Luggage on Acela Express

[BillHana]

With air travel terrible these days we am thinking about taking Acela Express to Baltimore. My local station does not have luggage service. If we drag our suitcases on are we stuck with them at our seats? There is also a size limitation which says only bags smaller than what airlines accept. Anyone have experience with this?

[poocher]

We took the Acela from New Haven to Washington DC many years ago.  Yes, luggage stayed with us.

[Charles4515]

17 minutes ago, BillHana said:

With air travel terrible these days we am thinking about taking Acela Express to Baltimore. My local station does not have luggage service. If we drag our suitcases on are we stuck with them at our seats? There is also a size limitation which says only bags smaller than what airlines accept. Anyone have experience with this?

There are overhead luggage compartments and luggage storage areas at the end of the coach. The overhead compartments are much larger than airliner overhead storage.  The size limitation for carry on luggage is 28 inches. 

[earltonharley]

One year we traveled out of Baltimore and took our luggage with us. We piled it in the area reserved for wheelchairs. If there are no chairs, you are good to go. 

[Charles4515]

11 minutes ago, earltonharley said:

One year we traveled out of Baltimore and took our luggage with us. We piled it in the area reserved for wheelchairs. If there are no chairs, you are good to go. 

Piling it in the wheelchair space is a violation of the ADA. Just because there is no chair when you board does not mean one is not comming on down the line. Passenger in wheeelchairs get pretty annoyed and rightfully so if there is luggage in that space. There is plenty of room in the overhead compartments for luggage. I have put 26 inch bags up there. If my bag is heavy and I don't want to lift it up over my head  I store it in the racks that are at each end of the car. 

[navybankerteacher]

1 hour ago, earltonharley said:

One year we traveled out of Baltimore and took our luggage with us. We piled it in the area reserved for wheelchairs. If there are no chairs, you are good to go. 

On Acela (which is what OP referenced) there are luggage areas at the ends of each car.  There are also fairly spacious overhead racks - with plenty of space due to the intelligent design of Acela equipment.

 

Do not be an ass and co-opt handicapped areas.

[GTJ]

2 hours ago, Charles4515 said:

Piling [baggage] in the wheelchair space is a violation of the ADA.

No, it is not a violation of the ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990). The ADA and its implementing regulations imposes certain obligations on carriers to not discriminate against individuals with disabilities, but imposes not obligations on passengers not to discriminate. The ADA implementing regulations explicitly state: "(1) When an individual with a disability enters a vehicle, and because of a disability, the individual needs to . . . occupy a wheelchair securement location, the entity [meaning Amtrak] shall ask the following persons to move in order to allow the individual with a disability to occupy the . . . securement location: . . . (ii) Individuals sitting in . . . a wheelchair securement location. . . . (3) The entity is not required to enforce the request that other passengers move from . . . wheelchair securement locations. (4) In all signage . . . designating wheelchair securement areas, the entity shall include language informing persons sitting in these locations that they should comply with requests by transit provider personnel to vacate their seats to make room for an individual with a disability." 49 C.F.R. § 37.167(j). This provision clearly recognizes that wheelchair securement areas need not be kept vacant for the exclusive use by individuals with disabilities. Unless needed for that purpose, such areas are deemed by the ADA regulations to be available to all persons. Furthermore, even when the space is actually needed by an individual with a disability, all that the ADA regulations require is that Amtrak request that the area be cleared. And while a civil person would ordinarily move baggagge on request, the ADA regulations do not require passenger acquiescence to the request. Indeed, the person keeping their baggage in the wheelchair securement area may themselves be disabled and unable to move their baggage elsewhere, and for Amtrak to require such a persons to do so could constitute discrimination that violates the ADA. Now Amtrak could impose its own rules, as part of its terms and conditions for transportation, which would prohibit the storage of baggage in wheelchair securement areas. And if that were the case then such baggage storage would be a violation of the terms and conditions of transportation. But in any case, storing baggage in wheelchair securement areas is NOT an violation of the ADA by the passenger doing so.

[Nitemare]

There is substantial room for luggage at the end of each car.

 

Let's leave it at that

[GTJ]

3 hours ago, Nitemare said:

There is substantial room for luggage at the end of each car.

Sometimes it can get tight, notably on Fridays and Sundays and particularly on holiday weekends. Many times the crew can be helpful, especially in the first class car where gratuities are most frequently extended (or withheld). But regardless, the space is substantially more generous than on aircraft.

 

19 hours ago, BillHana said:

[W]e am thinking about taking Acela Express to Baltimore. My local station does not have luggage service.

Even if a station offers baggage service, not all trains may carry baggage cars. In the northeast very few trains have baggage cars, and if one desires to check baggage it may be necessary to check in advance of actual travel (best to do so the day before) or risk having to have checked baggage sent on a subsequent train and not have the baggage at the station upon arrival. By checking baggage in advance it will be waiting for the passenger upon arrival in the station's baggage room (the risk of having unaccompanied baggage taken by someone is generally much lower than for air travel because Amtrak tends to do a much better job at matching claim tickets with the tags attached to checked baggage). Given the foregoing, the incidence of baggage checking in the northeast is quite low, and even elsewhere, on the longer distance trains, many people prefer not to check baggage because of the convenience of having access to their baggage while traveling.