Texas Eagle getting "Contemporary Dining?"

[cpotisch]

When first started this RUMOR stated the conversion to boxed meals would be September. That's just 15 days away and no official announcement has been made. Even if from on board crew I still consider this as a rumor especially if they are rumoring that all long distance trains will convert in next 18 months. I am not planning my Amtrak travels based on rumors.

Since when has Amtrak shown that they will consistently give heads ups about changes and cuts significantly before they take place. They announced that the LSL and CL were getting boxed meals about a month and a half before it took place, and even that was relatively far in advance by their standards. Remember, no one said that it was going to happen at the very start of September. It could start at the end of September, which would also be about a month and a half's notice. So I disagree with the sentiment that we won't be getting contemporary dining on the Eagle anytime soon, since Amtrak has a history of giving short notice about this kind of stuff, and the onboard staff seems to be consistently convinced that it's coming soon anyway.

 

[JoeBas]

When first started this RUMOR stated the conversion to boxed meals would be September. That's just 15 days away and no official announcement has been made. Even if from on board crew I still consider this as a rumor especially if they are rumoring that all long distance trains will convert in next 18 months. I am not planning my Amtrak travels based on rumors.

Since when has Amtrak shown that they will consistently give heads ups about changes and cuts significantly before they take place. They announced that the LSL and CL were getting boxed meals about a month and a half before it took place, and even that was relatively far in advance by their standards. Remember, no one said that it was going to happen at the very start of September. It could start at the end of September, which would also be about a month and a half's notice. So I disagree with the sentiment that we won't be getting contemporary dining on the Eagle anytime soon, since Amtrak has a history of giving short notice about this kind of stuff, and the onboard staff seems to be consistently convinced that it's coming soon anyway.

This. Not making decisions based on rumors is one thing. Not making decisions due to willful disregard of recent history and application of common sense is another.

 

[Amtrakfflyer]

Im not even sure the mandate makes a difference at this point. Apparently Anderson is the first CEO to take it seriously for his own motives. There are currently no Micas left causing a raucous. I think they should try to be efficient maybe even go so far as pre plated meals like Acela but have them seved in the dining car like the Ocean does. That would more then appease the current and soon to be seated congress.

For those of you saying its in the law its a mandate. The senate voted 94-3 to support the SWC, the House more then likely will as well. If rumors and that memo are true Anderson is going to try to thumb his nose at the legislation and destroy the SWC regardless going against congressional wishes.

Talking to an RPA official today the memo is true unfortunately.

 

[Tennessee Traveler]

Only time will tell about the conversion to "contemporary" meal service. Personally, I rode the Capitol Limited the second week of the new service and enjoyed both my dinner meal and breakfast. Interestingly, I use to skip the breakfast meal and eat breakfast in Chicago. I have eaten at Lou Mitchell's and I eaten at McDonald's and was satisfied with both. I am riding the Southwest Chief and the California Zephyr late October to early November and the dinner menu and style were not a basis for choosing to ride. In fact, since both use the National Menu, I find that I get tired of the non changing menu's and simply not hungry making my dinner selection difficult. I'm not a seafood eater and get tired of steak or chicken at every dinner. But I love traveling by train in a roomette and will continue to do so no matter what happens to the dining service. Oh, and I have to fly from Nashville to get to Amtrak since we have not had service since early 1980's.

 

[Asher]

Long distance travel with out decent meals is not very appealing to me.

 

[cpotisch]

Here's the thing: For people without dietary restrictions (who are traveling in sleepers), the new menu and system seems fine. Quality seems decent, and while you don't get full table service and can't chat with as many passengers, you still get to have a meal in the diner. The real issues are for people who keep kosher, have diabetes, won't eat meat, etc.

As a pescatarian (I eat fish but no land animals), I have *one option* at every meal - for lunch and dinner I have to have the cold vegan hummus wrap (not even remote substitute for a hot veggie burger with swiss cheese), a quinoa edamame salad (I just don't want that), some kettle chips (fine), and a "vegan dessert bar" (I don't quite know what that means, but I'm willing to bet it doesn't even compare to the cheesecake that comes with the other options). Since everything is pre-packaged in each box, you have no choice of sides, dessert, and toppings, and that's really not ideal when you only have one option in the first place. So until they change up the menu, and especially on a pretty long ride like the TE, I just can't do it.

