Amtrak dining and cafe service

[Railspike]

I saw this comment the other day and wondered the same.......
Amtrak's Covid stimulus funds from Congress came with a condition to restore service levels on the national network to trains as they were prior to cutbacks. Traditional Dining and SSLs were all part of the service levels prior to the Covid cutbacks. Therefore, would the failure to restore these items be considered a violation of the Congressional order?

I realize that Amtrak says Traditional Dining is returning June 30th and SSLs will eventually return to all LD trains. We'll have to wait to see.

 

[Nick Farr]

Amtrak's Covid stimulus funds from Congress came with a condition to restore service levels on the national network to trains as they were prior to cutbacks. Traditional Dining and SSLs were all part of the service levels prior to the Covid cutbacks. Therefore, would the failure to restore these items be considered a violation of the Congressional order?

Service levels under the law apply primarily to scheduling: Daily service as opposed to 3x/week, etc.

There isn't a clear-cut way to quantify the on-board amenities. There's no federal standard I know of for Traditional Dining vs Flex Dining, etc.

 

[me_little_me]

Service levels under the law apply primarily to scheduling: Daily service as opposed to 3x/week, etc.

There isn't a clear-cut way to quantify the on-board amenities. There's no federal standard I know of for Traditional Dining vs Flex Dining, etc.

Thanks for pointing this out. I tried to find the appropriate requirements of the law (and any related orders of associated government agencies like FRA, STB...) but cannot. Can you post for us the specifics or reference the documents? I, for one, would like to see that information.

 

[Eric in East County]

If traditional dining resumes on June 30th, what about long-distance trains that depart on June 29th? Will they have flex dining the first night and traditional dining the next?

Eric & Pat

 

[Cal]

If traditional dining resumes on June 30th, what about long-distance trains that depart on June 29th? Will they have flex dining the first night and traditional dining the next?

Eric & Pat

Good question. I guess we will need to wait and find out

 

[jis]

Thanks for pointing this out. I tried to find the appropriate requirements of the law (and any related orders of associated government agencies like FRA, STB...) but cannot. Can you post for us the specifics or reference the documents? I, for one, would like to see that information.

The exact language passed in HR1319 American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, is in Section 7101(c) which reads:

c) Long-distance service restoration and employee recalls.—Not less than $165,926,000 of the aggregate amounts made available under subsections (a) and (b) shall be for use by the National Railroad Passenger Corporation to—

(1) restore, not later than 90 days after the date of enactment of this Act, the frequency of rail service on long-distance routes (as defined in section 24102 of title 49, United States Code) that the National Railroad Passenger Corporation reduced the frequency of on or after July 1, 2020, and continue to operate such service at such frequency; and

(2) recall and manage employees furloughed on or after October 1, 2020, as a result of efforts to prevent, prepare for, and respond to coronavirus.

There is no specific mention of food or any other soft service product. However, it would appear that it is a relatively safe assumption that the recall from furlough is both for restoring service frequency and for restoring soft products, but it is apparently left entirely at Amtrak management's discretion as to the form of the restoration of soft service products to be carried out by furloughed employees being recalled. Afterall it makes no sense to recall a bunch of people and then have them sit around doing nothing.

I should hasten to add that it is possible that food service restoration is specifically mentioned in some other act that I have not found yet. All that I have found is statements of intent by Amtrak management on the subject.

Good question. I guess we will need to wait and find out

I think it is safe to assume that full service will become available only on trains departing on some designated date (which may be earlier than the announced service restoration date by a day or two, or it may not) and after that. Trains that departed from the origin before the designated date will most likely have the previous service.

 

[zephyr17]

If traditional dining resumes on June 30th, what about long-distance trains that depart on June 29th? Will they have flex dining the first night and traditional dining the next?

Eric & Pat

Almost certainly not. Trains are stocked at their point of origin. Amtrak has almost no commissaries at intermediate points. Whatever service is offered initially is what it will be for the duration of the trip.

In fact, since flex and traditional have different staffing needs, it is entirely possible that the train will have to return to its "home" crewbase and will not have traditional dining until its next departure from the "home" crewbase.

As an example, the Southwest Chief's OBS crew is based in Los Angeles. They go with that consist to Chicago and back, a 6 day round trip. If the first day of traditional dining service out of LA is June 30th, likely the first day of traditional dining out of Chicago would be July 3rd when that first LA crew starts back.

