Can Amtrak trains make unscheduled stops in small town america to serve small communities?

[NorwichRailFan]

Hello, this question popped into my head earlier when I was looking at the small community of Norwich, North Dakota.

It is a small farming community about 15 miles from the larger city of Minot where's the nearest scheduled Amtrak station is.

The line for Amtrak's Empire Builder service passes right through the community non stop (it wouldn't make sense to have a scheduled stop as the community has a population of less than 40).

This got me wondering, would it be possible for someone to contact Amtrak in advance and ask for them to make a stop to pick up/drop off passengers?

I know this routinely happens in Canada with Via Rail and in Alaska on the Alaska Railroad but I wasn't too sure about Amtrak.

Does anyone have any examples of this happening?

Please let me know, thanks for reading.

 

[jamesontheroad]

In short, no. Low-demand stops already exist in the printed timetable as “flag stops”, ie request stops for which the conductor is required to know in advance about your plan to disembark. But even these are required to have the most basic of amenities, such as a paved or decked boarding area or shelter.

This thread on AmtrakTrains.com gives you some good examples.

However as a fellow (adopted) Norvician I admire your plan. How about getting off a bit before and renting a car to rejoin the train later? Enterprise usually have good coverage of smaller US towns and cities and can pick you up from stations.

 

[ac6000cw]

I know this routinely happens in Canada with Via Rail and in Alaska on the Alaska Railroad

Keep in mind there are communities in Canada (and maybe Alaska) that have no road connection to anywhere else but do have a railway passing by, so a few-times-per-week passenger train making 'flag stops' is very much an essential transport provision. It can be a bit hard (living on a densely populated island) to appreciate just how 'empty' large areas of Canada are.

Even where there aren't any normal passenger trains, how about this for community/school transport - the 'Kaoham Shuttle' train that connects some isolated communities around Seton Lake to Lillooet, BC (it's parked outside the CN office in Lillooet - my photos):

[url=https://flic.kr/p/22nN3je] Lillooet - Kaoham Shuttle by ac6044cw, on Flickr[/URL]

[url=https://flic.kr/p/22nN3ez] Lillooet - Kaoham Shuttle close-up by ac6044cw, on Flickr[/URL]

 

[Steve4031]

Amtrak only stops at stations listed in the timetable. Stopping at random small towns would be difficult. Not every town has a station WITH a safe-to-use platform. The train would have to use a grade crossing.

 

[AdamWW]

Amtrak only stops at stations listed in the timetable. Stopping at random small towns would be difficult. Not every town has a station WITH a safe-to-use platform. The train would have to use a grade crossing.

When I used the Alaska Railroad some time ago the train made many stops where there were no facilities to do so, not even a grade crossing. Luggage (including timber and at one point an inflatable dingy) was handed down to track level from the baggage car and people went off, in some cases without even a visible path to follow.

This sort of thing probably doesn't make sense for Amtrak but unless the rules have changed or it's different in Alaska, then in principle you don't even need a grade crossing.

 

[Steve4031]

I agree that conditions are different in Alaska. I rode up there too. The train is a lifeline.

 

[Track2012]

Many years ago I wanted to ride the Georgia Railroad, which still had a mixed train (one passenger coach on a freight train) from Atlanta to Augusta. I decided to ride to Madison, Georgia (68 miles from Atlanta Halsey Yard) and take the Greyhound back to Atlanta. With the founding of Amtrak railroads that chose not to be part of it had to continue offering rail passenger service (Rock Island, Southern, Georgia and Denver, Rio Grande and Western), and in order not to aggravate the Dept. of Transportation, they had to make a convincing effort at providing good service. Anyone who rode the Georgia mixed in 1975 was a dedicated railfan who ride back and forth from Atlanta to Augusta or hopped onto the return train at the halfway point. Madison, or any other station before Augusta, was not an advertised stop - indeed there were no advertised stops - so the conductor was rather surprised at my request for a one-way ticket to Madison. He was very cordial an accommodating, though. As we approached Madison, the train slowed down (did not stop), and the conductor showed me how to jump off the train backwards onto the road crossing as the train just edged along (I was young and agile then). The people in the cars waiting at the road crossing for the train to pass were quite taken aback (or maybe just amused) at my arrival in town.

 

[67thave]

I agree that conditions are different in Alaska. I rode up there too. The train is a lifeline.

The Alaska Railroad, as well as most VIA Rail services in Canada, are essentially state-operated tourist trains with token provision for flag stops in rural communities. Few locals actually use them and tickets tend to be expensive. The same applies to the majority of Amtrak's long distance network, as services are slow and prone to delays.

I don't see this idea of adding more stops on Amtrak in rural towns ever getting off the ground, and even if it did, it almost certainly would be dropped quickly because the amount of people taking advantage of it would not be worth the extra cost and travel time.

 

[AdamWW]

The Alaska Railroad, as well as most VIA Rail services in Canada, are essentially state-operated tourist trains with token provision for flag stops in rural communities. Few locals actually use them and tickets tend to be expensive.

I can't speak for how things are now, but when I used the Alaska Railroad off season some years ago, the train (one baggage car and one coach) was certainly not primarily a tourist operation and made a large number of stops in the middle of nowhere (I don't think they even count as flag stops).

 

[Llanigraham]

When we rode The Canadian from Toronto to Vancouver, we stopped twice not at stations between Toronto and Winnipeg, once to let off a group of men who were met by a couple of buggies, and we were told they were going hunting/fishing, and once to pick up two people and their luggage who were waiting at the side of the track, so presumably this was pre-arranged.

 

[AdamWW]

When we rode The Canadian from Toronto to Vancouver, we stopped twice not at stations between Toronto and Winnipeg, once to let off a group of men who were met by a couple of buggies, and we were told they were going hunting/fishing, and once to pick up two people and their luggage who were waiting at the side of the track, so presumably this was pre-arranged.

It's some time ago now, but I remember reading about booking such things, and there being a limit on how many extra stops one train was permitted to make.

(When I was in Alaska the conductor just came round and wrote down which milepost everyone wanted to get off at. I presume that most of them would have wanted to get back on later going the other way and I don't know how that was arranged).

 

[edwin_m]

In 1986 I booked on Amtrak from Montreal to Port Kent NY, from where I took a ferry across Lake Champlain and a bus to Boston. This was an advertised stop but the "station" turned out to be a grade crossing where the conductor called the train in to stop with the steps on the road and I was able to climb down.

 

[AdamWW]

In 1986 I booked on Amtrak from Montreal to Port Kent NY, from where I took a ferry across Lake Champlain and a bus to Boston. This was an advertised stop but the "station" turned out to be a grade crossing where the conductor called the train in to stop with the steps on the road and I was able to climb down.

I caught a (non Amtrak) train in the US once where for reasons not entirely clear to me at the last stop we were all dropped off at the grade crossing just before the station.

And on an Amtrak train where someone missed their stop the conductor offered to drop them off at the next grade crossing. (They declined).

I think a few years ago somewhere in the US during repairs on an Interstate a road replacement train was offered, stopping off at suitable grade crossings in the absence of any stations.