Texas Eagle Sightseer lounge discontinued

[Rasputin]

And not even twenty-five sacks of mail.

 

[saxman]

So if you want more bad news about the Texas Eagle here goes. A frustrated employee on social media posted this:

This will be the consist of the Eagle going forward:
1 Engine
1 Sleeper
1 Diner/CCC
1 coach/bag
1 coach (with lower level seats)

Also traditional dining car service will NOT be returning to the Eagle. The onboard staff will be minimal, 1 overworked LSA for both sleepers and cafe, 1 sleeper attendant, and 1 coach attendant.

Dorm car will also not be coming back either. The Dorm car issue deserves its own thread but here is the gist: At COVID Amtrak decided to park most of the Dorm cars. Now they are having trouble bringing them back because they all require inspections that can only be done in Beach Grove, Chicago, or Los Angeles. Wonder why sleepers are so expensive now going into the summer? It's because crew are taking up several rooms in the regular sleepers now. The Sunset Limited is only able to sell 7 roomettes on it's sleeper (130/230). (There's a little relief west of San Antonio because of the 421/422 sleeper added) The Eagle will only be able to sell 11 of its 14 rooms. I couldn't tell if Amtrak is trying to bring the dorms back or if they don't care to.

This employee asked that this is coming from management from DC most of which have never seen a western LD train, so mostly they just don't know how full or popular a Texas Eagle or CONO train can actually be if given the right tools. It's basically up to us to call Amtrak Customer Relations and complain. They won't listen to the individual route managers in the field. Perhaps enough customer service complaints will at least make them aware. So please call if you can.

 

[Rasputin]

This will be the consist of the Eagle going forward:
1 Engine
1 Sleeper
1 Diner/CCC
1 coach/bag
1 coach (with lower level seats)

What???? No boxcar with folding chairs?

 

[crescent-zephyr]

Yup.... the death of long distance has begun.

Perhaps the “retiring SSL” letter wasn’t about the ppc but they really are going to get rid of the dorms and ssl’s slowly.

 

[Sidney]

I am on the Texas Eagle tomorrow from Chi to Lax. In light of traditional dining not returning,the removal of the SSL car and the hefty jump in roomette prices this is probably the last trip on that route for me.

It's a one overnight train so it now is in the same category as the CONO. Idiotic decision,but it's Amtrak.

 

[Devil's Advocate]

Yup.... the death of long distance has begun.

Maybe instead of immediately accepting defeat we should voice our concerns to Congress and the RPA.

 

[ShiningTimeStL]

I'm finding these little tidbits from employees very hard to believe. I'm finding all of this rather hard to believe besides the fact of how much damage covid and triweekly service has done. Even if this is legit, there's no way it will stand. TEMPO and RPA will light up the sky with tracers to shoot it down along with all of us. If Amtrak wants to go to war, they'll lose this battle at the reauthorization.

 

[jis]

Does TEMPO actually exist as an active entity any more? Their website seems to vaguely reflect that it does not. I hope I am wrong. Anyone know for sure?

 

[crescent-zephyr]

Maybe instead of immediately accepting defeat we should voice our concerns to Congress and the RPA.

I’m admittedly feeling very pessimistic about Amtrak’s future. If you still have hope more power to you.

 

[Amtrakfflyer]

I couldn’t find any useful or live links either.

Does TEMPO actually exist as an active entity any more? Their website seems to vaguely reflect that it does not. I hope I am wrong. Anyone know for sure?

 

[Sidney]

I’m admittedly feeling very pessimistic about Amtrak’s future. If you still have hope more power to you.

I thought Anderson was about rock bottom.

 

[crescent-zephyr]

I thought Anderson was about rock bottom.

Me too. Clearly I was wrong. I wish we could have kept Wick a bit longer.... things were looking good.

 

[ShiningTimeStL]

Passenger rail overall is looking brighter, even if they are tunnel-visioning on corridors. Here's a theory: the TE is looking grim right now because of the dorm issue and issues recalling employees for daily service. They could have a full train before because triweekly service required less staff. Does that make sense? Otherwise, why target the Teagle so specifically this way? If Amtrak really wanted to start drawing down LD services for discontinuance, they would be taking cars off of other trains too and sending prices to the moon. Instead they're bringing back traditional dining. Something doesn't add up here.

