Amtrak Express suspended as of Oct 1 2020

Just because the baggage cars are there doesn't mean that they want to dedicate resources to having to handle the shipments. I've always viewed it as a manpower heavy operation that probably couldn't cover its costs.

eolesen wrote: ↑Wed Jun 16, 2021 6:44 am Just because the baggage cars are there doesn't mean that they want to dedicate resources to having to handle the shipments. I've always viewed it as a manpower heavy operation that probably couldn't cover its costs.

I've been in the Boston baggage room a few times and there is plenty of room for additional shipments and employees who are always there on staff. Adding a pallet jack if necessary would probably be all that's needed. My wife moves around a pallet jack at the grocery store she works at. Really no big deal. I think the infrastructure is in place in the larger stations at least.

What do the union workrules for Amtrak allow in terms of cross utilization and lifting?

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bostontrainguy wrote: ↑Thu Jun 17, 2021 9:03 am

eolesen wrote: ↑Wed Jun 16, 2021 6:44 am Just because the baggage cars are there doesn't mean that they want to dedicate resources to having to handle the shipments. I've always viewed it as a manpower heavy operation that probably couldn't cover its costs.

I've been in the Boston baggage room a few times and there is plenty of room for additional shipments and employees who are always there on staff. Adding a pallet jack if necessary would probably be all that's needed. My wife moves around a pallet jack at the grocery store she works at. Really no big deal. I think the infrastructure is in place in the larger stations at least.

I don't think the shown oallet mover would lift to the height of the baggage car door, and would be very slow if it could do so . Really need a forklift.

Boston and all of the Northeast Corridor are high-level platforms of course. Yes, forklifts would be needed for low level territory.

The point is that there are employees in place to do this.

Still supended until "further notice". Will express service ever return?

I'd expect the commercial shippers (bulk pallets) that were still active to have switched to trucking by now.

Amtrak still hiring baggagemen and baggage masters. Until all are in place then maybe ???

WRT FedEx and UPS: They buy whole BNSF trains LA-Chicago. TOFC. Each of those firms have pricing tiers for weight and speed.

Try shipping 3 pallets on Amtrak.

... and providing your own pickup and delivery.

Long ago, Amtrak partnered with others to provide seamless pickup and delivery.

Never heard that, even on here. Did Amtrak ever advertise it? UPS and FedEx are household words -- the ones everybody thinks of for shipments of that kind.

Having joined after this thread started and then gone back to it:

The announced end of services (as in no express services will be handled) is the start of a United States Government Fiscal Year (FY 2021). Does Amtrak have a choice in the matter, or was this suspension a legal requirement buried in a budget that can't be lifted until Congress changes its language?

More likely it was suspended on Oct 1 because CARES funding expired on September 30th.

Wasn't 10/1/2020 also when the reduced 3x a week LD schedule went into effect? Makes sense that Express would be discontinued if daily service no longer was guaranteed.

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JimBoylan wrote: ↑Wed Jun 15, 2022 2:49 pmLong ago, Amtrak partnered with others to provide seamless pickup and delivery.

ExCon90 wrote: ↑Wed Jun 15, 2022 11:26 pmNever heard that, even on here. Did Amtrak ever advertise it? UPS and FedEx are household words -- the ones everybody thinks of for shipments of that kind.

In the late 1980s, Amtrak's large glossy brochures with rates and details of the service listed suburbs where pickup and delivery was available via 3rd parties. Doylestown, Pennsylvania was one location listed under Philadelphia. There was a footnote that Amtrak was exploring other partners and destinations. The trade press had mentioned that the Dallas, Garland and Northeastern Railroad was one of Amtrak's partners.
I was General Freight Agent for the New Hope & Ivyland RR, and thought that Doylestown, only 4 miles from Buckingham Valley on the NHIR, was too close for comfort. One of my customers, the Union Camp Paper bag mill, had complained about how long it took to get paper from Savannah, Georgia to New Hope by rail when trucks could do 55 miles per hour or better on I-95 and not have to follow ConRail's circuitous routes. I thought of a faster way. I'd read that Amtrak's baggage and new Express cars could do 105 miles per hour. Amtrak had a train (now called the Palmetto) that originated in Savannah. Let's ship full carloads of paper on Amtrak Express and NHIR will pay our other connection, South Eastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority, their tariff rate for a pilot so our locomotive could be sent to 30th St. Station in Philadelphia to grab the cars and rush them the rest of the way to the mill. There was still the problem of switching the cars from the paper factory to the passenger station in Savannah. But meanwhile, Union Camp discovered that they could make more money turning their bag mill into condominium apartments.

They said "pickup and delivery was available via third parties." That sounds like "here's some truckers you can call to arrange for pickup and delivery at your expense." UPS and FedEx ask where they should pick it up and deliver it. On pickup of one package for one destination, I suppose a shipper might be asked to bring it to a drop-off point, but not a shipper of multiple packages at one time. I just can't see a passenger railroad setting up a workable arrangement for first-mile and last-mile handling included in the rate for the line haul and paid for by the railroad.