Amtrak dining and cafe service

[jis]

YEP!( same thing with the Sightseer Lounge)

And while not a Direct Connection, the same would be True re Meals for any Eastern Train if you were continuing to/from Florida on the Auto Train in a Sleeper.

Well you can't really connect to/from Auto Train without first acquiring an Auto at the connection point though

You also have to "drive" to the Auto Train station. There is no realistic train connection to those either.

 

[Bob Dylan]

Well you can't really connect to/from Auto Train without first acquiring an Auto at the connection point though

True, it's Theoretical, but has happened I'm sure.

 

[user 14106]

Isn't the TE CHI to LAX sort of a half meal train? It is Flex upto San Antonio and then Traditional as part of the Sunset, no?

Oh right - I might have misread - I thought they were referring to a train that departed before the traditional dining return day (getting flex dining the first day and traditional the second) which is what I was referring to. But I guess it does apply to the TE/Sunset.

 

[jis]

Oh right - I might have misread - I thought they were referring to a train that departed before the traditional dining return day (getting flex dining the first day and traditional the second) which is what I was referring to. But I guess it does apply to the TE/Sunset.

I figured as much. That's why I thought I'd bring up the other possible interpretation.

 

[west point]

Do not expect full dining for sleepers service on east coast trains or allowing coach passengers on west coast trains in the dining cars any time soon. getting reports Amtrak is too short of OBS persons at present. Replacement OBS will not be available before September at earliest.
Just another business who expected personnel to return after furlough.

 

[Just-Thinking-51]

Only job posting for extra board personnel was in Seattle. Very short trains this summer. More Superliners are been use in local services. Even some wreck Superliners are getting sold. The conspiracy theory say that denial of the coach passengers to have food in the dinner is not from a shortage of OBS crew.

 

[me_little_me]

I personally don't think Amtrak is in a rush to hire people to bring back eastern dining. I think they probably realize that their past decision will replace "New Coke" as the defining example of corporate stupidity. Coke had the smarts to make their failure pay off and extricated themselves. We'll see if Amtrak can do the same but they'll probably be remembered in MBA classes for a long time.

 

[flitcraft]

This is just one data point, but on my recent (and still flex dining) trip on the Empire Builder, both dining car attendants had just been recalled back from furlough and were clearly rusty. At one point, the lead attendant blew up at his colleague and yelled at her about seating. I thought for a minute he was going to go full Basil Fawlty on her! He later admitted to her that he was having a hard time getting back into the swing of running the dining car efficiently. I would guess that having completely full dining cars with coach as well as sleeping car passengers would make it tougher to get the staff back up to speed. But I don't doubt that Amtrak would prefer to get coach passengers back into the dining cars quickly, since they can make more money off dining car meals than cafe meals, I would presume.

 

[user 14106]

On my recent trip where I had traditional dining on the Chief - there were two crew members in the diner serving - the LSA and one SA - didn’t the western trains have two SAs before? It was my crew’s first run serving traditional dining since the pandemic started. I think they had 2 working downstairs based on what I was hearing. Chef and food specialist but I didn’t see them or ask.

 

[drdumont]

on my trip home on the lake shore there seemed to be two OBS employees working in the VL2 diner (only one on the way out) and they now seem to be using all tables in the VL2 diner and they are doing table service with the flex meals - no need to go up to the LSA. Not sure if this is a new standard for the lake shore and silvers will be interesting to see or if this was a once off

Using all the tables in the Diner for DINING? HORRORS! Where are the FSAs going to store their stuff they couldn't be bothered to store properly? Where are all the trainmen and car attendants going to sit and tell each other how badly they are being treated by Amtrak? This injustice MUST NOT CONTINUE!

 

[toddinde]

YEP!( same thing with the Sightseer Lounge)

And while not a Direct Connection, the same would be True re Meals for any Eastern Train if you were continuing to/from Florida on the Auto Train in a Sleeper.

Yes, but you can’t connect to the Auto Train, you have to have a car to ride it. The Texas Eagle is advertised as a through train since it has through cars on the Sunset, so
I’m going with what the OP said.

 

[drdumont]

The Eagle is 21 (S)/22(N). At San Antonio, cars from 1 and 2 are cut off The Sunset Limited and proceed to Chicago as 422. And of course 421 is a section on 21 that connects to The Sunset. Fares are oftimes different SAS-CHI depending on which section. I'm hoping that amenities on the thru section of 1/2 would "bleed over" onto the Chicago portiion.
Last time I went "thru", my sleeper was switched and I didn't have to change. I got off Southbound, went to the Riverwalk and returned to my berth about 0130. Woke up somewhere out West.

