Join the discussion on the following article:
Silver Star retains slim pickings without diner car
No surprise here. Amtrak extends, cancels or implements anything that makes less work for them.
Mr. Norton you are correct except you forgot to add that it costs more to change than to just keep things the way they were; Amtrak is an ace at it.
The dining car is a part of the traditional long-distance train experience, and removing it further degrades Amtrak services that have already been degraded by niggardly operating budgets forced on the carrier by anti-government, anti-public services Republican ideologs who have been fighting to eliminate Amtrak since the day it was created. It’s also a bait-and-switch false economy. Does anyone really doubt that after a while high sleeping car fares will be restored once the dining cars are gone and passengers get used to their absence? Then riders will be left with high fares AND no full meal service. Allow this experiment to succeed, and meal services will be eliminated not only on all Silver Service trains, but on all long-distance trains. Next, cafe car staffs will be eliminated and we’ll all be buying stale sandwiches and colored-water “coffee” from vending machines.
Mr Riga has it right except that he for got that Amtrak is also just following the lead that makes using the airlines so pleasant these days.
If I want to go to a McDonald’s, I have to drive 25-miles o/w, not take the “Silver Star”. It has lost my custom.
Upgraded lounge service is not rocket science! Why not offer soups, chili, quiche, oat meal, bagels with lox and crème cheese, peanut butter sandwiches, roast chicken, cold salmon plates, grilled cheese sandwiches, fresh fruit plates, Greek salad, chef or cobb salads, cakes and pies? The list could go on. Amtrak’s food service managers need only visit Trader Joes, Whole Foods, Harris-Teeter to see a variety of prepared foods that could be put on a train. It’s likely that a lounge car would have to be rebuilt with larger storage space but it would be much cheaper to run than a diner. During weekdays Virgin’s East Coast Rail provides freshly made food to first class passengers using a staff of three including one chef. And while we’re redesigning the lounge car, how about comfortable seating? The simplest way to reduce the deficit is by adding more passengers and the best way to do that is by making the train a really attractive travel experience.
I would like to see some truly low cost sleeping space available on Amtrak, possibly like a slumber coach.
Check out food service on the Alaska Railroad–served all day on almost every passenger train. No overnight passenger trains, but a couple of models that successfully offer reasonable variety and price and great availability.
The crew of the Silver Meteor hate when they don’t have a Diner and get stuck with just a Cafe-Lounge. And we passengers aren’t happy about it either when it happens. Microwaved eggs are barely edible. I’ve seen sleeper customers order and then not eat them or the bacon when it comes out. I’ve ridden the Star but since they dropped the Diner, I won’t accept the routing change if offered. Some people are stuck with that service as it is the only run to Tampa.
I faer that Mr Riga will be right
Although Amtrak says passengers are making a choice between price and food service it would be interesting for Bob to do an informal survey on a round trip as to just how many people actually are aware before they get on the train. When you go to make a reservation there is a red triangle with an exclamation mark next to both the Meteor and The Star. When you click you get information about the Florida Service (including the fact that the Florida Special will not be running this year AGAIN :-)). The food service is displayed prominently but not at the top. there From my experience at Amtrak and MARC a substantial number of people will never click that triangle. When I went back to the availability screen I see the food service is displayed prominently at the top but I missed it the first time focusing on the two trains’ information. Obviously we don’t know how well Amtrak RSO’s are doing at passing the information. But if 30 or 40% of the passengers get on not knowing about the food it will skew the result.
It’s clear that the big savings of eliminating the diner is the4 or 5 positions of very costly labor. On the other hand anyone who lives in a large metropolitan area knows there are hundreds of examples of premade food that doesn’t require heating that can make this experiment more palatable. Making stocking more difficult Marc? Let’s carry that one step further and take the food service car off altogether. Fried Chicken at Rocky Mount anyone?
Amtrak has never been able to sustain a quality food service for very long. For all the hoo hah about a chef’s panel a recent trip on Acela Club offered mediocre choices at breakfast. 1 1/2 egg omelets? I think Amtrak’s greatest success was the upgraded snack menu in the Acelas. But despite sky high prices Amtrak can’t resist nibbling away at quality. The Acela (and I believe regional menu) offered a yogurt parfait almost identical to what you would find at Starbucks or Cosi. A generous helping of y
I’m not sure Amtrak gets it. They charge four-star prices to ride a sleeper and then they offer 7-11 food. Doesn’t add up.