My guess is they'll start reintroducing traditional dining a couple days early so all trains have it for their June 30th or July 1st departures.

 

[jis]

While I don't agree with many of the recommendations proffered by the Amtrak OIG in the following document, the document does provide a plethora of information that covers many areas that we have speculated about here, including how money is transferred to the F&B account from the transport account for LD trains and Acelas for complementary food service. Many other nuggets of useful information. It is a long and tedious read though, but at least can help in discussions based on recorded facts instead of speculations and wishful thinking...

Food and Beverage Service Amtrak OIG Report 2014 (PDF)

 

[jruff001]

While I don't agree with many of the recommendations proffered by the Amtrak OIG in the following document, the document does provide a plethora of information that covers many areas that we have speculated about here, including how money is transferred to the F&B account from the transport account for LD trains and Acelas for complementary food service. Many other nuggets of useful information. It is a long and tedious read though, but at least can help in discussions based on recorded facts instead of speculations and wishful thinking...

Food and Beverage Service Amtrak OIG Report 2014 (PDF)

Interesting read; thanks for posting!

One of the main problems is really highlighted with the tables on pages 3 and 4: Total F&B revenue didn't even cover just the onboard labor costs of providing LD food service, let alone the costs of equipment and the food itself. And that was after several years of efforts to reduce F&B losses.

 

[crescent-zephyr]

With benefits Amtrak is paying every F&B employee an average of $41 per hour.

 

[cocojacoby]

If the servers where being paid $41 per hour plus tips, you would think they would have had much better attitudes. If you are making that kind of money you could be a bit friendlier.

 

[Mystic River Dragon]

“Amtrak Is Having a Flash Sale on Vacation Packages Across the U.S.” is the title of an online “article” in Travel and Leisure.

I put quotes around “article,” because it looks like there was zilch research or fact-checking put into it. It looks like someone found a press release and reworded it to try to sound like a real article.

The person who wrote it says, “The menus may also be better than you remember.”

She then mentions the steak for dinner and a made-to-order omelet or Amtrak’s signature French toast for breakfast.

Huh?

This is either real information and Amtrak expects to have all those wonderful meals back by the time their advertised sale goes into effect. Or it’s a great wishful thinking press release.

If anyone can add a link to the article here, I’d be grateful. My editing background lets me see sloppy writing a mile off, but my tech skills never caught up, unfortunately, and I don’t see a way to link the article.

 

[jruff001]

With benefits Amtrak is paying every F&B employee an average of $41 per hour.

And that was in 2012!

 

[Just-Thinking-51]

“Amtrak Is Having a Flash Sale on Vacation Packages Across the U.S.” is the title of an online “article” in Travel and Leisure.

https://www.travelandleisure.com/travel-news/amtrak-flash-sale-50th-anniversary

 

[Mystic River Dragon]

https://www.travelandleisure.com/travel-news/amtrak-flash-sale-50th-anniversary

That’s it! Thank you!

The last paragraph, right above the blurb about the writer, is the one about the food (for anyone who wants to go right there and skip the rest of the fluff).

 

[Way2Kewl]

$41 should only be paid to the best of attitudes.
Great if they promoted a rating/feedback reward system that actually held bad apples accountable and rewarded those Amtrak employees we meet that go up and above.

Seems the folks that work for Amtrak report the following to Glassdoor
Locomotive Engineer $46/hr
Railroad Conductor $30/hr
Lead Service Attendant $28/hr
Train Attendant $24/hr
(https://www.glassdoor.com/Hourly-Pay/Amtrak-Hourly-Pay-E2912.htm)

The article said the total REVENUE was calculated by using the FULL menu prices for Sleeper passengers. A great number of folks get the Land and Sea and it's $39. So they'd need double the total revenue to break even? Wow.

 

[me_little_me]

To contribute to the cost of meals included in the ticket price, Amtrak transfers a portion of revenue from sleeper class and Acela first class tickets to the food and beverage account, according to officials from Finance and customer service. For sleeper class tickets, the amount transferred is based on the menu price of actual meals consumed by sleeper passengers on long distance routes.

It does NOT say that Amtrak transferred amount EQUALS the cost of the meals but is based upon it so we still don't know how much they put towards the cost.

