Silver Star: Will it keep the Diner?

[Oreius]

The Star will resume daily service in June. Will it continue to offer the Diner ( Sleeper Diner/Lounge). Because prepandemic, the Star ran with just a Cafe for all. Just curious, because I’m taking The Star in September.

 

[Cal]

There is the possibility that eastern trains will be getting traditional dining late this year, I would assume they would keep the diner unless they’re gonna do the same as the cardinal. However the silver services are popular so i would hope they would retain the diner

 

[tim49424]

Conjecture says ALL LD trains will have traditional meals reinstated, not all LD trains except the Silver Star, so I am under the impression that yes a dining car will be included in the consist of the Star.

 

[jis]

The Star will resume daily service in June. Will it continue to offer the Diner ( Sleeper Diner/Lounge). Because prepandemic, the Star ran with just a Cafe for all. Just curious, because I’m taking The Star in September.

The Dining service has officially been restored to the Star quite a while back and before the pandemic driven changes, with Sleeper passengers getting Flex-Dining. So that will continue.

When traditional dining is restored to the eastern LDs the Star will also get traditional dining, but until then it will continue to have Flex Dining as it does now and did a little before the pandemic too.

 

[RebelRider]

Regardless of what you call the service offered, the physical dining car will continue to operate on both the Meteor and Star when daily operation is restored to both trains.

 

[jis]

Regardless of what you call the service offered, the physical dining car will continue to operate on both the Meteor and Star when daily operation is restored to both trains.

Using the language used in the airline world ... the Hard Product of the VL II Dining Car will be available on both the Star and the Meteor, and the Soft Product offered based on that hard product will also be the same in the Star and the Meteor, going forward.

 

[Palmetto]

From what I've read, the meatballs are the hard product, and the pasta is the soft product.

 

[railiner]

When traditional dining returns, I would love it if for just one season, they would experiment running them on the Palmetto, offering breakfast, lunch, and dinner, just to see how popular it would be. They would not need a dorm on its schedule.

 

[jiml]

When traditional dining returns, I would love it if for just one season, they would experiment running them on the Palmetto, offering breakfast, lunch, and dinner, just to see how popular it would be. They would not need a dorm on its schedule.

It would be an interesting bellwether for these other long daytime routes being discussed. Even better would be the addition of a class of travel that either included meals or at least on discount on them - e.g. enhanced Business Class in the airline model, if not full First Class like Acela.

 

[jis]

According to Larry Chestler, the LD BU boss at Amtrak, who just spoke at the RPA Council Meeting,...

1. Superliner and Viewliner I internal refresh is beginning and will continue for the rest of this year.

2. The Sleeper soft product that was trialed in the Auto Train is going to be deployed to all Sleeper service starting August this year

3. ALC-42s will enter service soon.

4. This summer (June) there will be 12 Viewliner IIs available for service (after accounting for shop and contingency). They will (continue to) run on the Silver Service only. All VL IIs are expected to be delivered by the end of 2021.

5. The USA Rail Pass product is going to be relaunched with some additional features this summer.

6. There will be a LD and 50th event in Chicago sometime in June, exact date TBD.

7. Traditional dining on all western LD trains will be restored in the June timeframe.

8. The exact form is still being finalized. Initially the Diner may just be for Sleepers with enhanced Cafe Menu including things like the Flex Meals. Moving forward Diner meal packages may be sold to Coach passengers. Basically they want to get away from a-la carte service in the Diner apparently.

9. Eastern LDs can expect traditional dining in late fall at the earliest. The exact form of it is still being determined. My comment is, give Amtrak strong feedback that the customers do not want Flex meals repackages as the thing that is provided in the Diner served by a server at a table.

 

[joelkfla]

So how many consists are used on the Silvers? Are 12 VL II's enough to make them "all VL II" trains?

 

[jis]

So how many consists are used on the Silvers? Are 12 VL II's enough to make them "all VL II" trains?

They are enough to make all four consists of one service with three Sleepers VL II. When both Silvers go daily it is suspected that the Meteor will get 2 VL IIs and the Star I, but that is not a certainty. Alternatively the Meteor could become all VL II and the Star all VL I. We'll see what happens come 7th June.

 

[user 14106]

8. The exact form is still being finalized. Initially the Diner may just be for Sleepers with enhanced Cafe Menu including things like the Flex Meals. Moving forward Diner meal packages may be sold to Coach passengers. Basically they want to get away from a-la carte service in the Diner apparently.

It almost sounds like they may adopt the auto train approach to the other trains - a non a la carte traditional dining with 4 or 5 dinner package choices with less customization (plus hopefully lunch and breakfast options being the main difference from auto train.) The Auto train essentially has what is described here - diner only for sleepers and an enhanced cafe menu with essentially two meals that sound like they are essentially the flex meals offered for purchase. (The beef and Asian noodle I think.) in the past the auto train diner meals seemed inferior to what was in most of the other traditions dining trains (at least in my experiences) but this most recent trip I took my meal was outstanding.

I would not be surprised to see the traditional dining that returns more resemble the current offering on the auto train more than the previous iteration of traditional dining. It seems to work well for the increase in room service associated with Covid - they seem to have it down to a science now.

 

[Mailliw]

According to Larry Chestler, the LD BU boss at Amtrak, who just spoke at the RPA Council Meeting,...

