Passenger Trains > Trip Report Chicago-Dallas

Arrived Dallas 40 minutes early. Ran early all the way Chicago-Dallas. Sat in most stations 5-25 minutes waiting for leaving time.  The train is a mere shadow of its former self. I Unit, a Cross Country diner/snack car with 1 attendant to do everything, 2 coaches, 1 sleeper.  Sleeper about 80 % full in Roomettes, only 1 bedroom taken, coaches about 55% full until St. Louis about 25% after St. Louis. Very little business downline.  A total of 15 people got off in Dallas.  

     The supper and breakfast experience was sad. One guy trying to be both the snack car attendant, the dining car LSA, head waiter and microwave master chef is obviously a recipe for disaster. He did the best he could but even with a mostly empty train it's more than 1 person can do well. 

     I had the 3 egg omlet for b'fast, not terrible wouldn't order it again. Had the Ribs for supper not bad at all. Car was as cold and unapetizing as it could be. Food served with ultra cheap fake silverware, water in a plastic bottle, no amenities whatsoever, hard cold plastic table top. No napkins, no garnishes, no nothin !!!   

     Another reminder for me as to how grateful I am to have been born early enough to have experienced " nothing could be finer than dinner in the diner" in real life. 

     Look at it this way. Especially when it come to the dining car it can only get better.  

      Happy New Year, Ross Rowland 

     

Sorry to hear that.  I love train travel but I'm not booking on Amtrak until they fix it.

Good thing you got into Dallas when you did, as I hear there is a train fire on the Mineola Sub here
in East Texas, and traffic has halted on this busy line.

"Look at it this way. Especially when it come to the dining car it can only get better.

-Ross Rowland"

Not really. It is about to get worse, with the opportunity to have the "experience" going down to 5x/week, "Corridor Stephen" Gardner perhaps looking ahead to more cuts, and the alphabet soup "advocacy" NARP/RPA ready to genuflect in the direction of Washington and chant, "Inevitable."



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/17/22 13:19 by GenePoon.

It started in winter 2018 when Amtrak Management pulled the third coach from the consist just as the Christmas travel season began.  Business turned away.  Step two was the removal of the baggage car from the front of the train in winter of 2019.  This accented locomotive and horn noise for the patrons of the dorm/sleeper and the full sleeper, as well as made checked baggage a dangerous maneuver as the tractor and baggage carts had to be steered through crowds of boarding and departing passenger in order to access the coach-baggage car door.  But, Amtrak solved the problems of the crowded platforms with step three.  They got rid of the crowds.  In the winter of 2019 Amtrak, without any expression of gratitude or acknowledgement of success, removed TEMPO from any revenue management of sleeper or coach space.  TEMPO is the Texas Eagle Management and Performance Organization.  This move allowed Amtrak to 'flatten' the inventory with high-priced rooms.  Coach inventory was 'constipated' when step four occurred in the spring of 2019 when the Chicago-St. Louis set out coach inventory was also flattened.  By this I refer to the removal of the train #321 reservation option.  #321 allowed for sales south of St. Louis to be protected from Illinois corridor traffic through creative pricing and car assignments.  No 321 inventory means the train can fill up in Illinois with intra-state patronage in such a way as the train shows only high priced seats, or sold-out conditions St. Louis-San Antonio.  Step five was the removal of the Lounge Car and it's service attendant in the fall of 2020.  Step six was the removal of the dorm-sleeper in the spring of 2021 when the train returned to daily service in May.  This is when the atrocity of the four car operation began, as described by Mr. Rowland's witness above.  So many other posters on this site, and countless other folk have gotten to experience this pathetic effort at service.  Let me also mention the filth.  Since no train exteriors are washed in San Antonio, and the Chicago train washer is hit and miss, and often out for months during cold weather, equipment that cycles between Chicago and San Antonio gets weeks and months of grime on Windows and car sides.  Your impression of the inside and outside of the train will tell of Amtrak's attitude towards your business and financial expense.  Let us not forget that there is no Wi-Fi on board.  This feature is common in society and has been for years.  Amtrak cannot deliver, however.

I must give Amtrak management credit.  The arrogant, insular, underhanded, and anti-passenger ways have proven very successful in leaving the Texas Eagle a sabotaged disgrace.  With the RPA asleep and refusing to take any hard-line position of advocacy, there is not much to be excited about for this route.  The population booms of Texas cities is not of any interest to the leadership of Amtrak.

Thank you, Regalstream1516, for mentioning TEMPO.

Without TEMPO there would be no Texas Eagle today. Over twenty years ago, Amtrak already had announced that the train would be discontinued, and NARP, even then in Amtrak's hip pocket, said little and did nothing.

TEMPO was/is a volunteer organization. They would not sit back and let it happen. It energized activists not only from the train's service area but also from as far away as the West Coast.

Thousands of miles of travel and hundreds of hours of meetings built up an alliance from which, by leveraging state and local government officials, TEMPO enabled a loan to continue the service, which bought time to enact plans to increase revenue...and that effort was so successful that the loan was repaid early.



Edited 7 time(s). Last edit at 01/17/22 19:38 by GenePoon.

Tell me it's not 1970 again. Remember, " There's nothing new under the sun". Us grayheads have seen this sad movie already years ago.

