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Based on the information that is available to the public, all one can do with respect to determining sleeper occupancy levels is bracket the possible high and low occupancy rates.  Factoring in or out the room(s) occupied by the car attendant does not make the calculation any more difficult; it just means that one has to remember to account for it. If one wants to know how the pricing for a room on the Cardinal compares with the Capitol Limited or any other train, one would ideally have the data points for every room for every day for 365 days.Just taking a snap shot of a day or two or even a week would not reveal a pattern for the year. A statistical sample could be used to determine the distributed load factors. However, the results of a statistical sample are subject to variation, depending on the tightness of the sampling construct, and must be projected to the population as a range rather than a single number. There is no evidence that Amtrak's Yield Management Program is not robust. I believe that it bought the algorithms from an outside vendor.  Yield Management algorithms are complex but not beyond a person with a reasonable background in mathematics to understand.  Information regarding generic yield management programs is available on the web. Information regarding Amtrak's Yield Management Program is not available, primarily because it is proprietary. Whenever I have looked at booking a room from central Texas to the east coast, the price of the rooms on the Cardinal have almost always been higher than those for the Capitol Limited.  I suspect car capacity has something to do with it.  However, the biggest factor probably is the Cardinal's operating profile. It only runs three days a week in each direction and, therefore, wears more capital charges per room than the Capitol Limited, which drives the pricing, or at least it should.
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