Passenger Trains > Pets (a dog) on Amtrak questions.....

Anyone know if there is a fixed national policy on travel with a pet dog aboard Amtrak? Extra fare? Maximum weight of dog? Containment design requirements? Visiting the pet during travel or at stops? Anyone done this, been there? Any information appreciated. Reference sites? Aaron 20

I believe Amtrak only allows "service animals" such as Seeing Eye dogs.

From www.Amtrak.com:

Only service animals permitted: We allow trained service animals accompanying passengers with disabilities in all customer areas in our stations, trains and Amtrak Thruway motorcoaches.

We permit no other animals onboard at any time.

Control of your animal: You must keep your service animal under the control at all times and comply with local animal safety regulations. The animal should always be on a leash or in a carrier, except as required for boarding or detraining.

Please note that if at any time you lose control of your animal, or your animal causes a significant disturbance, the train crew may in its discretion remove the animal from train and turn it over to local animal control officials.

Walking your animal: If the train schedule permits, you may walk your service animal at station stops provided that you stay within reasonable proximity to the train and re-board promptly when the conductor notifies you that the train is about to depart. If you plan to walk your animal during the trip, please notify the conductor when you first board the train.

As I recall, no pets on Amtrak of any kind (except service dogs).

No place for them to do "their thing", and the baggage cars are not air conditioned or heated.

Late '50s as Head Clerk-Cashier at Fullerton, in selling
tickets the rules from the Passenger Dept., was that in private
rooms you can have no more than three pets with proper carriers..

I often said that you can have a bird, cat and a dog...the cat eats
the bird..the dog chases the cat and at destination you only had
the dog!!!...

VIA still takes pets, but they have to be of a certain size and only offered on some trains (those with baggage cars). There was a Siberian Husky aboard my last trip across Canada on VIA's Canadian. The VIA staff were very generous in allowing the owner to go up and visit/take care of the dog. At longer stops they even allowed the owner and dog to de-train. I think VIA bent the rules on this a little.

A very reputable and wealthy lawyer friend of mine said he would be happy to pay full fare to travel with his dog across the country, He said the dog would likely be better trained than most aboard the train! And he'd have no problem confining him to the bedroom etc. I told him to contact Amtrak or VIA and set a price! With the amount of money and the love for his dog, he'd probably be paying Amtrak or VIA's subsidy for the year if they accommodated him and the dog!

Non-pets such as unaccompanied rodents and roaches travel on Amtrak.

There's a vintage railroad poster from Britain hanging in our kitchen that says "Take your dog with you by rail" with a dog sitting next to a suitcase, saying, I'm ready.

If only we could take our dachshunds on train trips with us--there's no way they're going to fly in the baggage compartment of an airliner! Seems like, if they're welcome in first class hotels, they should be welcome in a sleeper car.

Amtrak used to accept caged animals as checked luggage but I think stopped when the Dept of Agriculture proposed regulations to ensure the animals health which Amtrak felt would be too costly to comply with. The private Auto-Train, and I think the Amtrak one as well, allowed pets in sleeper compartments and even scheduled a "comfort stop" at Florence, NC where the train was re-crewed.

Dave