In addition, Amtrak lacks complete, accurate, and consistent cost and revenue data to establish profit and loss accountability for its food and beverage service by business lines. Having this information is also essential to Amtrak’s successful implementation of its strategic plan to manage by business lines.

I read this as two words: MANAGEMENT INCOMPETENCE. In fact the whole document reeks of it. And this is just the food cost issue, not the operations of the trains or other parts of Amtrak's business.

 

[railiner]

I think it is safe to assume that full service will become available only on trains departing on some designated date (whihc may be earlier than the announced service restoration date by a day or two, or it may not) and after that. Trains that departed from the origin before the designated date will most likely have the previous service.

It's similar to the transcontinental trains that departed their origins on 30 April 1971...the last of them did not end private railroad operation of passenger trains until 2 May 1971, 2 days later, and 2 days into the Amtrak era....

 

[Trogdor]

$41 should only be paid to the best of attitudes.
Great if they promoted a rating/feedback reward system that actually held bad apples accountable and rewarded those Amtrak employees we meet that go up and above.

Seems the folks that work for Amtrak report the following to Glassdoor
Locomotive Engineer $46/hr
Railroad Conductor $30/hr
Lead Service Attendant $28/hr
Train Attendant $24/hr

The $41 figure is with benefits and other employment costs. In many industries (at least, those that actually make an attempt at paying their employees a living wage & benefits), the non-wage employment costs (insurance, retirement benefits, payroll taxes, etc.) can be up to 50% of the wage, so for a $24-28/hr wage, $41/hr seems within the realm of reason.

 

[crescent-zephyr]

The $41 figure is with benefits and other employment costs. In many industries (at least, those that actually make an attempt at paying their employees a living wage & benefits), the non-wage employment costs (insurance, retirement benefits, payroll taxes, etc.) can be up to 50% of the wage, so for a $24-28/hr wage, $41/hr seems within the realm of reason.

Direct comparisons in the report to food service employees on the Alaska Railroad, Rocky Mountaineer, and the Downeaster show that $41/ an hour is not at all reasonable.

 

[Trogdor]

Direct comparisons in the report to food service employees on the Alaska Railroad, Rocky Mountaineer, and the Downeaster show that $41/ an hour is not at all reasonable.

According to Downeaster and Alaska Railroad officials, hourly labor rates for contracted staff, including servers and chefs, on those two railroads ranged from $7.75 to $13.00, with no employee benefits. In FY 2012, hourly labor rates for contracted chefs on the Rocky Mountaineer averaged $14.70, including limited benefits.

In other words, poverty wages and little-to-no benefits. On a job that requires you to be away from home for up to a week at a time (and thus eliminating the possibility of having a second job elsewhere).

So...yes, $41/hr is absolutely reasonable. What’s not reasonable is the peanuts these other companies are paying.

The other thing the report notes is that Amtrak employees are subject to railroad retirement, whereas I gather the other “contracted” employees are not, further widening the disparity (RRB is more expensive than social security, but the benefits are greater).

 

[jruff001]

Direct comparisons in the report to food service employees on the Alaska Railroad, Rocky Mountaineer, and the Downeaster show that $41/ an hour is not at all reasonable.

Note the $41/hr figure includes wages AND great benefits. In 2012.

Are you saying that $10/hr with no benefits is "reasonable"? Would that attract good quality employees who are expected to spend six nights away from home each trip, year round?

Anyway, let's keep in mind this report was talking about 2012 wage & benefit rates.

 

[me_little_me]

I don't begrudge anyone making $41/hr including benefits even in 2012. I do begrudge them for being tipped employees. The Alaska Ferry (owned and operated by the state) prohibits tipping of its onboard employees.

Now I realize that that was claimed to be the AVERAGE and some are probably making less but what does that say for the maximum they get? We don't know the minimum or maximum.

I'm looking for a volunteer (survival not guaranteed) to ask one of the Amtrak dining employees what the average pay is for someone in their position. Benefits can be calculated for them later. Please text the info immediately in case your body is found along the track.

 

[jruff001]

It is probably the highest compensated waiter job on the planet.

 

[crescent-zephyr]

Would that attract good quality employees who are expected to spend six nights away from home each trip, year round?

Does the Downeaster, Alaska RR, and Rocky Mountaineer have poor quality employees?