Passenger Trains > diner on Lake Shore June 1?

https://media.amtrak.com/2018/04/new-contemporary-dining-soon-two-amtrak-routes/
Appears this way - we'll need to check further with Amtrak to verify
Andy

I see nothing about dining cars, instead they’re eliminating hot meal service.
Nick

Posted from iPhone

NGotwalt Wrote:
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> I see nothing about dining cars, instead they’re
> eliminating hot meal service.
> Nick
>
> Posted from iPhone


I will Email, Ms Aderson , Please DM/PM if you want me to.

Another Railroad tradition bites the dust..

This sounds like airline-style first-class food service, I.e. meals prepared by sky chefs or other providers and delivered trackside ...Passengers will probably never get to ride in those new CAF diners. What a waste, what a shame. No need for chefs or waiters....
RIP American Railroad dining car 2018

The writing is on the wall.

Steve

"private café " likely means the current dining car.
What do coach passengers get to eat and where ? Silver Star treatment ?

read it carefully -- nothing prepared on board -- no more hot breakfasts, no more cooked lunches, no more delightful dinners -- and you have the same choices at dinner and lunch (at least on the LSL you only have to eat one of those meals). What does this mean for 448/449?

Wow. So if you ride coach from Chicago to Albany you will be going 19 plus hours with snacks only? The current Lake Shore has 2 café cars, one next to the Boston sleeper and one next to the NY sleepers. If these become "private cafes" for sleeping cars, does that mean everyone else is out of luck. Pathetic at best.

The Lake Shore has one Biz-Cafe car in the Boston section, and a Am-2 dinette car functioning as a diner.
Sounds like coach passengers will be barred from the dinette car west of Albany, though this summer, there is no NY section, not that the press release acknowledges that. 6 coaches worth of passengers will overwhelm the Boston cafe car.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/19/18 10:05 by joemvcnj.

joemvcnj Wrote:
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> The Lake Shore has one Biz-Cafe car in the Boston
> section, and a Am-2 dinette car functioning as a
> diner.
> Sounds like coach passengers will be barred from
> the dinette car west of Albany, though this
> summer, there is no NY section, not that the press
> release acknowledges that. 6 coaches worth of
> passengers will overwhelm the Boston cafe car.

Sounds like management has never ridden a train (NEC does not count).

joemvcnj Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> The Lake Shore has one Biz-Cafe car in the Boston
> section, and a Am-2 dinette car functioning as a
> diner.

> Sounds like coach passengers will be barred from
> the dinette car west of Albany, though this
> summer, there is no NY section, not that the press
> release acknowledges that. 6 coaches worth of
> passengers will overwhelm the Boston cafe car.


If so, this may be another plan by Delta Dick the Airline Boy to run off the business.

One reason the western long hauls lost ridership in the 1960's is that the two prime connecting railroads from the east, NYC and PRR, has seriously downgraded service quality. If Capitol Ltd and Lake Shore Ltd ridership decline significantly, there will be a secondary impact on the western long hauls.

The FAST Act law says food service deficit must be gone by 2019. Either change the law, ignore the law as they have with PRIIA Sections 210 and 216, or expect more food service downgrades.

I don't see how banning coach passengers from purchasing sleeping car "meals" reduces the food service deficit.
A higher percentage of Lake Shore coach passengers eat in the diner than most other eastern trains.

Even if you were planning just to use the snack car and not the diner, you will be in for very long lines and out of stock conditions. I'd expect the line for the cafe car west of Albany will extend though at least one of the coaches and last until 11pm, while the "private cafe" diner will be mostly empty.

Notice the City of New Orleans, another 1 night train, is not listed here. Those passengers can sit in the diner and buy food, though breakfast sucks.



Edited 4 time(s). Last edit at 04/19/18 10:50 by joemvcnj.

Well, those two trains are no longer viable options. Nothing pre-prepared is of any value to me. I like my food plain (not as in plane). Hard to eliminate sauces and gravy when it's pre-prepared. No issue on flights. Most aren't long enough to matter. Dinner at the airport usually is sufficient until landing at Schipol in the morning. I love how the press release makes this look like a positive development. I wonder how long it will be before it's on all the long haul trains? And what happens if you book a trip say on the Builder for October and find out in a few months the meal service has changed? Can you get a full refund? I'd much rather fly. So what happens to all those nice dining cars that were paid for with my tax dollars? While I suppose on these two trains, it would be easy to fill up on a decent meal at the origination points and breakfast upon arrival, it's the dining car that adds significantly to the passenger train experience. Being stuck in ones room for the entire trip (with no decent lounge on the LCS) isn't all that much fun.

My response from Amtrak:

Sleeping car customers can continue to be served in their Bedrooms or Roomettes or use a private area aboard these trains when they choose from the following entrees, as examples:

Lunch & Dinner: Chilled beef tenderloin, Vegan wrap, Chicken Caesar salad, Turkey club

Breakfast: Assorted breakfast breads with butter, cream cheese and strawberry jam; Greek yogurt and sliced seasonal fresh fruit plate

These meals will continue to be included in the sleeping car fare. The existing café menu will continue to be available to all passengers through the café/lounge.

Best,

Kimberly Woods

Amtrak Corporate Communications

If they eliminate the lead chef, and just retain an assistant, the dining car cost drops significantly.

Mr Anderson may be reflecting an airline view that a flight attendant can do an acceptable job warming and plating a first class meal. At considerably lower cost than two cooks, and Three front of house staff.

Posted from Android

As we thought, the majority of passengers, who are coach, are banned form the dinette or dining car.

jdkpghpa Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> My response from Amtrak:
>
> Sleeping car customers can continue to be served
> in their Bedrooms or Roomettes or use a private
> area aboard these trains when they choose from the
> following entrees, as examples:
>
> Lunch & Dinner: Chilled beef tenderloin, Vegan
> wrap, Chicken Caesar salad, Turkey club
>
> Breakfast: Assorted breakfast breads with butter,
> cream cheese and strawberry jam; Greek yogurt and
> sliced seasonal fresh fruit plate
>
> These meals will continue to be included in the
> sleeping car fare. The existing café menu will
> continue to be available to all passengers through
> the café/lounge.
>
> Best,
>
> Kimberly Woods
>
> Amtrak Corporate Communications



What the H*** this New Guy is thinking about my Home base Amtrak 29&30, I Eat Full Breakfast Eggs, Pancakes, or French Toast with meat too.. I don't eat this Bread Crap. I don't like nothing they serve in Now on my home base train for Breakfast. Bring back Diner Car. this really P*** me Off.

Breakfast for sleeper car passengers is pure junk food, little if any protein, and lots of sugar and carbs.
They'll be better off with the egg sandwich or even a cheeseburger from the cafe car.

Since railroad passengers are now being denied real food service, I think I'm going to start flying or driving a lot more for long-distance trips.
To be brutally honest, why not remove ALL food service and go back to the Penn-Central days? This mess Amtrak is forcing on RR passengers makes rail travel the LEAST desirable way of travel. But then again, that seems to be the glide path (no pun intended) to eliminating Long distance trains...

RIP -American Long-Distance passenger train 2018

Steve

The confusing part of this announcement is - sleeping car passengers will have the option of eating in a private café or lounge car.

No such "private" cars exist on these trains today. So, what dose Amtrak mean by this? If they add a 1st class lounge--Great!

Coach passengers are not addressed in this announcement -- so we will have to wait and see what's in store for them.

"Private cafe" I assume means the existing car used as a diner, the 37xxx Superliner, or the Am-2 dinette.