Food on the sleeper
Aug 17, 2007, 9:14 pm
#31
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So in both cases, the food service car sort of doubles as it's counterpart on the other section. The dining car has some cafe car supplies for sale, while the cafe car has special cold meals available at no charge for sleeping car patrons. Coach pax pay for whatever they buy in the cafe on the Portland section and for whatever they buy, be it a full service meal or a cafe type meal out of the diner on the Seattle section.
Aug 18, 2007, 1:30 am
#32
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Well, I just got off of a whirlwind three-day train trip (CLT-CVS-CHI-WAS-CLT--trip report may eventually be forthcoming), and all four of the trains I was on had the new Simplified Dining Service (and, as AlanB mentioned, Diner Lite on the Cardinal, which was sort of strange). All in all, I have to say I was pleasantly surprised at the quality of the food, considering that it is pre-plated and reheated (although watching them throw away those perfectly good plastic plates is strange!). The burger was moist and tender, and the lamb, whipped potatoes and green beans were about what you'd expect from first-class on an airline.
It's been so long since I've taken any other Amtrak long distance service (my last several years' worth of trips have been on California corridor and NEC runs), so I can't readily compare it to the traditional cooked-on-board food, but compared to airline food, it's refreshingly well-done and tasty.
One note: if you order the omelet for breakfast, they do cook that to order on board (they gave up trying to find a way to make reheated eggs taste good). I didn't wake up early enough to try it, though.
It's been so long since I've taken any other Amtrak long distance service (my last several years' worth of trips have been on California corridor and NEC runs), so I can't readily compare it to the traditional cooked-on-board food, but compared to airline food, it's refreshingly well-done and tasty.
One note: if you order the omelet for breakfast, they do cook that to order on board (they gave up trying to find a way to make reheated eggs taste good). I didn't wake up early enough to try it, though.
Last edited by jackal; Aug 18, 2007 at 2:03 am Reason: Two day? My, how the time flies--it was really a three-day trip...
Aug 18, 2007, 6:35 am
#33
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So thanks to a majority of Amtrak cooks, we still have fresh cooked omelets even if nothing else is fresh cooked on board.
Aug 18, 2007, 10:13 am
#34
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Aug 18, 2007, 11:01 am
#35
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Nevermind that 1/3 of them got laid off. (Actually, I'm not sure how many did, but our server said that before SDS, the chef had help. Now he's alone. He may not mind that much (although it's now sort of a demeaning job, I guess), but his former coworkers certainly do. (That's how SDS is saving Amtrak money.)
Aug 18, 2007, 6:45 pm
#36
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Nevermind that 1/3 of them got laid off. (Actually, I'm not sure how many did, but our server said that before SDS, the chef had help. Now he's alone. He may not mind that much (although it's now sort of a demeaning job, I guess), but his former coworkers certainly do. (That's how SDS is saving Amtrak money.)
Personally though, I'm not sure that Amtrak has actually saved any money. Or perhaps I should say that even though they are now saving some money on salaries, they have also cut the revenue that the dining car once produced.
Under the old system on a full train, the diner could serve 192 dinners per night. Under the new system the diner can only serve 96 passengers. Multiply those numbers by say an average of $15 per meal and you find that the diner now rings up $1,320 less per night on a full train.
Aug 18, 2007, 6:47 pm
#37
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Aug 18, 2007, 7:46 pm
#38
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Must be a fight for who gets to be on the Auto Train and EB.
Aug 18, 2007, 7:57 pm
#39
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The EB perhaps, but not for the Auto Train. The Auto Train operates almost as a seperate company within Amtrak, since it was not part of Amtrak when Amtrak was formed. It was added many years later to the Amtrak system. As such, the Auto Train has very different contracts with the employees that work there. Employees for the Auto Train are trained in all jobs and often rotate through the various jobs during the course of a month.
Whereas within the rest of Amtrak, a sleeping car attendant tends to remain a sleeping car attendant. If he wants another position, then he must train for that position and give up being a sleeping car attendant.
Because of these differences, a normal Amtrak LD employee has no seniority if they transfer into the Auto Train division, and they in effect start at the bottom of the totem pole working the extra board. Most employees with seniority don't like that idea, so very few ever transfer from the AT out to the rest of the system, or from the rest of the system into the AT division.
Ps. It's thanks to that contract with the AT employees, that the AT is one of the few LD's that actually comes close to covering it's own costs. The fact that it's occupancy rate averages in the low 80's year round also helps the AT to come close to breaking even.
Whereas within the rest of Amtrak, a sleeping car attendant tends to remain a sleeping car attendant. If he wants another position, then he must train for that position and give up being a sleeping car attendant.
