Amtrak Express suspended as of Oct 1 2020

ExCon90 wrote: ↑Thu Jun 16, 2022 10:50 pmThey 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." 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.

The Amtrak brochure didn't spell out all of the details about arranging and paying for pickup and delivery. However, Amtrak was continuing the practice of railroad baggage departments that listed in timetables the additional charges, usually payable to the railroad baggage agent, to have trunks, etc. delivered to homes, offices, hotels, steamship wharves, etc. If pickup service was also offered, the extra charges were usually Collect On Delivery.
In the case I mentioned, Union Camp was both the shipper in Savannah, Georgia and the receiver in New Hope, Pennsylvania. New Hope & Ivyland RR wanted a through rate with only one bill to Union Camp. Amtrak was willing
to go along, if NHIR would write the contract and Division Sheet, subject to their approval. NHIR thought this would be a competitive advantage, since ConRail at that time was trying to convert interline freight to separate rates and even separate bills from each railroad! That way, ConRail wouldn't have to employ an Interline Accounting Department.

ExCon90 wrote: ↑Thu Jun 16, 2022 10:50 pm 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.

You just identified the corporate mission of the now long defunct Railway Express Agency.

Exactly -- and it functioned well as long as there was a nationwide network of passenger trains serving the whole country. Once UPS gained nationwide operating authority they overtook Railway Express and replaced it in the public mind as the package carrier of choice. To compete with UPS Amtrak would have had to build up a pu&d service from scratch.

It's now March 2024. Is Amtrak Express Shipping still suspended?

If so, why? And are there any clues as to when it might be restarted?

Neil

No announcement still, so suspension remains in effect.

There were a number of contract commercial account shippers with heavy pallets, they likely moved elsewhere.

Greyhound permanently ended package express service, focusing on passenger service.

R36 Combine Coach wrote: ↑Fri Mar 08, 2024 6:55 pm Greyhound permanently ended package express service, focusing on passenger service.

Others have posted that Greyhound will be gone shortly. It certainly has cut back service around here. That will cause a need for someone to fill in the gaps. Will it be Amtrak ? Unknown at present.

west point wrote: ↑Sat Mar 09, 2024 6:07 am

R36 Combine Coach wrote: ↑Fri Mar 08, 2024 6:55 pm Greyhound permanently ended package express service, focusing on passenger service.

Others have posted that Greyhound will be gone shortly. It certainly has cut back service around here. That will cause a need for someone to fill in the gaps. Will it be Amtrak ? Unknown at present.

It'll be FedEx or similar companies. FedEx Express will handle pallets from house to house without requiring separate accounts for FedEx Freight though they will charge extra for picking up a pallet at a location without a loading dock. (This is entirely separate from FedEx Freight.)

IIRC, the big intermodal meltdown within the US during the pandemic was shipments that were to be picked up by receivers not being picked up or, if being delivered, being refused as the receiver's site didn't have room to handle the container. This led to intermodal facilities filling with containers being held awaiting delivery and preventing newer shipments from entering those facilities. Given that experience, I wouldn't be surprised that firms like Amtrak and Greyhound that aren't primarily in the end-to-end package delivery business, but only providing a part of the logistics chain using excess capacity in other services, don't want to be in the retail package business (where retail means selling package services to anyone other than end-to-end logistics firms like FedEx, USPS, and other freight forwarders).