Can I Ship My Car By Train?

Reader Questions Answered: Can I Ship My Car By Train?

Can you move your car by train? The simple answer is “yes,” but it’s a little more complicated than that. For one, not a lot of vehicles are shipped by train anymore, especially when it comes to moving them for the general public. Vehicles that are shipped on a railway are generally delivered for commercial customers and are moved in bulk.

There are occasions when there is extra space left on the convey trains to accommodate additional vehicles and that’s when it’s easiest to find a spot on a railway. Some services, such as Amtrak do over-vehicle moving services as well, though there are limitations as to the size and types of vehicles they can haul.

If you do decide to deliver a car by railway, it’s important to take into account that you’ll be limited in terms of your destination city. While the U.S. still has a healthy railroad infrastructure in place, there are not a lot of railway stops and junctions outside of major cities. Because this is the case, you may have to arrange shipment to the nearest major city, rather than your final destination, when dispatched by rail.

Advantages of Moving a Vehicle

As with any type of service option, there are advantages and disadvantages to having a vehicle delivered on a railway. In the section above, we outlined one of the primary drawbacks of car delivery by railway: there are limited routes. That means you’ll have to have your car first delivered (or driven) to the train depot and then from the drop-off point to the final destination.

However, there are also some advantages. For one, the cost is comparable to standard methods of car transport, if not less in some cases. Especially if you’re taking the train yourself and have some luggage with you, it can make a lot of sense to bundle that all into one ticket for savings.

In addition to being relatively affordable, hauling a vehicle by rail is also a very efficient method of delivery in environmental terms. It emits less harmful waste than is caused by typical moving vehicles and, as a result, contributes far less to the environmental footprint caused by the transport industry than other sectors.

Most, if not all, cars shipped in the U.S. are covered during moving. There may be the occasional “open air” transport train, but they are very few and far between. What this means for you is that your vehicle will be protected from sun, rain, dirt, dust, snow, and any other weather elements that could damage it.