Railroad Forums 

  • Amtrak Auto Train Discussion

  • Discussion related to Amtrak also known as the National Railroad Passenger Corp.
Discussion related to Amtrak also known as the National Railroad Passenger Corp.

Moderators: GirlOnTheTrain, mtuandrew, Tadman

 #1529505  by train2
 
I saw a report yesterday that the Auto Train had to set an auto carrier off en-route. While I am sure this is somewhat rare it has to have happened before. What is Amtrak's obligations and remedy for this problem?

Provide taxi's for the passengers effected to get home? Even if that is hours away? Do they hire a service to then deliver/drive the cars to your home when the car is repaired? I am guessing the best case scenario is the auto-rack car would be delivered on the next's days AT? But it could be a couple of days if they are at the mercy of CSX's mechanical department.

Interesting predicament to be in.
 #1529610  by STrRedWolf
 
John_Perkowski wrote: Sun Dec 29, 2019 12:35 pm First place to look is the contract of carriage.
Amtrak's ToC:
Transportation of vehicles and their contents via Auto Train is subject to special rules and regulations contained in tariffs, which are available for inspection at any Amtrak ticket office.

Personal effects and baggage remaining in your vehicle during transit are solely your responsibility. Amtrak is unable to accept responsibility for these items. In the unlikely event of damage to your vehicle in transit or during loading or unloading, Amtrak will accept responsibility only if you report the damage to an authorized Amtrak representative before leaving the terminal; the Amtrak representative must determine that the damage occurred while the vehicle was in Amtrak custody.
 #1529623  by STrRedWolf
 
JimBoylan wrote: Sun Dec 29, 2019 9:59 pm So, if your car never gets to the terminal, you have no recourse?
I think that's covered under the special tariff rules that are not publicly posted. First section that I quoted.
 #1529629  by Arlington
 
What happens to the unsold seat/room inventory if the cars sell out? (Asking a question that should have been asked here)
Arborwayfan wrote: Sun Dec 29, 2019 10:19 pm This is not really about more auto trains, but it's related and I don't want to start a new thread for a minor question: When the Auto Train sells out all its vehicle space without selling out all its seats and sleeping spaces, does Amtrak open the remaining seats and spaces to passengers who are not bringing a vehicle, but who want to travel between Lorton and Sanford? If they don't, why do you think they decided not to? Or does this somehow never happen? Does the opposite ever happen: sold out on seats but not sold out on vehicle spaces? And in that case would it make sense for them to let people ship their cars to friends or relatives who would collect them at the other end?
 #1529652  by Gilbert B Norman
 
Mr. Arborway, the next time you will see Auto Train handling passengers without auto is when an emergency rises to the level of 9/11, as that is the last time such occurred.

Auto Train is operated under a separate contract that Amtrak assumed from the private concern's Estate. That contract required only passengers with an auto could be handled. "Once upon a time" when the private concern did not charge a separate rail fare for each passenger up to the limit the vehicle could lawfully carry, there was a "standing at the corner" hitchhiking business at both Lorton and Sanford. Whatever arrangements the parties made was between them. I suppose even with Amtrak ticketing each passenger, some unrelated party arrangement could be made "underground". But no one is allowed to simply go to a terminal and start "thumbing". The cops and their four legged friends would make quick end to that.
 #1529671  by Arlington
 
Mr Norman's "heritage practice" suggests that even though facially-neutral, they'd originally have expected a car sell out to be the limiting factor, it being hard to add autoracks, but easy to throw on some extra coach seats so as always to be able handle any people that showed up in the final auto.

In the age of Uber, I'm surprised that there hasn't arisen a "no car" offering, if even as a standby seating option.
 #1529691  by mtuandrew
 
I suppose that depending on ticket prices as relative to gas and insurance, someone could run their own car ferry service using Auto Train, as long as the endpoints involve the eastern seaboard. Does Amtrak require the car’s title and registration to match the passenger information as part of the reservation process?
 #1529704  by Erie-Lackawanna
 
My understanding from someone in a position to know is that Amtrak provides a rental car to passengers whose car didn’t make it. Then, when the rack finally makes it to its intended terminal, Amtrak arranges for a courier service to deliver the vehicle to wherever the passenger told them they will be.

Jim
 #1529722  by Arborwayfan
 
If the contract could be altered at this point -- and why would anyone object? -- the reservation system could be programmed so that once a given day's southbound Auto Train filled up with vehicles, the system would offer anyone who searched DC-Orlando the available seats/spaces from Lorton to Sanford, and similarly in the other direction. Are there any other stations served by Florida trains that are equally close to Lorton and/or Sanford? If so, they could get the same programming. Some of the people looking might actually live/want to get to someplace closer to the Auto Train station.

Most southbound trains for the next week are sold out for vehicles but have at least two seats (some days have at least five; one has a family bedroom). Based on the fares the system shows -- it shows the passenger fares even though it won't sell them -- Amtrak could conceivably get an extra $10,000 this next week just from the southbounds if they sold those seats to people without cars. For a potential 1.04 million dollars a year (if this is typical every week in both directions and the silvers are usually sold out, too) or 251,000 dollars a year (if only a quarter of the weeks in the year look like this) or even 100,000 a year (if the situation is rare or it tends to occur only southbound in early winter and northbound in late winter and/or not many of those seats/rooms would actually sell if offered), maybe Amtrak should try to renegotiate that inherited contract.

Anyone know about typical passenger loads? Is this week just a peak week because of retired snowbirds heading south after Christmas with their grandchildren (etc), or does the Auto Train tend to run full for vehicles with some extra seats?
 #1529754  by Gilbert B Norman
 
Mr. Arborway's immediate proposal to handle passengers without autos, presumably on a standby basis so that the "last minute Bennie-Caddy-Lex" willing to pay whatever is not turned away, has merit. The biggest barrier is bureaucratic mindset.

I suppose in this "gig economy", somebody could dream up a for hire Auto-Train livery service. After all what are any of these services, Uber, Air BnB, We Work, other than a means to monetize what otherwise are personal assets?

Admittedly an off topic diversion on my part, the "little details", such as licensure, indemnification, and taxation, are "uh, not exactly" concerns within the "gig economy". Once upon a time (in a galaxy far far away) when Jeff was packaging up books in his garage, collection of "Sales Tax" was of little concern. But the "little Bozos" became big, and now South Dakota v. Wayfair has been handed down by The Supremes:

https://www.wsj.com/articles/sales-tax- ... lewebshare
  • 1
  • 96
  • 97
  • 98
  • 99
  • 100
  • 117