Did the start date get pushed back?
No date has been announced for that only that it’s happening sometime this year. Anything beyond that is rumors.
You mean next year? It's still 2022.
Good point.You mean next year? It's still 2022.
Indeed since October.
I've been in malls and convention centers where the escalators were turned off during supposed "low traffic" hours; I prefer using an elevator then (esp. if I need to travel multiple floors, say from a parking garage to a skywalk). Haven't been on an Amtrak sleeping car since Slumbercoach days, however, so good question how often I'd want to deal with stairs in Superliner cars.
My personal opinion is Amtrak management is being disingenuous in their support of the long distance trains. They’re saying what they have to say to appease Congress. No organization can be this inept. Lucky for them other parts of the transportation system are having issues too. Time will tell but we need some results not just hollow words and promises. I feel like we just keep getting strung along. I will be very surprised if the Silvers get true dining car service back.
Are you saying you think they're doing nothing and sticking with flexible dining or that the upgrade will be disappointing? I would say the former is highly unlikely - the latter is certainly possible. I think the million dollar question is what the staffing will be and how much of what they're doing out west will they be able to do and how it will differ.
What good is traditional dining at intercontinental business class pricing? What good is a cheap ticket on a tiny Texas Eaglet? Unlike Amtrak's public relations team we tell it like it is because we do not benefit from muddying the water with endless platitudes and subterfuge.
I think the reason some of us have lost confidence is that Amtrak's leaders of 2018-19 had the gall to claim that their "contemporary" and "flexible" food programs were actually an improvement, that this is what surveys showed customers wanted, that millennials would flock to trains because of this change, and so on.
There's also been some improvement of quality in the offerings in the cafe cars, too.
I think it will return, but this years long delay is ridiculous, especially since they've acknowledged something has to be done about flex.
I think the real problem is that the Amtrak Board is a bunch of potted plants who cannot make any decision that might upset any of their "water providers" or even Ammanagement whom they are supposed to be managing, and when in doubt they like to sit on their thumbs. This is something that they could fix if they would make any decision about any operational matter and enforce it with Amtrak Executives to act on it instead of sitting around rubber stamping whatever comes to them from Ammanagement. But I am getting off topic here. This is not the first time that a weak and ineffectual Board has caused a company to be run ineffectively.
All great ideas to make dining a more profitable aspect of LD trains. As for the suggestion regarding upsells, I recall from my days waiting tables that a tab should never be considered final till the customer walked out the door! Of course, that means that Number 4 is conditioned on Suggestion Nos 1 and 2 being acted on. Encouraging dawdling over an extra drink works best if the table can continued to be turned for other passengers, which might well mean that dining seats and dining hours need to be expanded for it to work.
Yes very true. But even with needing to turn tables beginning the service with the suggestion of an upsell (would you like any beer or wine to get started? Perhaps a mixed drink?) and then asking if anyone “wants another” during the meal can go a long way.
If you're referring to the food and beverage committee that was a congressional decision - and hasn't yet completed its deliverables I don't believe. I believe the decision to bring dining back to the Silvers this fiscal year was made in FY22 as they appeared to begin hiring for it then. There had been rumors about them sending a diner down to New Orleans for training recently but if they're really thinking about that route they aren't saying it at this point (Larry Chestler said only the Silvers are part of current plans) and it wouldn't be this fiscal year. Harris had said in an interview that after they finish with implementing the changes on the Star and Meteor that they will turn attention to the remaining flexible dining routes but it sounds like it's very early and they may wait until the committee makes recommendations before making any other changes - I think the only reason they're moving ahead with the Silvers is because the decision was made before that committee started.
Maybe if Amtrak management would have acted to improve their woeful F&B, Congress would not have had to step in with a directive.
There used to be such things on the Coast Starlight and the Empire Builder, and even the Lake Shore out of Chicago had a Wine and Cheese Reception in the Diner for Sleeper Passengers beford the 930pm Departure..
That was before John Mica decided that Amtrak serving wine was the underlying cause of the federal deficit.
I remember them all and loved them. But to be fair, I was suggesting that type of service for purchase as a way to earn revenue.
I agree, but as I remember passengers did purchase lots of the Wines and the Cheeses that were served on the Starlight (from California,Oregon and Washington State) after attending the tastings in the Parlour Car.( another Sadly missed Enhancement!
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