The Rules and Guidelines for the Amtrak Mileage Tally, Updated 1/2/2009 Options

[BillMagee]

The Rules and Guidelines for the Amtrak Mileage Tally

*** Updated 10/31/09 to reflect the removal of the Altamont Commuter Express as an Amtrak Thruway partner.

How do I join the Tally?

First, you must be a member of OTOL. Sign up for OTOL and you are eligible to participate.

How do I post trips?

Once you have joined OTOL, you can post trips for credit. Each month a new topic will be started in the Amtrak Mileage Tally forum for you to report trips. Just add a reply to the presently open Amtrak Mileage Tally topic and describe the trip you took. We will confirm your entry, add it to our data, and report back your totals and position.

If you are a first time participant, please provide your actual name for our database. If you prefer not to publicly post your name, you can PM your name to me instead. You actual name will not be used in the posted results unless you normally use your name in OTOL discussion board postings.

What information do I need to supply to get mileage credit?

For each train or bus segment being submitted, you should provide:

- The departure date of the train or bus segment.

- The Amtrak train or Thruway Bus number. For Thruway Bus service, the bus number is on your ticket and is generally but not always shown in the System Timetable. If you do not know the train or bus number, simply provide the scheduled departure time or, for bus routes, the connecting train info. We should be able to figure the rest.

- The departure and the arrival station. Either the Amtrak three-letter station code is or the station name is OK. If you do not know the code and the city has two or more stations (Boston, for example), identify the station used (Boston South Station, for example).

An example of a submission using codes is:

1/3 #2100 PHL BOS

But an entry can be informal too:

On January 3 took train 2100 from Philadelphia to Boston (South Station)

Do not get too tied up in the details. If we can figure things out from the information you provide, we will. If we can't, we will ask you for some help.

There is a special posting method for those members who make five or more trips between the same stations during a calendar month. Just tell us the end-point stations and the number of trips you made. For example:

PHL to NYP, 18 trips in January.

When can trips be posted?

You should post your trips as soon as possible to get your miles recorded and your standing updated, but trips can be posted anytime during the current calendar year, and even for a month into the next year. The books for each year will remain open until January 31 of the next year, so for trips taken in 2009 you will have until 1/31/2010 to post your miles. New members of OTOL may submit trips taken up to three months prior to their OTOL membership date.

Which trips will count?

The short answer is that all mileage on an Amtrak train and almost all on Amtrak-ticketed connecting trains and busses will count. Almost all mileage on trains and buses that are not called Amtrak will not count.

The following segments are eligible for Amtrak rail mileage credit:

- Any segment traveled on a scheduled Amtrak train is eligible.
- Any segment traveled on a scheduled Amtrak Thruway bus when traveling on an itinerary including at least one Amtrak rail segment is eligible.
- Trips on the NJ Transit Atlantic City Line and the Grand Canyon Railway when part of an Amtrak itinerary and ticketed by Amtrak are eligible.
- Trips on an Amtrak train or Thruway bus within Canada when the origin or destination of the segment is within the USA are eligible.
- Amtrak train segments used to and from Newark Airport as part of a trip ticketed by Continental Airlines are eligible.
- Any segment traveled on a private railcar trip when the railcar is transported by a scheduled Amtrak train is eligible. For these trips, provide the Amtrak train number for your host train.

The following segments are not eligible for Amtrak rail mileage credit:

- Commuter and other non-Amtrak trains are not eligible whether or not they travel on Amtrak routes and tracks. Travel on NJ Transit (except for the Atlantic City Line exception above), Metro North, Virginia Railway Express, Metrolink, and METRA are examples of trips that are not eligible.
- Except for through trains from the USA (Maple Leaf, for example), VIA Rail Canada trains are are not eligible.
- Trips on the NJ Transit Atlantic City Line or the Grand Canyon Railway that are not part of an Amtrak itinerary or are not ticketed by Amtrak are not eligible.
- If a Thruway bus is used without connecting to or from an Amtrak train, the bus ride is not eligible.
- Private rail trips that are not attached to a regular Amtrak train are not eligible.

And, here are some rules for special circumstances:

- When there is a substitution for all or part of a rail segment (bus or other alternate transportation), the mileage credited for the disrupted segment will be the rail distance of the regular route.
- If a train is detoured onto a special route, you will be credited with the normal route segment mileage.