I recently took the Auto Train from Sanford to Lorton as I have done many times before. I was pleasantly surprised to meet 3 dogs on this trip. I talked briefly to the owner of 2 of them, who said his older dog was taking his 18th trip on the Auto Train. These 2 were medium sized dogs, neither appeared to be assistance animals. The guy said he and his dogs were in sleeper accommodations. He acted like it was perfectly normal.
The third dog was a little chihuahua, who rode with its owner downstairs in the coach car I was in. All 3 dogs were extremely well behaved - I never heard any of them make a sound. I only knew the little dog was in my car because I went outside at the Florence stop for a few minutes during the night and they were out for a walk.
So, I thought, happily, that I had missed a memo. But, everything on the websites still says no pets on the Auto Train.
Does anyone know what is happening, if anything, with pets on the Auto Train? Personally, I have been riding the Auto Train for many years, the past several years as a snowbird. For those snowbirds who don't use the train, a major reason they drive is that they have pets. This is a large market. Not without challenges, but they do it in Europe and Canada.