 

[crescent-zephyr]

I agree. For me, there is no 1 meal that I can eat. I currently can't have gluten and I rarely ever eat red meat. If I could get the chicken salad, with the potato salad from the steak salad dinner and a gluten free dessert I would be satisfied for a meal or 2. There needs to be some room to customize your meal.

 

[lordsigma]

Here's the thing: For people without dietary restrictions (who are traveling in sleepers), the new menu and system seems fine. Quality seems decent, and while you don't get full table service and can't chat with as many passengers, you still get to have a meal in the diner. The real issues are for people who keep kosher, have diabetes, won't eat meat, etc.

As a pescatarian (I eat fish but no land animals), I have *one option* at every meal - for lunch and dinner I have to have the cold vegan hummus wrap (not even remote substitute for a hot veggie burger with swiss cheese), a quinoa edamame salad (I just don't want that), some kettle chips (fine), and a "vegan dessert bar" (I don't quite know what that means, but I'm willing to bet it doesn't even compare to the cheesecake that comes with the other options). Since everything is pre-packaged in each box, you have no choice of sides, dessert, and toppings, and that's really not ideal when you only have one option in the first place. So until they change up the menu, and especially on a pretty long ride like the TE, I just can't do it.

While my preference would be full diner service remaining intact on these longer trains, an enhanced version of this new program could work on the longer trains. But I think these trains are too long with too many meal periods for the present setup with 3 boxed options on the Lake Shore and Capitol to work on the longer trains. I think there needs to be a wider variety of boxed or pre-prepared options for it to be viable on these longer trains with more than one hot option and I think some type of hot option for breakfast needs to be considered. Perhaps passenger pre-selection of meals before boarding is the answer and maybe that would make a larger variety of options more feasible. Here's an easy suggestion: a box with an almost done cheeseburger of a decent quality that just has to be heated and finished slightly on the grill. Finishing off a couple burgers on the grill prior to the meal time should be within the abilities of the LSA.. Not a particularly healthy option but a simple option and something a large amount of people would go for that would be superior to the microwave café car burgers. I also think there's four trains Amtrak should exclude from the "contemporary fresh" program no matter what and leave with table service diners at least during their peak seasons - the California Zephyr, and the Empire Builder, because they are the true "experiential" cross country routes, as well as the Silver Meteor and the Auto Train because northeast to Florida is probably the biggest Amtrak overnight market.

 

[Triley]

Here's the thing: For people without dietary restrictions (who are traveling in sleepers), the new menu and system seems fine. Quality seems decent, and while you don't get full table service and can't chat with as many passengers, you still get to have a meal in the diner. The real issues are for people who keep kosher, have diabetes, won't eat meat, etc.

As a pescatarian (I eat fish but no land animals), I have *one option* at every meal - for lunch and dinner I have to have the cold vegan hummus wrap (not even remote substitute for a hot veggie burger with swiss cheese), a quinoa edamame salad (I just don't want that), some kettle chips (fine), and a "vegan dessert bar" (I don't quite know what that means, but I'm willing to bet it doesn't even compare to the cheesecake that comes with the other options). Since everything is pre-packaged in each box, you have no choice of sides, dessert, and toppings, and that's really not ideal when you only have one option in the first place. So until they change up the menu, and especially on a pretty long ride like the TE, I just can't do it.

While my preference would be full diner service remaining intact on these longer trains, an enhanced version of this new program could work on the longer trains. But I think these trains are too long with too many meal periods for the present setup with 3 boxed options on the Lake Shore and Capitol to work on the longer trains. I think there needs to be a wider variety of boxed or pre-prepared options for it to be viable on these longer trains with more than one hot option and I think some type of hot option for breakfast needs to be considered. Perhaps passenger pre-selection of meals before boarding is the answer and maybe that would make a larger variety of options more feasible. Here's an easy suggestion: a box with an almost done cheeseburger of a decent quality that just has to be heated and finished slightly on the grill. Finishing off a couple burgers on the grill prior to the meal time should be within the abilities of the LSA.. Not a particularly healthy option but a simple option and something a large amount of people would go for that would be superior to the microwave café car burgers. I also think there's four trains Amtrak should exclude from the "contemporary fresh" program no matter what and leave with table service diners at least during their peak seasons - the California Zephyr, and the Empire Builder, because they are the true "experiential" cross country routes, as well as the Silver Meteor and the Auto Train because northeast to Florida is probably the biggest Amtrak overnight market.

