There are plenty of charters operating.
I'm willing to bet board members are going to be bothered when legislators start discussing your antics and taking matters into their own hands.
Actually, it is more than West Virginia at this point. Texas, North Dakota and Montana have fired off letters (FWIW) and once again, you've missed the point. The Senators are looking out for the interests of their constituents.....which is exactly what they are supposed to do. If the legislators along the route of your favorite canceled train would have gotten involved, perhaps it would still operate. This is not to be taken lightly since this has the potential to represent four votes against things like Gateway, Portal, new engines and new equipment.
If your're one of Ohio's senators you should be making noise to get the Cincinnati agent back on the job. After all, that's the senator's job, to look after their constituents' interests.
The city of Cincinnati offered to pay for the salary of all station employees and Amtrak turned it down. The local government was and still is very involved in what's going on at Cincinnati. Even though Senator Manchin in his rider in T-HUD is going to get the CIN agent back.
That is a true statement but true railroad people understand that dining cars are put there to attract passengers into buying the highest priced accommodations. AFAIK, this point has not been made to congress. We can only hope that LD business plunges so that the message is loud and clear. We will no longer ride to CHI on a 20-28 hr trip without fresh hot food. There must be other passengers who feel the same way. Remember if this effort is successful you can kiss goodbye to the dining service on the trains West from CHI as well..
Looks like you took their bait.
You might want to read the fine print again...
Everyone's idea of comfort is different. If people like eating an unhealthy high salt box lunch with loads of chemical additives they are certainly entitled to do so. We will spend our money elsewhere and enjoy a full dinner on the road. As for bait. IMO the bait is to see if ridership still stays strong on the CL and LSL. If it does then the Western trains are next. The issue of laying off good people is also a concern but certain people don't care about that. .
You keep bringing up the laying off of people. You do realize that employees get laid off everyday, don't you? I've been laid off quite a few times in my life time and I've survived. It's a fact of life, not something that only happens to Amtrak employees.
I hardly believe the Charleston Station agent nor other station agents in most stations in places I've never heard of are "national network issues". I forget the actual statistic but most tickets are handled online these days and a lot of stops don't have agents already. Cutting agents is a cost cutting move just like the AAA discount. I don't like it but I get it. Spending money on a ticket agent takes money away which could be used elsewhere. Amtrak is only given a certain amount of money a year. I want it used to better benefit the country, not just West Virginia. Does it have to be Philadelphia? Not necessarily. But I think it should be proportionally based on population and right now it does seem to be IMO disproportionally given to benefit rural population more and Amtrak were to truly benefit that needs to change.
US citizens are citizens of the entire United States, not just their local municipality. Why shouldn't our national government maintain infrastructure that enables us to travel throughout our entire country? Likewise, all of us have an interest in maintaining infrastructure that supports a functioning economy across the entire nation. Amtrak routes through sparsely populated areas benefit ALL of us, just as the national highway system does.
