A move in the correct direction. Diner service on these trains is lousy. Meals are overpriced. As a business, one has to be adapted and open to change. What worked 20 yrs ago may no longer be useful today. With high priced meals and food that is not all that good to begin with, fewer passengers are using the dining cars. Hope this new food service method is put in use on all long distance trains.
Good one Midland Mike...bravo!
Any fast food restaurant and even many food trucks can get you a hot meal. Amtrak has sunk to a new low. Perhaps the congressional cafeteria should only serve cold food to show how financially concerned they are.
I'm OK with the change and to me it appears to be a innovative move financially. Wow, I used Amtrak and "Innovative" in the same post.
Dude, you are right that the best Amtrak now offers is not really comparable to the former first class service. The sleeping compartments are smaller, and it is not as easy for a passenger in a roomette to get his berth down and back up as it was. The only thing going for the Amtrak bedrooms is the private shower.
Acela is the best Amtrak offers--but, to me, it does not compare well with the rotating, reclining parlor seats of old. The meal service is passable, but I found VIA's VIA 1 (which is now called "business") service much better.
Also, no longer is there one fare from Chicago to Los Angeles no matter which route you take (a stopover in Grand Canyon did cost more); fares on the Texas Eagle are higher than those on the Southwest Chief. Incidentally, Pullman space charges were the same (except for the Grand Canyon stopover), whether you took two nights or three nights to make the trip.
Johnny
DeggestyOne of the pleasures of traveling first class has been that of eating a hot meal in the diner--in company with other diners who, often, provide pleasant conversation.
Miningman Bob Dorsch, Amtrak’s vice president of the Long Distance Service Line, is quoted in the release as saying, “Our continued success depends on increasing customer satisfaction while becoming more efficient,” and that Amtrak looks forward to hearing from its customers about the change US Taxpayers actually pay this clown? It's over...move to Denmark.
Bob Dorsch, Amtrak’s vice president of the Long Distance Service Line, is quoted in the release as saying, “Our continued success depends on increasing customer satisfaction while becoming more efficient,” and that Amtrak looks forward to hearing from its customers about the change
US Taxpayers actually pay this clown?
It's over...move to Denmark.
My wife and I were subjected to the cold meals served on the Portland section of the Empire Builder; we did not complain for we had the hot meal service east of Spokane. (Oh, for the meal service that the SP&S provided into Portland!)
However, the idea of no longer having a diner on the New York-Chicago and the Washington-Chicago service is an atrocious idea. One of the pleasures of traveling first class has been that of eating a hot meal in the diner--in company with other diners who, often, provide pleasant conversation.
Incidentally, have all of the old single-level diners been retired? I ate on a Viewliner Diner on the Crescent on my latest trip (this month).
Even the airlines can provide a warm dinner.
Well, this is good news! Paying passengers will no longer have to wonder when the new Viewliner diners will finally be in service on the Lake Shore Limited because the answer is "never." These now-unneeded dining cars may be converted at probably modest cost into coaches.
Futher benefits: Passengers will no longer have to endure moving to another car to eat their meals, only to find total strangers seated at their table. The dangers of hot food will be eliminated. Bonus: Passengers will now enjoy contemporary cold cuisine instead of the stodgy traditional dining and hospitality.
National benefit: Amtrak will at last save enormous amounts of money; this will enable it to finally make a profit and earn the approval of a conservative-led Congress which has recently shown again its devotion to fiscal responsibility.
Operational benefit: The inevitable fewer passengers will soon obviate the need for more than one sleeper and a coach or two. Another big savings here.
Question: Which pizza shops in Rensselaer deliver to the trains at the railroad station?
WASHINGTON — For sleeping car passengers on two Amtrak routes between Chicago and the East Coast, it appears dining innovation is a dish best served cold. In a press release issued Thursday, Amtrak announced “contemporary and fresh dining...
http://trn.trains.com/news/news-wire/2018/04/19-cold-meal-service-coming-to-capitol-lake-shore-limited
Brian Schmidt, Editor, Classic Trains magazine
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