summer.
For a truly special national park rail experience, venture outside the United States to Canada. The Rocky Mountaineer train offers several trips that take you into the heart of many of Canada's most impressive national parks. Even better, the Rocky Mountaineer's trains only run during the day, so you are sure to see plenty of gorgeous scenery along the journey. The Kicking Horse route takes you from Vancouver to Banff National Park. Along the way, you also go through Yoho National Park and near Kootenay and Glacier National Parks. Another excellent Canadian route is the Yellowhead route, which takes you into the heart of Jasper National Park.
