Amtrak Will Allow Locked Unloaded Guns in Passenger Cars on 1,500 More Trains From January 2027

Amtrak will let passengers 18 and older carry declared, unloaded firearms in locked cases into passenger cars on trains that have no checked baggage service, the Northeast Regional and Acela among them, beginning in January 2027, under an expanded transport policy the Transport Workers Union said in a statement reaches about 1,500 more trains a day. Amtrak has not posted the expanded rule on amtrak.com, where its firearms page still said on November 10 that firearms and ammunition may not be carried in carry-on baggage, and the railroad has described the change only in statements to news outlets, so the terms below come from those statements, the union’s account and a September letter from rail labor to Congress.

Under the procedure the union described, a passenger brings the firearm in a case to an Amtrak station agent, who adds an Amtrak combination lock, the passenger boards with the case, and an agent at the arrival station removes the lock. In statements carried by Scripps News on November 6 and USA Carry on November 8, Amtrak said the firearm and ammunition must be declared in advance and kept in a double-locked, hard-sided case meeting Transportation Security Administration (TSA) standards, a case the passenger cannot open while riding, with the option limited to trips between staffed stations and subject to state and local law. On trains that do carry checked baggage, the existing checked-firearms procedure stays in place.

Amtrak began the change on the Auto Train on September 1, 2026, and told Scripps News that other routes follow during 2027, with the standalone Auto Train chosen so it could closely monitor the first phase. The railroad said the policy aligns with Executive Order 14206, signed February 7, 2025, which gave the Attorney General 30 days to examine agency actions for “ongoing infringements of the Second Amendment rights of our citizens,” and that letting declared, unloaded firearms ride on all trips between staffed stations “further aligns Amtrak with other national transportation carrier policies, such as airlines.” USA Today asked Amtrak for further comment on November 6 and had received none when it published.

The checked-firearms program that remains in force runs only on trains and between stations with checked baggage service and a ticket office. A passenger must call 800-USA-RAIL at least six hours before travel, check the firearm at least 30 minutes before departure, and pack it unloaded in a locked hard-sided container no larger than 62 by 17 by 7 inches and no heavier than 50 pounds, with ammunition capped at 11 pounds in its original or purpose-made packaging. The Auto Train rules posted on the same page set a minimum age of 18, an in-person declaration two hours and 30 minutes before departure, a TSA-compliant case with at least two locking points, and a requirement that the firearm stay locked inside the customer’s vehicle for the trip.

TWU International Rail Division Director John Feltz called the plan “sheer lunacy.” “You can’t walk onto a plane with a gun; it has to be checked with your luggage and stowed away,” he said. “So why allow guns in passenger cars on trains where there are also passengers in confined spaces?” A case or lock could be defective, he added, or “an enraged rider could use brute force to access a weapon,” and the union wants the federal government to reverse course and keep firearms outside passenger cars, noting that many stations now have no Amtrak or law enforcement presence.

TTD, the AFL-CIO transportation labor coalition, writing with the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen, SMART-TD and the Transportation Communications Union, told the leaders of the Senate Commerce and House Transportation committees in a September 8 letter that Amtrak had announced it would allow passengers to carry firearms across all of its routes from January 1, 2027. Rail labor called the Auto Train procedure workable, since the case stays in a vehicle the passenger cannot reach, and said they strongly oppose extending the policy to trains without a checked baggage car, including the Northeast Corridor.

The Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms, which puts its membership and supporters at more than 650,000, backed the change in a release on The Outdoor Wire on November 10. The policy “makes sense, and may prevent loss or damage to valuable firearms,” Chairman Alan Gottlieb said, and the union was “making a proverbial mountain out of a molehill.”

Implementation is scheduled for January 2027. Amtrak has not published its text, the eligible routes or the list of staffed stations, and the firearms page on amtrak.com remains the operative policy until it does.