jscalia

I was in Penn Station NYC today and happened to go by the Amtrak waiting area and noticed a sign illustrating the acceptable size allowance for take on baggage. I am certain that my bagged folded bike Friday size exceeds that limit. Are these size restrictions enforced?

HGR3inOK

Below is Amtrak's response of 03/13/2012 to my inquiry of 03/09/2012:

================
Thank you for contacting us.

We apologize that it has taken longer than expected for us to reply. We have had an unusually high number of e-mail requests. Your patience is appreciated.

Below is Amtrak's current policy regarding folding bicycles:

Folding bicycles and unicycles may be brought aboard passenger cars as carry-on baggage.

Conditions:

- Only true folding bicycles that are designed to fold into a compact assembly, or unicycles that can be disassembled to be of similar small size, are acceptable. Folding bicycles have small wheels and latches that let the frame fold up.

- Folding bicycles/unicycles must be able to fold into a size no greater than 34" x 15" x 48"/860 mm x 380 mm x 1220 mm.

- Regular bicycles of any size, with or without wheels, are not considered folding bicycles, and may not be stored aboard the train as carry-on folding bicycles.

- Folding bicycles and unicycles must be folded before boarding and will not count against the two-baggage carry-on limit.

- Folding bicycles and unicycles may only be stored in luggage storage areas at the end of the car (or, in Superliners, on the lower level).

- Folding bicycles/unicycles may not be in stored in overhead luggage racks, vestibules or in reserved (ticketed) bicycle racks.

If you have further questions, please call us at 1-800-USA-RAIL (1-800-872-7245). Press '0' or say 'agent' to bypass the automated system.

We hope this information is useful.

Sincerely,

Patrice
Amtrak Customer Service

Amtrak.com | Stations | Routes | Deals | Plan a Trip | Help

Amtrak is a registered service mark of the National Railroad Passenger Corporation.


--Original Message--
From: hank@gapcollc.com
Date: 3/9/2012 4:11:16 PM
To: eGainMail@amtrak.com
Subject: General Inquiries

Subject: General Inquiries

Nature of Comment: Suggestion, Inquiry/Request; Other

Name: Hank Ryan
Email: hank@gapcollc.com
Address1: 562 West Main
Address2:
City: Norman
State: OK
Zip/Postal: 73069
Country: United States
Primary Phone: 405-202-3497 - mobile
Mobile Phone:
Amtrak Guest Rewards #:

Reservation Number:

Date of Incident: mm.dd.yyyy
Time of Incident: hh.mm

Message:
We own a bicycle shop that sells folding bicycles. Amtrak Operations Standards Update 07-15 indicates a maximum carry-on folding bike size of 34"x15"x48". Other information on the Amtrak web site indicates a maximum carry-on size of 28"x22"x14" (to fit in overhead bins?). The most popular 20"-wheeled folding bicycles have a listed folding size of ~31"x25"x12". Since folding bicycles may only be place in luggage storage areas (not in overhead bins), one would think that this minor size variation could be waived. Can you provide guidance on this issue? We are particularly interested in the Heartland Flyer route. Your prompt response will be appreciated.

Operating System: WinXP (WinNT 5.1)
Browser: MSIE? (MSIE?8.0)
User-Agent: Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 8.0; Windows NT 5.1; Trident/4.0; .NET CLR 3.0.4506.2152; .NET CLR 3.5.30729; .NET CLR 2.0.50727)
=======================

Hope this helps!

-HANK RYAN-
Norman, Oklahoma USA

DVC45

I brought along my Birdy on my trip to Texas last year with no fuss from Amtrak. Just make sure it is bagged.

mulveyr 

99% of the time, if you can carry something on yourself and stow it safely, Amtrak won't care.

It's that 1% of the time that you encounter a staff member who's a stickler for the rules that you head a headache. ;-)

jscalia

Ok, I talked to a very helpful Amtrak customer service employee today in person at the Newark Penn Station office and after leading me into her office and looking up the regs, she printed me a copy of the acceptable dimensions for folded bikes, - Folding bicycles/unicycles must be able to fold into a size no greater than 34" x 15" x 48"/860 mm x 380 mm x 1220 mm. My folded and bagged bike Friday Crusoe with rear rack,front wheel, and pedals attached is well within those dimensions. However, she told me to bring the documentation with me in case I get questioned.