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One Step at a Time: Checked Baggage Returns to Cardinal
Wednesday, May 12, 2010
When seeking a long-term goal such as a world-class passenger train network that exceeds travelers’ expectations, it is important to celebrate small improvements. The Cardinal, which is the only Amtrak train serving Cincinnati, Charleston, W.Va., and other intermediate points—and the only direct link between Chicago and Northeast Corridor points such as Baltimore and Philadelphia, is one of only two overnight trains that run less frequently than once a day. To add to that, the Cardinal is given a shorter consist than all other overnight trains, often resulting in bedrooms and seats selling out weeks in advance of departure. The line is in great need of improvement, which is now beginning to happen thanks to the route performance review system put in place under the 2008 Passenger Rail Investment and Improvement Act [PDF summary].
Beginning with the departure of train 50 from Chicago on Tuesday, May 11, a baggage car was added to the Cardinal, which had been without checked baggage service for more than ten years. Although the number of stations where bags can be checked is limited to those staffed by Amtrak agents, the addition of checked baggage—a service so commonplace in air and intercity bus travel that it is taken for granted—should help to reduce delays and crowding that result by passengers having to bring large, heavy suitcases onto the train with them.
We hope that this will be the first in a series of significant improvements to long-distance service in the next few years, and that its success—combined with an infusion of new cars and locomotives—will provide further impetus to run the Cardinal daily.
Here is the baggage car on train 50, shown on Wednesday morning, May 12, in Charleston, WV (photos by Charles Riecks)
Yet the Charleston station crew is still waiting for power baggage carts to be delivered. In the meantime, this is what they are using:
—Malcolm Kenton
P.S.—Check out the winners of Amtrak’s “Trainsportation” video contest for Illinois college students.
Posted by Malcolm Kenton
Tags: amtrak, baggage, cardinal, charleston, cincinnati, improvement, long-distance route, ohio, passenger train, service, west virginia,©2010 National Association of Railroad Passengers | » NARP website
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