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Ensure, yes, not insure. I appreciate the opportunity to communicate via these forums, because my daily life is prinarily in another languagel Thanks!!
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Zuggman and I disagree. For a full explanation of my views of LDs and dining cars, pull up this Free Press article:
https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/#inbox/FMfcgzQcpTHpRhmgzWfzzxrpBjdCpsvX
And be surprised and happy with the photo ilustration, which is not any train the author mentions, but frequently appears on the Forums here.
Your link doesnât go to article or photo, at least not for me.
Use the Firefoix browser, not regular Chrome. If that doesnât work, Googlec The Free Press and lkook at todayâs on-line issue.
Depends.
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Mostly nice trip. It demonstrated that LD trains are for leisurely land cruises, not providing alternative transportation.
ButâŚâin Salinas, the passenger cars at the back of the train added a few rougher figures: a small group of migrants; men with neck tattoos; a gaunt woman with all the indicators of a methamphetamine habit.â
No thanks!
Are we all wrong ?
Could it be assure, not insure or ensure?
I am unsure.
Presumably you are referring to the article by Christopher Rufo regarding a trip on the Coast Starlight.
What Mr. Rufo did not report is the Coast Starlight had an Adjusted Operating Earnings (loss) of $44.4 million in FY24, which translates into an average subsidy of $123.85 per passenger.
The Adjusted Operating Loss does not include certain non-cash items, i.e. depreciation, income tax expense, non-cash portion of pension and other post-retirement employment benefits, state capital payment amortization, capital or debt results, interest expense, etc. Amtrak does not disclose the amounts of these expenses by service line. Based on other documentation that I have reviewed, they could add another 15 to 20 percent to the Adjusted Operating Earnings (loss)
If his experience was typical for travelers on the Coast Starlight, he probably had a bit more time on the train than planned. In FY24 the Coast Starlight was on-time an average of 54.5% at all stations, including the end points; passengers were late by an average of 89 minutes.
Approximately 85 percent of long-distance trains riders are in coach class. Based on my experience, most coach passengers head to the lounge car to buy eats and drinks.
BTW, it appears from the photo embedded in the article that the equipment on the Coast Starlight has undergone a dramatic change. When I rode the train a few years ago from LAX to Oakland, the train did not look anything like the one shown in the picture.
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I was thinking either âensureâ or âassureâ but after reading the article Dave suggested and then this thread, I am thinking âendureâ and âavoidâ describe my feelings.
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Feeling the pressure?
There is always erasure.
You just need to measure your pleasure before you censure.
Which also has two different meanings.
Well spotted. Just like one of the alternatives.
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Now wait a minute. Wasnât your argument just a few posts before that one should be happy with Coach service as it is on Amtrak or something similar?
Having said that, would not bother me to take a seat among folks as described above.
Not always by choice of the coach passenger.
There was nothing contradictory about those views. You just like to argue. And you seem to ride in the TX Eagle sleeper. Or Business Class on air travel.
No, I donât want to ride with meth heads for a variety of reasons, as I have seen the clinical dangers of that when I was in practice. Still a free country, at least today.
My experience was that all the strangers I met in dininhg cars were people I was very happy to meet, without exception. Iâd say that in total this involved over a thousand visits to USA and Canadian dining cars.
I may have seen some coach passengers i would wish to avoid when âinspecting the consist,â but that did not bother me, since I had a room or even a coach seat elsewhere on the train.
And I agree every sensible route to reduce losses,the needed subsidy, should be implemented. Possibly the station restaurant scheme, possibly hotel kitchens, all ideas should be explored.
Anyone remember the SP Automat cars? (And the similar Horn-and Hardat Restaurant Chain) Rode the SP Daylight LA - SF, 1st Class parlor seat in obs. Automat only food on the train. Still enjoyed the trip. Food âOK.â
Thereâs your solution!!
SP had the employees back then to make that concept work and the health department rules at the time were more relaxed. Guess what happens if you park one of those in Amtraks Chicago Coachyard? I guess you could try quiet persuasion with the rats there but I am not sure they would listen.
There would be a new sanitary building in the coach yard for the purpose. And it is about time the Chicago coach yard adopted a cat family. They do an excellent job here in Jerusalem.
Given the current events that remark is borderline political.
Given your distaste for anything in and around Chicago, why donât you fly nonstop to Milwaukee rather than taking a slow train (with the terrible personal servants) to the Windy City, with them getting delayed by âLunch Pailâ Metra riders on the Hiawatha train to Brew City and Cheesehead Land?
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