Last Day of Auto Train Coach Dinner Service today (1/14/20)

[b243923]

Today is the last of dinner service on the Auto Train for Coach Passengers.

Curious how it goes tomorrow and if they actually go through with the planned change.

Please tell me how it goes as we take the Auto Train in February.

 

[RichieRich]

Please tell me how it goes as we take the Auto Train in February.

Feb...me too...based in MD on this end. Been taking it monthly. Just got back and they did say, the 15th. Also heard there's a lack of confidence re the food trucks. Did see one only once in SFA, never at LOR. Do you think the Coach'ers have a clue? Amtrak must have sent special Emails to them all...sorta like the one's I get: "Your trains been cancelled...good luck".

 

[Amtrakfflyer]

Why would anyone think cold 2 plus hour old, food truck fair would be a viable option. It’s not like you can eat it hot, as soon as it’s handed to you.

More interesting to me will be all the great list of upgrades for sleeping car passengers starting tomorrow as well. My bet no upgrades appear but the coach diner is gone.

 

[crescent-zephyr]

No dining car option for Coach passengers correct? Will be interesting to see what items are available and how quickly they run out.

 

[dlagrua]

Its all part of the plan. Charge more, provide less and sabotage the service.

 

[ssbun]

The cafe menu for coach is on the website. A Hebrew National all beef hot dog, a bag of chips and a can of soda will cost you $10.00...and that's some of the lesser expensive items listed. Everything is a la carte. So Amtrak says they have lowered the price for coach, but you will more than make up the difference buying food.

 

[Qapla]

If I ever take the Auto Train and ride coach (or even in a sleeper) I will just make sure I have enough food to hold me over for 17 hours. Since I wouldn't have to worry about "luggage" I can "carry on" plenty of snacks and drinks - I have never had to pay for ice on the train.

 

[user 14106]

It appears it is essentially the usual cafe car fare plus an Asian noodle bowl and braised beef bowl option.

 

[me_little_me]

It appears it is essentially the usual cafe car fare plus an Asian noodle bowl and braised beef bowl option.

If the sleeper passengers get that contemporary meals" stuff, it's just too bad.

If they provide it to coach passengers, it could be considered a violation of their human rights. Someone, please call the UN Human Rights Council and complain.

 

[b243923]

Just wondering if any recent coach passengers who have been on the Auto Train since the change have any comments.

 

[user 14106]

Technically those two items aren't the only addition to the AT café menu. The lounge cars on the AT previously did not have even the full national café car menu. Due to the complimentary meals they had a small condensed menu in the lounges. Prior to the change most of the lounge sales seemed to be alcohol and basic snacks (and maybe some people wanting a breakfast sandwich in the morning instead of the continental.)

 

[adamj023]

Didn’t Amtrak just acquire new diner cars, just to cutback on service and I guess reconfigure cars for other uses?

Auto Train seems less competitive now and people are flying and transporting their cars instead as there is less of a need for Auto Train.

Auto Train takes too long and with the removal of diner service becomes non competitive for coach. Seats were uncomfortable as well.

If I needed to go to Florida from NY for instance, I would not use Auto Train but rather a plane ticket instead and make other arrangements for car travel, ie own a car in Florida as well, rent a car, ship car down myself or whatnot. Auto Train was a let down the last time I took it with diner service before they made diner service worse and then eliminated it altogether. Amtrak will find I am not alone and cutbacks will not lead to additional revenue but much less on coach fare. Sleepers have people willing to pay up I guess for those unable or unwilling to fly and so while they will probably have a lot more empty coach seats, sleeper revenue will probably be consistent but revenues will definitely decline and they will have to raise sleeper prices making Airplane even more competitive and speeds are faster even if the flight involves a connection so you have a lot of competition for airlines including multiclass service.

The new changes are a step in the wrong direction.

 

[cocojacoby]

Yeah, I've taken the Auto Train twice in the last year. Although it's a great service the fact that it just doesn't go far enough north has made it much less appealing. For me (and actually many others here in my retirement community who have used it) the drive from Lorton north is the real horror show. Making the train less attractive is probably not a good idea. Many of the passengers are repeat customers and they are expecting a certain level of service.

