New dining options (flex dining) effective October 1, 2019

[Qapla]

Many people I have told about traveling on trains and eating in dining cars and staying in sleeper cars find it intriguing and simply never thought of that as an idea for travel (and many didn’t realize you can take a train to as many places as you can.) taking the train on a long trip is a unique experience that I think fits that mold.

Spending some money on good, effective advertising would be a way to increase awareness and generate ridership ... with increased ridership instead of service cuts they might find it easier to reach the financial goal they are looking for.

 

[user 14106]

Spending some money on good, effective advertising would be a way to increase awareness and generate ridership ... with increased ridership instead of service cuts they might find it easier to reach the financial goal they are looking for.

Amtrak is stuck between a rock and a hard place: it is a government sponsored entity and thus “shouldn’t spend money” on things like advertising, yet it is expected to aim for making a profit. You can’t have it both ways. Until someone finally decides what Amtrak should be definitively we will forever be stuck in limbo land.

 

[Winecliff Station]

I think there is one thing they miss - while this is a gross generalization I have noticed a lot of people in my age group do enjoy unique experiences more than buying “stuff” I certainly fit that mold. Many people I have told about traveling on trains and eating in dining cars and staying in sleeper cars find it intriguing and simply never thought of that as an idea for travel (and many didn’t realize you can take a train to as many places as you can.) taking the train on a long trip is a unique experience that I think fits that mold. If you provided a consistent experience (acceptable food, cleanliness, consistent service, and a price point they can afford) you could appeal to younger folks. Certainly there are people in a rush that never would do it - but there are some that would do it for the experience.

I am one of those who never knew until recently..... the fact that I can drive 15 minutes to the train station one afternoon and wake up in Chicago or New Orleans or Miami the next day and be right in the middle of town without setting foot on a plane or worrying about an airport transfer is appealing to me. "Saving time" by flying isn't worth the hassle and waiting around while going nowhere that comes with it.

 

[Trollopian]

For another elegiac look at the vanishing Amtrak dining car, check out today’s segment of NPR’s “Here and Now” show, https://www.wbur.org/hereandnow/2019/09/26/amtrak-dining-car. The transportation analyst interviewed, Seth Kaplan, is my neighbor and that rare creature, an aviation expert who loves trains and has taken them for short and long trips around Europe, Asia, and the Americas. And who (along with his wife) is passing that passion on. The photo in the article is their daughter, age 4, in the dining car of the Amtrak Crescent in June, crossing the Potomac on their way to train camp at the Southeastern Railway Museum in Duluth Georgia. The overnight train ride, and train camp, were a hit.


Says Seth, “Despite everything that has changed, it connects her to railroad history, when we read old books and then she gets to experience a dining car, just like in the books. I never imagined our recent time in the dining car, going to Atlanta, would be our last time. But I guess that's life: We often don't realize when we're doing something for the last-ever time.”

 

[Philly Amtrak Fan]

Amtrak is stuck between a rock and a hard place: it is a government sponsored entity and thus “shouldn’t spend money” on things like advertising, yet it is expected to aim for making a profit. You can’t have it both ways. Until someone finally decides what Amtrak should be definitively we will forever be stuck in limbo land.

The other problem is that if Amtrak stimulates demand it won't have the equipment it needs to keep up with it ... unless it spends more money.

 

[jebr]

Posts that are off-topic since the reminder have been hidden.

Posts need to be on-topic to the dining car changes. If you want to talk about anything off-topic (e.g. different generations,) open a new thread in the lounge.

 

[Mystic River Dragon]

Just out of curiosity, how will this work if someone travels overnight Sept. 30 to Oct. 1 on the Meteor, Crescent, etc.? Will they have lovely traditional dining car service on September 30 and then have the dining car staff and the cooked meals and the set tables be whisked away overnight so that everything will be "fresh and contemporary" on October 1? (I realize this is a trivial question, except of course for those traveling those dates, for whom it may be very important, but I was just curious.)

 

[pennyk]

Just out of curiosity, how will this work if someone travels overnight Sept. 30 to Oct. 1 on the Meteor, Crescent, etc.? Will they have lovely traditional dining car service on September 30 and then have the dining car staff and the cooked meals and the set tables be whisked away overnight so that everything will be "fresh and contemporary" on October 1? (I realize this is a trivial question, except of course for those traveling those dates, for whom it may be very important, but I was just curious.)

I guess we will not know until October 1st, unless an Amtrak employee who knows the answer chimes in.

 

[jebr]

My guess is that it'll be based on origination date for the train - any train leaving before October 1 will stay traditional throughout its journey, while everything on/after October 1 will have the new dining service.

 

[Maverickstation]

Millennials and Congress aside, Amtrak has been “tinkering” with meal service on the eastern trains since the arrival of Amfleet.
When Amfleet started a number of trains like the Montrealler lost their Dining Car, for an Amdinette Service. The timetables stating this was Tray Meal Service with Table Service for Breakfast and Dinner.

In the 80’s the Silver Service trains went to Buffet Style Service for a brief time.

Later the Silver Service trains only offered Dining Car service south of Washington.

There have been other trials as well.

Ken

 

[Cho Cho Charlie]

My guess is that it'll be based on origination date for the train - any train leaving before October 1 will stay traditional throughout its journey, while everything on/after October 1 will have the new dining service.

My worry would be that roughly starting now, "traditional" dining will be using up the left overs found deep in cupboards and pantries, some of which haven't been opened in years.

 

[Thirdrail7]

Spending some money on good, effective advertising would be a way to increase awareness and generate ridership ... with increased ridership instead of service cuts they might find it easier to reach the financial goal they are looking for.

It would help to expand the consist to accommodate passengers that wish to travel.

