I haven’t taken a cross-country Amtrak train since 2015 (the Coast Starlight from Seattle to LA), but I have really fond memories of the food, and thought it compared favorably to some cruise ships. However, I know that Anderson had proposed a bunch of not-so-awesome sounding changes to the dining cars that makes the prospect of a big trip sound far less appealing.
I’m at least toying with taking the CZ westbound from Chicago to Emeryville this fall. What is the dining experience like on these trains now, and are the changes big enough that I should just shelve any notion of travel by rail in the U.S.?
From what I gather, traditional dining car service is suspended on long-distance trains from Chicago, westward; it will be restored when the COVID-19 pandemic is deemed to be under control (not yet as of today!). Meanwhile, AMTRAK will be offering flexible dining similar to what airline food was like before the pandemic; this is being offered on all long-distance trains for Sleeper Class only, again until the COVID-19 pandemic eases up. Coach Class passengers no longer have access to dining cars during the pandemic but may purchase food from the café car or Sightseer Lounge car in the meanwhile.
We will be traveling to Chicago (Capital Limited) and onward to Albuquerque (Southwest Limited) in Sleeper Class and will experience what you should have on the California Zephyr. The last time I rode in AMTRAK Sleeper Class was on the Empire Builder back in the late 1980’s.
The smart thing to do would be to kill the long-distance trains. They carry less than 1 percent of intercity travelers. Terminating them would not be the end of Amtrak. In FY19 the NEC carried 12.5 million riders; the state supported services had 15.4 million riders.
Amtrak’s long-distance trains carry approximately 14.5 percent of its passengers. And just a bit over 2 percent of system passengers book a sleeper.
If Amtrak could shed the long-distance trains, it could redirect the monies lost on them to improving existing corridors or adding new ones. It is in relatively short, high density corridors that passenger trains make sense.
Why should taxpayers in states that - by your plan - suddenly become unserved sponsors of regional cooridors continue to pay out the nose when their national trains are stripped away? I’m sorry, but if Amtrak ever kills the long distance trains, the first thing I’m doing is writing letters to every representative who serves me pushing to shutter the remaining network. The precious NEC can go up in flames for all I care without those cross-country services.
Amtrak is proportionally a far more important conveyance to tiny towns in the middle of nowhere than huge urban areas w
Ah, that’s kind of the point, isn’t it: the only direct ‘subsidy’ comes from the states that get service, with Amtrak supposedly making a profit on the rest…
Now to the extent general revenue is used for ‘national’ things (like high-speed NECIP capital stuff) the excuse is still going to be that the money enhances America overall, and stuff. That’s been a standard highway excuse for many years. The catch is that individual taxpayers have little say in that sort of use of tax money, and I doubt there’s enough single-issue organized clout to whack Amtrak out of future federal budgets on the sole absence of LD trains … especially when so many population centers of voters (or potentially woke taxpayers) already know only ‘zero service’ or pathetic bus excuses.
Shrike Arghast
… Boy, this plus tri-weekly could just kill Amtrak outright. Guess that’s the plan.
The smart thing to do would be to kill the long-distance trains. They carry less than 1 percent of intercity travelers. Terminating them would not be the end of Amtrak. In FY19 the NEC carried 12.5 million riders; the state supported services had 15.4 million riders.
Amtrak’s long-distance trains carry approximately 14.5 percent of its passengers. And just a bit over 2 percent of system passengers book a sleeper.
If Amtrak could shed the long-distance trains, it could redirect the monies lost on them to improving existing corridors or adding new ones. It is in relatively short, high density corridors that passenger trains make sense.
Why should taxpayers in states that - by your plan - suddenly become unserved sponsors of regional cooridors continue to pay out the nose when their national trains are stripped away? I’m sorry, but if Amtrak ever kills the long distance trains, the first thing I’m doing is writing letters to every representative who serves me pushing to shutter the remaining network
With all the people who seem to have been sleeping during their high school Civics/Government class, who knows what someone thinks?
PS-As far as the comment about how much “isolated” communities depend on Amtrak; there are many more isolated communties that aren’t served by Amtrak than those that are.
I have ridden on premier trains in Australia, Canada, Japan, New Zealand and the UK, as well as over nearly every mile of the Amtrak system.
Some of my domestic rides before and after the coming of Amtrak included the Broadway Limited, Super Chief, City of San Francisco, East Coast Champion, Merchants Limited, and the Spirit of St. Louis. I ate in the dining car on all of them.
