What happened to the mail contracts?

[frequentflyer]

Remember when trains like the SWC would have three or four baggage cars up front full of express and priority mail packages? It helped LD trains near breakeven or better in some cases. Then someone at Amtrak got stupid and started attaching box cars and adding dwell and switching time to the trains, and oh yeah, the "freight" railroads did not like "passenger" trains carrying "freight" cars. Something about competition. But in the beginning it was a succesful program, what changed? FEDEX and UPS taking over moving mail for the Post Office?

 

[John Bobinyec]

"When the post office made a controversial policy change to process mail in large regional "sectional centers," mail was now sorted by large machines, not by people, and the remaining railway post office routes, along with all highway post office routes, were phased out of service. In September 1967 the POD cancelled all "mail by rail" contracts, electing to move all First Class mail via air and other classes by road (truck) transport. This announcement had a devastating effect on passenger train revenues; the Santa Fe, for example, lost $35 million (US) in annual business, and led directly to the ending of many passenger rail routes."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Railway_post_office#Decline_and_withdrawal

This was the main reason U.S. mail is no longer handled on trains. I'll let others comment on mail handling during Amtrak's time.

jb

 

[MikefromCrete]

Railway Post Office cars were basically gone before the Amtrak era (although Penn Central still ran one in the NEC before Amtrak took over the corridor). Later, Amtrak, under Warrington, began its express/freight experiment that involved some bulk mail contracts, but this was stopped by Gunn since Amtrak lost money on the project after spending a lot of money on express boxcars, refrigerator cars, flexi vans and extra locomotives. The initiative slowed and delayed trains due to the time to add and subtract the freight cars. It also upset the freight railroads since they felt Amtrak was taking revenue away from them and consequently were less than cooperative in dispatching Amtrak. The Glideway to Self-Sufficiency looked good on paper, but was a big failure.

 

[frequentflyer]

Railway Post Office cars were basically gone before the Amtrak era (although Penn Central still ran one in the NEC before Amtrak took over the corridor). Later, Amtrak, under Warrington, began its express/freight experiment that involved some bulk mail contracts, but this was stopped by Gunn since Amtrak lost money on the project after spending a lot of money on express boxcars, refrigerator cars, flexi vans and extra locomotives. The initiative slowed and delayed trains due to the time to add and subtract the freight cars. It also upset the freight railroads since they felt Amtrak was taking revenue away from them and consequently were less than cooperative in dispatching Amtrak. The Glideway to Self-Sufficiency looked good on paper, but was a big failure.

Yes, but before the buying boxcars, truck trailers that could ride on rails and P42s, it was just filling up baggage cars and moving Priority mail. It helped the bottom line.

 

[Dutchrailnut]

Post office was who canceled the contract and sold of their rail/mail facilities , Amtrak had no say in matter.

 

[frequentflyer]

Post office was who canceled the contract and sold of their rail/mail facilities , Amtrak had no say in matter.

Thank you for the answer.

 

[railiner]

Railway Post Office cars were basically gone before the Amtrak era (although Penn Central still ran one in the NEC before Amtrak took over the corridor). .

It actually lasted a bit into Amtrak ownership of the NEC. The New York and Washington RPO made its last trip as a Conrail train on 1 July 1977...They even had a mail slot at NYP for "Train Mail"...

 

[frequentflyer]

Amtrak had the "Fast Mail" train for a while too.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fast_Mail_(Amtrak_train)

 

[cpotisch]

Times have changed. Paper mail became less and less relevant, and the costs involved rose. It might have worked back then, but I don't think it would on a large scale now.

 

[railiner]

Amtrak had the "Fast Mail" train for a while too.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fast_Mail_(Amtrak_train)

But only for bulk mail no RPOs...