See my Post # 80. I am not here to convince anyone about anything. I know there is a certain dogma here about dining cars, the supposed sabotage of the LD network, and the competency of Amtrak management that I cannot - and have no wish to try to - change. I am here solely for my own bemusement.
OTOH it might surprise you to know that I agree with some of the orthodoxy here. Like WHY do crew take over half the lounge / dining car table areas? UNACCEPTABLE. And the rudeness of some crew and the inconsistency of OBS in general. And that Flexible Dining is kinda tacky. And that Amtrak should DO SOMETHING about host railroad dispatching. But, I also know why those problems are so difficult to solve. The answer is not just "get new senior management." That isn't the problem. But enough off-topic-ness.
They why did you try to keep up your end of the debate?
Glad we agree on many things. Inconsistent onboard service is Amtrak's worst problem that is wholly within Amtrak's control and it has been for decades. I don't blame the unions for this, many companies are unionized and their management still manages to have a reasonable employee discipline regimen. The STB and FRA just issued the metrics they will measure passenger train delay in December and hopefully it will finally give Amtrak access to relief from regulatory agencies that it has lacked to enforce the statutory priority it has had since it started in 1971.
As far as on topic goes, as I mentioned in another post, I certainly neither expect nor want a return to a Super Chief/20th Century Limited style of fine dining. On the very remote chance they ever tried it, I think it would backfire spectacularly politically. I do expect a casual dining level of food on the long distance trains, however. I don't care about the preparation method so much, even under the last iteration of traditional dining most of the food was NOT freshly prepared onboard, the steaks and egg dishes were the exception and were the only dishes cooked to order, IIRC. Pretty much everything else was prepared beforehand and heated up. I heard they used the sous vide method on some things, but I don't know (and don't have a source).
Dining cars were never expected to make a profit back in the RR days and they didn't. They were originally a form of marketing, and brand differentiation and loyalty to the target demographic of business travelers. The railroads had budget options for travelers who wanted them, such as the early bird dinners on the CZ, or buffet cars or lunch counter diners. While Pullman passengers were expected to be the bulk of dining car patrons, they generally did not restrict coach passenger access to the diners. For those railroads who aggressively tried to cut passenger losses, like SP, the diners were pretty much the first things to go since they just compounded any losses. Other railroads, like Santa Fe and UP, largely kept them on major trains and maintained high levels of service, primarily because of their perception it was still associated with their overall brand.
I don't need tablecloths, or even china. I don't need flowers on the table. I do think reasonable food service with healthy (and unhealthy) choices is necessary on journeys that sometimes can be more than 40 hours long. I've ridden Amtrak since its inception and do not expect some kind of resurrection of the name trains of the past. I do want something more than a reheated disposable pan of mixed up junk shoved in front of me.
But NOT GOOD ENOUGH, apparently. (I don't see a "wag finger" emoji or I would put it here.)
