Return of Daily LD Service

This replaces the now closed 3x/week thread

From NARP here is the timetable of restoration.

May 24 May 31 June 7
California Zephyr (Chicago – Omaha – Denver – Salt Lake City – San Francisco) Capitol Limited (Washington DC – Pittsburgh – Cleveland – Chicago) Crescent (New York – Washington DC – Atlanta – New Orleans)
Coast Starlight (Seattle – Portland – Sacramento – Oakland – Los Angeles City of New Orleans (Chicago – Memphis – Jackson – New Orleans) Palmetto (New York – Washington DC – Charleston – Savannah)
Empire Builder (Chicago – St. Paul-Minneapolis – Spokane – Portland/Seattle) Lake Shore Limited (New York/Boston – Albany – Buffalo – Chicago) Silver Meteor (New York – Savannah – Jacksonville – Orlando – Miami)
Texas Eagle (Chicago – St. Louis – Dallas – San Antonio – Los Angeles) Southwest Chief (Chicago – Kansas City – Albuquerque – Los Angeles) Silver Star (New York – Raleigh – Jacksonville – Orlando – Tampa – Miami)

West of Mississippi is first.

Amtrak.com With Increased Demand and Congressional Funding, Amtrak Restores 12 Long Distance Routes to Daily Service

May 24
California Zephyr (Chicago – Omaha – Denver – Salt Lake City – San Francisco)
Coast Starlight (Seattle – Portland – Sacramento – Oakland – Los Angeles
Empire Builder (Chicago – St. Paul-Minneapolis – Spokane – Portland/Seattle)
Texas Eagle (Chicago – St. Louis – Dallas – San Antonio – Los Angeles)

May 31
Capitol Limited (Washington DC – Pittsburgh – Cleveland – Chicago)
City of New Orleans (Chicago – Memphis – Jackson – New Orleans)
Lake Shore Limited (New York/Boston – Albany – Buffalo – Chicago)
Southwest Chief (Chicago – Kansas City – Albuquerque – Los Angeles)

June 7
Crescent (New York – Washington DC – Atlanta – New Orleans)
Palmetto (New York – Washington DC – Charleston – Savannah)
Silver Meteor (New York – Savannah – Jacksonville – Orlando – Miami)
Silver Star (New York – Raleigh – Jacksonville – Orlando – Tampa – Miami)

Over at another site, where LD advocacy rules, they seem quite certain that Full Service "traditional" dining will again be offered where pre-existing when the Daily frequencies are restored. In short, any train that X's "Ol' Man River", plus the Starlight.

I cannot find any foundation, such as at the Amtrak website, that such will occur.

So until such time as there is official confirmation of such, I'll just conclude they are listening too much to Mama Cass, as they often do over there.

Gilbert B Norman wrote: ↑Mon Mar 15, 2021 10:43 am Over at another site, where LD advocacy rules, they seem quite certain that Full Service "traditional" dining will again be offered where pre-existing when the Daily frequencies are restored. In short, any train that X's "Ol' Man River".

I cannot find any foundation, such as at the Amtrak website, that such will occur.

So until such time as there is official confirmation of such, I'll just conclude they are listening too much to Mama Cass, as they often do over there.

That is interesting, because part of the justification of the current dining system is that it is preferred by Millenials who supposedly are more likely to ride trains than us old geezers who prefer traditional dining but to travel would rather drive our Mercury Grand Marquis (usually at 50 mph in the left lane of the Interstate) than ride an old fashioned train . This would be quite a reversal of thinking by Amtrak HQ. So I share Mr. Norman's skepticism.

Jon (who once owned a Grand Marquis but now has a sensible Honda)

Unless bookings rebound, color me skeptical. Full service dining ain't cheap if you don't have the demand.

Sent from my SM-G981U using Tapatalk

May be paywalled but:
https://www.trains.com/trn/news-reviews ... new-dates/

But: it said that according to Roger Harris, Amtrak’s executive vice president and chief marketing and revenue officer,

Amtrak plans to restore “traditional” dining car meals with the daily frequencies, Harris says, “but we’re not quite sure yet how to work through the health implications. Communal dining is probably a non-starter for now, and you can work backward through food preparation and delivery.”

