The Chainlink

The League of Illinois Bicyclists has a Bike on Amtrak Guide here:  http://www.bikelib.org/maps-and-rides/illinois-bike-on-amtrak-guide/

They are advocating it to help plan touring routes in Illinois.  Seems pretty useful.  And it links to the Illinois Mississippi River Trail info.  Anyone ever done that?

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Thanks - very handy and timely!

Last year my wife and I used Amtrak to get to and from the Katy Trail in MO.  We rolled bikes on the Amtrak Illinois service in Joliet, trained to St. Louis, and transferred to the Amtrak Missouri River Runner service from St. Louis to Sedalia, MO.  After biking the Katy trail end to end and hanging out in some interesting towns, we returned on Amtrak from St. Louis to Joliet.

We did feel some self generated pressure to get our 2 bikes+6 panniers on and off the train quickly, but the crew never rushed us.  

We were asked to load the bikes into the overhead on all three legs. Each time we agreed, and asked the conductor if he would help if we were unable to hoist the bikes up there ourselves.  Each time the conductor immediately suggested we roll the bikes to an area at the front of the car and tie them down.   I suspect they accommodated us only because we're senior citizens and they were worried we'd drop the bikes on other passengers.    If you're 31 and look strong, they might be more insistent about your using the overhead.

 

 

Thank you for posting this--it's really nice to have all this information (which trains allow bikes, what interesting places those trains go to, suggested rides near the stations) in one place.

Thanks are due to the League of Illinois Bicyclists for the information and to fellow Chainlinkers for all of the really useful responses and elaboration!  Check out the LIB site and think about joining/donating. 
 
Eli said:

Thank you for posting this--it's really nice to have all this information (which trains allow bikes, what interesting places those trains go to, suggested rides near the stations) in one place.

I walked my bike onto the Amtrak train in Springfield, en route to Chicago, on Sunday. $10 charge for the bike. What a thrill not to have to box it up!

 

I felt like I got a little bit of attitude from the conductor about it. I asked him where he'd like me to put the bike and he said, "Wherever you can keep it out of the way. There's not really any bike space." This surprised me because at the ticket counter they were very friendly and acted like it was no big deal.

 

I ended up putting it near the front of one of the cars, in the open area that I'd always assumed was maybe for handicapped seating or for families traveling with a big stroller. Fortunately there was just a young couple sitting there.

 

The train was not crowded; I think I'd be hesitant to do this again during a "peak" travel time.

I've taken bikes on Amtrak twice now. 

The first time was from Princeton to Naperville. The second time was from Union Station.

In each case I purchased the ticket ahead of time as Amtrak stipulates a max of 4 bike per train. What is the point of this limit I wonder?

On both trips the conductors were great and directed us to a car where we simply placed the bikes at one end of a car, even for the Champaign train which we were told was "completely booked".

Eric Peterson said:

In each case I purchased the ticket ahead of time as Amtrak stipulates a max of 4 bike per train. What is the point of this limit I wonder?


Space reasons, maybe?


Re: conductors, seems like it might be hit or miss. I can understand the conductors would feel frustrated--much like the Metra conductor who posted here a while back--that Amtrak allows bikes without providing a designated place for them.

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