if train is delayed 8 hours, are meals still free?

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ToniCounter

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last week, we cancelled my Amtrak trip because the train was delayed almost 8 hours. I was just thinking... if we did get on that train, would all meals still have been free? if that train was on schedule, we would only have received a lunch, as sleeping car passengers. since it was almost 8 hours late, would we have received free dinners as well? :)

Thanks!
 
Yes, the meals are still free. However, if the train is 8 hours late into its terminal station and they serve an extra meal that they otherwise would not have served, it will most likely be the infamous Dinty Moore beef stew and rice from the emergency rations they keep on board. And they will serve it free to all passengers, including coach.

You know your train is really late when they break out the stew. Having had the stew is the mark of a truly experienced Amtrak LD traveler, unfortunately. I've had it many times.

If it isn't coming into the terminal station and it is a meal they would ordinarily serve, it is just a regular meal. As a sleeper passenger your fare includes all meals served at normal mealtimes during your time on board.
 
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zephyr17 said:
Yes, the meals are still free. However, if the train is 8 hours late into its terminal station and they serve an extra meal that they otherwise would not have served, it will most likely be the infamous Dinty Moore beef stew and rice from the emergency rations they keep on board. And they will serve it free to all passengers, including coach.

You know your train is really late when they break out the stew. Having had the stew is the mark of a truly experienced Amtrak LD traveler, unfortunately.
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as long as their emergency ration doesn't include cans of Spam, I guess it's alright? :) (no offense to the people of Hawaii) :)
 
zephyr17 said:
Yes, the meals are still free. However, if the train is 8 hours late into its terminal station and they serve an extra meal that they otherwise would not have served, it will most likely be the infamous Dinty Moore beef stew and rice from the emergency rations they keep on board. And they will serve it free to all passengers, including coach.

You know your train is really late when they break out the stew. Having had the stew is the mark of a truly experienced Amtrak LD traveler, unfortunately.
Click to expand...
I was on an 8 hour late Empire Builder and the sleeper passengers had the choice of 3 of the regular dinners. I had the steak. I do not remember the other 2 choices. After the sleeper passengers were finished then they gave the beef stew to coach passengers.
 
StanJazz said:
I was on an 8 hour late Empire Builder and the sleeper passengers had the choice of 3 of the regular dinners. I had the steak. I do not remember the other 2 choices. After the sleeper passengers were finished then they gave the beef stew to coach passengers.
Click to expand...

what's the longest delay that anyone has experienced on Amtrak? I personally "almost" experienced the 7-hour delay and there seem to be a lot of posts about 8, 10, or even 12-hour delays. Are there longer delays than those?
 
ToniCounter said:
StanJazz said:
I was on an 8 hour late Empire Builder and the sleeper passengers had the choice of 3 of the regular dinners. I had the steak. I do not remember the other 2 choices. After the sleeper passengers were finished then they gave the beef stew to coach passengers.
Click to expand...

what's the longest delay that anyone has experienced on Amtrak? I personally "almost" experienced the 7-hour delay and there seem to be a lot of posts about 8, 10, or even 12-hour delays. Are there longer delays than those?
Click to expand...
My record was 13 hours late. Empire Builder arrival into Chicago at 4 am. I had several other arrivals into Chicago 8-12 hours late.
 
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StanJazz said:
zephyr17 said:
Yes, the meals are still free. However, if the train is 8 hours late into its terminal station and they serve an extra meal that they otherwise would not have served, it will most likely be the infamous Dinty Moore beef stew and rice from the emergency rations they keep on board. And they will serve it free to all passengers, including coach.

You know your train is really late when they break out the stew. Having had the stew is the mark of a truly experienced Amtrak LD traveler, unfortunately.
Click to expand...
I was on an 8 hour late Empire Builder and the sleeper passengers had the choice of 3 of the regular dinners. I had the steak. I do not remember the other 2 choices. After the sleeper passengers were finished then they gave the beef stew to coach passengers.
Click to expand...
One trip I was on the sleeper pax got a limited choice of regular dinners and the coach passengers got stew and rice. All the other times we were catastrophically late, everyone got stew.
 
I wasn't on it, but I have seen and videotaped a 24 hour late empire builder, and if you go to my YouTube page you can see that video from ESM,

 
I didn't see it or ride on it, but I did track a 32-hour late CZ #5 after the Iowa floodings *shudder* (on track-a-train)

The 8 hour late #5 behind it seemed quite on-time by comparison :giggle:
 
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IN '77 I was on a WB EB and we were in Minot for 21 hours, as a freight train had a hot box fire and took out some track, also it was Winter and the snow was just below the wires on the telephone poles. There was a party shop across the street from the station.
 