 

[jis]

The Eagle is 21 (S)/22(N). At San Antonio, cars from 1 and 2 are cut off The Sunset Limited and proceed to Chicago as 422. And of course 421 is a section on 21 that connects to The Sunset. Fares are oftimes different SAS-CHI depending on which section. I'm hoping that amenities on the thru section of 1/2 would "bleed over" onto the Chicago portiion.

You are setting yourself up for disappointment if you are expecting such bleed over onto the SAS - CHI segment They will do all the bleeding only between SAS and LAX.

 

[Bob Dylan]

You are setting yourself up for disappointment if you are expecting such bleed over onto the SAS - CHI segment They will do all the bleeding only between SAS and LAX.

Sadly this is too True! The Eagle and the Cap Ltd. are the Rodney Dangerfield of Amtrak, They Don't Get Any Respect!

 

[drdumont]

You are setting yourself up for disappointment if you are expecting such bleed over onto the SAS - CHI segment They will do all the bleeding only between SAS and LAX.

Sadly this is too True! The Eagle and the Cap Ltd. are the Rodney Dangerfield of Amtrak, They Don't Get Any Respect!

True, sadly true.
@Bob Dylan: That there's funny, I don't care who you are!
But Virginia, don't you believe in miracles?
I also buy Lottery Tickets
hope springing eternal in this withered old breast..
Sigh...

 

[west point]

Will it be that Amtrak management will not discipline OBS until it has enough spare OBS to use firing as an option ?

 

[johann]

That was in January of ‘19 I think around the same time “flexible dining” got extended to other trains. The funny thing about the revised auto train cafe menu they did when they axed the coach diner is they sell two of the flex dining items for $16 so we know how much Amtrak thinks they are worth.

For four meals on the Silvers last month, my wife and I shared two Flexes [yes, 8 Flexes!]. I'd have preferred the $16. Or one Five Guys small burger and fries which, for less than $10 feeds us both with a bonus of cold fries for the dog when we get home. The only possible upside for a a pair of Flexes is that there is more for the dog.

 

[OBS]

Will it be that Amtrak management will not discipline OBS until it has enough spare OBS to use firing as an option ?

Not based upon my experience....

It is important that complaints of this nature are communicated to Amtrak. Without passenger complaints, management often has no awareness of the issues.

 

[zephyr17]

Without passenger complaints, management often has no awareness of the issues.

Of course, they could always try putting actual supervision onboard.

With that said, complaints are the only way now to let Amtrak know, since there is effectively no supervision now.

 

[jis]

Of course, they could always try putting actual supervision onboard.

With that said, complaints are the only way now to let Amtrak know, since there is effectively no supervision now.

Here is a thread on the history of the OBS Chief position in the Amtrak era which you might find interesting...

https://www.amtraktrains.com/threads/what-is-a-train-manager.57923/
Amtrak did inherit such a thing from the pre-Amtrak railroads as a union employee position but ditched the position at some point, then tried to reinstate it as a management (non-union) position, which the unions fought tooth and nail and won. After that no one has talked about it ever again at Amtrak. It is always more fun to work unsupervised after all, I suppose

 

[user 14106]

Isn’t there still an on board services chief on the auto train? I think that’s the only train that still has it.

 

[OBS]

Isn’t there still an on board services chief on the auto train? I think that’s the only train that still has it.

They eliminated about half of the A/T Chief's jobs (to save money), so they ride inconsistently as they are assigned.

 

[crescent-zephyr]

When I was a kid a waiter on the empire builder scolded my mom for wanting to have salad and a baked potato for dinner. She was able to talk with the chief of on board services about this issue and she was able to resolve it to my mom’s liking. Basically we got so much free stuff from the lounge... which meant more m&m’s for me! Ha.

So the Chief of OBS was able to fix some customer service issues on board the trains.

 

[Rasputin]

Sadly this is too True! The Eagle and the Cap Ltd. are the Rodney Dangerfield of Amtrak, They Don't Get Any Respect!

I disagree. While they do provide some competition, the real Rodney Dangerfield trains of Amtrak are 448 and 449, the Boston section of the Lake Shore.

 

[user 14106]

I disagree. While they do provide some competition, the real Rodney Dangerfield trains of Amtrak are 448 and 449, the Boston section of the Lake Shore.

Boston section did get its second coach back recently.