Passenger Trains > Contemporary Dining coming to the Texas Eagle

Amtrak's new Contemporary Dining will be coming to the Texas Eagle in September. 

I boarded the Texas Eagle in Temple yesterday (7/30) and there were a lot of things 'not available' for lunch. I started asking some questions and the staff told me that the jobs of the cook and service attendant for the diner have been abolished in September and they are reducing the number of items available on the old menu in the meantime.

On this trip garden salads for lunch and dinner were missing (though the dressing is still on board) and there were no entree salads, mussels or and chilaquiles for lunch. There is no guarantee of what other things will be 'not available' between now and when they make the change to the new menu.

Now we are left to wonder how many other trains will convert to "Contemporary Dining?" 

Sounds more like Contemptuous Dining.  

what are coach passengers supposed to do for food?

This is for sleeping car passengers only - right?

ronald321 Wrote:
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> what are coach passengers supposed to do for
> food?
>
> This is for sleeping car passengers only - right?

Presumably they are supposed to use the Cafe. No one is removing that.

What cafe?  Dose the Eagle's Sightseer lounge car serve food?

What, no Slim Jims, Dr Pepper and boiled peanuts? All the basic food groups.

ronald321 Wrote:
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> What cafe?  Dose the Eagle's Sightseer lounge car
> serve food?

Yes. Of course. Did you think all the Coach passengers had to shell out exorbitant Diner prices to get any food on the Eagle?
 



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/31/18 11:34 by Jishnu.

Time for the TEMPO group (Texas Eagle Marketing and Performance Organization)
to swing into action! 

This wouldn't be a bad thing if they'd just offer the same meals as are offered on Acela First Class.  Those meals are tasty and have plenty of variety offered.

Agreed let’s concede some trains lose cooked on board food. For the same labor as boxed meals serve it at tables in the dining car plated like Acela/Cardinal/PPC. With that set up I wouldn’t imagine ridership would drop. As far as boxed meals why not sell them to coach passengers but they have no place in the sleepers.
Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> This wouldn't be a bad thing if they'd just offer
> the same meals as are offered on Acela First
> Class.  Those meals are tasty and have plenty of
> variety offered.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/31/18 13:45 by Flyer92122.

This might be somewhat acceptable on a train like the Capitol Ltd. It is possible to get dinner in DC before departure at Union Station and Chicago departure is past  normal dining times. But the Texas Eagle? It's a very long trip departing Chicago mid-afternoon and not arriving at it's final destination until late the next night.  How on Earth does Delta Dick expects passengers to survive on the crap they will be serving is beyond me. Not to mention on a long trip, spending a few hours in the diner is part of the experience that makes train travel so special. Sounds like soon there will be no long distance trains to ride with anything resembling actual food, not some pre-cooked crap from the same most likely catered by the same folks that bring you air line meals. I can see sleeping car business taking  a big hit.  Time to contract out the food service to someone who actually knows what they are doing and how to make a profit. A recent post on the European board clearly shows it's possible...and with less staff. Fred Harvey must be rolling over in his grave. 

WHAT?! You won't eat that airline boxed crap on a train? Is the world as we know it coming to an end Bruce?


andersonb109 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> This might be somewhat acceptable on a train like
> the Capitol Ltd. It is possible to get dinner in
> DC before departure at Union Station and Chicago
> departure is past  normal dining times. But the
> Texas Eagle? It's a very long trip departing
> Chicago mid-afternoon and not arriving at it's
> final destination until late the next night.  How
> on Earth does Delta Dick expects passengers to
> survive on the crap they will be serving is beyond
> me. Not to mention on a long trip, spending a few
> hours in the diner is part of the experience that
> makes train travel so special. Sounds like soon
> there will be no long distance trains to ride with
> anything resembling actual food, not some
> pre-cooked crap from the same most likely catered
> by the same folks that bring you air line meals. I
> can see sleeping car business taking  a big
> hit.  Time to contract out the food service to
> someone who actually knows what they are doing and
> how to make a profit. A recent post on the
> European board clearly shows it's possible...and
> with less staff. Fred Harvey must be rolling over
> in his grave. 

The TEXAS EAGLE has a four meal cycle southbound and five going north. They won't even be able to stock the slop for this many seatings, unless of course no one cares about choice or variety. This is despicable!

Well, it looks like Amtrak management is applying aggressive cost cutting and packaging it as an upgrade.  I bet the City of New Orleans is also getting the same food service changes as the Eagle.  I guess the complaints from the first wave of contempo. food service were not enough to halt the program. Amtrak really is downgrading the food service on this train.  There is no stopping Amtrak management either.

The problem of offering to sell to coach passengers is how many meals do you stock  and how many will be trashed at the end of the trip.

With sleepers, they have a count, so spoilage is low.

abyler Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> This wouldn't be a bad thing if they'd just offer
> the same meals as are offered on Acela First
> Class.  Those meals are tasty and have plenty of
> variety offered.

Seems like there would be some cost savings to both Acela and the LD trains if they used the same meals ?

mundo Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> The problem of offering to sell to coach
> passengers is how many meals do you stock  and
> how many will be trashed at the end of the trip.
>
> With sleepers, they have a count, so spoilage is
> low.

Assume there's a count on Acela too ?

Sure their is a count on Acela Business class, but how many of them will purchase food ??  that's the problem. This will vary each trip, each train, each day,  who is traveling and purchasing ? teenagers,  adults,  seniors. 

In sleeper the meal is part of the fare, so you know how many are needed, maybe not of each menu choice.

Same on Acela First Class where is included, count gives you number of meals, maybe not of each menu choice.

Acela can be stocked at each end, maybe in the middle too ! That's a luxury the Long Distance trains do not have.



 

EXACTLY!

abyler Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> This wouldn't be a bad thing if they'd just offer
> the same meals as are offered on Acela First
> Class.  Those meals are tasty and have plenty of
> variety offered.

How to 'shut down' long distance trains?  Simply follow the lead of Southern Pacific 50 years ago...downgrade everything to the point that passengers flee in droves!  I never experienced SP in pre-Amtrak days, so I'm going on what I have read from various sources. 

On the Lakeshore Ltd and Capitol Ltd, regardless of direction, it's only 1 breakfast and 1 lunch-or-dinner with no choice for breakfast and maybe a I'll-suffer-through-it choice between two options (I don't eat fish and have dietary restrictions) for dinner or lunch.  How many passengers will put up the the Texas Eagle CHI-SAS of 2 dinners, 1 breakfast and 1 lunch (or 2 breakfasts, 2 lunches, 1 dinner SAS-CHI)  with the severely limited menu? 

And the worst part of all?  Paying the 'hidden' prices of 'real' meals mostly cooked to order and getting glorified dog food!  I'd estimate about $100 for food is 'included' for each passenger in the sleeper fare for the Texas Eagle endpoint to endpoint.  And, of course, following the 'lead' of the Lakeshore & Capitol, it would seem that most sleeping car passengers are oblivious the fact they are being totally SCREWED!  Obviously, fly-boy Anderson figures LD passengers are all idiots and don't mind getting royally gypped!  

As an AGR Select Plus status passenger, I, for one, will soon put an end to my riding all long distance Amtrak trains unless the 'full service meal' charges get eliminated or significantly reduced for sleeping car passengers.  I expect a 'fair' value for my money or AGR points, and excessive hidden food charges are NOT fair value in my opinion.