Reply to Amtrak Capitol Limited -3 bikes?

3 of us are planning to bike from Pittsburg to DC in May and ride Amtrak back. If the Capitol Limited still has the 2-bike limit, does anyone know if boxing the 3rd bike as baggage is an option? Renting a car sounds tempting but with 3 bicycles not sure.

I’ve not heard of a 3 bike limit.....I think there’s up to 6 or 8 slots. Can anyone else confirm?
Maybe they mean one person can’t book 3 at the same time in one swoop? Not sure.

Boxing of bikes is still an option though.

Given the past changes to the Capital Limited schedules and bike transport accommodations, you would be well advised to contact them directly regarding your questions. Even then, as history this past fall demonstrated, you should continue to check back with them periodically, and certainly before departing, to confirm that information.

There seems to have been a lot of confusion with travelers who had made reservations for service this past fall.

Also, on an unrelated subject, please note the work on and the detour required around the Paw Paw Tunnel if you are not already aware of it.

Our experience indicates that a one-way rental car will likely be cheaper than three train tickets.

My wife and I planned to take Amtrak, but then they cancelled bike service on us at the last minute. We got a car for just a few dollars more, and made some nice stops along the way.

My wife and I had similiar experience on west coast this past Thanksgiving. In our case Coast Starlight was showing all the bike spaces taken. I checked several different random dates with same results. I suspect they just didn't want to deal with putting bikes in the baggage car which is what they do (no box needed). I would have loved to used Amtrack but instead we ended up renting a pickup to return from Monterey CA to Palo Alto CA. Was actually cost competitive. For 3 people, rent a PU - plenty of room for you and the bikes.

Thanks for all the input. I talked to an Amtrak agent who could not find any info, except that every reservation date had a limit of 2. She did confirm we could box the 3rd as baggage. We will keep checking back but may rent a car, (not sure what a PU is?). Thanks also for the heads up about the Paw Paw tunnel.

Thanks for all the input. I talked to an Amtrak agent who could not find any info, except that every reservation date had a limit of 2. She did confirm we could box the 3rd as baggage. We will keep checking back but may rent a car, (not sure what a PU is?). Thanks also for the heads up about the Paw Paw tunnel.

When I read Karl’s post, I interpreted “PU” to stand for “pick up” as in pickup truck. Perhaps Karl can confirm.

You should think about renting a car for a one way drop off. Enterprise charges a flat drop off fee. It’s an 8 hour train trip from DC to Pitt and maybe a 3 hour car ride. Im going through the same calculations myself and it’s just much more appealing to sick my bike in a rental car and show up a few hours later.

Not sure exactly what Amtrak is doing/ not doing. I wanted to make 6 person/ bike reservations fir a certain date. The train from Cumberland only runs every other day and there were only to bike slots. Whether they'd already been sold or their limiting slots I have no way of knowing. Apart from the pandemic causing problems Amtrak doesn't really have the best "track" record regarding customer service. Roll only bike service is money maker and for the most part bikers load their own bikes. The service at Union Station DC was excellent but the service at Cumberland was lousy. There were 4-5 of us waiting to board. We were told to stand at a certain spot with our bikes. When the train stopped we weren't at the proper car. The baggage guy started barking at us and continued to cause confusion while we all tried to follow his instructions. I finally made a comment and he kinda made it clear he didn't care for us, our bikes, nor the extra money we generated. They need to make the cars more user friendly, have space for more bikes, and lastly shiw some gratitude to the public.

We always do a one-way minivan rental from Enterprise for our bike trips (twice to Cumberland, once to Pittsburgh, and once back from Cleveland after biking the OTET). It's usually just two of us and our bikes, but one time we had a third person and bike. I think we've paid in the $140 to $180 range for the rental. For two people, I think the one-way rental costs a bit more than Amtrak, but the convenience and flexibility of being able to travel on our schedule is definitely worth it to us.

I certainly don't understand how Amtrak manages their business or the economics of it. Further, I don't know what their issues are in transporting bikes.

I must say that the roll on service, particularly in Washington and Pittsburgh, is convenient and easy...plus you get to board early, at least in Washington. All of my experiences at those stations have been positive.

Even before the pandemic and the reduction in scheduled trips, finding and getting a bike reservation to go along with a passenger reservation was difficult especially when returning from Washington. Bike reservations were often unavailable either because of high demand or limited availability. (Not sure which.) Further, it is difficult to find the next available bike reservation as you have to just keep entering successive departure dates in the on-line system until an available reservation appears. I've resorted to calling a real-life reservationist to find when bike reservations would next be available beyond my preferred date and even they seemed to have difficulty within their system.

The schedule to and from Pittsburgh is not ideal as the train arrives/departs Pittsburgh between midnight and 1:00am as an intermediate point in its Chicago/Washington trip.

All that said, as I am usually a solo rider the cost is less than renting a vehicle. Even though it takes twice as long, I don't mind the train since I don't have to drive and can rest, read or sleep on the train.

A better dialog between Amtrak and the riding community would be useful in making for both better service and relations...and hopefully more business for Amtrak.

I so badly want to get with and support Amtrak but they really to make it hard to love with all of the bike reservation issues. When “Roll On Roll Off” works, it’s an excellent, low cost service that I really enjoy. But lately it’s been nothing but confusion for customers.

What makes it even more frustrating is the fact that there’s no way those bike reservations are “sold out”. I mean they might only allow 6 purchased bike reservations but have you ever seen the cars your bikes go in? They could easily fit in 15-20 just in that little part of the car alone. We just laid ours down on the floor last time....no slots, no hangers, nothing. Don’t see why they can’t increase the amount they accept.

On my last attempt at the GAP/C&O I actually managed to secure a bike reservation from Pittsburgh to DC only for them to cancel it on me two weeks out. So I ended up renting a van and riding to National Airport in DC. Like Rivnuts said, I too like to rest and not drive but I’m beginning to lose faith with this set up and have resigned myself to knowing I’ll likely just have to rent a van to make this bike tour happen.

Amtrak should check out Toronto’s GO Train set up for ideas on how this should work. I once took the Toronto to Niagara Falls train with roll on roll off service. Quick, speedy, cheap, friendly service with tons of slots and space for bikes. I really don’t know why this is so hard for Amtrak.