I received a reply from Mr. Boardman!

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Dakota 400

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October 30, 2014: I mailed a letter to Amtrak's CEO and President concerning my mostly positive, but alas, a few not so positive, experiences on the Crescent, Sunset Limited, and Southwest Chief. I named names and I listed specific examples of my pleasure and displeasure as an Amtrak guest.

In my mail today, I was very pleased to receive a letter from Mr. Boardman. He thanked me for my report, admitted that short comings can happen, and promised to give recognition to the employees whom I mentioned that should be so awarded.

I am impressed that this gentleman responded to my letter.

It makes me think: Amtrak really does care for me as a guest. And, that only encourages me to consider: where my next Amtrak ought to be? And, when?
 
Indeed. he takes letters seriously. Believe me when I say they trickle down.

I saw him in person yesterday at a retirement. I think this job is taking a toll on him. There is almost no pepper in the salt these days! :giggle:
 
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Indeed. he takes letters seriously. Believe me when I say they trickle down.

I saw him in person yesterday at a retirement. I think this job is taking a toll on him. There is almost no pepper in the salt these days! :giggle:
Grey hair is a natural part of aging. I thought he looked good. It was nice of him to come by.
 
What address did you mail your letter to? (Please PM me with *exactly* how you addressed the envelope, if you can.)

I have gotten no response to my formal email to Mr. Boardman, so I suppose I'd better write a letter and send it certified mail.

Or maybe he only responds to the easy letters, which would be lazy.
 
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What address did you mail your letter to? (Please PM me with *exactly* how you addressed the envelope, if you can.)

I have gotten no response to my formal email to Mr. Boardman, so I suppose I'd better write a letter and send it certified mail.

Or maybe he only responds to the easy letters, which would be lazy.
I doubt that he reads all the emails or snail mails sent to his address. It would not be possible. He has plenty to do. I would guess his office reads them and passes some on to him.
 
My letter to Mr. Boardman was addressed as follows:

Mr. Joseph H. Boardman, President and Chief Executive Officer

National Railroad Passenger Corporation

60 Massachusetts Avenue, NE

Washington, D. C. 20002

The letter that I sent was dated October 30, 2014. Mr. Boardman's kind reply was dated February 18, 2015.

Patience is obviously required if one hopes for a response.

As others on this post has said, it seems apparent to me that he cares about quality customer service. And, I am encouraged from what others on this post has said, the information does filter to other management levels (which is what he said he would do) and to commend the employees whom I mentioned for making my 3 Amtrak October trips a pleasure.
 
Thanks!

(As those following the forums will know, there is a specific customer service issue which is systemic and has been causing me endless problems, but which *should* be easy to fix. Unfortunately, it will almost certainly still be causing me massive problems on my next trip at the end of March.)
 
A few years ago, I wrote to him about many problems and some personal compliments for employees on my trip. I did not receive a personal reply directly from him, but I did receive a phone call (I included my phone number in my letter) from his staff on his behalf. I was very satisfied with the personal response! :)
 
Neroden, IIRC, your concern relates to available food in the Diner. May I suggest for your upcoming trip you have a reservation agent put in a SSR ( Special Service Request) with your reservation.

This obviously won't "solve" the ongoing problem, but If you have them highlight what your needs are, if may make your trip more pleasant...
 
Neroden, IIRC, your concern relates to available food in the Diner. May I suggest for your upcoming trip you have a reservation agent put in a SSR ( Special Service Request) with your reservation.

This obviously won't "solve" the ongoing problem, but If you have them highlight what your needs are, if may make your trip more pleasant...
Curious as to Amtrak's offerings for "special service request" with regards to food.

When airlines used to offer meals, as part of the coach fare, I regularly requested either a kosher or vegan fare, on the theory that it might be a little fresher, or somehow different than the bland, run-of-the-mill routine meal. I was rarely disappointed.

For those who have requested special meals from Amtrak, what's your experience / opinion? I'm thinking with the recent downgrading of the offerings that come out of the diner, "special requests" might make sense/

It's still a crying shame that Amtrak has the equipment, and has the trained staff, to turn out really, really, good meals..But is forced to dish out what they do.