 

[user 1215]

Advertising tends to come and go. There was one year they actively advertised at the baseball field, and another year they advertised on the radio (where i won a trip for or family to DC). Other than that, it's radio silence.

 

[OBS]

My guess is that it'll be based on origination date for the train - any train leaving before October 1 will stay traditional throughout its journey, while everything on/after October 1 will have the new dining service.

That is the way it always worked in the past.

 

[Winecliff Station]

Just out of curiosity, how will this work if someone travels overnight Sept. 30 to Oct. 1 on the Meteor, Crescent, etc.? Will they have lovely traditional dining car service on September 30 and then have the dining car staff and the cooked meals and the set tables be whisked away overnight so that everything will be "fresh and contemporary" on October 1? (I realize this is a trivial question, except of course for those traveling those dates, for whom it may be very important, but I was just curious.)

I'll let you know....we're taking the Meteor tomorrow (9/30) from NY and getting to Ft Lauderdale 10/1.

 

[user 14106]

Report what you see. While we know tomorrow is the last day of traditional dining for crescent/meteor and the last day of the current “diner lite” service on the CONO. The current 51 traveling should be the last cardinal with the present diner lites. Do we also know for sure if LSL and CL are also getting the new trays and modified menu starting Tuesday?

Lookout for Tuesday’s Cardinal to see if it has a VL2 diner.

 

[Meat Puppet]

Coming soon; Online-Website-Amazon-digital download
MEAT PUPPET PRESENTS HOW TO ORDER FOOD TO THE TRAIN WITHOUT A DINING CAR.
My book will show all towns near restaurants that deliver to the train stations. Which stops actually have a long enough stop to get food.
using the gps so you know when to place your order. And we are working with door dash and uber easts to integrate them into our platform.
Most establishments are within a few hundred feet of a station so make it easier with train delays.

 

[Anderson]

@Winecliff Station I'm on the same train out of NYP (boarding 98 in about four hours out of RVR [it's late, shock and horror]).

 

[Anderson]

In general: Many of y'all know how many times I've taken the Meteor and how many times I've had dinner on it between Washington and Richmond (estimates in the 50-100 range would probably be about right). Due to exhaustion last week I couldn't do the Meteor (my brother and I did the Star WAS-RVR instead; I don't think I could have actually had the food and I was going on about eight hours of sleep over two nights to boot). But I wouldn't miss this one for the world. I'm only going as far as ORL (though that will at least get me lunch, which should be the last meal served).

 

[Mystic River Dragon]

Coming soon; Online-Website-Amazon-digital download
MEAT PUPPET PRESENTS HOW TO ORDER FOOD TO THE TRAIN WITHOUT A DINING CAR.
My book will show all towns near restaurants that deliver to the train stations. Which stops actually have a long enough stop to get food.
using the gps so you know when to place your order. And we are working with door dash and uber easts to integrate them into our platform.
Most establishments are within a few hundred feet of a station so make it easier with train delays.

Meat Puppet,

What a great idea! Would you consider adding an appendix listing diners within walking distance of a station so that those of us who like real breakfasts can get something when we detrain in the morning? (We all have heard about Lou Mitchells and Philippes, but there have to be others!) If I were tech savvy, I could do this, but I am not.

 

[user 14106]

Sad day with today being the last day of traditional dining on the Crescent and Meteor..I guess the only good piece is that its also the last day of boxes and the resultant waste on the Lake Shore and Capital Limited as well as the often maligned diner lite on the CONO. While I am not trying to downplay the change - its a big downgrade for the Crescent and Meteor, some of the articles out do make it sound worse than it really is like all the dining cars have been eliminated and now the cafe car is the only option. While true for coach pax, diner is still there for sleeper pax albeit with the new menu. None of the articles also clarify that two of the trains getting this treatment already had lost traditional dining and for those this is really just a standardization of how food is served on trains without the traditional dining. It sounds like staffing on the Cardinal and CONO is not affected at all by this. Some that mention that the Silver Star is getting it also don't mention that presently the Silver Star has nothing but the cafe car. In reality, Anderson has cut traditional dining from three trains... the Star, Cardinal, CONO, and Lake Shore lost it before Anderson started (though there was originally a promise to bring it back to the Lake Shore when it got the VL2 which Anderson reneged on.) Not a big fan of Anderson but its important to remember this did start before him.

 

[Anderson]

Amtrak is also supposed to open up the new meal purchases to coach pax. Now, they had that on the Star but went to great pains not to mention the available meal options (which were at least decent), only hiding them at the bottom of the cafe menu...so we'll see.

 

[user 14106]

Amtrak is also supposed to open up the new meal purchases to coach pax. Now, they had that on the Star but went to great pains not to mention the available meal options (which were at least decent), only hiding them at the bottom of the cafe menu...so we'll see.

When they get their online application to allow meal pre-selection working. The way the letter to RPA sounded, it sounds like coach passengers will be required to pre-order any meals they want to get from this program and that they won't just be able to buy them in the cafe car. If I had to guess that would mean that the coach meals would probably get delivered along with the sleeping car meals, the VL2 diner LSA would probably heat them, and then give them to the coach attendants who would make sure the coach passenger gets them - and they'd have to eat either at their seat or in the cafe car. I have no inside info, but I'm guessing that's how it will work based on the letter.

 

[jis]

Amtrak is also supposed to open up the new meal purchases to coach pax. Now, they had that on the Star but went to great pains not to mention the available meal options (which were at least decent), only hiding them at the bottom of the cafe menu...so we'll see.

On the Star? When did Star have meal options even for Sleeper passenger since it lost its Diner? Were you alluding to some other train that actually had meal options for anyone at all?

 

[Anderson]

I'm booked for 5 PM dinner (so an hour and 20 minutes). I rarely eat so early, but they've issued a warning about potentially being short on stuff.