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When I was looking to buy a ticket for a room on the Crescent for an upcoming trip: 1. 3 rooms were available, with the lowest price of around $700 for a roomette. 2. A day later, only 1 room was available, but the lowest price had dropped to about $375. 3. Now 3 rooms are available, and the...

I guess so although it seems to open only maybe 30-60 minutes after the train leaves its originating station and I don’t understand why any work done then wasn’t done before the train left.

I like Lyft and take it pretty regularly. Amtrak should do a tie-in like Brightline does and at least put a Lyft or Uber logo up at train stations to indicate a pick-up point. That would at least show people that getting to and from the train station is easy. Since rental cars aren’t...

I would think that letting Amtrak handle dispatching would be something that freight railroads would try to avoid at all costs. If I were Norfolk Southern, I’d be really concerned, and I’d think that eliminating Amtrak from my lines would be something to try for.

And what is the reason? The lounge car on the Crescent is closed to coach passengers between about 5pm and 7pm. Is there any wonder that Amtrak can’t make money, when it closes its sole food service car at dinner time for a large portion of its customers?

Fair point but on a plane I am usually offered a drink before takeoff and then once (or multiple times) after the plane is at cruising altitude. It would be nice to be able to have a drink when I first board the train and am settled in my sleeping car room, instead of having to wait a few...

First class on planes = unlimited drinks (including alcohol). So people who fly first class and then take Amtrak will be surprised.

If Flexible Dining meals could be served on plates, that would help: not in plastic wrap with the labels still on.

True although Amtrak got rid of business class on the Crescent. It seemed as though business class was a regular Amfleet II coach- any wonder why few people bothered to pay more for it?

United and American have had transcontinental flights that have no coach seats, even recently: they’re all first class (fancier than regular domestic first class), business or premium economy. I think that at least United added coach seats to its p.s. flights though. What I’m seeing is fewer...

I agree. Wouldn’t the number of Viewliner II sleepers indicate the amount of additional sleeping car business that Amtrak expected to get pre-Covid on Eastern trains? And if Slumbercoaches and couchettes were added, that would be a lot more.

Agreed in that an all-sleeping car train would mean at least 6 sleeping cars (given typical 8-car Amtrak consists). The only reason I can think of to have an all-sleeper train is because the railroad gets so much sleeping car business that there’s not enough space in the consist for a coach...

The new service types I mention ought to be done with additional equipment. They would not displace any current cars. We can look at airline numbers to see how travel has mostly bounced back from its pandemic lows. And in any event, Amtrak runs much shorter trains than it did in the past on...

I think so: 1. Given railroads’ overhead, versus the relatively low marginal cost of transporting another person, simply filling more seats or beds would go a long way to help Amtrak become operationally profitable. 2. With some marketing, more affordable tickets and maybe some schedule...

Thinking further about this, if any extra sleeping cars are profitable enough to make the investment worthwhile, Amtrak should be able to borrow the money to pay to buy them. Unless Amtrak has already granted a lien to another lender on all of its assets.

Those Via rooms seem ancient! But I’d be fine with a cabin for one. Thanks for posting.

That seems like a very good score but (this is not directed at you) I wonder how employees of resorts, high-end hotels and regular airlines would rate.

I may be wrong then. When I dummy-booked a ticket, it didn’t show lounge access for solo cabins but it for others but I may have just missed it. The upcharge was £40 for a solo cabin but £60 (ie, £30 per person) total for a double. That’s what I like. On Amtrak, it seems as though the total...

No apology needed- and thanks for the very valuable and helpful information you’ve shared.

But again: My point is that offering a lower-priced private room for a solo traveler is appealing. It’s that simple. The Night Riviera train between London and Penzance has single cabins and double ones. The single cabins don’t include lounge access, and the upcharge is smaller than the...