Rep. Jeff Denham of California is spearheading the charge to influence Amtrak to allow passengers to travel with their dogs, cats and other pets.
According to the Associated Press, Denham and his supporters have been successful in encouraging Amtrak to conduct a test run for passengers with pets and now the Republican has proposed a bill that would require the rail service operator to develop a pet policy for passengers traveling any distance less than 750 miles.
The motivation behind Denham's efforts is the belief that allowing passengers to bring their pets on board will encourage more people to travel by train instead of car or truck.
"It's been wildly bipartisan," said Denham who currently sits on the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, the Agriculture Committee, and the Natural Resources Committee. "Members that have pets have a particular interest, but certainly we've picked up more and more support across the country."
So far, 23 lawmakers have signed on in support of the bill.
"We're going at this carefully, because there are people who very much want this, and there are people who are concerned about how it could affect them," said Amtrak spokesman Marc Magliari.
"The experiment has gone well and the lack of any negative feedback from customers or crewmembers is heartening," he added.
Amtrak's monitoring phase is ongoing along two routes in Illinois, where passengers looking to travel with their pets must make reservations in advance and also pay a $25 surcharge. Restrictions include only animals weighing 20 pounds or less and that pets must be in their carriers at all times.
Passengers with pets must arrive at least a half an hour early to sign a release agreement and are also relegated to a specific train car during their journey.
While there are obvious concerns from Amtrak's perspective, there's no question that an implemented pet policy would have plenty of support.
"Millions of American families have beloved pets, and allowing them to travel by train will support the human-animal bond," said Wayne Pacelle, president and CEO of The Humane Society of the United States.
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