Having just recently returned from a trip on the Empire Builder, one of the highlights was the dining car service and the meals. On our roundtrip, both the food and the service were very good. Mind you, not the same as when the private railroads ran the onboard service, but definitely very enjoyable. For longer distance trains, good meals and good service are a must. On our trains, even the crew was amazed at the sheer numbers of people who wanted to enjoy the dining experience, rather than have something from the lounge/cafe.
I did note that on both trips, the EB was serviced by some local caterers who put food aboard at key enroute stops. The food selections then were announced by the lounge car attendant. One one trip, the chicken dinner special of "one for $10 or two for $20," had enough takers, as they sold out. From what was in the cases in the lounge car, this addition might seem like a possible winner. Anything would be better than regressing to the JD Russell days on the SP, with the infamous "Yukkamat" cars. One of those was inflicted on me on the Sunset Route out of Los Angeles in the waning days before AMTRAK, and once was enough for me. At that point, the automat cars seemed to accomplish their mission by helping drive people away from the marginal and unattended service.
I think other commenters have it right when suggesting the requirement for attended service, no matter how the food is dispensed. Cleanliness is a must, and too many people often seem to not even care. Who wants to be in line after them? I have experienced cafe attendants on the Calif Corridor service, and for what it is attempting to accomplish, the service works fairly well. Yes, they hand you what you probably could serve yourself, but they also serve beverages and they did come through and try to keep the place presentable. If there is going to be more spartan food and beverage service on shorter distance/higher frequency trains, then do it right, and have someone there to look after the place, and to serve people, even if it is just putting a glass of ice, your drink, and a can of mixer on the counter.
Lastly, let your imagination play with this and see where this all is heading. If we keep regressing, pretty soon somebody likely will wax poetic for those famous Harvey Houses of old. Then, we could just dump the diners and cafes altogether, and not have to worry about how to cut back even more, while still keep people on the trains, eh? Or maybe keeping the passengers we have and trying to encourage greater ridership is not a priority after all? Yes, it all costs money, but maybe it is time to literally put our money where our mouth is.
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