Amtrak Guest Rewards - New rules on unaccompanied minors?

From Slate.....


The upset author/mother writes:
"Previously, children between the ages of 8 and 13 could travel as unaccompanied minors in precisely the way I’ve described: One adult handed them off to an attendant at one end, with paperwork designating exactly who was to pick them up at the other end. As of last November, however, a child must be between the ages of 13 and 15 to ride the train under these terms."

Her full article at:
http://www.slate.com/articles/life/family/2012/02/unaccompanied_minors_why_can_t_kids_travel_alone_o n_amtrak_.single.html

I don't know about new rules, but I do know there s NO way my 8 YO is going on a train by himself! He's 11 now, and I still don't think I'd do it. He flys by himself but, there's no intermediate stops on the route he flys. Maybe I'm just over protective.

There's no way the attendants could (or should) keep track of a particular child the entire trip, including at stops, when the child could get off the train (alone or with someone else). Passengers can freely walk back and forth between cars, including to/from the snack and dining cars (though they can also just walk through various cars to walk), and each car has points at which someone can get off, or on, the train. It's not like a plane. Imagine if someone's kid disappeared. The lawyers would be on the scene before the police.