Amtrak vs CTrail eTix
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Amtrak
Book train tickets, manage your account, and access travel information on the go. Show your eTicket digitally and save payment details for quick purchases. Find station info and check train status easily.
- Digital eTickets
- Ticket purchasing
- Train status checks
- Station information
- Account management
- Apple Wallet integration
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Discover the convenience of traveling with Amtrak. With the Amtrak app you can get simple and intuitive access to all the travel information you need, whenever you need it. • Show your eTicket while onboard, including multi-ride and monthly passes - no need to print • Purchase one-way, roundtrip, multi-ride and monthly tickets with dollars or Amtrak Guest Rewards points • Check train status • Find station information • Edit and manage your account profile • Save credit cards for quick checkout • Send your eTicket to Apple Wallet • And so much more... With the Amtrak app, you can do it all right from your smart device.
CTrail eTix
Purchase mobile rail tickets for Hartford Line and Shore Line East customers directly from your smartphone. Avoid lines and cash transactions by buying daily parking and various ticket types, including monthly bus add-ons for CTtransit users.
- Purchase mobile rail tickets
- Buy daily parking
- Save tickets for later
- Receive email receipts
- Add CTtransit bus passes
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Traveling on CTrail just got easier! No more waiting in line to purchase a paper ticket, swiping your credit card, or carrying around cash. Connecticut DOT’s CTrail eTix app allows Hartford Line and Shore Line East customers to buy mobile rail tickets using their smartphone. Daily parking at Wallingford and Berlin stations is also available for purchase using CTrail eTix. With CTrail eTix, One-Way, Weekly, Monthly, and Ten-Trip mobile tickets are available for purchase. For customers that also use CTtransit, a CTtransit Monthly (Local) Bus add-on is available for purchase with your monthly rail ticket. Pay on the go, and use your mobile tickets immediately or save them for later. Keeping track of expenses is easy with CTrail eTix receipts provided via e-mail. Get started right away by downloading CTrail eTix and creating your account.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: Amtrak at 4.7 against CTrail eTix's 1.6. Amtrak also leads on update cadence (monthly vs every 6 months) and ratings volume (216K vs 173). CTrail eTix's advantage is monetization model (free vs free with in-app purchases) and iOS requirement (13.0 vs 17.0). On price, ads, in-app purchases and device support there is nothing between them.
Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS
Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
Amtrak holds the better App Store score, 4.7 against 1.6. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Amtrak has 216K ratings behind it against 173, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 30% of Amtrak's written reviews are positive against 6% of CTrail eTix's.
Amtrak ships an update monthly, CTrail eTix every 6 months. The most recent releases landed on September 24, 2026 and September 13, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Amtrak | CTrail eTix |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.7 (216K ratings) — better | 1.6 (173 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 30.1% of reviews — better | 6.0% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 216K — better | 173 |
| Update frequency | Monthly — better | Every 6 months |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free — better |
| Best chart rank | #22 — better | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 17.0 | 13.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 145 MB | 63 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Amtrak | CTrail Connecticut Department of Transportation |
Customer experience
Amtrak
CTrail eTix
User reviews
Amtrak
From 216K App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 🚀 Easy to navigate
- 👍 Helpful for tracking delays and notifications
- 🚂 Positive travel experience overall
- 💻 Reliable for booking and managing trips
Room to improve
- 🐛 Frequent crashes and errors
- 🕰️ Lack of real-time updates on train status
- 📱 Unintuitive and confusing app interface
- 💳 Issues with booking and payment functionality
CTrail eTix
From 173 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 👍 Functional for ticket purchase
- 👍 Easy to download
- 👍 Straightforward and accessible design (rare)
- 👍 Text is big and does the job (rare)
- 👍 Large buttons are useful (rare)
Room to improve
- 👎 Atrocious UI/UX
- 👎 Outdated interface/looks from another decade
- 👎 Unusable/broken app
- 👎 Impossible to create account
- 👎 Password reset issues
Bugs and requests
Amtrak
Reported bugs
3 issues- Inability to modify or cancel reservations
- Inconsistent behavior when booking multi-leg trips
- Problems with logging in and accessing account information
Requested features
4 requests- Add more detailed train information (amenities, quiet cars, etc.)
- Improve trip planning and itinerary management features
- Integrate with mobile wallets for easier ticketing
- Provide better communication during service disruptions
CTrail eTix
Reported bugs
35 issues- Cannot create an account
- Password reset functionality broken
- Email already in use error when creating account, but no account found for password reset
- App crashes frequently
- Purchased tickets disappear from the app
Show 30 moreShow fewer
- Login errors/connection errors
- App reverts to old keyboard and screen size
- Apple Pay not working reliably
- Time change detected errors when accessing tickets
- App closes when selecting a destination/station
- App immediately crashes after an update
- No confirmation email received
- Cannot log in
- App doesn't let me select a destination
- App doesn't work at all
- Tickets disappear multiple times
- App crashes on first install
- App requires camera access unnecessarily
- App doesn't load over HTTPS reliably
- Payment form hosted on a different service
- App doesn't support larger screens/newer phones
- App doesn't allow copy/paste of passwords
- App doesn't interact with password managers
- App crashes when trying to start
- App doesn't let me purchase a ticket
- App doesn't allow me to select a destination
- App closes out when entering a station
- App keeps crashing
- App is incredibly buggy
- App requires camera access to verify tickets
- App displays browser windows within itself
- App requires constant logging in
- App is formatted for much older phones and does not display correctly
- App keeps telling me to confirm email with no way to do so
- App lacks proper support for newer phones
Requested features
18 requests- Modernize the app's UI/UX
- Add train schedules to the app
- Improve password management (copy/paste, password managers)
- Add Apple Wallet support
- Add Dynamic Island support
Show 13 moreShow fewer
- Add Live Updates
- Allow round trip ticket purchases
- Add trip planning ability
- Improve payment options (Apple Pay, security)
- Add a way to confirm email
- Fix app crashing issues
- Coordinate with Amtrak and Metro North apps
- Add a schedule page
- Add a reservation system
- Increase time window for ticket confirmation
- Improve security of backend and payment forms
- Add Dark Mode option
- Add an interactive schedule like the website
In-app purchases
Amtrak
No in-app purchases
CTrail eTix
No in-app purchases
