It's 10 p.m. Do you know where your baggage is?

[John Bobinyec]

Paraphrasing, of course, the popular community service message that used to be broadcast on New York TV stations.

The wife checked a bag at NYP yesterday morning, 1.5 hours before 91's departure time. When she got to CYN last night (this morning actually), the bag was not on the train. We are hoping that it shows up on 79 tonight.

That got me to thinking about improvements to the baggage handling system, With hand-held scanning smart phones that are used to scan tickets, and other scanners, the instant location of every checked bag on the system could be pinpointed. Bags could be :

1. scanned into the system
2. scanned onto a train
3. scanned off of a train
4. scanned out of the system

When a bag is scanned into the system it could even be scheduled to be on a specific train. This means that when the conductor is ready to depart a station, their smart phone could be checked to see if all of the proper baggage is both on and off the train. If not, then things could be rectified before the train even leaves the station.

No more lost baggage!

Maybe someday.

jb

 

[crabby_appleton1950]

Sounds good to me, except for the train waiting for some baggage. I'd rather the train keep on schedule and if there is a delay in some baggage it be dealt with without holding the train's departure.

 

[John Bobinyec]

Sure - but at least the exact location of the baggage in question would still be known.

jb

 

[the_traveler]

I think that's a very good idea. #1 & #4 would be done be the agents off the train anyway. The conductor is in the baggage car prior to the stop to get the baggage ready for that stop anyway. (#2) So (s)he could scan it then, and when new bags are loaded they can be scanned in. (#3) So how would it delay the train? :huh:

 

[PRR 60]

American Airlines scans checked bags at six points between departure check-in and arrival baggage claim (additional scans with connections). A passenger can go to the AA website and find the location of their luggage by entering the PNR of their reservation. This capability will soon to be added to the AA mobile app.

Amtrak's 1950's era system of paper tags, station codes, and visual sorting works fine until something goes wrong. Then tracing a lost bag is reduced to making to calls to various stations to ask if anyone has seen it.

 

[John Bobinyec]

In the case where a bag is not on the train but it should be or is still on the train but it should not be, and the conductor is ready to depart the station, the conductor will have to decide at that point whether or not to hold the train in order to rectify the discrepancy, or to depart the station instead. If they decide to hold - that will delay the train. Most likely they will not hold the train.

jb

 

[Tennessee Traveler]

American Airlines scans checked bags at six points between departure check-in and arrival baggage claim (additional scans with connections). A passenger can go to the AA website and find the location of their luggage by entering the PNR of their reservation. This capability will soon to be added to the AA mobile app.

Amtrak's 1950's era system of paper tags, station codes, and visual sorting works fine until something goes wrong. Then tracing a lost bag is reduced to making to calls to various stations to ask if anyone has seen it.

I've had the same experience on AA.

And unfortunately have experienced the bag not arriving on my train on Amtrak requiring the very helpful New Orleans agent to call both expected connection station Chicago(who had no record of my bag) and the Albany, NY, station where I originally checked my bag intended for LSL via Chicago to CONO. Without an electronic nor paper trail, Albany and Chicago simply said the bag was not there. It finally arrived in New Orleans on the Cresent from NYP about 5 hours after my arrival. Until then, no one knew where my bag was.

 

[printman2000]

As always, it comes down to money. I doubt they have the money to implement any sort of electronic system.

I suspect AA's system is all scanned on conveyor belts and such. I doubt anyone has to manually scan a bag with a handheld device.

I have been very fortunate with Amtrak. 10 years of checking bags (with some pretty complex routings) and they have never failed to arrive.

 

[AmtrakBlue]

It's 10 p.m. Do you know where your baggage is?
Sadly, in my closet waiting for it's next adventure.