I am 81. Memories fade over time. Having said that, with the possible exception of the India Pacific in Australia, I never had a meal on any of the aforementioned trains that of itself would have justified taking the train.
Under the best of circumstances Amtrak’s offerings fall somewhere between Denny’s and Applebee’s. I take the train for the ride. Not the eats!
While I may not agree with the spirit of JPS’ post, I agree with the conclusion. I love dining on the tain, but it is hardly the reason I take the train. Even back in the days of full dining car service, there were times that I boarded the train one stop out of DC, and the dining attendant came around to take dinner reservations, and by the time he got to my seat, all the dinner seatings had sold out. Disaappointing, but not so as to ruin my trip.
I’d prefer to have catfish and grits in the diner, but if I have to get a footlong and a bag of chips at SUbway to take on the train, so be it. I will still enjoy watching the mountains and streams of Pennsylvania and West Virginia and MAryland gliding by, as I sit in a comfortable seat sipping my drink from the club car. You can run me through HArper’s Ferry a thousand times and I won’t tire of it.
Still recall B&O personnel making the ‘last call for alcohol’ as The Capitol Limited approached Harpers Ferry and the crossing into West Virginia which was dry.
My best train meal was on an Italian sleeper train from Paris to Florence in 2004. There were three choices at two different seatings. I had a home (train?) made turkey dish with wine, salad, dessert and coffee for about 20 Euros. After everyone was served they came around again and asked if anyone wanted more and they laid it on us. I knew it was made on the train because as I was sipping my pre-dinner wine, I could see the chefs working in the galley and I sure didn’t see a microwave oven.
One of the best meals I ever ate and afterward I went to the counter at the end of the car and bought a couple of beers to take back to my first class compartment. It cost a fortune to have it to myself but it was worth every centime! I’d do it again tomorrow if I could.
I just want to ride the Pennsylvanian and the Capital Limited while they still exist. We’ve gone to CA on the SW chief, the CZ, and the Empire Buulder. Have ridden the Coast Starlight. But I really want to ride those two eastern trains. The food to me is immaterial, as long as there’s something. To me it’s about the scenery and the railroad sights. But not until Covid is gone.
I remember several good meals on board before the Amtrak era–and good service between Chicago and Albuquerque early in the second year of Amtrak. The last really good meal that I enjoyed was dinner in Arizona as I went from New Orleans to Los Angeles in 1980. (I did not travel in 1981) From then on, there was little, if any, variety between any two long distance trains. But, once Amtrak abandoned the McDonald’s style (pay when you order), the meals were better than what is now provided for sleeper passengers only.
Not really! But here are some of the things that I found regard Amtrak’s food and beverage losses.
A 2005 IG report indicated that sleeping car passengers received a higher subsidy than long-distance coach passengers. The findings are dated, but the spread may still be present.
As per Page 27 of the Amtrak Service Line Plans |FY2020 – 2025, the food and beverage loss in FY19 was $41.5 million, which was down from approximately $72 million in 2012.
According to a 2013 IG audit of Amtrak’s Food and Beverage services, approximately 99 percent of the F&B losses were attributable to the long-distance trains. The percentages may have changed since 2013, but I suspect that at least 90 percent or $37.4 million of the FY19 loss is attributable to the long-distance trains.
According to the report, a portion of sleeper-class revenue is transferred to the food and beverage account. It is based on the menu price of meals consumed. When the Marketing Department sets the prices for sleeper tickets, which includes transportation and meals, it does (did) not consider the cost of providing the food and beverages as per the audit findings. The report found that the Great Southern Rail in Australia and the Rocky Mountaineer in Canada set ticket prices to recover the cost of food and beverages that go along with the ticket.
So, Amtrak buys liquor licenses from every state in which it serves liquor. I wonder: are West Virginia and other states that did not allow the serving of aloholic beverages on trains still dry?
West Virginia liquor stores (consumption off-premises) may sell liquor from 8 a.m. until midnight Monday through Saturday. However, they may not sell on Sunday. Sale of beer and wine for consumption off-premises is legal from 7 a.m. until 2:00 a.m. Monday through Saturday.
In Texas you can buy booze Monday through Saturday during regular business hours. But no booze on Sunday before 12 noon. The church crowd wants you in the pews as opposed to the saloon.