1. Superliner and Viewliner I internal refresh is beginning and will continue for the rest of this year.

2. The Sleeper soft product that was trialed in the Auto Train is going to be deployed to all Sleeper service starting August this year

3. ALC-42s will enter service soon.

4. This summer (June) there will be 12 Viewliner IIs available for service (after accounting for shop and contingency). They will (continue to) run on the Silver Service only. All VL IIs are expected to be delivered by the end of 2021.

5. The USA Rail Pass product is going to be relaunched with some additional features this summer.

6. There will be a LD and 50th event in Chicago sometime in June, exact date TBD.

7. Traditional dining on all western LD trains will be restored in the June timeframe.

8. The exact form is still being finalized. Initially the Diner may just be for Sleepers with enhanced Cafe Menu including things like the Flex Meals. Moving forward Diner meal packages may be sold to Coach passengers. Basically they want to get away from a-la carte service in the Diner apparently.

9. Eastern LDs can expect traditional dining in late fall. The exact form of it is still being determined. My comment is, give Amtrak strong feedback that the customers do not want Flex meals repackages as the thing that is provided in the Diner served by a server at a table.

So does "internal refresh" mean that the toilets will be removed from the VI roomettes to match the VIIs or are the just replacing the upholstery?

 

[user 14106]

So does "internal refresh" mean that the toilets will be removed from the VI roomettes to match the VIIs or are the just replacing the upholstery?

No it was announced earlier that they have abandoned the idea of reconfiguring the VL1s to match the 2s - this will be more in line with what was done on the Amfleet 1 and 2 coaches - new upholstery, carpeting, lighting, and probably a very deep cleaning and refreshing of surfaces. As noted in the post they will also be tackling the superliner cars.

 

[jis]

So does "internal refresh" mean that the toilets will be removed from the VI roomettes to match the VIIs or are the just replacing the upholstery?

The latter, Upholstery, Carpets if present, deep cleaning the rest. and possibly converting remaining lighting that are not already LED to LED. They did not say anything about toilets. They cannot just remove the toilets without installing the toilet module, and that is a huge undertaking which I doubt will happen in six to eight months in 50 cars, if ever.

 

[Mailliw]

Well that's disappointing. ☹ At least with Silver Service there'll be one route where you can avoid them.

 

[Qapla]

At least with Silver Service there'll be one route where you can avoid them.

Yes, and at least with Silver Service there'll be one route where you can have the convenience of not having to leave your room when timing is urgent.

There are just as many people who want to keep the toilets in the rooms as there are those who want them removed ... so, it is not really "disappointing" to all.

 

[crescent-zephyr]

My comment is, give Amtrak strong feedback that the customers do not want Flex meals repackages as the thing that is provided in the Diner served by a server at a table.

Oh for goodness... that’s the OPPOSITE of what I want. I don’t care if I have to pickup my food from the window or have my SCA deliver it I just want edible food! Lol.

If they want to save money and leave the servers laid off I’m fine with that. But bring the chefs back.. that’s what is needed ASAP.

 

[jis]

Oh for goodness... that’s the OPPOSITE of what I want. I don’t care if I have to pickup my food from the window or have my SCA deliver it I just want edible food! Lol.

If they want to save money and leave the servers laid off I’m fine with that. But bring the chefs back.. that’s what is needed ASAP.

My point is give that feedback to Amtrak loud and clear as they are in the process of deciding what they will do with the eastern trains. While they have not given a firm time line, all indications are that it will happen later this year, if it is to happen at all. Larry pretty clearly said that they are not going to stretch this out for ever, while not committing to any specific timeline.

If you are an RPA member make this very clear to RPA too. Make it clear to them even if you are not a member

 

[Exvalley]

9. Eastern LDs can expect traditional dining in late fall at the earliest.

Uh oh. I am booked on the LSL in late October. It looks like I may miss the changeover to traditional dining.

 

[Cal]

Uh oh. I am booked on the LSL in late October. It looks like I may miss the changeover to traditional dining.

Yep, and I'm taking my first trip on an eastern LD train (The Cardinal) in the late July. :/

As for the refurbishment of superliners, what does this mean?


And I really hope traditional dining is not like that of the AT, but basically the same or very similar to what we had prior to COVID...

 

[jis]

Yep, and I'm taking my first trip on an eastern LD train (The Cardinal) in the late July. :/

There is very low probability that there will be anything other than Flex Dining on eastern LD trains in July.

As for the refurbishment of superliners, what does this mean?

Similar to what was done with Amfleet.

And I really hope traditional dining is not like that of the AT, but basically the same or very similar to what we had prior to COVID...

It has not been decided yet as to what it will be, but one sense I got is that there is a strong desire to get away from a-la-cart as much as possible as far as pricing goes, though there might be variations allowed within a package. Withr egard to Coach passengers using Dining Car the sense I got is that they want to get to a model where they pre-sell meal packages rather than accept random walk ins. This may have to do partly with a desire for doing better inventory management. At least then they won;t have any excuse for running out of stuff.

 

[Cal]

There is very low probability that there will be anything other than Flex Dining on eastern LD trains in July.

I know

Similar to what was done with Amfleet.

I'm not that familiar with the Amfleet refurbishments, were they simply a small refresh of the interiors?

 

[crescent-zephyr]

This may have to do partly with a desire for doing better inventory management.

It’s not like they ever had a wide variety of options. IF they could provide an enhanced dining experience, something a little closer to PPC style for sleeping car passengers and still provide a to-go / boxed meal that could work.

Perhaps they could even use half of the superliner diners as “sleeper lounge” and the other half as “sleeper dining” - that could be pretty nice actually.