Because of these differences, a normal Amtrak LD employee has no seniority if they transfer into the Auto Train division, and they in effect start at the bottom of the totem pole working the extra board. Most employees with seniority don't like that idea, so very few ever transfer from the AT out to the rest of the system, or from the rest of the system into the AT division.
Ps. It's thanks to that contract with the AT employees, that the AT is one of the few LD's that actually comes close to covering it's own costs. The fact that it's occupancy rate averages in the low 80's year round also helps the AT to come close to breaking even.
Aug 20, 2007, 9:11 pm
#40
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That leaves only 4 cars potentially for daily service. However these cars are well over 50 years old at this point, so the A/C and other major components are often breaking down and bad ordering the car. Plus there are routine, mandated FRA inspections that must be done. So on average there are at best only 2 or 3 running and with 6 trainsets covering the Coast Starlight run, you only have at best a 50% change of seeing one.
Aug 20, 2007, 10:04 pm
#41
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My office is within sight of the BUR station (Burbank-Bob Hope Airport), and I usually manage to catch the northbound Coast Starlight going through every morning. This summer, it seems they've managed to get a Pacific Parlour car onto about 4 out of 5 of the Starlights -- prior to June, they were indeed only there about 50% of the time.
Aug 23, 2007, 8:22 pm
#42
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So, of course, after I posted the above, the next two northbound Starlights, Tuesday's and Wednesday's, were missing the Parlour, without even an extra lounge car as a substitute.
Today's (Thursday's) did have the Parlour, but it came by 40 minutes late. A little research shows they may have been holding it for the Southwest Chief, which arrived L.A. a little over 2 hours and 20 minutes late this morning, i.e., a little over 20 minutes past the scheduled departure of the Starlight.
Today's (Thursday's) did have the Parlour, but it came by 40 minutes late. A little research shows they may have been holding it for the Southwest Chief, which arrived L.A. a little over 2 hours and 20 minutes late this morning, i.e., a little over 20 minutes past the scheduled departure of the Starlight.
Aug 23, 2007, 8:56 pm
#43
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So, of course, after I posted the above, the next two northbound Starlights, Tuesday's and Wednesday's, were missing the Parlour, without even an extra lounge car as a substitute.
Today's (Thursday's) did have the Parlour, but it came by 40 minutes late. A little research shows they may have been holding it for the Southwest Chief, which arrived L.A. a little over 2 hours and 20 minutes late this morning, i.e., a little over 20 minutes past the scheduled departure of the Starlight.
Today's (Thursday's) did have the Parlour, but it came by 40 minutes late. A little research shows they may have been holding it for the Southwest Chief, which arrived L.A. a little over 2 hours and 20 minutes late this morning, i.e., a little over 20 minutes past the scheduled departure of the Starlight.
Aug 23, 2007, 11:11 pm
#44
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Stacie
Aug 31, 2007, 9:51 pm
#45
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I received this mysterious posting on a railfan email discussion list for the Coast Line (over which the Coast Starlight runs). Can't vouch for the accuracy, but if it's true, it's pretty exciting news!
RE-LAUNCH:
Will happen between March 1st, 2008 and completion is expected by May
1st, 2008 before the summer season starts next year. One of the main
items holding everything up, of course, was money. However, they have
now officially received the money needed for all of the changes that
are coming and everything is a go. Keep in mind that since the
"official" re-launch date is March 1st, this does not mean that
everything will be finished and completed on that date. It will take
time to get things done (as I will explain below), but the target date
for everything will be May 1st, 2008.
PACIFIC PARLOUR CARS:
-They will be sent back to Beech Grove, one at a time, to get
refurbished. The basic design as we see it now will basically remain
unchanged. However, all of the worn seating and cover materials will
be replaced, and the car will generally be spiffed up. While these
cars cycle in and out of Beech Grove, there *will* be a Sightseer
Lounge as a replacement (in other words, 2 lounge cars---one for coach
passengers, and one for sleeper passengers)
-A cappaccino machine will be placed in each car (at $8,000 per machine!)
-The car will be staffed by an employee, just as it used to be. Amtrak
has not decided yet if they will assign people to these cars based
upon seniority, or if they will do it strictly by interviewing
interested personnel and then assigning them to that position. This
will be decided sometime in the future.
-Movies will be returning to the lower level of the car, with
sponsorship by MGM Studios and Warner Brothers Studios. This
sponsorship will allow Amtrak to show "classic" movies in the theater,
without being charged the huge fees they once paid for current movies.
