Passenger Trains > Railway Age dissects an Amtrak press release

Make sure you read the "editor's notes" at the bottom.

https://www.railwayage.com/passenger/intercity/amtrak-touts-performance-financial-records/

Paul Wilson
Arlington, VA

That is the most appropriate photo of Anderson. He just looks like a weasel.

Yes Richard, passengers ARE noticing a difference. And not in a good way. Yes, cubicles for breast feeding moms is nice.  But more important than a decent meal? Oh well, at least the younger set gets a decent meal while the rest of us go hungry. 

In the "Amtrak touted" bullet point section I saw almost nothing that related to any Amtrak service west of the Appalachian Mountains.  That is perhaps with the indirect exception of diesel upgrades.  Did anyone else notice that?  What does that mean? LOL
 

It means they don’t want a national network.

prech786 Wrote:
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> In the "Amtrak touted" bullet point section I saw
> almost nothing that related to any Amtrak service
> west of the Appalachian Mountains.  That is
> perhaps with the indirect exception of diesel
> upgrades.  Did anyone else notice that?  What
> does that mean? LOL
>  
It was the fitrst thing I noticed. We on the left side of the Rockies are toast.
C

Carol Voss
Bakersfield, CA

CarolVoss Wrote:
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> prech786 Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > In the "Amtrak touted" bullet point section I
> saw
> > almost nothing that related to any Amtrak
> service
> > west of the Appalachian Mountains.  That is
> > perhaps with the indirect exception of diesel
> > upgrades.  Did anyone else notice that?  What
> > does that mean? LOL
> >  
> It was the fitrst thing I noticed. We on the left
> side of the Rockies are toast.
> C

You got your Surfliner student discounts re-instated!

Paul Wilson
Arlington, VA

The mere fact that Anderson tried to eliminate Surfliner student discounts is more proof this guy wants to hurt ridership.
(He tried it Illinois also - but was equally rebuffed.)

That's what happens when you take money from the states - they have a say in what you can and cannot do.

There's a decent amount of state supported or assisted Amtrak business.

ME VT NY PA VA NC IL MO MI CA OR WA for starters.

Posted from Android

From the article:

Various Amtrak sources have told Railway Age that the brand-new CAF USA-built Viewliner II dining cars—part of a multi-million-dollar-order for baggage cars, sleepers and diners—are having their expensive cooking equipment removed and undergoing conversion into lounge cars.

I guess every train will soon become a version of the Silver Starvation. Wonder if we'll see sleeper prices drop accordingly. 

One name you can always expect when Amtrak is "Blowin' Smoke! The name? Head PR Goon Mark Magliari

Re. that photo:  Was he praying?
 

chrsjrcj Wrote:
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> From the article:
>
> Various Amtrak sources have told Railway
> Age that the brand-new CAF USA-built Viewliner II
> dining cars—part of a multi-million-dollar-order
> for baggage cars, sleepers and diners—are having
> their expensive cooking equipment removed and
> undergoing conversion into lounge cars.

I take that as good news.  On-board food preparation is dead (it's the 21st Century in case you missed it) and to be really useful the kitchens on the V2 diners need to be reconfigured to better accommodate shore-based catering, much like on an airplane.  Hopefully this will also include some provision for efficient take-away service such as on a current Amdinette/Amcafe.  Done right, the reconfigured cars could significantly upgrade food/lounge service on longer day trains like the Palmetto and others.  If the cars on LD trains were reconfigured as roughly 1/2 dining and 1/2 lounge and access were restricted to sleeping car passengers it would allow service of meals equivalent to airline international 1st class while providing a dedicated lounge area for sleeping car passengers.  I want to emphasize "done right" and recognize that is not a given, but the days of pies made from scratch and baked on the cars is gone.  Below is the menu from a Swissair flight from Atlanta to Zurich.  It was prepared in the Flight Kitchen at Atlanta Hartsfield Airport and could almost as easily have been delivered to the Amtrak station and put on 20.  My point is that I think our time is better spent trying to shape the future than moaning about the past.

Gordon



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 11/19/18 18:34 by gbmott.

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Flyer92122 Wrote:
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> That is the most appropriate photo of Anderson. He
> just looks like a weasel.

Good grief Barney Fife's older brother!

Flyer92122 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> That is the most appropriate photo of Anderson. He
> just looks like a weasel.

He looks ready for retirement. Gotta stay long enough for tax benefits.

ronald321 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> The mere fact that Anderson tried to eliminate
> Surfliner student discounts is more proof this guy
> wants to hurt ridership.
> (He tried it Illinois also - but was equally
> rebuffed.)

Well, that's giving him too much credit as a competent conspirator.

His motive for the elimination of the discount was pure dumb math. No discount, more revenue! He incorrectly thought that Surfliner had "captive ridership" with students, and pounded his big monopolistic chest. :-)
 

I'll have one each of everything on that menu.......wow...looks GOOD!

SANSR Wrote:
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> I'll have one each of everything on that
> menu.......wow...looks GOOD!

It WAS good, and my point is that it could be served just as well on a reconfigured V2 diner.  We are wasting our time complaining about things not being the way they were.  The traditional dining car operation is gone and won't come back, so let's be talking about how to take advantage of what is available/possible today to deliver a dining experience that appeals to passengers.  Part of that requires reconfiguring the V2 kitchens to accommodate food prepared off-shore.

Gordon 

One of the articles linked to in this article is:

  https://www.railwayage.com/passenger/intercity/a-failure-of-public-enterprise/

I'm sorry, but I find the arguments the that article are utterly laughable.

America can't afford to continue subsidizing Amtrak?  Amtrak's total budget isn't even big enough to be a rounding error in the Federal budget.

Whining about hidden subsidies for Amtrak?  When more than half of road budgets are paid from local property taxes?

Sure makes me question the truthiness of the headline article.

Brian