Fido and Fluffy did just fine in the Illinois experiment

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Henry Kisor

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From Medla Relations today:

AMTRAK AND ILLINOIS DOT PETS ON TRAINS PROGRAM NOW PERMANENT; Pilot project successful during extended trial

CHICAGO -- Amtrak and the Illinois Department of Transportation (Illinois DOT) are officially continuing a service that allows travelers to bring their small pets along on trips to and from Chicago and Downstate Illinois. An extended trial was set to expire this month, but due to positive customer response, the program is instead being made permanent with no changes in the provisions that were piloted.

Pets have been carried between Chicago and Quincy on Illinois Zephyr and Carl Sandburg trains for nearly a year, with the service expanding to the Illini and Saluki routes last August between Chicago and Carbondale. During that time, some 200 animals have accompanied passengers without a single complaint or incident.

"I am proud that Illinois is the first state in the country to work with Amtrak to offer this convenient service for pet owners, while also taking into account the considerations of other passengers," said Acting Illinois Transportation Secretary Randy Blankenhorn. "By allowing pets on trains, Amtrak and the Illinois Department of Transportation are making it that much easier for people to experience so many of our great communities throughout the state."

"Together with Illinois, Amtrak has developed a service that meets the needs of our passengers and their pets in a safe, convenient manner," said Amtrak President and CEO Joe Boardman. "By collaborating directly with the Illinois DOT and a working group led by U.S. Rep. Jeff Denham of California in support of this initiative, we are now able to consider this service on other routes."

"Pet owners are thrilled to have a new travel option. Amtrak is seeing new revenue and increased ridership due to the Pets on Trains pilot program," said Rep. Denham. "Making this permanent will allow this popular program to continue to grow in Illinois. I look forward to continuing to work toward a national policy so Americans can travel safely with their pets."

Ticketing and travel with pets originates throughout the day in Chicago, Carbondale, Champaign and Galesburg, while the service is only available during afternoon departures in Homewood and Naperville due to staffing. Advance reservations are required and a surcharge of $25 is assessed for travel. Dogs or cats up to 20-pounds each will be accepted in carriers that can be placed under the seat of each pet owner.

Other provisions apply; please see the attached Amtrak Passenger Service Notice. Amtrak routinely welcomes service animals on trains at no charge and that policy is unchanged.

Trains 380-383, the Illinois Zephyr and Carl Sandburg, operate daily to and from Chicago, LaGrange, Naperville, Plano, Mendota, Princeton, Kewanee, Galesburg, Macomb and Quincy. Trains 390-393, the Illini and Saluki, operate daily to and from Chicago, Homewood, Kankakee, Gilman, Rantoul, Champaign, Mattoon, Effingham, Centralia, DuQuoin and Carbondale.
 
http://www.amtrak.com/servlet/ContentServer?c=AM_Alert_C&pagename=am/AM_Alert_C/Alerts_Popup&cid=1251628033452

Designated Pet Car & Onboard Guidelines
Passengers must remain with pets at all times.
Pets must remain inside their carrier at all times and may not be removed from their carrier while in stations or onboard trains.
Passengers must keep their pet carrier under their own seat. Pet carriers are not permitted under the seat in front of you.
Pet carriers are not permitted on train seats.
Pets are not permitted in food service cars.

It will smell great in the pet car when an up to 20 lb pet defecates in their carrier under the pet owners seat.
 
It's amazing to me that 200 pet owners managed to jump through the hoops well enough to qualify for the program. I wonder how many of those 200 animals were repeat riders.
 
KmH said:
http://www.amtrak.com/servlet/ContentServer?c=AM_Alert_C&pagename=am/AM_Alert_C/Alerts_Popup&cid=1251628033452

Designated Pet Car & Onboard Guidelines

Passengers must remain with pets at all times.

Pets must remain inside their carrier at all times and may not be removed from their carrier while in stations or onboard trains.

Passengers must keep their pet carrier under their own seat. Pet carriers are not permitted under the seat in front of you.

Pet carriers are not permitted on train seats.

Pets are not permitted in food service cars.

It will smell great in the pet car when an up to 20 lb pet defecates in their carrier under the pet owners seat.
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Same way it smells on a plane when a small pet is traveling underneath a seat there. Most pets don't want to defecate in their carriers....so they only will if its a worst case scenario. I will tell you that my dog would sit and cry/whimper in his carrier for a good hour before defecating.
 