If I had to go back to Boston I would either take a Silver Meteor sleeper and rent a car in Boston or even fly since it would probably be a lot cheaper.

Bring the Auto Train to New Jersey and you would have a great option for New York, New England and even Canada. It is getting harder and harder to make the 2:30 cut off time. It becomes a very stressful drive.

I know the physical limitations so maybe once the CSX line is cleared for doublestacks or an extension from Lorton to New Jersey with low-level autocarriers and single-level passenger cars can be experimented with. A lot of elderly snowbirds travel back and forth along the east coast and the easier you make the journey the better.

 

[user 14106]

Didn’t Amtrak just acquire new diner cars, just to cutback on service and I guess reconfigure cars for other uses?

Auto Train seems less competitive now and people are flying and transporting their cars instead as there is less of a need for Auto Train.

Auto Train takes too long and with the removal of diner service becomes non competitive for coach. Seats were uncomfortable as well.

If I needed to go to Florida from NY for instance, I would not use Auto Train but rather a plane ticket instead and make other arrangements for car travel, ie own a car in Florida as well, rent a car, ship car down myself or whatnot. Auto Train was a let down the last time I took it with diner service before they made diner service worse and then eliminated it altogether. Amtrak will find I am not alone and cutbacks will not lead to additional revenue but much less on coach fare. Sleepers have people willing to pay up I guess for those unable or unwilling to fly and so while they will probably have a lot more empty coach seats, sleeper revenue will probably be consistent but revenues will definitely decline and they will have to raise sleeper prices making Airplane even more competitive and speeds are faster even if the flight involves a connection so you have a lot of competition for airlines including multiclass service.

The new changes are a step in the wrong direction.

I think the auto train really competes more with driving on I-95 than flying. They have accompanied this change with more consistently lower coach fares so we’ll see. The auto trains food has never been as good as the other trains from when I’ve ridden it and for me I don’t ride the train for the food. It probably did cost a lot to provide free meals for all coach passengers.

 

[Qapla]

Renting a car at either end is not quite the same as packing all the stuff you want to bring with you in the vehicle and not have to carry all that luggage with you or do without it.

 

[jiml]

Renting a car at either end is not quite the same as packing all the stuff you want to bring with you in the vehicle and not have to carry all that luggage with you or do without it.

I agree, and car rental in Florida - traditionally one of the cheapest in North America - has increased at a far greater rate than elsewhere. For those of us who stay a month or longer it is simply no longer an option.

 

[RichieRich]

Renting a car at either end is not quite the same as packing all the stuff you want to bring with you in the vehicle and not have to carry all that luggage with you or do without it.

There's a lot of stuff I take 'cause I need it on both ends.

 

[RichieRich]

Duplicate post. Wish you were able to Delete a post.

 

[user 14106]

I think the auto train really competes more with driving on I-95 than flying. They have accompanied this change with more consistently lower coach fares so we’ll see. The auto trains food has never been as good as the other trains from when I’ve ridden it and for me I don’t ride the train for the food. It probably did cost a lot to provide free meals for all coach passengers.

Gutting the sleeper dining would have been a mistake however, and I don’t know how you’d efficiently feed that many people with the flex dining model you need more than one employee. But it seems like at least for now they realize that and have left the sleeper diner alone. The new sleeper menu is more of the same just different entree options. Overall an upgrade because they gave back the free first glass of wine. You very well may see a ridership drop off on some of the LD trains over the flex dining news and I think press outreach hasn’t been very effective on what exactly has been cut on each train and many articles have just said that the dining cars are going away so unaffected trains may take a hit too. But the question is would that just be a reactionary hit from the news with ridership then going back to the status quo once the dust settles.

 

[neroden]

It will be interesting to watch the coach ridership and/or revenue drop on the Auto Train. These things have a delay though, because people don't find out about the cuts immediately. So the full damage won't be visible for months, possibly not until next year.

It's been long enough that the ridership drops due to service degradation are quite visible on the LSL. Mr. Anderson has quite effectively increased the need for Congressional funding.