 

[PVD]

I worked on the installation of that type of system for a huge airline at JFK Airport. All checked bags were stickered with scannable codes, and bags were scanned in, and at each point where they moved to a different part of the system Large wireless antenna networks were created to cover the ramps, any bags hand loaded (not in a container) were scanned with the handheld devices as they went on the belt loader up to the plane. Extremely comprehensive but very expensive. Does anyone know the numbers/percentage of bag issues at Amtrak? If the numbers are really low, this could be a solution hunting for a problem. No way they will spend many millions of dollars if they only have a small number of lost bags.

 

[CCC1007]

I worked on the installation of that type of system for a huge airline at JFK Airport. All checked bags were stickered with scannable codes, and bags were scanned in, and at each point where they moved to a different part of the system Large wireless antenna networks were created to cover the ramps, any bags hand loaded (not in a container) were scanned with the handheld devices as they went on the belt loader up to the plane. Extremely comprehensive but very expensive. Does anyone know the numbers/percentage of bag issues at Amtrak? If the numbers are really low, this could be a solution hunting for a problem. No way they will spend many millions of dollars if they only have a small number of lost bags.

From my observations of the evening departures of the empire builder at WFH I'd say it's much more likely that someone will depart the station without grabbing their checked luggage than the luggage being lost in transit, and I have seen both...

 

[Bob Dylan]

Since we have no stats from Amtrak on lost/stolen/missing baggage everything on here will be anecdotal, but based on riding Amtrak since A Day,( not one single lost bag) I'm inclined to think that the percentage of missing baggage on Amtrak is Very,Very Low!

As a million mile plus flyer, I can't say the same for the airlines with their very expensive, high tech systems. YMMV

 

[BCL]

I worked on the installation of that type of system for a huge airline at JFK Airport. All checked bags were stickered with scannable codes, and bags were scanned in, and at each point where they moved to a different part of the system Large wireless antenna networks were created to cover the ramps, any bags hand loaded (not in a container) were scanned with the handheld devices as they went on the belt loader up to the plane. Extremely comprehensive but very expensive. Does anyone know the numbers/percentage of bag issues at Amtrak? If the numbers are really low, this could be a solution hunting for a problem. No way they will spend many millions of dollars if they only have a small number of lost bags.

Airline baggage handling is an important part of the business. I'm not sure baggage is really that important to Amtrak. I was looking at the baggage being unloaded from the CS, and basically only about a fifth of the footprint of the baggage car was being used, and every piece touched the floor.

In order for such systems to work properly, the tags and stickers need to be oriented properly. The large package delivery companies now make sure that there's a label or sticker on three or four sides such that a camera will pick up the code regardless of orientation. I suppose Amtrak could theoretically employ such a system, but would need a sticker to be applied to the top of the piece. Still - they would either need preprinted labels or employe a system with print on demand labels like what airlines use today.

 

[CCC1007]

I worked on the installation of that type of system for a huge airline at JFK Airport. All checked bags were stickered with scannable codes, and bags were scanned in, and at each point where they moved to a different part of the system Large wireless antenna networks were created to cover the ramps, any bags hand loaded (not in a container) were scanned with the handheld devices as they went on the belt loader up to the plane. Extremely comprehensive but very expensive. Does anyone know the numbers/percentage of bag issues at Amtrak? If the numbers are really low, this could be a solution hunting for a problem. No way they will spend many millions of dollars if they only have a small number of lost bags.

Airline baggage handling is an important part of the business. I'm not sure baggage is really that important to Amtrak. I was looking at the baggage being unloaded from the CS, and basically only about a fifth of the footprint of the baggage car was being used, and every piece touched the floor.

In order for such systems to work properly, the tags and stickers need to be oriented properly. The large package delivery companies now make sure that there's a label or sticker on three or four sides such that a camera will pick up the code regardless of orientation. I suppose Amtrak could theoretically employ such a system, but would need a sticker to be applied to the top of the piece. Still - they would either need preprinted labels or employe a system with print on demand labels like what airlines use today.