I mean, I have zero hope for the future in general, honestly, but that's not completely relevant here.

 

[Amtrakfflyer]

They have specifically said in the recent past they only want to operate 6 or so long distance routes in some form. This would seem to go along with that statement.

 

[ShiningTimeStL]

They have specifically said in the recent past they only want to operate 6 or so long distance routes in some form. This would seem to go along with that statement.

Who said this? How recently?

 

[user 14106]

Who said this? How recently?

Gardner and Anderson had alluded to it. In their various comments on the issue along with other actions the only safe trains in their current form appeared to be the Zephyr, Builder, Coast Starlight, and Auto train. They clearly wanted to ditch the sunset limited and southwest chief. Although I don’t think it necessarily meant that they’d abandon the network completely - I think they saw some routes replaced by interconnected corridor services and shorter distance trains. All stations on most routes may have retained some service but you may have no longer had an end to end overnight train and had to make connections along the way

 

[user 14106]

I think they saw having a few routes with the premium traditional experiential amenities - with basic transit elsewhere.I think flex dining is part of that methodology - have the full dining service on a few flagship routes and provide more basic amenities on the other. I personally am fine with flexible dining on one night trains - but with the mica mandate gone they should make some investments in improving the presentation, meal quality including better choices for folks with more restrictive diets, and addressing some of the common complaints (like offering cafe car menu items for lunch)

 

[saxman]

TEMPO still exists, although their influence has been reduced, mostly by the Anderson team, I believe.

 

[PaTrainFan]

Maybe instead of immediately accepting defeat we should voice our concerns to Congress and the RPA.

RPA? Ha. Okay. Maybe if you send them more money.

 

[Cal]

By the way, I saw an image of a midwest-service train with superliners and an SSL on it while scrolling through Instagram. Another corridor train using SSL's while the Eagle doesn't get them...

 

[saxman]

Anderson and Gardner, I believe, were given a dose of what support the LD trains get when they came up with their silly midnight bus plan, which should give us encouragement. In addition, when the original plan for the Cross Country Cafe came out in the mid-aughts this was the original plan for them; they would be diner/lounges for the shorter trains. RPA and TEMPO were able to convince them to at least keep the SSL on the trains as they were a big selling point, even for routes like the TE and CONO. Let's face it. The Eagle and CONO aren't the most scenic routes. They are probably thinking that since these routes are more for just getting somewhere then they don't deserve the amenities the scenic "experiential" trains have. But the Eagle is the "slow train through Texas." Having dining cars, day sleepers, and a nice lounge car are what helped us attract people to the train to collect more revenue. I cringe when I have to tell people it takes nearly 10 hours to go from Dallas to San Antonio. I had to explain the long stop in Fort Worth and that it only takes 4:20 from there to Austin! Thats actually somewhat competitive to driving on I-35!

Also, I wish we could stop using the term "long distance" trains. They seem to have a negative vs. the "future corridor trains." Long distance train ARE corridor trains, with dozens of corridors and possible city pairs. Much more than the corridor trains can produce.

 

[zephyr17]

My opinion is Flynn is just better at PR and the objectives remain the same. He's slowly boiling frogs. Anderson turn the heat all the way up at the get go and the frogs all jumped out.

 

[crescent-zephyr]

The Eagle and CONO aren't the most scenic routes.

The City is a very scenic route imho. They used to have national park guides that gave tours in the SSL. Before the superliners the city had a dome car - some of my favorite young memories!

 

[Cal]

The City is a very scenic route imho. They used to have national park guides that gave tours in the SSL. Before the superliners the city had a dome car - some of my favorite young memories!

And even then, it's so relaxing to sit in the SSL and enjoy the ride. No matter the scenery

 

[Sidney]

The Sightseer Cars make a long distance train trip memorable and passengers love them. Why the Eagle doesn't have one is baffling.