Again, I'm not saying 100% of meals served on Amtrak are just "average meals", I'd say 1/5 meals are pretty good. And, as has been stated, I'm old(er) and my tastes have changed over the years. My kids (15,15,18) think Amtrak's food in the diner is generally "really good"..............
 
Neroden, IIRC, your concern relates to available food in the Diner. May I suggest for your upcoming trip you have a reservation agent put in a SSR ( Special Service Request) with your reservation.

This obviously won't "solve" the ongoing problem, but If you have them highlight what your needs are, if may make your trip more pleasant...
Curious as to Amtrak's offerings for "special service request" with regards to food.

When airlines used to offer meals, as part of the coach fare, I regularly requested either a kosher or vegan fare, on the theory that it might be a little fresher, or somehow different than the bland, run-of-the-mill routine meal. I was rarely disappointed.

For those who have requested special meals from Amtrak, what's your experience / opinion? I'm thinking with the recent downgrading of the offerings that come out of the diner, "special requests" might make sense/

It's still a crying shame that Amtrak has the equipment, and has the trained staff, to turn out really, really, good meals..But is forced to dish out what they do.

Again, I'm not saying 100% of meals served on Amtrak are just "average meals", I'd say 1/5 meals are pretty good. And, as has been stated, I'm old(er) and my tastes have changed over the years. My kids (15,15,18) think Amtrak's food in the diner is generally "really good"..............
The special meals are not going to be fresher. The commissary delivers a pre made frozen package that is taken out of the freezer and delivered to the train when there is a special request. I never tasted one so can't comment on that but they don't look that appealing.
 
Neroden, IIRC, your concern relates to available food in the Diner. May I suggest for your upcoming trip you have a reservation agent put in a SSR ( Special Service Request) with your reservation.

This obviously won't "solve" the ongoing problem, but If you have them highlight what your needs are, if may make your trip more pleasant...
I'll give it a shot, but the underlying problem is that *nobody at Amtrak even knows what's in the meals*. Their standard vegan and kosher meals could be full of guar gum, which is what I'm allergic to, and nobody I've spoken to has been able to find out in advance.

The problem would be solved by appropriate provision of information.
 
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Taking what I mentioned a step further, you can simply put a notification in the SSR that you "will be eating vegetarian in the diner and request that ample supply of salads are available" as an example. It doesn't have to be a special order per se, it can used a form of communication to the crew, so the can plan accordingly...
 
Neroden, IIRC, your concern relates to available food in the Diner. May I suggest for your upcoming trip you have a reservation agent put in a SSR ( Special Service Request) with your reservation.

This obviously won't "solve" the ongoing problem, but If you have them highlight what your needs are, if may make your trip more pleasant...
I'll give it a shot, but the underlying problem is that *nobody at Amtrak even knows what's in the meals*. Their standard vegan and kosher meals could be full of guar gum, which is what I'm allergic to, and nobody I've spoken to has been able to find out in advance.

The problem would be solved by appropriate provision of information.
There is someone that has the answer. Sorry I don't know who directly but several times when passengers had allergic reactions enroute and it was thought it might be something in the food I called CNOC and they were able to get a list of the ingredients.
 
There is someone that has the answer. Sorry I don't know who directly but several times when passengers had allergic reactions enroute and it was thought it might be something in the food I called CNOC and they were able to get a list of the ingredients.
Right, thank you. I am going to try harder... I haven't really had the time for dealing with the necessary phone calls in the last month or so (very busy during the days). Now that I know that someone at CNOC knows who to call... I guess I have somewhere to start.
 
Not listing all ingredients is pretty inexcusable in this day and age.

As for the labor/staffing/fresh ingredients/china vs paper in the diners, you can thank Congress for constantly fiddling with Amtrak's ability to run itself. You'd think if an operation is losing money and shut down isn't an option it would make sense not to cause more losses (make it up on volume? lol) but our genius congress critters (most of whom have degrees in political science or law and have spent most of their adult lives in politics) think they're helping trim losses, bless their hearts.

Or they're Rep Mica, cynically showboating because the political winds shifted and he's not retiring back to his district any time soon by golly!!!!111 (big hypocrite, gubmint build a brand new choo choo station in the heart of his district due in part to his efforts before his Tea-makeover)
 
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