Mail by Rail -- Amtrak Postal Service

[David Benton]

Also have wondered if certain courier options would be more efficient by rail than by car/truck.

Just rent a lockbox space in the baggage car and use "as needed".

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Both your ideas are kinda what I'm talking about .

[eolesen]

So, Amtrak's unions and the FRA are going to sign off on random people walking in/out of the baggage car to pick up and drop off items?

Yeah, no. Anything carried onboard probably needs to be tendered to a railroad employee for legality and security purposes.

[John_Perkowski]

Here in Kansas City, the IRS took over the old post office and it became the home of where your tax returns get processed. I know, I work in it now.

The freight railroads have the advantage for TOFC and COFC storage mail. You want to send an item from New York to Wichita Kansas? CSX/NS and BNSF can do that for you, in a pretty timely way. Amtrak has to have a mode change at either Newton or Hutchinson.

[NY&LB]

I have an idea, first we put mail in canvas sacks (with bar codes for tracking). Now if a train does not stop in a town that needs mail picked up or dropped off, let's put a pole trackside and the baggage car attendant can open the door and a bar with a hook can be extended and grab the mail sack. Mail can be dropped off in a similar way. No station necessary, no stop required, just a trackside pole wherever mail needs to be picked up or dropped off!

The USPS is very efficient and their distribution / sorting system works pretty good.

[Gilbert B Norman]

Mr. Long Branch, before your time, I know, but your immediate is a "been there done that".

The IRM "shows how it was done" for the befefit of the tourists:

https://youtu.be/yxtGANhbr-0

Somewhere within this propaganda flick, handling mail on the fly is likeky shown:

https://vimeo.com/354498463

The POD - Post Office Department, which was reorganized with the same "quasi-public corporation", as has Amtrak, during, surprise;'71, into the USPS of today, decided that rail was no longer their primary carrier, and that "Air Mail", which was once a premium product, would be the standard.

Of interest, mail was handled by Kansas City Terminal RY st Union Station well into the Amtrak-era, but it was "truck in, truck out".

Know so first hand (MILW was an owner, lest we forget), but Amtrak wanted a "piece of that action" as an offset against what they paid for under Sec 4.4 of the '71 Agreement. The matter went to Court; how it was resolved, this lowerling was not privy.

[NY&LB]

You only have a few years on me Mr. Norman!

[mtuandrew]

I have an idea, first we put mail in canvas sacks (with bar codes for tracking). Now if a train does not stop in a town that needs mail picked up or dropped off, let's put a pole trackside and the baggage car attendant can open the door and a bar with a hook can be extended and grab the mail sack. Mail can be dropped off in a similar way. No station necessary, no stop required, just a trackside pole wherever mail needs to be picked up or dropped off!

The USPS is very efficient and their distribution / sorting system works pretty good.

Remind me not to order electronics delivery by your mail service

[west point]

Many do not realize it but the USPS routes electronics differently than regular mail. For example my normal mail goes to the Atlanta sorting center 45 miles. Media goes directly in a separate truck to a special sorting center in Memphis.

[David Benton]

So, Amtrak's unions and the FRA are going to sign off on random people walking in/out of the baggage car to pick up and drop off items?

Yeah, no. Anything carried onboard probably needs to be tendered to a railroad employee for legality and security purposes.

Not Random people no . Agreements would be in place with Courier or mail companies to cover the legalities , couriers would be scanned in / out and trained to a level required. Its not really that different to how they access buildings and other business premises.
I do think it may be in Amtraks interest to have a Assistant conductor present in the car , particularly if Amtrak then offers some form of checked luggage service as well.
Amtrak already allows passengers to assist with loading of bikes, golf clubs etc on some routes.

[R36 Combine Coach]

Back in the days of the Vermonter (1995-2002), passengers had to load and unload the bikes themselves.
(Bike service was not available in Claremont, NH for some reason)

[STrRedWolf]

I'm not talking container size , I'm talking large suitcase , rolling pallet size.
Maybe Farley will sort NYP problems . If there's difficult access , it needs improving for passengers anyway .
As far as batteries go , again i 'm talking courier bag amounts , not bulk.

It's still an unsecured load. Amtrak gave MARC grief on bikes until the past five years, when MARC was able to produce a design and modify a few MARC IIA's into Bike cars. Only within the past year or two were MARC IV's modified to have a couple of bike docks on board.

You can have courier bags, but Amtrak will want them in secured, tagged containers. Besides, if you're going to have them in bulk, ready to grab and go, why not yank them all out in one go and have the couriers pick them up while the train is leaving?

[Tadman]

I have an idea, first we put mail in canvas sacks (with bar codes for tracking). Now if a train does not stop in a town that needs mail picked up or dropped off, let's put a pole trackside and the baggage car attendant can open the door and a bar with a hook can be extended and grab the mail sack. Mail can be dropped off in a similar way. No station necessary, no stop required, just a trackside pole wherever mail needs to be picked up or dropped off!

The USPS is very efficient and their distribution / sorting system works pretty good.

This was fascinating to watch at one time, but I just cannot see the safety folks letting this happen in 2020. With all the violent forces of a 50lb mailbag flying out of a baggage car or hooking on at 79mph, the imaginarium would run wild and prevent this at all. Heck I can't believe they even let trains run over 50mph, it's scary!

[gokeefe]

I remain convinced that Express Mail is a viable option with pickup and drop off handled by USPS personnel or their contractors. Go ahead and try and think of a faster or cheaper way to get an Express Mail package or envelope to Exeter, NH from Boston or Portland that doesn't involve using a courier or a special trip.

On high frequency corridors Amtrak would have a tremendous advantage over other services for certain zip code pairings. Imagine for example Express Mail ("Priority Mail Express" !!) from Hartford to New York City. Has to get there "next day". Why bother with air cargo when you could dispatch via Amtrak?? As long as you're dealing with small packages or letter envelopes you don't need specialized handling facilities. Just a van and a person to pick it up at the platform.

The opportunity here isn't about bulk it's about low volume high yield express to oddball zip code pairs. There could be a substantial cost savings here for the postal service if done correctly. Right now they charge the same price whether it's a location with lots of Express volume going there or not.

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[Rockingham Racer]

Totally agree. And on high volume routes, there might even be enough business of the sort to run an overnight dedicated train. again. It seems, though, that USPS has sorting centers, and --to take Boston--its center is in Waltham, MA. So would a package sent from Exeter to Boston get picked up at North Station, or Waltham in your mind's eye?

[gokeefe]

You would bypass the sorting centers on certain zip code pairs (or even more specific ZIP+4) automatically. The label would print with codes or just plain text on it dispatching via Boston North Station.

It would also send an alert to the Supervisor/Postmaster on duty using whatever platform they have for managing mail dispatch. There has to be something for this that also helps with Registered and Certified mail.

Amtrak is perhaps the easiest part ... Just open the door on the baggage car and the letter carrier or contractor leaves the item/items in a lockbox or tagged bag. Could also integrate with Amtrak's passenger manifest (which probably can already handle express and baggage).

It's some middleware software and also some smart design. If the trains are cancelled or running late the software needs to be able to run through the sorting centers. In my mind it's all about identifying situations where Amtrak can be move convenient and cheaper. There are certain very limited situations where this is going to be true but when it is it's probably a very significant savings.

This option might also allow "by the piece" payment and billing as opposed to bulk monthly lease on bagged car space.


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