In pre Amtrak times, I rode in Sleeping Cars on the Santa Fe and others where passengers had their dogs in their private rooms on longer trips. You would only see them at longer stops when they would be walked and did their business. Most owners were fastidious above cleaning up after them.
 
Ahhh, nothing like that new kennel smell. All it takes is one. The lavatories are bad enough, why add the wretch-inducing aromas of doggie diarrhea or kitty pee?
 
The number of people on this board who are obsessed with pet poop is fascinating.
 
I see the lunatic scaremongers are out in force.

Hopefully Amtrak will expand this to other corridor routes soon. Milwaukee-Chicago and St. Louis-Chicago would be the obvious next steps, followed by St. Louis - Kansas City. Or perhaps the Michigan routes.

Please note that with a $25 surcharge per "pet ticket", this could be a *serious* moneymaker for Amtrak if expanded.
 
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FriskyFL said:
Ahhh, nothing like that new kennel smell. All it takes is one. The lavatories are bad enough, why add the wretch-inducing aromas of doggie diarrhea or kitty pee?
Click to expand...

You can buy absorbent pads for carriers. They work like a diaper and contain the smell as well. People put diapers in the trash in the restrooms, so I don't see why wrapping up a pet pad and putting it in the restroom trash would be any worse.

As Amamba mentioned, most animals will not soil their carriers unless they have been in there for a long time (longer than a few hours) and simply cannot wait any longer.

Also, this: "During that time, some 200 animals have accompanied passengers without a single complaint or incident."

As I said in my airplane analogy in the last thread about this, most people probably won't even know there's an animal under the seat. I, for one, don't look under every seat when I get on the train. If the animal didn't make noise, I'd never know.
 
I've boarded planes before with pets in there carriers. I can't say I've ever noticed a pets presence once onboard. A small dog in a carrier features prominately in Delta's current safety video.
 
Bjartmarr said:
The number of people on this board who are obsessed with pet poop is fascinating.
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You've obviously never owned a cat. Our late kitty used to freak out in the cat carrier, as he knew what it meant - vet visit. He'd pee all over himself, which would stink up the carrier, the car, and anything that came into contact. Just imagine spending hours confined in a railcar loaded to the rafters with incontinent cats. Been there, wouldn't ever do it again. Leave the animals at home. Or at least store them in a separate car, preferably away from anyone's baggage.
 
If pee and droppings are not enough concern, how about the chance of incessant meowing and barking, especially once the carrier gets shoved under the seat and the train begins moving. Unlike a screaming baby, there's no taking the critter to the Lounge to mellow it out. And I have been in cars with cats enough to know what that is all about.
 
My sister lives in an apartment and has a cat. She lives on the ground floor and has direct access to outside. The cat loves to go out 2-3 times or more a day. The cat gets in her kennel by herself to go outside for 1-3 hours at a time.
 
It's funny how giving allowance to the few people who choose to bring pets aboard turns into a "rail car filled to the rafters with incontinent cats".
 
Just like everything else that seems to be discussed around here, it's the end of the world as we know it.

If only Amtrak had thought to do a limited trial of such a service to determine if any of these worst cast scenarios actually occur in the real world. That would have been brilliant of them.
 
Amtrak did do a trial, which was mentioned in the Service Alert.

"After conducting a year-long test, Amtrak and the State of Illinois have adopted the Carry-on Pet Program aboard the Carl Sandburg and Illinois Zephyr Trains 380, 381, 382 and 383 and the Illini and Saluki Trains 390, 391, 392 and 393."

Note that the with the current rules pets are restricted to a single car and that "No more than four pets are reserved per train."
I suspect the designated pet car would by necessity be a coach car.

That pets aren't allowed out of their carriers at stations would seem to limit the duration of any train trip with your pet.
On long distant train trips, maybe a pet could hold out for 'smoke stops' so the pet owner could let the pet out of the carrier to relieve themselves away from the station.
But I bet it will be awhile before Amtrak designates a 'pet car' on LD trains.

Ask a vet how often they see pet carriers that have been soiled by a pet between home and the vet.
 
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RyanS said:
I guess my sarcasm was a little too subtle.
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I didn't think it was subtle at all. But maybe if one isn't used to reading your posts they might not pick up on it. :p

We really need this board to have a "like" feature. I post on another forum that has one (and on my phone, on the app, we can "like" posts). This thread makes me want to like multiple posts in it.
 
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