I generally did use dining cars on long distance trains. Sometimes I would have a fish-Kosher meal ordered in advance, sometimes I would settle for purely vegetarian out of what was normally provided. In my long distance travels up to the start of Amtrak, I had not adopted a religiouslife-style.
I usually found the dining car experience one of the highlights of the trip and would have been very dissapointed if the service was not avaiable. I found meals ranging from better than just satisfactory to gourmet and memorial. I am speaking about Amtrak. The best meals were on Amtrak on AT&SF, UP (D&RGW) and SCL-CSX (RF&P) tracks. Admittadly, the experience was not only the good-to-excellent food, but also the converstation with new friends with scenery passing by.
Before Amtrak, one reason I switched from NYC-PC Detroit - Chicago to GTW's Mowhawk was the diner. I would say it was the main reason.
DeggestySam, I agree with you that you will not find "gourmet" food in an Amtrak diner.
I agree, too! It's on par with a lower end chain restaurant, like Applebees.
I would say that food service is not one of Amtrak's core competencies and they should subcontract the whole thing out. Run the food service like a dinner train.
-Don (Random stuff, mostly about trains - what else? http://blerfblog.blogspot.com/)
I ride the Texas Eagle from Taylor, TX to Dallas and back approximately eight to ten times a year. I like to have lunch in the dinning car going and coming. It is a train thing to do. The food on the Eagle is OK most of the time. But not all the time!
On my last trip I passed up eating in the dinner and instead opted for a turkey and cheese sandwich, along with a Diet Coke, in the lounge car. The sandwich was excellent, and it cost four or five dollars less than the veggie burger in the dinner. And a Diet Coke is a Diet Coke is a Diet Coke.
If Amtrak discontinued dinning cars and upgraded the food selection in the lounge car, I would be a happy camper irrespective of whether I was traveling from Taylor to Dallas or Taylor to LA. Now I do insist on a glass of wine or two with my evening meal. And Amtrak serves a reasonably good drop providing one is not a connoisseur.
On another note, I have taken the Acela from NYC to Philadelphia or Washington three times. I did not eat on the train, and I did not observe anyone in my car race to the bistro car for anything substantial. Coffee and a roll seemed to be the choice of most passengers. Don't know about the folks in first class. I suspect most business travelers on the Acela wait until they get to their destination and opt for a meal in a good restaurant, or they eat at a good restaurant before boarding the train.
Sam, I agree with you that you will not find "gourmet" food in an Amtrak diner. The food is better than it was when I traveled in 1982--and then I found the best food on the lesser trains.
Now, if there is a diner on a train, there is only a little difference between what you find in the diner on one train and in the diner on another train. If yu are a vegetarian (which I am not), you have very little choice.
VIA is a bit different on the Canadian--you have a different menu each day. And there are variations in the menus for the VIA 1 service.
Back in the fifties, there was an article in Trains which pointed out the fact that diners lost money no matter what the roads did to reduce the loss, short of discontinuing meal service; and the situation is no better today.
Johnny
“With a total $1.4 billion Amtrak taxpayer subsidy in just the past year, extravagant chef-designed dishes need to be considered for the chopping block,” the Florida congressman said.
It does not sound like he is going after all food service. He appears to be focusing on the high end (gourmet) meals served on the long distance trains. Frankly, I have never had what could be classified as a gourmet meal on any of Amtrak's trains, and I have ridden most of them over the past decade.
Approximately 2.2 per cent of Amtrak's system wide passengers book sleeping car space. Meals are included in their fares. According to the IG the cost of the meals is not covered by the implied meal component in the first class fares. By the same token, although the data is getting long in the tooth, again according to the IG's report, sleeping car passengers actually received a larger per passenger subsidy than coach passengers. Admittedly, I don't know if this is still true, but I suspect that it is.
Amtrak could discontinue the dinning cars and provide food service in the lounge cars. The Superliner lounge cars have the capacity to serve relatively decent eats, I am not so sure about the lounge cars on the single level trains. They have tables for folks to enjoy their eats. Moreover, if the dinning cars were eliminated, at considerable potential cost savings, the quality and variety of the meals offered in the lounge cars could be enhanced.
As long as Amtrak just keeps on keeping on as if there is no reason to change, it will never improve its efficiency and effectiveness. Based on several reports critical of the company's food service practices, it appears that the activity is ripe for reform.
Congressman Mica has said publicly he wants to conduct a "Holy Jihad" against Amtrak. He is a bitter opponent and no one is going to persuade him to be anything else. He'll just on on and on.
Congress man states Amtrak should get rid of gourmet food service on LD trains.
IMHO he is putting forward the idea that if food service there will be a savings of $80M. This is the cost accounting idea that each unit of any company must show a profit. This is exactly opposite of the management idea that one division may loose but that loss division brings in more revenueto a profit division.. Eliminating food service would probably drive away half the sleeper passengers and 1/4 of the longer distance passengers.
http://www.talkradionews.com/congress/2013/06/18/john-mica-fed-up-with-amtrak-gourmet-menu.html#.UcCpQeCxpS9
More importantly what would happen to the Acela traffic ? Not many many persons would ride the first class or business class when can ride regional for same service. Someone who has traveled with Mica on his airline trips please tell us what kind of food does he receive ?- Does he ever ride Acela ?
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