Is there a baggage car shortage?

Could there be more than 5 baggage cars stored unserviceable or stored serviceable awaiting repairs? I ask this question to find out if it is a reason for baggage service having been suspended on the CAROLINIAN and soon on the4 PENNYSLVANIAN?
OnTrackOnLine shows 65 of the 70 Viewliner II cars in service - not sure if any more have been taken out of service since the site was last updated.
Baggage service ended on trains 448/449 (Boston section of the LAKE SHORE LIMITED 1/7/19 and on the overnight Boston-Newport News trains when they were discontinued in December of last year.
It has been suspended on the Carolinian and will be suspended on the Pennsylvanian 10/3 - same day the Silver Meteor returns. I don't think Pakaage Express has ever returned.
The only derailments involving trains that had Viewliner II baggage cars that I can recall were the Empire Builder 9/25/21 in Joplin, MT and SOUTHWEST CHIEF in Mendon, MO on 6/27/22. The Silver Star collision at Cayce, SC 2/4/18 probably
would not have damaged the baggage car since it was on the rear of the train.
So, with baggage cars on the Sunset (?4), Southwest Chief (?6), California Zephyr (?7), Coast Starlight (?4), Capitol Limited (?3), Pennsylvanian (2), Lake Shore Limited (?4), Texas Eagle (?4), City of New Orleans (?4), Carolinian (2), Silver Star (?6),
Silver Meteor (?5) and Palmetto (2), that's about 49 cars. If 65 are in service how can there be a shortage?
Andy

How about cars that no longer have a "good COT&S - Clean, Oil, Test & Stencil. - date" and Amtrak has no available and qualified staff to perform this work on the brake system?

It could simply be a staffing issue more than an equipment issue.

These baggage disagreements need to think back. Let us play rolling stock acquisition manager. Senior managers want 100 new sleepers lets call then V-2s, baggage cars to replace worn out. diners to replace all heritage diners and Baggage dorms. bags,

So 25 diners will cover all the single level train sets, 25 baggage dorms will cover expected baggage on those single level trains, 50 sleepers will enable for single level cars to meet anticipated sleeper demand. enabling average of 4 sleepers on each single level. Of course seasonal variations will have more sleepers some times.
Now we can plan our trains with 2 or 3 locos, Bag dorm, diner, lounfe, 4 sleepers and 6 -8 coaches. The western trains will need full baggage cars for the greater capacity and the planned additional Superliners. So, 50 baggage are needed, When ordering let Amtrak get option for more cars for new routes.

Now upper management starts meddling making some dubious assumptions.
1. We need more baggage space on single levels ,. cut bag - dorms to 10 and make 15 more bags.
2. Sleeper demand will not be much better - cut sleepers to 25.
3. Sleeper design wrong continue making change orders.
4. And on and on. 10+ years and counting with no follow up orders.

The Portland branch of the Empire Builder uses the Superliner coach-baggage, and they are also found elsewhere
as needed.

Express shipping (packages and LCL pallets) remains suspended.

I am not so sure there is a baggage car shortage. Both the Pennsylvanian and the Carolinian are state subsidized trains covering any Amtrak loses on these routes. And neither earn a profit, so those states have to subsidize. I think you might discover that the states might be willing to subsidize passenger loses, but not baggage car loses. Some states also refuse to subsidize cafe car loses as well. If they had baggage cars in the past but not now, there might have been a renewal of their contracts with Amtrak recently that changes what the states were willing to subsidize, or Amtrak changed how they account the operations of the baggage cars.
Just because there is an Antrak badge and livery on some trains, it does not mean Amtrak controls everything about the trains.

Sorry, but I am simply astounded by the amount of stuff "amateur travelers" feel compelled to take with them - any mode of transport.

I cannot promise this link will work (I'm fresh out of Gift Articles), but here goes (feedback, anyone?):

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/08/opin ... =url-share

Fair Use:

My boyfriend is, somehow, even worse than I am. His philosophy when it comes to luggage is progressive: Leave no shirts behind, lest they feel excluded from our vacation. He doesn’t want anyone at a hotel to see him in the same outfit twice.

