About Amtrak Car Transport
Although rail based vehicle moving services are common in other countries, there is only one of its kind in the United States. The Amtrak Car Transport also known as the Auto Train, runs regularly between Lorton, VA (a suburb of Washington, DC) and Sanford, FL (a suburb of Orland). Specialized equipment allow customers to take along their car, small trucks van, SUV, motorcycle, small trailer, or jet-ski as they travel up or down the southern East Coast. Passengers ride either in wide coach seats or private sleeping car rooms while their vehicles are carried in enclosed freight cars, called "autoracks."
Amtrak Car Transport is the successor to an earlier similar named service operated by the privately-owned Auto-Train Corporation in the 1970s. The original Auto-Train operated on Seaboard Coast Line Railroad and Richmond, Fredericksburg & Potomac (RF&P) tracks. Auto-Train Corporation, a privately-owned railroad, used its own rolling stock to provide a unique rail transportation service for both passengers and their automobiles in the United States. The company's founder Eugene K. Garfield wanted to allow families to relax en route to their vacation destination and save them the expense and unfamiliarity of a rental car on arrival.
The service enjoyed great success with travelers and reported profits for the first few years. Before long, the Auto-Train Corporation's ambitious leadership was looking to expand into other markets. A second service, from Louisville, Kentucky to Sanford, was inaugurated in May 1974. It operated only until September 1977, however, having reported a loss of millions of dollars. Auto-Train suffered two derailments, one in 1976; and a major derailment in 1978 that disrupted service and cost the company more than $6 million in lost revenue. Debts accumulated, including millions in taxes, leading to cutbacks in maintenance that slowed operations. Eventually the company was forced into bankruptcy. Although the Auto-Train retained much of its popularity to the end, it terminated its services in late April 1981.
After a period of 22 months without service, the service was revived by Amtrak. Amtrak acquired the terminals in Lorton and Sanford and some of the original Auto-Train equipment. On October 30, 1983, it introduced its new version of the service, Amtrak Car Transport, on a tri-weekly basis. Daily service was introduced a year later. Amtrak continued to use the bi-level and the tri-level autoracks that Auto-Train had used. For passenger equipment, it initially used a mixture of former Auto-Train railcars and mid-century long distance railcars from Amtrak's general fleet, all rebuilt to Amtrak's "Heritage Fleet" standards.
Shipping Cars Overseas
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