“We are still working to finalize details of the menu and dining environment on the Auto Train and other long distance trains,” Amtrak spokeswoman Kimberly Woods explains in an email.
When responding to questions about Auto Train changes outlined in a July press release, Woods noted at the time that coach passengers’ breakfasts would still be complimentary even though the food would no longer be served in a dining car. The earlier-dated presentation, however, says that “coach class tickets will no longer include complimentary meal service (dinner or breakfast).”
Woods’ response Tuesday acknowledges that other aspects described in the presentation, such as a “festive environment” for Auto Train coach passengers, or what “enhanced room service” in sleeping cars actually means, have not been determined.
The document also outlines elimination of existing sit-down meals on the Chicago-Washington-New York Cardinal and the Chicago-New Orleans City of New Orleans. These trains offer microwave and convection oven-heated, pre-made entrees to both sleeping car and coach passengers. The Cardinal’s breakfast menu, which hasn’t changed since October 2017, touts a passable “Classic Railroad French Toast” that can be served with bacon or sausage.
The plan explains that on board food preparation and table service will be replaced on these and other single-level trains on Oct. 1, by “a small quantity of ready-to-service meals,” presumably similar to current offerings on the Chicago-New York/Boston Lake Shore Limited and Chicago-Washington Capitol Limited.
As on the Lake Shore and Capitol, the presentation says coach travelers will purchase food in the trains’ cafe cars and will not be allowed in the Viewliner II diner, which will then be reserved for sleeping car passengers only.
Although breakfasts, dinners, and lunches are included in the price of a sleeping car ticket, Trains News Wire observed a ratio of about 60% sleeper passengers to 40% coach passengers eating meals in the dining car on the Crescent. The car was minimally staffed, with one chef, one lead service attendant, and one server. Meanwhile in the train’s cafe car out of Washington on July 20, every table was taken and a steady procession of passengers from the train’s four coaches lined up for food.
The July 11 presentation does indicate that the Cardinal will gain a Viewliner II diner to be used as a “sleeper lounge” with “private, exclusive access” for sleeping car passengers. This means the current two-sided Amfleet II “diner lite” car will be dropped in favor of the Amfleet I “split club” with 18 business class seats on one side and a half-car lounge section on the other. Though business class passengers will get one complimentary alcoholic beverage, they will not be welcome in the Viewliner II “lounge.”
Before 2018, when the tri-weekly Cardinal was truncated to Washington during Penn Station track construction and as a result lost 40% of its ridership, it was regularly assigned two sleeping cars during the late spring, summer, and fall. But since then it has operated only with one Viewliner with three roomettes blocked for on board service crew members. If the July 11 plan is implemented on Oct. 1, the crush on the Cardinal’s coach and business class passengers will be exacerbated while the Viewliner II will host fewer travelers than on any other Amtrak eastern train.
After reading this I’m not clear as to whether the new items also will be added to the menus on the Capitol and Lake Shore. . The present menus and service on those trains, complete with balsa wood boxes and green totebags are in serious need of improvement.
Amtrak has a lot of nerve complaining about their trains on freight tracks, when they took over passenger service they knew quite well they’re using the freights tracks, they promised after the hand over they’d be debt free in five years, If they don’t like it they can build their own dedicated tracks to run their trains on,
Just enjoyed what will probably be my last meal on the Crescent. A tender and tasty steak with nice sides and desert. I’ve been riding the Crescent since 1973 and the imminent changes are nothing but euphemisms for cheap crap food. Fire Anderson!!
It is obvious that the current management team are former airline operators. And their operations model is Spirit and or Frontier Airlines or any other low-end carrier. (No disrespect to those named carriers) Job One for this gang is to make rail travel as unattractive as possible,. Charge the customer as much as the market will bear with the least amount of available services as the customer will tolerate. The agenda is to kill rail passenger operations as quickly as possible. Change what is left of the national passenger rail network into glorified bus service in the Northeast Corridor.
I can only hope and pray that somehow this situation can be reversed before it is too late.
I think someone should check the recent salary of Mr. Anderson and his band of CEOs…..the savings he’s been making lately has got to show up somewhere. Wonder what that golden parachute bonus will be at the end of the year?
Ideally, Amtrak should allow chefs to prepare excellent food… food worth paying extra for. Food worth riding the train for. Food to die for. And they could still offer a few simple less expensive options for those who don’t want to pay high prices. There’s really no excuse for this nonsense. Good food can be prepared relatively inexpensively and fairly easily depending on what you prepare.
The first thing Amtrak needs to do is learn how to do proper accounting. They long have been accused of not keeping accurate records of what is spent, what is earned, and what is wasted. Second thing is they need to fire the head of it. Amtrak is not an airline and he should not be involved in it. Third, make the railroads give Amtrak priority for its runs. That was part of the agreement when the railroads were allowed to dump passenger service back in 1971.