With our traveling circus of luggage, we are hangers-on to an old way of life. Long gone are the days when you wouldn’t think twice about checking a bag and waltzing onto a plane empty-handed, knowing it was someone else’s problem. Today, there is intense pressure to pack light and travel exclusively with carry-on, leading to boarding processes so stressful they can feel like the wildebeest stampede from “The Lion King.” We’ve been forced to become our own baggage handlers — and we often have to pay for the privilege.

Now speaking for myself, presently I travel away from home about thirty nights a year, with my travel including all three modes. Allow me to note that I last checked a bag with an airline was during '85 - and they "delayed" it, and I have never checked a bag with any railroad - Amtrak or predecessor.

electricron wrote: ↑Thu Jul 13, 2023 9:49 am I am not so sure there is a baggage car shortage. Both the Pennsylvanian and the Carolinian are state subsidized trains covering any Amtrak loses on these routes. And neither earn a profit, so those states have to subsidize. I think you might discover that the states might be willing to subsidize passenger loses, but not baggage car loses. Some states also refuse to subsidize cafe car loses as well. If they had baggage cars in the past but not now, there might have been a renewal of their contracts with Amtrak recently that changes what the states were willing to subsidize, or Amtrak changed how they account the operations of the baggage cars.
Just because there is an Antrak badge and livery on some trains, it does not mean Amtrak controls everything about the trains.

If I remember correctly NCDOT made it clear to Amtrak that they wanted a baggage car on the Carolinian (and the baggage car needed to accept unboxed bikes). They maintain baggage service on the Piedmont trains as well (about 1/3 of the lounge/vending cars are walled off for baggage). While NCDOT appears to be insistent about the service, checked baggage is not offered at all stations and the amount of baggage being handled on the route -looks- to be decreasing over time (but my personal observations may not be the most reliable gauge).

When the Vermonter, Ethan Allen and Adirondack had their baggage cars, the baggage service was funded by the states (Vermont Agency of Transportation and NYSDOT respectively). Interestingly the baggage car was available for bike service for all stations on the Vermonter except Claremont. You could bring a bike from Trenton to Montpelier or an express shipment up to 75 lb per item or 500 lb from Philadelphia to Burlington-Essex Jct. (staffed stations), but nothing at Claremont.

Among other state funded trains, the Surfliner, San Joaquin, Cascades and Hiawatha have baggage service. If 448/449 were to be split off as a separate connecting feeder, they would possibly fall under MassDOT jurisdiction.

I think every train with a baggage car will accept unboxed bicycles (at least every train through NC including the LD trains do) for $20 a bike (bikes are free between Raleigh and Charlotte on the Carolinian and Piedmont services). Passengers do have to reserve bike transport.

Along with many others around here, I hold Amtrak ordered too many Baggage Cars as part of the V-II procurement. If various roads were to impose minimum axle counts, such as are in place along the former IC, MP, and SP lines, other cars, such as "stripped out" Heritage cars, could have filled that requirement.

But then in all likelihood, the Boardman term that placed the V-II order was likely the very last LD advocate administration Amtrak will ever have.

Now regarding packing for a trip, when I've been overseas, I can't help but notice how little stuff compared with "us", Europeans take with them. I don't think that Times column I linked earlier in the topic had anyone other than Americans in mind (off topic; that TV show "White Lotus" did not help the cause to take what you need, but need what you take).

Now I should respect that there are those around here who are aficionados of bicycles as much as they are of trains - and bicycles are best handled in Baggage Cars. I will not lose sight that they are a good source of exercise - and who doesn't need that!!! Now, and as those around here who know me face to face hopefully agree, I am only "slightly" overweight, but I am "scared" to ride a bicycle anymore considering the absence of "caution, courtesy, and common sense" observed by drivers on streets and highways. The last time I rode one was as an undergraduate student at University of Illinois, which, suffice to say, "was a few years ago".

There are a bunch of V-II bags working the KC-STL run as axle count cars…I’d estimate six between the two consists.