These upgrades would be a lot more valuable if first class was made more enjoyable. Any thought to making a first class quiet car? How about making the food available that is for sale in the cafe car. I personally would enjoy a hot dog and chips better than any of the food served in first class.[/QUOTE]

(I love the FC/quiet car idea.) The biggest issue in my mind is the seating layout. The reason that there's such a mad dash for seats is the that many of the seats are undesirable - especially the four-seaters if you're not a group of four.

I'd much rather see a straight, forward-facing 2x1 seating pattern for the entire car, omitting the hard tables. But the tray tables should come out of the seat it serves, rather than from the seat ahead (as airlines do). I'm sure you've all experienced having a drink on the drop-down table when the occupant in front plops down, and the drink goes flying. That happened to me once when the train was completely still at a station! The seats should all face forward, and be easily reversed by the crew at terminal stations.

It would also make it easier for Amtrak to re-implement assigned seating, as was initially tried when Acela service debuted in 2000. With all seats essentially the same, there will be far fewer unhappy customers with their seat assignments. This system works very well in Asia and Europe, where trains have similar route lengths and stopping patterns.