Train station transfers: a chauffeur at the station, not a taxi line

Rail is often the smartest way between cities in the US Northeast, in Ontario and Quebec and across Europe. The weak link is the first and last mile: a taxi queue on the street outside Penn Station at 6 p.m., a rideshare pickup zone two blocks away, a heavy case on a Paris pavement. A pre-booked chauffeur closes that gap. The car is waiting at an agreed point when your train arrives, or at your door when you leave for it, at a fixed, all-in price.

Elly8.net books station transfers in all 141 of our cities in the USA, Canada and Europe. Station pickups and drop-offs are priced in the web booker for your exact address, and they combine naturally with our other services: an airport arrival, a meeting by the hour, or a city to city ride when the train does not go where you are going.

How much is a car service from a train station?

Because stations sit in city centres, most station transfers are short and priced at the low end of each city's list. When the trip is longer, such as Union Station in Toronto to Pearson airport, or St Pancras to a hotel in the countryside, the booker prices the actual road distance.

Tolls and parking are billed at cost. Every station on this page is reached through busy streets at peak; a fixed price means the time spent in traffic never changes what you pay.

See prices and reserve

How a station pickup works

Stations are not airports. There is no arrivals hall where every passenger comes out, and parking near the entrances is usually restricted. A station pickup works when the meeting point is agreed in advance.

1. Give us the train number and the scheduled arrival. Tell us the coach or car number if you have heavy luggage; it helps the chauffeur estimate how long you will take to reach the exit.
2. We agree the meeting point. Depending on the station and the parking rules on the day, that is either inside the station with a name board, or at the station's official pick-up area, with the car a short walk away.
3. If the train is late, tell the desk or the chauffeur, and the pickup moves with it. Waiting beyond the included time is billed at cost.
4. For drop-offs, we time the car to have you at the station with a buffer, which matters for international trains with check-in and security.

Child seats are available on request, and a Business SUV (up to 6 passengers, 6 bags) or an Executive Sprinter (up to 12, 12 bags) suits families and groups arriving with luggage. See the fleet page.

The stations, one by one

New York Penn Station and Moynihan Train Hall. Amtrak's own station page lists its New York station at Moynihan Train Hall at Penn Station, 351 West 31st Street, and calls Moynihan "the home of Amtrak in New York City". It gives rideshare and pick-up/drop-off on the 33rd Street mid-block, between 8th and 9th Avenues, and taxis on 31st Street. Those blocks are congested at the evening peak, so we agree the exact corner when you book. See New York car service, and for the airports beyond, JFK, LaGuardia and Newark transfers.

Washington Union Station. Union Station stands at 50 Massachusetts Avenue NE, and Amtrak directs pick-up and drop-off via the Massachusetts Avenue exit. Delegations and officials arriving by rail can be met the same way; see Washington, DC car service and government and diplomatic transportation. Reagan National is about 4 miles (6 km) from downtown, and Dulles about 30 miles (48 km).

Philadelphia: William H. Gray III 30th Street Station. Amtrak's station page gives the address as 2955 Market Street, with taxis on the 29th Street side, rideshare on the Market Street side and drop-off outside the West End entrance on 30th Street. It is served by the Acela, Northeast Regional, Keystone Service and Pennsylvanian, and connects with SEPTA and New Jersey Transit. Center City hotels are minutes away. See Philadelphia car service.

Chicago Union Station. Chicago Union Station is the downtown hub for Amtrak and Metra commuter rail. A car from the station to O'Hare is a long ride at rush hour; ORD to the Loop is fixed from US$215 in a business sedan. See Chicago limo service.

Toronto Union Station. Union Station is downtown Toronto's rail hub and the terminus of the UP Express airport train, which its operator's UP Express site times at 28 minutes from Pearson to downtown. Toronto and the GTA run on the Elly8 fleet and chauffeurs; from the station, Pearson airport transfers are fixed from US$155 in a business sedan. See Toronto limo service.

London St Pancras International. St Pancras International handles Eurostar, Southeastern, Thameslink and East Midlands Railway services. Travellers arriving from Paris or Brussels with luggage often book a car to a hotel in Mayfair or Kensington, or straight on to Heathrow or a cruise at Southampton. See London chauffeur service and cruise port transfers.

Paris Gare du Nord. The northern rail terminal of Paris, in the 10th arrondissement. Agree the meeting point with us in advance and allow a few extra minutes to reach the car. In Paris, the SUV class is the Mercedes-Benz V-Class (up to 6 passengers with luggage). See Paris chauffeur service.

Outside Toronto and the GTA, rides are operated by licensed, commercially insured local chauffeur partners vetted through the Limousine Worldwide network; Elly8.net takes the booking, fixes the price and runs the 24/7 desk.

Station transfer vs taxi, rideshare and transit

We are honest about the alternatives, because at a station they are often good.

Public transit is usually right for one traveller with a small bag. Every station on this page has subway, metro or commuter rail connections, and at rush hour the train under the city can beat any car.

Taxis queue at the station rank and are fine for one or two people with light luggage, as long as the line is short. At peak times on a Friday evening, it often is not.

Rideshare works from designated pickup zones, often a block away, at the price the app shows at that moment, and the driver may struggle to find you in the crowd.

A pre-booked chauffeur wins with luggage, children, a group, a tight connection to a meeting or a flight, a late-night arrival, a price fixed in advance, and when you would rather walk to a waiting car than to the back of a queue.

See chauffeur vs taxi and chauffeur vs Uber and Lyft for the city-by-city numbers.

Rail plus car: useful combinations

• Train in, meetings by the hour. Take the train into New York or Washington, and keep a car by the hour for a day of meetings, from US$100 to US$105 an hour in a business sedan in those cities, three-hour minimum.
• Train one way, car the other. Take the Eurostar from Paris to London and a car back to Heathrow for the flight home, or the train from New York to Boston and a car for a family return with shopping.
• Station to airport. Arriving at Union Station in Toronto for a flight from Pearson, or at St Pancras for a flight from Heathrow, with too much luggage for the airport train.
• Station to the country. St Pancras to the Cotswolds, Union Station to Niagara-on-the-Lake, Gare du Nord to Champagne: the train gets you into the city and the car does the part rail cannot.

How booking works

1. Enter the station as the pickup or drop-off, with the train number and time, and the other address.
2. Choose the vehicle for your passengers and luggage, from a business sedan to a 12-seat Executive Sprinter.
3. Reserve now and pay by card or on account. The confirmation arrives by email with the agreed meeting point, and the chauffeur's details follow before pickup.

Book any address

Companies whose staff travel by rail use corporate accounts with monthly invoicing; travel agents and hotels book through travel-agent and hotel accounts. Cancellation: more than 72 hours before pickup, free; 72 hours or less, 10%; 48 hours or less, 50%; 24 hours or less, or a no-show, 100%. Refunds go to the original card.

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