Unlike European National Rail systems .. Amtrak uses privatized Rail right of ways
they have to Borrow from the freight as a priority rail bed Owning Corporations.
so there are long delays while the several mile long trains of Coal and other commodities

move on the single track.. first.

sometimes in bad shape but
as long as the freight does not derail maintenance gets deferred.
so even when moving Amtrak has to slow down..

This.

Employee's can't predict where you want to go, even by your saying anywhere. Above, he mentioned New Haven and you pretty quickly shot it down. Amtrak likely would have done the same thing and some Amtrak guy would be posting this same story in reverse! Haha. I do think the employee should have told you where to look online for the information necessary to plan trip better. Oh, well...Can't win them all.


That being said, take it from a person in New Haven, ya don't want to go there!

Kinda reminds me of going into a bar and ordering "a beer" like they do in the movies. Likelihood of just being handed a beer is very low.

You can send to a UPS or FedEx (respectively) retail store. I've done that when buying something valuable I didn't want left out in the rain or heat at home. Some stores will charge you a few dollars for the convenience. Others do it for free.

You say AMTRAK will take you and your bike to Buffalo. I'm pretty sure I checked that out once and it is correct. Being that it's Canada you're interested in, have you thought about taking AMTRAK to Buffalo and riding the Niagara River Recreation Trail to Niagara Falls, or even continuing on to Toronto? I know it's not Quebec, but Toronto has some great riding.

As a New Yorker myself, I share your pain regarding AMTRAK. During the years I was traveling for business, I accumulated a lot of award miles on AMTRAK, so if they would only let me bring my bike, I'd have traveled to LOTS of places to ride by now!

We've used Amtrak with and without bicycles recently and except for one leg of one trip, the trains were on time or even a few minutes early. I made reservations online and printed our tickets at the machines in the stations. The bikes were not boxed. We rolled them on and leaned them against the wall at the back of the car where they'd effectively removed a few seats to make room for bikes. We had confirmed reservations for ourselves and the bikes. The bikes cost $10 each, each way. Our first Amtrak bike trip was from St. Louis to Hermann, MO, we rode to Jefferson City, and the next morning came back to St. Louis on the train. Total cost was $150 and we could enjoy the scenery for not much more than we'd have spent on gas to drive and shuffle cars around. We're planning to do it again to bike the section of the Katy between Jefferson City and Sedalia later this year. Not all trains take bikes but you can tell that when you make your reservations.

One thing I enjoy about taking a trail as opposed to driving or flying is that you get to see what I think of as the backyard of America; older sections of smaller towns and rural areas. It's exactly the kind of scenery that attracts me to riding the Katy trail rather than I-70.

Just a week ago, we got back from a bikeless trip to Chicago on Amtrak. It was a last minute decision and it still only cost $182 round trip for two with a sleeper (which we didn't need but was the only seating left on the Texas Eagle that day) on the way up.

We've found the Amtrak folks to be friendly, helpful and usually in good spirits. The station agent in Jefferson City opened the door early so we could put our bikes inside and go for breakfast before the train arrived. I don't think I'd trade a 4-hour flight for a 2-day train ride to the west coast, but for short trips, it's more fun and convenient than driving and maybe even cheaper.

Oh yeah, the delays for freight trains. We experienced nothing like that across Missouri or on our way TO Chicago although those were weekend trips. On the way back from Chicago we did have to stop several times to wait for freight trains. I don't know why that didn't happen at all on the way up but it happened a half dozen times on the way home. OTOH, according to my wife's smart phone, we got up to 80+ mph on those trips so I guess the tracks must be in decent condition.

If you want to be assured of traveling on time, get an airline ticket. <Insert chuckle here>

http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=258386

Not entirely correct. Amtrak owns the Norheast Corridor--from Boston to D.C. It also owns the old PRR/PC Main Line between Philadelphia and Harrisburg, PA. Passenger takes priority on those lines.

I told you. Seattle. You can also get to Pittsburgh, PA, Chicago, IL Portland, OR, Whitefish, MT, Sheldy, MT, Havre, MT Minneapolis, MN, Winona, MN, Spokane, WA, Denver, CO, Pasco, WA, Spokane, WA, Everett, WA, Fargo, ND, Salt Lake City, UT and a whole bunch of easily discernable places along the Pacific Coast via roll on service, just to name a few.

