Here’s an article that appeared in the Chicago Tribune this morning (which follows two others in the same paper within the past week or so) touting the use of Amtrak’s “great dome” car on several Midwestern corridor trains. If Amtrak ever needed proof that such cars spur increased business then this is it!
It’s a nice gesture, but I wonder if the presence of a dome car on a specific train actually increases the tickets sold for that train. I would think not, as a reservation for the trains in question merely gets you a seat on the train but no specific seat or car. In my mind, then, the question becomes does the occasional presence of the dome increase public awareness of the train and thus lead to broader consideration of it as a travel alternative? I just don’t know the extent to which that might be true.
I think it is likely that the Thanksgiving week schedule for the Great Dome to be used on Hiawatha Service trains between Milwaukee and Chicago will result in tickets being purchased that otherwise would not have been, just to ride the car for a while. Many of the regular riders (the run is almost a commuter train in nature) are unlikely to care whether they ride in it or not so it should be fairly easy to secure seats in the Dome.
Dave Nelson
The proof would be in the pudding, as they say. Leave the car on a given train for a while and the curiosity might well evaporate, with ridership returning to normal levels.
I would opine that, as suggested, most folks are on the train to get from A to B. Being able to do so sitting in a dome would simply be a nicety. Those with their noses buried in a book or electronic device could sit in a climate controlled boxcar and not know the difference.