Taking a Dog on Amtrak: The 20 lb Rule and the Trains That Say No

A terrier of 14 lb in a soft carrier can ride from New York to Philadelphia at your feet on Amtrak, America's national passenger railroad. A spaniel of 25 lb cannot ride any Amtrak train as a pet, whatever the route and whatever you pay. Between those two dogs sits one number, 20 lb, and Amtrak counts the carrier in it. The rest of the rules live on Amtrak's own page, All Aboard, Pets, which takes dogs and cats only, in a carrier, on trips of up to seven hours on most routes. Several of those rules have changed since the older guides to Amtrak were written.

The Carrier and the 20 lb Limit

The dog and its carrier together may weigh no more than 20 lb. The carrier may be hard or soft sided but must be leak proof and well ventilated, and no larger than 19 inches long, 14 inches wide and 10.5 inches high. Amtrak asks that the dog can sit and lie down inside without touching the sides, and only one animal may share a carrier. The carrier counts as one of your carry-on bags, so pack the rest of your luggage with that in mind.

On board, the carrier goes under your own seat, not under the seat in front of you. The one exception is Amtrak Cascades, in the Pacific Northwest, where the carrier sits on the floor in front of the seat next to yours. The dog stays inside the closed carrier in the station as well as on the train, and stays with you throughout: Amtrak says plainly that it must never be left alone.

Seven Hours, Counting the Change

A booking with a pet is limited to seven hours of travel in total, and the time spent waiting between trains on a journey of several segments counts towards it. That rules out more trips than you might think. The Keystone Service from New York to Harrisburg is scheduled at 3 hours 50 minutes, comfortably inside the limit. The Pennsylvanian, which carries on to Pittsburgh, takes 9 hours 20 minutes end to end, so a small dog can ride part of that line but not the full run. Check the scheduled time of every leg, and the connection, before you add the dog.

Where the Dog May Sit

A dog may travel in Coach and in Acela Business Class. It may not go into Acela First Class, the First Class private rooms on the overnight trains, Business Class on trains other than Acela, or the food service cars. On the Keystone and Pennsylvanian it may not ride in the Quiet Car. Station lounges and First Class waiting areas are closed to pets too.

Some routes keep one Coach car for passengers with pets: Amtrak Cascades, the Carl Sandburg, Illinois Zephyr, Illini, Lincoln Service, Saluki, Pere Marquette, Wolverine, Blue Water, Hiawatha and Missouri River Runner. On every other route that takes pets, you may sit in any Coach car, so you can choose a quiet corner and keep the carrier out of the aisle.

The Trains That Say No

Four sets of services take no pets at all. The first is the Auto Train, which carries you and your car nonstop between Lorton, Virginia, near Washington, and Sanford, Florida, near Orlando, in 17 hours 29 minutes. The second is Amtrak Connection services, which take no pets either.

The third is Gold Runner, the Central Valley service in California. Many pages still list it under its old name, the San Joaquins, but it was renamed Gold Runner on 3 November 2025 and serves 18 stations in the Central Valley and the Bay Area. It still carries no pets.

The fourth is the run into Canada. Amtrak allows no pet travel in Canada on the Adirondack to Montreal, the Maple Leaf to Toronto, or Amtrak Cascades to Vancouver. The first two are long trains in any case, 10 hours and 12 hours 30 minutes from New York, well beyond the seven hour limit end to end. On the Cascades line, a small dog can still ride between Eugene, Portland and Seattle; it is the leg north into British Columbia that is closed to it. If Canada is the plan, our guide to taking a dog from the US to Canada sets out the crossing.

Booking and the Paperwork

Each passenger may book one pet. The fee varies by route, is shown in the price summary when you book, and is charged for each segment of the trip, so a journey with a change of train pays it twice. A pet needs a reservation even on a train whose seats are otherwise unreserved, and that reservation holds only for the date on your ticket, which makes it less flexible than an ordinary unreserved fare. Pets cannot be booked with multi-ride tickets or with an unaccompanied minor.

Before you travel you must read and sign a Pet Release and Indemnification Agreement for every segment. The form appears at the end of the booking, and you can open it again later through My Trip on amtrak.com or in the Amtrak app. In signing it you confirm the dog is up to date on its vaccinations and accept liability for it. At a staffed station, check in at the ticket office 45 minutes before departure so the agents can check the dog and the form; at an unstaffed station the conductor does it on board.

The dog must be at least eight weeks old, odourless, harmless, not disruptive and in need of no attention during the trip, and Amtrak may refuse or remove a pet that is not. If a service is disrupted and passengers have to be put up overnight, Amtrak says it will make reasonable efforts to find hotel rooms that take pets, though it cannot promise them. A dog that is used to its carrier long before the day settles far better, as our guide to training your dog to travel explains.

How the Rules Have Changed

Amtrak began with a pilot on the Northeast Corridor in October 2015, and more than 2,700 pets had travelled by the time it expanded the programme in February 2016 to most long distance trains, for trips of up to seven hours. The weight limit and the seven hours have held ever since. The price has not: in 2016 it was a flat $25 each way, and today Amtrak sets it by route and shows it when you book. A page quoting $25 for every journey, or the San Joaquins by that name, is quoting an older Amtrak.

The Dog Too Big for the Carrier

Amtrak does not ship pets and does not carry them as checked baggage: a pet travels with a person, in a carrier, or not at all. Service animals are not pets under Amtrak's rules and are welcome on every Amtrak service, including the trains closed to pets. For a Labrador, a collie or any dog over the limit, Amtrak is not an option, and the car is the way to go, which we cover in our guide to driving with your dog. Our wider guide to taking your dog on trains and coaches shows how differently the railways of Europe and Canada treat a bigger dog.

For the small dog, though, the train is a pleasure. On Amtrak Cascades between Seattle and Portland, you ride in a Coach car kept for passengers with pets, and the carrier sits on the floor in front of the seat beside you rather than under your own.