Okay, I found my answer, as someone suggested I would, in Amtrak's printed Timetable, which is a magazine format publication that comes out every half year or so. In that, you can scan the schedules for trains for those that show a little suitcase icon; those are the ones that carry checked luggage. There's also a list of stations where you can scan for same suitcase icon. Those are the places where checked luggage can be loaded and unloaded.

So without further ado, here is the answer:
From NYC, the options north are the line to Boston (including New Haven, Providence, etc.), and the line to Albany and west from there.
The options south and west involve going through Philadelphia and/or Washington DC; from there, more options open up.

Now that I have the answer, I realize I didn't ask my question right. I should have asked about lines, not destinations. Live and learn!

No kidding...I have spent way too many nights in airports over the years. Missed many a meeting and missed even more nights at home, courtesy of the US Airline Industry. FWIW my bride is a 30 year veteran (survivor?) of the no longer friendly skies. She has been a Flight Attendant the entire time. And boy has it changed over the years. :P

Aaron :)

I've had bad experiences with -calling- Amtrak. Last year I lost my ID on a tour, and when I needed to take a train from Portland to San Diego, I was given several different answers over the phone line. The first call gave me a definite "No, we can't let you on. A temporary ID is not valid". I called again, got a different employee, and was told to "go back to my home state and get a new ID". Telling her I'd need the board the train to do so didn't help. I went to the station and asked the PR lady. I mentioned usual airline policy of allowing ID-less passengers on with a Police report and extra security checks. She told me they had no such established procedure. A friend called for me, the third time, since I was full of rage and venom, and was politely told that there would be no problem if I could produce a police report of the incident.

I arrived the next day with my police report, ticket, and bicycle. The baggage people where very helpful and quick to assist with tape, scales, and a pedal wrench. When it came time to board the train, the conductor didn't even ask to see my ID. Same thing at the Transfer in LA. No problems whatsoever. In San Diego and LA the Baggage Handlers had us come up and move the boxes ourselves instead of tossing them into the claim area. Everything was very streamlined and easy.

In other words, trust everyone but the people who work customer service. They're crazy.

Unfriendly, literal, not helpful? Wild guess… that's a union job.

It's not just unions anymore....been in a Walmart recently :rolleyes:

Aaron :)

What an uncalled for comment. Lay off the politics, please.

Note: the baggage people and the conductor (who were described as helpful) almost certainly were unionized. Of course, I wouldn't use that as an argument that unionized employees are uniformly helpful. Rather, my general experience with unionized employees has generally mirrored that of the general population -- most are helpful, some are so-so, and then you come across the odd grump/jerk now and then. Exception: my limited experience doing business with unionized skilled trades people has been uniformly good, but that might simply reflect the level of training needed to become a journeyman plumber, electrician, etc.

I highly doubt that anyone working at a call center, be it for Amtrak or anyone else, is unionized. If they were, then that would be quite the interesting development.

There is a video (at least one) on you tube that shows how to put a bike into a big hockey bag. Once you accomplish that, then you are just carrying a big hockey bag. Hardest part of that (for me) would be removing the fork.

It is amazing the lengths to which people will go to be unhelpful here. Amazing post, and amazing thread.

My husband and I had a good experience with 2 bikes, taking Amtrak from Raleigh, NC to Tampa FL in Feb 2011.
We did learn some important things: A road bike larger than size 54 inside an airport-grade bike box exceeds the 50 lb limit. You can only put a bike box on/off at a train station with luggage service. You must arrive at Amtrak station at least 1 hour before departure if you are checking a bicycle.

We stuffed some rags and dirty laundry inside the cardboard bike boxes with our bikes. No damage to bikes.

lol, oh Amtrak. . . . I really liked the idea of a train and tried to go from Atlanta to Greenville,SC on weekend to see my brother (not even with a bike)

so I get to the station at 8 for an 8:30 departure (mind you I walked my luggage 2 miles because the station is in a very inconvenient location for public transportation) and I was told
"The train made a wrong turn, it'll be here in 4 and a half hours, you can have a seat right over there" . . . and so I waited. Our train left at 1:30 AM.

NEVER AGAIN

You're problem is that you're a NY'er, and I say that as a suburban New Yorker. From New York, you're pretty limited when it comes to long distance trains because they're main mission in life from Penn is service along the Northeast Corridor where they offer Acela service that actually makes money.

If you want to do anything long distance, you do have to connect through Chicago generally, because that's the only route they do that takes more than 8 hours or so. You can get to Canada direct from Penn, but you can be in Toronto in about 8 hours, so those trains don't have baggage cars. Even Montreal takes a connection to a bus in Vermont.

