by mtuandrew
ExCon90 wrote:Having crews board and leave the trains en route, apart from the timekeeping problems referred to above, could lead to inventory problems -- for both food and equipment. If tonight's dinner crew gets off, and tomorrow's breakfast crew boards hundreds of miles farther on, and some significant things are missing from the car, I can imagine an endless he-said-she-said controversy about who's responsible for what, unless someone in charge remains on board at all times, thus offsetting some of the savings, or a very sophisticated control system, not likely to be cheap, is provided for.Not a big problem - incorporate a barcode scanner or RFID tag system, and lock the kitchen door after each crew leaves. When the new crew arrives, they do an inventory. If the count doesn't match the total, it's the last crew's fault, or someone snuck into the diner without permission. Scanning systems are surprisingly cheap, in use by all major retailers, give an exact count of what goods are on hand, and even automatically order new supplies. I doubt Amtrak has such a system on board, but it could.