Originally Posted by
Alika
Surfliners don't have an official Quiet Car (not sure why, really), but there's almost always an Superliner car second to last in a Surfliner consist, and with the Superliners' darker colors, subtler lighting, and (IMHO) more comfortable seating, I've found that it serves as the defacto Quiet Car.
Because the State of California pays for that service and they set the rules. The Surfliners don't use the same cafe menu as the rest of Amtrak because California wanted things to be different. The Surfliners remain one of the few unreserved trains that Amtrak runs, again because that's what California wants. And so far, no one in the Amtrak California division of Caltrans has decided that a quiet car is a good idea, so no quiet car.