Amtrak

[Plum Hill]

I see Amtrak offers a roll-on bike service on some trains. One rolls the bike to the baggage car and hands it off to the handler. Bike is then brought to the car door at destination.
Has anyone used this service?
Curious how well the bike is stored and cared for.

Amtrak still offers bike boxes (which, the last time I used, were huge and only pedal and handlebar removal was required) that would offer more protection but dragging a box is more difficult than rolling a bike.

[marsh]

Have done it twice from Chicago to C&O Canal/DC. It's awesome. Basically it's a big car dedicated to bikes. You roll your bike to the car, hang it up, then take your seat. They want you to take your panniers off. The train has never arrived even close to on-time, but it was great nonetheless.

[skiezo]

I have also used this service from Harrisburg PA to Richmond VA. We than did 3 to 4 day rides back to Harrisburg PA on CC type tour.
It is a great way to get to a destination with what you want to ride with and not have to worry about any shipping anything back.

[palincss]

I was keenly looking forward to using the RoRo service on the Capitol Limited between DC and Pittsburgh. We were even planning a bike club tour around the idea.

And then we heard from one of our members, who used it last fall. He said they took no care whatsoever for his bike, just rolled it up to a cargo car and no hooks, literally just threw it in on top of a pile of other bikes with no padding between them.

So we've changed our plans, and we're driving to Cumberland and taking a shuttle to Pittsburgh. I've used the shuttles before, and they take excellent care of the bikes.

[charliedid]

I think it's great but it is for sure hit or miss if you actually get a bike car.

I rolled on in Chicago and they said sorry we didn't get the bike car. I was instructed to put it in an empty baggage car. I looked in and I stepped back out and said where? She said just set it on the ground in there ;-( I ended up toe strapping the bike upright by the seat post to a steel upright for one of the shelves.

[keevon]

I helped my Mom catch the Capitol Limited in Pittsburgh for a trip down to Cumberland last summer. When she and the rest of the cyclists went to roll on their bikes, they were greeted with an empty luggage car without bike racks. The Amtrak staff explained that the racks were too much of an issue to deal with, so they just removed them.

She and the rest of the cyclists went ahead and laid their bikes on the floor of the luggage car. Everyone was pretty shocked at Amtrak's new policy.