The Chainlink

Amtrak expands rails-to-trails service for cyclists

"All aboard, Amtrak'' becomes a more inclusive invitation starting Monday, geared toward rail passengers traveling with bicycles.


As the fall color season approaches, a new roll-on, roll-off service will commence on Amtrak's daily Capitol Limited trains between Union Station in Chicago and Washington, D.C., officials at the national passenger railroad will announce Monday.

It's the first overnight Amtrak route to offer bicyclists the opportunity to walk their bikes onto the train and lock them onto a rack. The service was introduced in 2013 on Amtrak Blue Water trains between Port Huron, Mich., and Chicago; and it was added last month on Amtrak Heartland Flyer trains in Oklahoma and Texas.

The enhanced service offers cyclists on the routes a more convenient alternative to Amtrak's boxed-bike service, which requires bike owners to disassemble their bikes and check them as baggage, for a fee of $10 plus $15 to purchase a reusable bike box. It hasn't been an eco-friendly option because the bike boxes are generally abandoned after one use, Amtrak officials said. In addition, the boxed-bike service has another drawback. It is available for both boarding and exiting passengers only at stations staffed by Amtrak attendants.

The full story:

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/columnists/ct-amtrak-bicycles-ge...

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Permalink Reply by Mike Zumwalt on September 15, 2015 at 6:21pm
The trains going downstate Illinois or the ones going to Texas or California never had box service. You could bungee it in the luggage area or take it to the rear car behind the section for Amtrak employees or if it a full train
take the front wheel off and put in the overhead luggage area.
I paid $10 to bring it on.
Permalink Reply by Elwood Gruschow on September 16, 2015 at 9:30pm

 This is good news!  I have been looking at options to bike the Great Allegheny Passage (GAP) rail-trail from Pittsburgh PA to Cumberland MA.  Before this change you could take a boxed bike from Chicago to Pittsburgh, but you could not get back on the train in Cumberland MA with a bike in any form.  It was an Amtrak designated baggage station issue.

   I biked KATY trail in Missouri using only Amtrak a couple years ago.   Amtrak to Sedalia, bike on trail to Washington MO, Amtrak back to Chicago.  No car, bus , or shipping the the bike.  I am now planning a similar Amtrak to Pittsburgh, bike to Cumberland MA then Amtrak back to Chicago trip late spring 2016.  Again no car, bus or shipping the bike and less than four miles total riding to and from the trail.   I will be taking my bike cargo trailer on the train as I have before, but bike trailers on Amtrak is a different topic. 

 On some Amtrak routes you  still can ( fall 2015) take a bike wheeled on for $10 extra.  I have ridden the Illini/ Saluki quite a few times with a bike.  Various conductors directed me to various places on different trains to park the bike.   Boarding in Centralia once the conductor loaded and parked my bike on the train for me.  It is 10$ per bike per train.  Traveling Chicago to Carbondale (330 miles) is $10 for roll on bike Traveling from Chicago to  Kirkwood, MO is $20 for the roll on bike.  Ten dollars for the 300 mile trip to St Louis plus another $10 for the 14 mile trip to Kirkwood. The train number might change from #303 to #313 but often you stay on the same train car.  The roll on service is not available to Milwaukee (darn) and pretty limited to Michigan.  

  

 

  

   

Permalink Reply by Matt M. 18.5KM on September 16, 2015 at 10:41pm

Wow!!!  So great!

Permalink Reply by Greg Valent on September 18, 2015 at 12:07pm

The link for the Amtrak news in the latest ChainLink e-mail is bad. 

Permalink Reply by Yasmeen on September 19, 2015 at 11:56am

Sorry about that! This was definitely a rushed email for us and not our usual process. We were in the hotel in Vegas and had to leave to catch our flight so we didn't get to test it quite as thoroughly as we normal do. 

Permalink Reply by Lois Jacob on September 19, 2015 at 11:31am

Right, the link didn't work for me either, BUT

Click on the photo and it works.

Permalink Reply by Greg Valent on September 19, 2015 at 1:32pm

Lois, thanks for the tip. I didn't think of clicking the photo.

Permalink Reply by Lois Jacob on September 19, 2015 at 11:33am

Fabulous news.  We love bikes AND trains.

Permalink Reply by Greg Valent on September 19, 2015 at 1:24pm

If you dig for the info, you'll find that the Amtrak trains with roll-on bike service, Illinois, Missouri and a few others, are heavily subsidized by the states that they run through. And, the service is only within those states. That's why you can roll your bike on from Chicago to St. Louis, and then on west to Kansas City(?), allowing you to pedal all the way back

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