As far as I know, literally your only option other than above would be to drive to suburban Virginia and take the Auto Train to Sanford, Fl. I've done that, although not with my bike, because part of the appeal of the auto train is you can leave your luggage in your car and just have with you what you need for the overnight. Given that, I didn't want to check my bike and pay extra for it; I can rent a bike most anywhere for about $100 a week aluminum and $150 or so a week for a carbon.

Unfortunately, traveling with a bike in the U.S. is just a PITA unless you drive.

I'm afraid some of this information about Amtrak isn't correct. There are a number of long distance trains out of New York Penn Station other than to Chicago, and many of them take checked baggage.

1) There's the train to Chicago via Buffalo (Lake Shore Limited). This goes via upstate New York, and there's checked baggage for all stops between Albany and Cleveland (except Erie), as well as Toledo, South Bend, and Chicago. As cafzali correctly noted, from Chicago you can connect to more long distance trains to the west and south of Chicago.

2) There's also the train to Chicago via Charlottesville, West Virginia, and Cincinnati (the Cardinal), and that has checked baggage service to a number of cities along the line, including a few smaller cities and towns (e.g. Prince, WV).

3) There are three trains a day between New York and Savannah (Silver Star, Silver Meteor, and Palmetto). All have checked baggage service to major stations, some of which are not terribly large cities. The Silver Star and Silver Meteor go on to Miami, and both have checked baggage to major Florida stations as well.

4) The Carolinian between New York and Charlotte has checked baggage service to major stations.

5) The Crescent between New York, Charlotte, Atlanta, and New Orleans has checked baggage service. You can connect in New Orleans to the Sunset Limited train to LA, and that train has checked baggage service.

6) The overnight trains to Boston and to Washington (trains 66 & 67) have checked baggage service. You don't have to be on those trains to check a bike through to those points. In other words, get on any train to Boston, and the bike will either precede you or follow you in the overnight train, depending on whether you have checked the bike through early or if you check it at the time of departure.

The point is that the train to Chicago via Buffalo is not the only game in NYC for checked baggage service, and it is not the only long-distance train out of NYC.

As for Amtrak "making money" only on the Northeast Corridor, that's very much open to question, because it depends on whether you are talking about certain operating costs ("above the rail costs") or not, but this being a bike forum, I'll just leave it at that.

I agree that it could be easier to take a bike along with public transportation, but if your plans take you to cities that Amtrak serves with either checked baggage (see above for examples) or "roll-on" service where you just take the bike aboard yourself (such as in Illinois, Missouri, North Carolina, California, Oregon, and Washington), Amtrak is a great way to go.

I think the problem with being a New Yorker is that you have to weed out all the non-viable options from the actual, bike-friendly option. Where I live there are fewer train options in general, but all the options are bike-friendly because my local station has baggage and there are no regional routes that do not have baggage service. New York actually has more options, but you also have a wealth of shorter-distance trains that don't accommodate checked baggage and, therefore, boxed bicycles. But the long distance the options are still there. Yes, you might have to go to a different hub to transfer, but that's not much different then flying, and it's not an issue that's unique to New York. It's an issue with living anywhere that isn't Chicago, which seems to be the main convergence point for most east/west Amtrak routes.

I don't think the auto train is an option unless you take your car and put the bicycle inside of it (or possibly on a rear rack outside of your car). The auto train assumes that your luggage will be kept inside your vehicle and offers no other checked baggage, so it's not a viable bike touring option. Although it might be an option if you had a folding bike and all your luggage was carry-on.

They most certainly are.

Timely thread for me as I'm planning on Amtraking it from Texas to Milwaukee this fall. With a lwb recument.

The 'policy' states that bikes are exempt from Amtrak's size requirements. Tandems are specifically mentioned. Just try getting a station master to go along with that. "If it'll go in the Amtrak bicycle box and don't weigh more than 50 lbs, we'll take it. Otherwise we won't." This was last week at two different stations.

Fortunantly, hopefully, I think the Tour Easy frame will fit, with wheels off. It is a long box and measurements suggest 4 spare inches.

In checking the website to get the link, it appears to me that it has recently been revised. Much more readable and specific than earlier. I had been told that it was due for revision. I will make a copy and bring it along should my TE not fit in their box. Inservice for station masters might lag official policy pronouncements.

As the conductor apparently is Chief Justice on all matters, still a chance that me and bike may not get to board together. As others have suggested, safest bet is ship the bike ahead via commercial carrier. That can include by bus, the least expensive way.