A kinder and gentler Amtrak?

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PaulM

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Amtrak seems to have been stymied when it comes to additional routes, trains, and rolling stock, but nevertheless has recently introduced a number of tradition breaking, customer friendly services: baggage service at GBB, MTP, FMD, and NEW (even when an agent is not on duty at the last three), business class entry to metro lounges, a lounge in LA, the train tracking web page, and telephone (and soon email) redemption of eVouchers.

But what could be the most astounding break from tradition is roll-on, roll-off bicycle service on a LD train, namely the Capitol Limited. A quote from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Amtrak today allowed 20 bicyclists to roll their two-wheelers onto the Capitol Limited train from Pittsburgh to Washington, D.C., in what enthusiasts hope will be a step toward full implementation of roll-on service.
and

Amtrak spokesman Craig Schulz could not offer a timetable for making the roll-on service permanent. He said the railroad will seek feedback from participants in the experiment and from train personnel, then try to identify a funding source to retrofit baggage cars with racks.
That part about retrofitting baggage cars caught my eye. Is this a hint of bad news? In all earlier responses to the Allegheny Trail Alliance's pleading, Amtrak said they would see what they could do when the new Viewliner II baggage cars arrived. In any event, the Trail Alliance, a volunteer group which succeeded in completing the trail between PIT and CUM against great odds, including rehabbing the 3500' long Big Savage Tunnel near the eastern continental divide, could probably finance bike racks and install them themselves over a week end.

I recently organized a bike ride from PIT to CUM with 6 people to celebrate the completion of the trail and the CL's return to a more civilized :) 5:05AM arrival in PIT. My wife and I, having folding bikes, were able to board #29 in CUM for the return trip to CHI while the rest had to engage a van to shuttle them back to PIT. We enjoyed a steak dinner in the dining car and a night cap in the lounge while the rest were enduring the PA Turnpike and spending hours at the PIT station. We were sleeping soundly when when the rest boarded at midnight.
 
Regarding retrofitting baggage cars, the Viewliner II baggage cars were supposed to come with bike racks pre-installed.

But the Capitol Limited runs with Superliners. It currently has a Heritage baggage car but it is perfectly likely that they plan to replace that with a Superliner coach/baggage car. (Actually, that might be highly desirable if the Pennsylvanian run-through plan is implemented; it would be impossible to put the baggage car for DC next to the trans-dorm if that was done.) The Amtrak representative may simply have been talking about retrofitting the Superliner baggage cars. I wouldn't read too much into that.

Also, I believe not all Heritage baggage cars are being retired.
 
In all likelihood at least a few Heritage cars will remain in use for a while, as backups if nothing else. Some of them can presumably provide a few spare parts for the Great Dome and/or PPCs.
 
Well, the test occurred and, based on blogs by some of the participants, it was a big success. Not only that, but the bloggers were really impressed with the ride. The idea was to test the effect of having between 4 and 6 cyclists load and unload their bikes at each stop - Pittsburgh, Connellsville, Cumberland, Harpers Ferry, and DC. One blogger said that it took only 3 minutes for the 4 PGH to COV and 4 COV to CUM participants to unload and load their bikes at COV.

From actual (not misleading stock media) photos, it's obvious that the test involved coach-baggage cars retrofitted with bike racks, not heritage baggage cars. I don't remember the context, but FWIW a while ago I posted the opinion that a coach-bag would be a natural solution to what is known as the the GAP (Great Allegheny Passage) problem. I got shot down by those claiming that Amtrak didn't have enough extra cars sitting around that they could afford to lose the revenue seats if they substituted a coach-bag for a regular coach. It looks like Amtrak thinks otherwise.

Also, it was stated that the Amtrak rep said that a total of 8 cars would be needed to implement the service, each retrofit costing $8,000. Why 8? The CL can't require more that 3 sets, plus a spare. Now I know that Amtrak has to use the same supplier that provides DOD toilet seats, therefor the 8 mill per, but I'm not even sure racks are necessary, only a railing on each side to which you bungie the bike. That's how intercity (fast) trains in Austria do it.

Strangely enough one of the participants said the trail people might be able to beat the $8 mil figure, and exchanged business cards with the Amtrak rep.
 
From actual (not misleading stock media) photos, it's obvious that the test involved coach-baggage cars retrofitted with bike racks, not heritage baggage cars.
Aha. :)

I don't remember the context, but FWIW a while ago I posted the opinion that a coach-bag would be a natural solution to what is known as the the GAP (Great Allegheny Passage) problem. I got shot down by those claiming that Amtrak didn't have enough extra cars sitting around that they could afford to lose the revenue seats if they substituted a coach-bag for a regular coach. It looks like Amtrak thinks otherwise.
Maybe they're substituting it for the Heritage baggage car instead? Or, perhaps they are doing so, and the Capitol Limited is one of the few trains which does not tend to run full, I've noticed from various reports; it tends to have poorer load factors than the Lake Shore Limited or Silver Service or most of the western trains. Or... see my thought below.

Also, it was stated that the Amtrak rep said that a total of 8 cars would be needed to implement the service, each retrofit costing $8,000. Why 8? The CL can't require more that 3 sets, plus a spare.
Hmmm. 8 is a really funny number; it doesn't add up to the correct number for "Capitol Limited plus additional route X". Perhaps the plan is to replace 1 Superliner coach + 1 Heritage baggage car with *two* Superliner coach-baggage cars? That would make the numbers add up.
 
Hmmm. 8 is a really funny number; it doesn't add up to the correct number for "Capitol Limited plus additional route X". Perhaps the plan is to replace 1 Superliner coach + 1 Heritage baggage car with *two* Superliner coach-baggage cars? That would make the numbers add up.
Question: Does a single Superliner Coach/Baggage have the space capacity to fully take the checked baggage load the Capitol Limited typically experiences? I know the space is not tremendously big, but it is reasonable. I find it dubious that a full baggage car can be eliminated, because if it could be, I'd think Amtrak would have done so already.

Now, if Amtrak was thinking of having two 72-seat Superliner coaches be replaced with 64-seat Coach/Baggages and still run with a full baggage car, then I'll buy your assumption. :)
 
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