Only problem is that you now have an organization, Amtrak, which has only one thing to do. That is to run passenger trains, and it is destroying itself from within.

Such a shame. A bunch of us mileage collectors had a wonderful trip on the Eagle a few years back on the extensive detours in Texas. It had a Cross Country Cafe serving a full menu. The two crew members were excellent. We also had an unstaffed Sightseer Lounge. Not the most scenic route in the system but a place sit other than ones room is a must on such a long trip. How much can it cost to run such a car unstaffed on the Capitol, City of NO an Eagle. Just compare the two different posts. One a good experience, the other not. Same company. More inconstancy. 

Looks like my dream on riding the Buidler might not even happen, had a blast 5 years ago heading to Roanoke and back to see the 611, ever since Airline Boy took over, things have been going downhill fast, and Gardner's 1ST Day is today, expect it to really reach the 10TH Level of Hell in a heartbeat!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/17/22 15:47 by ProAmtrak.

irhoghead Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Only problem is that you now have an organization,
> Amtrak, which has only one thing to do. That is to
> run passenger trains, and it is destroying itself
> from within.

I didn't think about that unless the leadership is really trying to repeat history secretly. They really don't think they are doing a good job at running in correctly or do they? 

They think the average Joe will ride Amtrak Trains no matter how bad things get, problem is most people are noticing it!

regalstream1516 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I must give Amtrak management credit.  The
> arrogant, insular, underhanded, and anti-passenger
> ways have proven very successful in leaving the
> Texas Eagle a sabotaged disgrace.  With the RPA
> asleep and refusing to take any hard-line position
> of advocacy, there is not much to be excited about
> for this route.  The population booms of Texas
> cities is not of any interest to the leadership of
> Amtrak.

You hit the nail on the head! I was just going to ask yesterday in a post - where is RPA? But I just let that one go........

Amtrak management has done everything it possibly can to de-invest itself of the LD trains, despite Congress constantly ruling in favor of the LD trains. After all - most state senators are OUTSIDE of the NEC. People are paying THOUSANDS of dollars to sit in their rooms (Superliner Sightseer Lounge is at a premium these days), be served subpar meals (on most trains), and be woken up all night by the train horn. It truly has got to be rock bottom. Makes Boardman's years look good - or at least stable! I can't wait for Mr. Gardner's first speech.  

Boardman didn't do too bad, it's after Airline Boy took over where things started going downhill because he claimed, "I'm going by the rules!"

Date: 01/17/22 15:48
Re: Trip Report Chicago-Dallas
Author: ProAmtrakThey think the average Joe will ride Amtrak Trains no matter how bad things get, problem is most people are noticing it!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Airline Boy" as you are so orgasmically conditioned to refer to him as notwithstanding, your follow on comment, presented above is the real fact pattern.  The logical question then becomes:  "how bad does bad have to get before the Average Joe looks up from his mutilated and out-of-date Time Table to finally reach the conclusion that the ride is, indeed, finally over?"  If Amtrak was a publicly traded company on any exchange and part of my personal portfolio, it would have been surgically removed by my advisor years ago as a risk management protocol.  

Good point and question!

steamloco Wrote:
. They
> really don't think they are doing a good job at
> running in correctly or do they? 

They're doing a good job of running it to achieve their goals, which is to reduce ridership.  They are apparently too stupid to realize that when the passengers are gone there's going to be no reason to keep Amtrak alive any more.

Andy

co614 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Arrived Dallas 40 minutes early. Ran early all the
> way Chicago-Dallas. Sat in most stations 5-25
> minutes waiting for leaving time.  The train is a
> mere shadow of its former self. I Unit, a Cross
> Country diner/snack car with 1 attendant to do
> everything, 2 coaches, 1 sleeper.  Sleeper about
> 80 % full in Roomettes, only 1 bedroom taken,
> coaches about 55% full until St. Louis about 25%
> after St. Louis. Very little business downline. 
> A total of 15 people got off in Dallas.  
>
>      The supper and breakfast experience was
> sad. One guy trying to be both the snack car
> attendant, the dining car LSA, head waiter and
> microwave master chef is obviously a recipe for
> disaster. He did the best he could but even with a
> mostly empty train it's more than 1 person can do
> well. 
>
>      I had the 3 egg omlet for b'fast, not
> terrible wouldn't order it again. Had the Ribs for
> supper not bad at all. Car was as cold and
> unapetizing as it could be. Food served with ultra
> cheap fake silverware, water in a plastic bottle,
> no amenities whatsoever, hard cold plastic table
> top. No napkins, no garnishes, no nothin !!!   
>
>      Another reminder for me as to how grateful
> I am to have been born early enough to have
> experienced " nothing could be finer than dinner
> in the diner" in real life. 
>
>      Look at it this way. Especially when it
> come to the dining car it can only get
> better.  
>
>       Happy New Year, Ross Rowland 
>
>      

Compared to my Starlight diner experience, this is flat wrong. Sad

Posted from Android

I failed to mention that my consst ( 21/16) on the outside was as filthy dirty as I've ever seen. Looked like the equipment hadn't had a bath in months. Windows so dirty it was difficult seeing out of them.

   Sad but true.   Ross Rowland