I was on the Silvers when they where 26+ hours late. They continued to serve us food in the dining car at the regular meal times. As food started to run low, they stopped offering food, for sale, to the coach passengers, and focused on just feeding the sleeper passengers.

They didn't have the "emergency" stew, nor the white boxes, back then.

One would think that with a train running 26+ hours late, Amtrak could have sent to the train extra food and a relief crew. They certainly had more than enough time to put such together. One would have also thought that Amtrak would have held the trains at a station, rather than on a siding in the middle of some swamp.
 
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zephyr17 said:
ToniCounter said:
StanJazz said:
I was on an 8 hour late Empire Builder and the sleeper passengers had the choice of 3 of the regular dinners. I had the steak. I do not remember the other 2 choices. After the sleeper passengers were finished then they gave the beef stew to coach passengers.
Click to expand...
what's the longest delay that anyone has experienced on Amtrak? I personally "almost" experienced the 7-hour delay and there seem to be a lot of posts about 8, 10, or even 12-hour delays. Are there longer delays than those?
Click to expand...
My record was 13 hours late. Empire Builder arrival into Chicago at 4 am. I had several other arrivals into Chicago 8-12 hours late.
Click to expand...
I was on a Capitol Limited that was 10 hrs late. They had lunch for the sleep passengers only, then the Beef Stew dinner for the few who didn't detrain at Pittsburgh for bus conections to Philly and New York. They held NER 66 about a half hour for me so I could get to Baltimore. It might have just been my imagination, but I got a few nasty looks when I got on the train.
 
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I was on a 17 hr late EB #7 going into Essex in 2014. No issues with food for sleeper passengers. Worked out good for me as I received a voucher for the full cost of my trip and got to go again last year!
 
I gotta be that guy.. Since you had sleeper tickets.. Why wouldn't they give you free meals? Delay or not... Sleeping car Pax have meals included in their ticket price.. So I'm kind of confused on why you think you'd have to pay for your meals.
 
crosshair428 said:
I was on a 17 hr late EB #7 going into Essex in 2014. No issues with food for sleeper passengers. Worked out good for me as I received a voucher for the full cost of my trip and got to go again last year!
Click to expand...
wait a second... why did they hand out free vouchers? just for delays?
 
ToniCounter said:
what's the longest delay that anyone has experienced on Amtrak? I personally "almost" experienced the 7-hour delay and there seem to be a lot of posts about 8, 10, or even 12-hour delays. Are there longer delays than those?
Click to expand...
I have heard of a 16-hour late CS #11 back in October 2013 due to broken/fractured rail. The train was held south of Eugene for 15 or 16 hours while the rails were being repaired, and arrived at LA some 16 hours late (in which I tracked with Amtrak's OTP tracker and looked up the data for that train on ASM. However, that train was not classified as having a disruption, despite being held up for more than 6 hours. I have also heard of the CS #11 and #14 both being delayed between 9 to 12 hours, in June 2013. #11 eventually made into LA 9 hours late, but detoured between Klamath Falls and Sacramento (most likely detoured via the BNSF's line going through Keddie, and was a rare occurence), bypassing Dunsmuir, Redding, and Chico, and was given a disruption flag. I was on neither of those trains, fortunately. The most delay I had was 3 hours on #14 in September 2014, due to a broken toilet.
 
Train was 10 hrs late on the TE coming into CHI.

We had to take a bus another 90 miles to get home.

JATX
 
ToniCounter said:
crosshair428 said:
I was on a 17 hr late EB #7 going into Essex in 2014. No issues with food for sleeper passengers. Worked out good for me as I received a voucher for the full cost of my trip and got to go again last year!
Click to expand...
wait a second... why did they hand out free vouchers? just for delays?
Click to expand...
After I got back home, I called Amtrak after the conductor suggested it. I wasn't too happy at the time since I had booked two nights in the 441 at Izaak Walton Inn and would only be staying for one night, but still paying for two. After explaining the length of the delay and checking to verify my dates of travel, I was given a voucher for the full cost of my fare, including my roomette.
 
I was on the Missouri River Runner making good time till we got stuck behind a broken freight train for an bout six hours. We finally got to a road where they could send a bus out to take yous into Kansas City 6 hours late,
 
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