The baggage car on 7(17) was very full, every shelf I could see was full and had baggage under them as well, with ~80 pieces coming off and ~60 being put on at WFH.

 

[PVD]

2 sides of that coin. A pre-printed label by destination requires the agent to enter information to attach that label with that record. A print as you go system doesn't require much more effort, perhaps less wasted space, in a busy place like NYP or CUS the rack of destination labels would be huge.. Either way, anything built in the future will probably use input from reservation/tickets to add the destination and personal info.,

 

[PVD]

Spend a couple of months in the baggage handling center of a major airline terminal and you will have a new understanding of Gil Turner's lyrics.

 

[BCL]

2 sides of that coin. A pre-printed label by destination requires the agent to enter information to attach that label with that record. A print as you go system doesn't require much more effort, perhaps less wasted space, in a busy place like NYP or CUS the rack of destination labels would be huge.. Either way, anything built in the future will probably use input from reservation/tickets to add the destination and personal info.,

Certainly I get that. However, Amtrak having to justify buying all this equipment would be interesting. I suppose it's possible to only have the equipment installed for the busiest stations, but then having a combination of manual and electronic tags would create another set of problems.

Still - I was under the impression that only a limited number of tags were preprinted, and only for the most likely destinations for a given origin station. When I checked in at Seattle, I was thinking maybe they had tags for PDX/SAC/EMY/OKJ/LAX, as well as major points along the Empire Builder. Aren't most of the destinations served by a generic tag where the destination code is hand written?

 

[PVD]

I believe thats true right now, but to computerize it with tracking, you would need either precoded destinations, or destinations added during data entry to attach the destination to the record for that code.

 

[Just-Thinking-51]

Still - I was under the impression that only a limited number of tags were preprinted, and only for the most likely destinations for a given origin station. When I checked in at Seattle, I was thinking maybe they had tags for PDX/SAC/EMY/OKJ/LAX, as well as major points along the Empire Builder. Aren't most of the destinations served by a generic tag where the destination code is hand written?

Leave Kansas City going to Utica NY. The agent had to look up the city code, but end up dusting off a couple of preprinted bagged claim tickets. Of course this was a few years back.

 

[AmtrakLKL]

There is a tag and scan project. Sounds like it would tag baggage the same or similar thermal tags airlines use. Baggage and express would be scanned on/off trains and we'd have a baggage manifest along with passenger manifest. No idea when we might see it roll-out, not anytime soon. Although... it might happen before the remaining Viewliner IIs arrive. :lol:

 

[John Bobinyec]

Paraphrasing, of course, the popular community service message that used to be broadcast on New York TV stations.

The wife checked a bag at NYP yesterday morning, 1.5 hours before 91's departure time. When she got to CYN last night (this morning actually), the bag was not on the train. We are hoping that it shows up on 79 tonight.

That got me to thinking about improvements to the baggage handling system, With hand-held scanning smart phones that are used to scan tickets, and other scanners, the instant location of every checked bag on the system could be pinpointed. Bags could be :

1. scanned into the system
2. scanned onto a train
3. scanned off of a train
4. scanned out of the system

When a bag is scanned into the system it could even be scheduled to be on a specific train. This means that when the conductor is ready to depart a station, their smart phone could be checked to see if all of the proper baggage is both on and off the train. If not, then things could be rectified before the train even leaves the station.

No more lost baggage!

Maybe someday.

jb

To finish the story, the bag showed up during the middle of the next day - well before 79's time. We don't really know what happened, but we suspect that it was either of the following:

1. The bag was on 91, got put off of the train prematurely at Raleigh, and then was sent to Cary the next day on one of the Piedmonts.
2. The bag missed 91 altogether, was put on the Crescent (19) (maybe the baggage handler in NYP was dyslexic?), went to either Greensboro, NC, or Charlotte, NC, and then came back to Cary the next day on the Carolinian (80).

Maybe we should get a portable tracking device and put it into the luggage so it could broadcast/record its travels.

jb