Anna: Very funny. But, you shouldn’t give Richard Anderson any ideas!
“On a recent trip to New Orleans on the Crescent, dining car crews confirmed to Trains News Wire that their jobs would soon be eliminated, but were not given a date.”
Folks, there you have it – Anderson’s plan to break the dining car union. I predict many months of dining austerity, until the represented F&B employees are gone, at which all on-board services will be contracted out. Other than operating employees Amtrak will not employ anyone else onboard directly.
Howard Fine, When was that ?
The only outsourcing attempt I recall was when Amtrak attempted to have Subway serve Albany trains with a cart style service. Never got past the first service attempt after union members picketed the platform at NYP.
John Mica’s legacy.
My family carries a cooler bag with food for our trip. I miss eating in the dining car, but since the decline of dining car food, we’re quite happy with our meals. Tray tables are a bit inconvenient for spreading out. Since they are diminishing food choices, it would be nice if they allowed us to bring our food into the lounge car.
Yes, that’s a reasonable looking breakfast if you’re not paying over a thousand dollars for a sleeper. It’s really sad when airline food in first class is better than Amtrak’s. Ol’ Slash and Burn Anderson is killing Amtrak with his “Death by a thousand cuts” modus operandi. I just hope he doesn’t bleed it death before the next election.
P.S. Is it just me, or do certain commenters need a proof reader?
John Rice – your idea makes too much sense to ever be adopted. The rent would actually generate a positive contribution to the LD service but I predict great union resistance to any privatization.
Or a crash course in remedial English.
Food service on Empire Trains was contracted to a national hotel chain via their airport catering division. The union was not happy, but the quality increased dramatically. It did not last long as Amtrak found contractors employees supplied served food along a side dish of grand theft of massive portions.
John Rice good thought.. Matter of fact: Dennys, Bob Evans, Panera, Potbelly, Subway, etc…the list goes on allow them to bid on cafe/diner services. This would also get rid of food pricing in tickets for sleepers, and let everyone purchase their meal on their own dime..
C’mon, thats a reasonable looking breakfast, not like they are a serving up bread and water.
The solution is really simple.
Allow a food chain to franchise a food car.
People can walk through and choose the food of their choice.
A Waffle House food car? Sure. A Panera food car. Absolutely.
As long as they serve 3 meal types. They can meet certain Amtrak food requirements so that certain popular items are still available.
I personally don’t really care what your tastes are for eating out as that is not the point. It can be any brand, these are just examples.
Instead of trying to make 1 car serve all food types, just add two franchised cafe cars in the middle and let the people choose. The franchise can set their own prices and let demand determine what works. Food is not in the fare anymore. People pay the food car operator.
Amtrak owns the cars. The franchisee pays rent just like they would with any landlord. And they operate and manage it like they would any store on Mainstreet USA.
Seems straightforward to me. Even Ed Ellis would have jumped on this.
I’ll tell you something else about this food service the new diners they bought have a lot of defects in them and that’s the reason you’re pulling the dinners our taxes buddy went for the new diners I know you’re not no good water leaking in a floors frigerators not working and other things he won’t come out and tell you this in cars are under warranty but he’s pulling out to make sure that ain’t nobody ride the trains
We are tax payers, the long distance train’s are for every body, not just for t by e NEC, ONLY, REMEMBER before 71 the trains had mail, they once again can haul mail, cost savings better than trucks, and faster, as for as a dinner card, there ways to fix that, the so call CEO of amtrak, is cutting the dinner because of the union, you don’t cut service to make money, you expanded, THAT CEO IS NOT FOR . Passenger service he has stock in Airlines he wants more people to ride the airplanes I don’t know he’ll just people out there New Mexico ride airplane with ain’t no Airport, he’s blowing smoke out up everybody’s butt
The food is a sign that the Amtrak trains what we have left, will continue to disappear. I guess if Mexico can get buy
While I agree with John Rice’s suggestion of franchising food services, I think the political reality of Amtrak is that it would be blocked by the unions, and Congress would not step in to stop that. Some may remember a few years back when Amtrak tried to have a 3rd party vendor provide food on the New York-Albany Empire Service trains. The unions threw a fit and got the experiment stopped before it even really had a chance to get started.
Arthur, do you really mean what you say about congress stepping in? Remember, it was congress that opened up the whole can of worms re Amtrak’s food service costs, and mandated that they break even by next year. It appears that they might just do that, at the expense of their patrons.
M McClure. The news wire video is still there every Friday, just not on YouTube.
Why not just change the name to “Deltatrak” and get it over with?