-A buffet brunch will be served on Saturday and Sunday from 10AM to
3PM. This is not free----it is still for sleeping car passengers only,
but you will need to pay for this service. (Dining car meals are still
included in the price of your sleeping car ticket).
-Wine tasting will still be held daily, with upgraded "regional"
wines. Brian Rosenwald is speaking with various wine vendors this week
to secure a contract. They are considering bringing back fruit with
the wine/cheese/crackers, but this is undecided at the moment.
-Soft drinks and alcoholic drinks will be available for sale in this
car. The soft drinks will not be free as they once were (and soft
drinks will continue to not be offered in the sleeping cars, but
juice/coffee remain as always).
I was told that the reason for charging for soft drinks and the bufett
brunch is to help pay for the cost of keeping these cars. I don't mind
this at all if this is what they need to do in order to keep these
cars running.
DINING CARS:
-Simplified Dining Service will disappear on the Coast Starlight, with
"normal" food returning. There will be 4 servers upstairs, and 3
people working downstairs in the kitchen.
-Regional menus will once again return (I specifically asked, and
**NO**, they will not offer a special of Chicken Fried Steak!).
-China and glassware will return, with the same color/pattern this is
currently being used on the Empire Builder.
COACH CARS:
-Wi-Fi internet will be available in all cars. She could not provide
more information on this, so my specific questions as to how this will
work are unanswered for now.
That covers pretty much everything we talked about regarding the
re-launch. If anyone has specific questions on something I forgot to
ask, let me know and I'll track her down again before we get to LAX
and I'll bend her ear some more.
Will happen between March 1st, 2008 and completion is expected by May
1st, 2008 before the summer season starts next year. One of the main
items holding everything up, of course, was money. However, they have
now officially received the money needed for all of the changes that
are coming and everything is a go. Keep in mind that since the
"official" re-launch date is March 1st, this does not mean that
everything will be finished and completed on that date. It will take
time to get things done (as I will explain below), but the target date
for everything will be May 1st, 2008.
PACIFIC PARLOUR CARS:
-They will be sent back to Beech Grove, one at a time, to get
refurbished. The basic design as we see it now will basically remain
unchanged. However, all of the worn seating and cover materials will
be replaced, and the car will generally be spiffed up. While these
cars cycle in and out of Beech Grove, there *will* be a Sightseer
Lounge as a replacement (in other words, 2 lounge cars---one for coach
passengers, and one for sleeper passengers)
-A cappaccino machine will be placed in each car (at $8,000 per machine!)
-The car will be staffed by an employee, just as it used to be. Amtrak
has not decided yet if they will assign people to these cars based
upon seniority, or if they will do it strictly by interviewing
interested personnel and then assigning them to that position. This
will be decided sometime in the future.
-Movies will be returning to the lower level of the car, with
sponsorship by MGM Studios and Warner Brothers Studios. This
sponsorship will allow Amtrak to show "classic" movies in the theater,
without being charged the huge fees they once paid for current movies.
-A buffet brunch will be served on Saturday and Sunday from 10AM to
3PM. This is not free----it is still for sleeping car passengers only,
but you will need to pay for this service. (Dining car meals are still
included in the price of your sleeping car ticket).
-Wine tasting will still be held daily, with upgraded "regional"
wines. Brian Rosenwald is speaking with various wine vendors this week
to secure a contract. They are considering bringing back fruit with
the wine/cheese/crackers, but this is undecided at the moment.
-Soft drinks and alcoholic drinks will be available for sale in this
car. The soft drinks will not be free as they once were (and soft
drinks will continue to not be offered in the sleeping cars, but
juice/coffee remain as always).
I was told that the reason for charging for soft drinks and the bufett
brunch is to help pay for the cost of keeping these cars. I don't mind
this at all if this is what they need to do in order to keep these
cars running.
DINING CARS:
-Simplified Dining Service will disappear on the Coast Starlight, with
"normal" food returning. There will be 4 servers upstairs, and 3
people working downstairs in the kitchen.
-Regional menus will once again return (I specifically asked, and
**NO**, they will not offer a special of Chicken Fried Steak!).
-China and glassware will return, with the same color/pattern this is
currently being used on the Empire Builder.
COACH CARS:
-Wi-Fi internet will be available in all cars. She could not provide
more information on this, so my specific questions as to how this will
work are unanswered for now.
That covers pretty much everything we talked about regarding the
re-launch. If anyone has specific questions on something I forgot to
ask, let me know and I'll track her down again before we get to LAX
and I'll bend her ear some more.
Last edited by jackal; Sep 1, 2007 at 9:49 pm