So, that's about as official as you can get.

The flexible concept has some merit. Using it as cover for downgrading food quality from, realistically, Applebee's standards to 7 Eleven or grocery store frozen aisle standards, however, is disingenuous at best. I know plenty of young people, even if I'm getting to be a geezer as a Gen X'er, and they certainly enjoy good food and experiential dining.

And I drove my parents' '83 Mercury Grand Marquis in high school - it wasn't a Mustang, but it did have a 5.0 liter V-8! I think my naturally aspirated 2.5 liter boxer in my '07 Subaru Legacy puts out more horsepower though!

Greg Moore wrote: ↑Mon Mar 15, 2021 11:58 am May be paywalled but:
https://www.trains.com/trn/news-reviews ... new-dates/

But: it said that according to Roger Harris, Amtrak’s executive vice president and chief marketing and revenue officer,

Amtrak plans to restore “traditional” dining car meals with the daily frequencies, Harris says, “but we’re not quite sure yet how to work through the health implications. Communal dining is probably a non-starter for now, and you can work backward through food preparation and delivery.”

So, that's about as official as you can get.

The Auto Train still has traditional dining. However, I would not be surprised if this is delivered in-room, and served on thick paper foam-like trays. Still cooked in the diner, just "plated", covered, and handed over. Multiple orders will be delivered by a cart.

Mask up while interacting with your porter, please.

OK; this restoration makes sense on one level; Amtrak is mandated under ARPA21 to recall any furloughed employees, so I guess there is the "gotta do something with 'em" to consider.

Now to what extent Amtrak is obligated to recall these employees to the position they previously held, I know not. There is however, Appendix C-2 which provides they will not be adversely affected with respect to pay and benefits, but somehow I don't think Service Attendants and Food Specialists are "that high up". So payments under C-2 shouldn't be much of a problem as the recalled employees are awarded, or force assigned, other positions.

All told, I think Amtrak is going to be "stuck with those trains", and the Class I roads having their operations interfered with for the Bargain Basement rates Amtrak pays, longer than I will be around to say it's time for the Adios drumheads.

It does appear Amtrak is trying a few new things , with the extra money and time they have been given. I hope any new positions created are to improve service , or to create new services. As opposed to adding costs onto existing services , which will become a burden if the money stops flowing.

I think the recent targeting of long distance by Anderson/Gardner was rooted in a theory of breaking up long distance routes to try to redirect the resources towards heavier density corridors as opposed to any particular dislike towards the trains themselves - and I don’t think they planned on cutting all of them - mainly cutting weaker segments or high cost segments like the center section of the chief. I don’t think they expected as large a push back as they got and I think they expected more openness to some network changes that were more in line with their thinking. I think they have thrown in the towel on breaking up or discontinuing any routes and instead are focused on trying to open up a new funding channel for developing corridors - and probably developing corridors mainly along sections of existing long distance trains (to allow some feed between the existing daily train and the corridor.) Additionally Mr. Flynn has been less hostile towards long distance in his rhetoric - will be interesting to see how things go the next few years.

By the time daily service returns well over half of the population of the US will have been vaccinated. The case numbers and deaths have leveled of (still need to drop) but there is a decent chance that "indoor dining" will return or at least Amtrak will be able to come up with a reasonable alternative such as delivered meals.

Dining not returning is being pushed by the same crowd that claimed daily service would never return. Daily service is returning at the end of May. We may not get full food service at the same time, but as demand and the ability to safely deliver food increases, I expect regular dining will return.

>>>" Service Change

Traditional dining service has been temporarily suspended on all routes with the exception of the Auto Train. Through May 21, 2021, customers in private rooms will be offered flexible dining service; Coach customers will be offered Café service."<<< https://www.amtrak.com/onboard/meals-di ... g-car.html