Yes, people make mistakes. But in a well-run organization, symbolic errors like the $15 hamburger get folks fired very quickly. Amtrak seems to have an abundance of goofs who apparently don't have the wherewithal to recognize a potential bomb like that.
C&NW, CA&E, MILW, CGW and IC fan
Rather than the traditional Amtrak approach of "pack the bike in a box and put it in the baggage car", I much prefer a passenger-accessible bike rack. The main reason is that Amtrak offers checked baggage service at so few stations, particularly out here in the wide-open spaces of the West. If the passenger can handle his or her own bike, rather than having to rely on a station agent to unload it, that opens up many more destinations.
I speak as a train nut who is also a bike nut: I have traveled often with my bike on Amtrak, and a decade ago I commuted daily on Caltrain in the San Francisco bay area, using racks in the bilevel cars--plus, occasionally, the racks on VTA light rail in San Jose. I know some Amtrak California trains also provide racks, though I haven't used them. The potential problems--station dwell time, damage, theft--never surfaced for me. The main problem on Caltrain was that the space available for bikes couldn't keep up with the demand.
Bicyclists are a promising source of ridership and revenue for Amtrak. Often we want to go places where air service is expensive or nonexistent; we need to carry with us an object that is bulky enough to be awkward on an airplane (or, on the smallest regional planes, impossible); we don't care that the train station lacks a car rental agency, because we bring our own transportation with us; and we hate having to partially disassemble our bikes to fit the size restrictions of the airlines (not to mention UPS or FedEx: the under-publicized Amtrak Express service is far preferable in situations where the bicyclist cannot accompany the bike.) Amtrak could charge more than it does today for carrying a bike, and still undercut the airlines. Whenever I can, I evangelize for Amtrak among bicyclists, but the usual obstacle is the lack of checked baggage service at the station (in the most recent case, some friends would have loved to take Amtrak from Klamath Falls OR to Green River UT for a bicycle vacation looping through southern UT and northern AZ--except that there's no checked baggage service on the Zephyr at Green River.)
With respect to baggage in general (not just bicycles) I see only two downsides to eliminating baggage cars: (a) some passengers need assistance and (b) Amtrak Express might no longer exist.
Ecoli,
I too an a bike nut and train nut.
Two years ago I visited the Golden Spike Tower in North Platte, Nebraska. I had my bike with me. Sunday morning, after having spent Friday and Saturday at the tower, I rode east and back on a road that parallels the UP main east of North Platte. I don't remember the route number, but it had a good shoulder. Best of all, whilst riding along, I was passed by at least three eastbound and four westbound trains. Now, for a bike/train nut, it does not get much better than that.
Just to be sure that we are on topic, I hope Congress does not meddle with the road. I believe it is part of the federal highway system.
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