Stupid Bicycle Tricks on the Northeast Corridor

I've taken bicycles aboard Amtrak before; bikes ride in boxes in baggage cars. Until now, I'd always dropped the bike off early or picked it up late.

The mission was to go from Newark NJ to Washington DC, do some riding around the capital, and then head home; and bringing the bike with me in the morning and riding it home at night (home is one NJ Transit station away from Newark Penn Station). Also, without having to resort to shenanigans like booking through to Alexandria and then detraining in Washington.

The problem is, except for the 79 and 67, you can't ride "shotgun" with your baggage westbound on the corridor into Washington. From WAS eastbound only 66 offers service.

At 11:22am the Silver Star 91 departs NWK, and on Saturdays and Sundays at the very same time so does Regional 195. The regional does make more stops but shorter dwell times (hey man, no baggage) mean an earlier arrival in Washington. By the time I processed my return baggage at Union Station, the Star had arrived along with my bike.

Just a short trip this time; Regional 182 departs the capital at 7:20pm, about an hour by the timetable ahead of the Palmetto 90. This part obviously a crapshoot; if the long distance train is hideously late it blows my plan to pieces but I have other ways home and I could return to retrieve the parcel. However 90 is about forty minutes early into Newark Penn, arriving just twenty minutes behind my 182. Actually, according to the book 90 was 22 minutes early out of WAS and 48 minutes early out of NWK.

So all in all it came together, and I was able to move a bike through the corridor. Being a bit of a foamer, and understanding how to find the information, helps; but Amtrak could probably market this service so that it's apparent to people that it actually exists.

Bravo! A fellow cyclist, I'm full of admiration for your creative use of the baggage service.

Amtrak should do two things, one of which would greatly improve service, and the other of which might even be profitable.

They should add a baggage car to a daytime Boston - DC regional, even if it is only serviced at major stations. And they should offer a roll-up cycle service, $10 / bike, reservable in advance, to allow people to reliably move up and down the corridor with their cycles.

And as another fellow cyclist, I'm a little concerned about recent postings on other forums indicating that the Amtrak bike boxes have been significantly reduced in size. Transporting loaded touring bikes may get a lot more difficult now.

Well as the new baggage cars come online transporting bikes will actually get easier since they'll have bike racks built in.

AlanB said:

Well as the new baggage cars come online transporting bikes will actually get easier since they'll have bike racks built in.

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I hear that the reason that Amtrak has not added any baggage cars to mid-day Northeast Regionals is that the heritage cars cannot go as fast as regionals do. They don't want to lower the speed of a Northeast Regional train to 100mph (or less?) to accommodate a baggage car.

Honestly the easiest thing that you could do would be to not take your own bike at all! You can rent a bike from Bike and Roll, which has a station three feet from Washingtion Union Station: http://www.bikethesites.com/

Or you could rent a bike from Capital Bikeshare, they have thousands of bikes and bike stations around the city: http://www.capitalbikeshare.com/

Depends on what you are doing with the bike. For many cyclists, riding someone else's bike (or a bike of the wrong "type") is like a concert violinist playing someone else's violin. Diminishes the experience.

But, regardless of your opinion on that, a commercial enterprise should never get between a buyer and the product he wishes to purchase....

Jamie said:

AlanB said:

Well as the new baggage cars come online transporting bikes will actually get easier since they'll have bike racks built in.

Click to expand...

I hear that the reason that Amtrak has not added any baggage cars to mid-day Northeast Regionals is that the heritage cars cannot go as fast as regionals do. They don't want to lower the speed of a Northeast Regional train to 100mph (or less?) to accommodate a baggage car.

Honestly the easiest thing that you could do would be to not take your own bike at all! You can rent a bike from Bike and Roll, which has a station three feet from Washingtion Union Station: http://www.bikethesites.com/

Or you could rent a bike from Capital Bikeshare, they have thousands of bikes and bike stations around the city: http://www.capitalbikeshare.com/

Click to expand...

I could see a few daytime trains getting baggage service, or possibly the Boston - Virginia trains getting it. I do not see generally all NEC trains getting it. One problem is going to be dwell times at stations providing baggage service. For general corridor trains that would be unacceptable. It should be OK for a few select trains on a somewhat slower schedule.

AlanB said:

Well as the new baggage cars come online transporting bikes will actually get easier since they'll have bike racks built in.

Click to expand...

Yes, but I wouldn't be surprised if changing long standing policy turns out to be more difficult than procuring new baggage cars?

Get a folder



Or if you aren't ready to change religions, move to Illinois

Even one would be a big help. Morning departure from each of Boston and DC?

jis said:

I could see a few daytime trains getting baggage service, or possibly the Boston - Virginia trains getting it. I do not see generally all NEC trains getting it. One problem is going to be dwell times at stations providing baggage service. For general corridor trains that would be unacceptable. It should be OK for a few select trains on a somewhat slower schedule.

Click to expand...

PaulM said:

AlanB said:

Well as the new baggage cars come online transporting bikes will actually get easier since they'll have bike racks built in.

Click to expand...

Yes, but I wouldn't be surprised if changing long standing policy turns out to be more difficult than procuring new baggage cars?

Click to expand...

Well seeing as how management changed the specifications of the baggage cars just prior to accepting the winning bid, I'd say that this is a high priority for them. The original specs did NOT include bike racks, that was a last minute change.