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  • Amtrak Express suspended as of Oct 1 2020

  • 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

 #1548888  by bostontrainguy
 
FWIW:

Effective October 1, 2020, Express shipping service on Amtrak’s regularly scheduled passenger trains will be suspended until further notice. The last date for accepting these shipments will be September 15, 2020, which will ensure all shipments will reach their final destinations before October 1st.
 #1548912  by Greg Moore
 
bostontrainguy wrote: Mon Jul 27, 2020 8:25 pm FWIW:

Effective October 1, 2020, Express shipping service on Amtrak’s regularly scheduled passenger trains will be suspended until further notice. The last date for accepting these shipments will be September 15, 2020, which will ensure all shipments will reach their final destinations before October 1st.
Yeah, this sort of strikes me as BS, but that said, "...September 15, 2020, which will ensure all shipments will reach their final destinations before October 1st." Umm.. 2 weeks is hardly "express"
 #1548920  by STrRedWolf
 
Greg Moore wrote: Tue Jul 28, 2020 11:19 am Yeah, this sort of strikes me as BS, but that said, "...September 15, 2020, which will ensure all shipments will reach their final destinations before October 1st." Umm.. 2 weeks is hardly "express"
I can agree on "express" being a misnomer here, since this is basically "stuff carried in the baggage car".

That said... look at a trip from Seattle to Baltimore. Empire Builder is 3 days. Assume an overnight in Chicago for safety. Go Capital Limited down to DC (another 2 days), then one of the Regionals up to Baltimore (an hour). Factor in handling times, and you got about 7 days.

Seattle to Miami? That's probably another overnight, a load on the Silver Service, another overnight to get there, unload... yeah, you can safely assume 10 days if nothing goes wrong.

Two weeks? I can see it.

I wonder what the freight companies will do...
 #1548930  by Tadman
 
The freight companies will do little to nothing. The express business is a very small piece of the pie. I have been a customer in the past and it's not bad, but you have to go to the station, no extra delivery. There is also little sales and marketing staff to support it. I seem to remember shipping stuff overnight the size of a 2x2x4' box for $60, which is darn cheap other than one has to go downtown to get it. I also once did some preliminary work on a marketing campaign for it. Mr. Moorman was interested in growing it around 2016 and I met some managers about it. The discussion didn't go very far and I wasn't super interested at the time.
 #1548951  by wigwagfan
 
STrRedWolf wrote:UPS and FedEx will do freight loads, as does some lower-tier like G.O.D. (Guaranteed On-time Delivery). USPS... rents space from FedEx if I remember correctly.
UPS small package system (the brown package cars) is maximum 150 pounds. Anything over 150 pounds is handled by UPS Freight (formerly Overnight Transportation, the one-time Union Pacific subsidiary).

Not sure exactly what FedEx's cutoff is between Express, Ground and Freight, however FedEx Express and Ground are separate operations while UPS handles overnight and ground through the same network/employees. Freight is separate at both companies.

USPS maxes out at 70 pounds. Over 70 pounds you're on your own. USPS does move mail via FedEx during the day but USPS still doesn't touch anything over 70 pounds. If it's found, you will be required to pay $100 before the item will be released.
 #1548961  by CraigDK
 
wigwagfan wrote: Tue Jul 28, 2020 9:07 pm
STrRedWolf wrote:UPS and FedEx will do freight loads, as does some lower-tier like G.O.D. (Guaranteed On-time Delivery). USPS... rents space from FedEx if I remember correctly.
UPS small package system (the brown package cars) is maximum 150 pounds. Anything over 150 pounds is handled by UPS Freight (formerly Overnight Transportation, the one-time Union Pacific subsidiary).

Not sure exactly what FedEx's cutoff is between Express, Ground and Freight, however FedEx Express and Ground are separate operations while UPS handles overnight and ground through the same network/employees. Freight is separate at both companies.

USPS maxes out at 70 pounds. Over 70 pounds you're on your own. USPS does move mail via FedEx during the day but USPS still doesn't touch anything over 70 pounds. If it's found, you will be required to pay $100 before the item will be released.
For FedEx Express the limit is 150 pounds. After that is Express Freight and whatever is being shipped has to be on a pallet. It is the same for FedEx Gound (and Home Delivery), except then your options are either FedEx Freight or FedEx Custom Critical.
 #1548991  by jonnhrr
 
There is also the option of LTL freight companies such as Old Dominion.
 #1549066  by StLouSteve
 
One can't help but wonder if this Covid "temporary" suspension is a way to get out of the express business entirely without incurring the wrath of the public. We all know that temporary in Amtrak-speak can mean decades or forever--witness the Sunset to Florida route or dropping of the single level diners until delivery of the new diners, or downgrading of the high speed Dwight section on the Lincoln Route (and I am sure there are plenty of other examples).
 #1549070  by Tadman
 
StLouSteve wrote: Thu Jul 30, 2020 8:24 am One can't help but wonder if this Covid "temporary" suspension is a way to get out of the express business entirely without incurring the wrath of the public.
You may be on to something here. But the fact remains that the operation is so insignificant that any savings or such is probably a rounding error. The assets (baggage cars, big stations) will stay in place. There probably isn't 100 people in on the payroll in this department. The only real savings I see is on the material handling side (forklifts and "jeeps") for moving the loads around the station. Many of them are absolutely ancient and made by vanished manufacturers, perhaps the upkeep is hefty.
 #1549087  by WhartonAndNorthern
 
I remember hearing about a few remaining customers like a florist using Amtrak express to ship flowers on #28 from Portland to Spokane.

I do wonder how this will affect the funeral industry since I believe they do use this service to transport casketed human remains. I'm betting the Florida to New York route was the most common use of this service. I'm not sure how common it was for funeral directors to ship via Amtrak or how they'd plan to replace this service.
 #1549089  by Pensyfan19
 
StLouSteve wrote: Thu Jul 30, 2020 8:24 am One can't help but wonder if this Covid "temporary" suspension is a way to get out of the express business entirely without incurring the wrath of the public. We all know that temporary in Amtrak-speak can mean decades or forever--witness the Sunset to Florida route or dropping of the single level diners until delivery of the new diners, or downgrading of the high speed Dwight section on the Lincoln Route (and I am sure there are plenty of other examples).
Amtrak is also using this as an excuse to try and get out of the LD business by trying to reduce them to tri-weekly. (Penn Central had more passenger trains per day than Amtrak's LDs if they carried this out)