DeggestyI am sure that the "Augusta" in "...the stub of the CITY OF MIAMI from Miami to Augusta, GA until 1976." is simply an error for "Albany." I went through Albany both ways on the City of Miami, and never through Augusta.
You are of course correct on this. As a regular rider of the CITY OF MIAMI I should have known better. I'll correct the main post above.
I am truly sorry to learn of the decision to abandon all pretense of meal service on an overnight train. It is true that, years ago, there were many successful coach-only overnight trains--but there were also trains with sleepers which ran at approximately the same time.
I am sure that the "Augusta" in "...the stub of the CITY OF MIAMI from Miami to Augusta, GA until 1976." is simply an error for "Albany." I went through Albany both ways on the City of Miami, and never through Augusta.
Johnny
Amtrak on-board employees at the Miami crew base were advised last week that the SILVER STAR diner is gone for good. Presumeably the downgrade to a snack-only menu for a 31 hour run has been judged by the Boardman management to be a complete success. Time will tell if this is a precursor of similar actoins system-wide, but obviously this is not good.
A query a few minutes ago of availability from Miami to New York in the Amtrak computer for May 12 (after diner service was supposed originally to be back) continues to show the crossed fork pictogram for diner service on the SILVER STAR, but an overly says "no diner". If you click on the "no diner" overlay you get the original downgrade press-release, claiming diner service is only gone to April 30--but this is just a typically careless Amtrak data-entry screw-up.
Worse no sleeper service is shown either on the SILVER STAR (!) and this continues for all dates after 4/30/16. Hopefully the complete removal of sleepers on trains 91/92 from the Amtrak computer is temporary, while fares are adjusted downward to reflect only snack food--but nothing on the Amtrak website explains this. Please God they are not also cancelling sleeper service outright on the STAR?
Patronage on the SILVER STARs has declined since the "experiment" began. December FY16 ridership was 6.8% below FY15 for the same month. Revenue on the STAR in the same period declined 16.4% (sleeper revenue is the cause of the apparent disparity here--as even Amtrak recognized the need to cut sleeper fares if no real food was included. Thus ridership could decline much less than income, as most lost business was in the premium fare sleepers).
This pattern has been reflected continuously since the downgrade began, although not every month was the same. For example September ridership was 5.4% down from the same month in 2014, while same month revenue dropped 7.1%. Overall in FY2015 the SILVER STAR lost 5.5% of its ridership and 4.2% of its revenue--but full diner service was in place on the route for the first quarter of FY15.
Yet apparently the Bordman management group thinks taking the declining trend on 91/92 is better than doing even a partial upgrade of food service on this train (pre-plated entrees as on the ACELA EXPRESS and CARDINAL trains is the obvious answer). This may be because bad as the patronage losses on the STAR have been they aren't as bad as Amtrak projected in its "Budget" for the route. The patronage left on 91/92--while lower by 6.8% compared to December 2014 is still 6.2% ahead of Amtrak's (deliberately pessimistic?) budget for December of 2015 on the train. Revenue while down 16.4% is still 6.3% better than the (absurdly low) income Amtrak budgeted.
Thus the Boardman management can go crawling back to the House Transportation Committee and it's chief Amtrak-hater Congressman John Mica and say "You were right--we can downgrade service just like you wanted and only lose those passengers who wanted a comfortable trip! Congressman we're on-track to eliminate food service losses by eliminating any vestige of actual food service. Aren't we good boys now?"
This is a very sad moment.
If there is a shred of hope it may be in the provision in the recently passed Amtrak Congressional Reauthorization to experimentally privitize up to three long-haul Amtrak routes. When Amtrak started in 1971 the Seaboard Coast Line came very close to staying out. SCL President Rice was quoted shortly before Amtrak day that the SILVER METEOR, WEST COAST CHAMPION and FLORIDA SPECIAL trains were still profitable and that SCL was going in mostly to avoid having to run hopeless connecting services like Florence-Augusta, Waycross-Montgomery and the stub of the CITY OF MIAMI from Miami to Albany, GA until 1976.
Under the Amtrak law if a carrier stayed out of joining Amtrak in 1971 there could be no "train-offs" of its surviving services until 5 years passed. That is why the Southern's secondary passenger services from Washington to Atlanta (and a second DC-Lynchburg) and Salisbury-Asheville ran as fleetmates to the flagship SOUTHERN CRESCENT that the Southern Ry meant to retain until 1976.
Iowa Pacific/Pullman Rail perhaps? The New York-Florida route was so strong in 1970 that it remained unmatched for sleeper demand in the entire country. Even Amtrak routinely ran 5 sleepers and 1-2 slumbercoaches on the SILVER METEOR as late as 1989. Even if Amtrak retained the staffing of engineers and conductors on the Florida trains, here could be the perfect market to test a concession for First Class service (sleepers, food/beverages) on something like the HOOSIER STATE model.
Carl Fowler
President (Retired)
CHF Rail Consulting LLC/Rail Travel Adventures
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