If the grill is touched, pretty sure a chef will be needed. Either way, one person can not take orders, cook the food, serve it, do the necessary accounting, clean up, and repeat the process, and still maintain reasonable wait times.
The only thing I will agree on that is if this unfortunate "experiment" continues, hopefully they will leave certain trains out of it, for the reasons you said.

 

[crescent-zephyr]

It sounds like in day to day practice the LSA is expected to handle everything... where the expectation was that the sleeping car attendants would take care of the majority of the serving.

Grill or no grill... it's clear that Amtrak management believes that the serving and preparing of warm meals is within the grasp of 1 LSA in addition to all of the other jobs. (I'm referring to the fact that they have already added 1 hot meal, and it's assumed they will add more options at some point?).

 

[jis]

Serving that one heated meal is no different from serving warmed burgers and pizza in the Cafe, and that appears to work fine using a single LSA. The SCA’s role is to deliver the meals, and that is exactly what they did on the Cap the time I was on it.

 

[cpotisch]

At this point I'm really gunning for them to add the veggie burger as a hot option (I think that's doable), offer a voucher system to get food from the cafe car instead of a boxed meal from the sleeper lounge (maybe it could include an entree, "side", and some sort of dessert), or just a choice of dessert for the boxed meals. If any of those happened, I would likely be able to make it work.

 

[cpotisch]

I also think there's four trains Amtrak should exclude from the "contemporary fresh" program no matter what and leave with table service diners at least during their peak seasons - the California Zephyr, and the Empire Builder, because they are the true "experiential" cross country routes, as well as the Silver Meteor and the Auto Train because northeast to Florida is probably the biggest Amtrak overnight market.

I agree with almost everything you said here, but I feel like the Silver Meteor is (as much as it pains me to say this), one of the better candidates for "fresh choices". It's a single night train that only serves three or four meals, and there is sufficient enough demand NY-FL that they could probably still fill the train up, even with cold meals. I think that the Starlight is one of the best candidates to keep meal service, since it's a flagship route with some of the best scenery, and it serves three different major transit hubs with connections to other LD trains.

 

[JRR]

I also think there's four trains Amtrak should exclude from the "contemporary fresh" program no matter what and leave with table service diners at least during their peak seasons - the California Zephyr, and the Empire Builder, because they are the true "experiential" cross country routes, as well as the Silver Meteor and the Auto Train because northeast to Florida is probably the biggest Amtrak overnight market.

I agree with almost everything you said here, but I feel like the Silver Meteor is (as much as it pains me to say this), one of the better candidates for "fresh choices". It's a single night train that only serves three or four meals, and there is sufficient enough demand NY-FL that they could probably still fill the train up, even with cold meals. I think that the Starlight is one of the best candidates to keep meal service, since it's a flagship route with some of the best scenery, and it serves three different major transit hubs with connections to other LD trains.

Don’t mess with our Meteor!!!!

Say it ain’t so, Joe!

 

[Bob Dylan]

The Cardinal has one person serving as LSA,Waitperson,Chef,Busperson and Dish washer in the Diner part of the DinerLite/Lounge Car.

But Acela FC has 2 attendants ( but not in the LSA position since no Money changes hands,except for Tips), so why not go with such a set up on the LD Trains so Acela type meals with pre-selection can be the norm.( I know, the plan is to cut Labor costs!)

Hopefully the Unions will become involved before there are no employees left on the Trains except for a Conductor and Engineer!)

 

[cpotisch]

I also think there's four trains Amtrak should exclude from the "contemporary fresh" program no matter what and leave with table service diners at least during their peak seasons - the California Zephyr, and the Empire Builder, because they are the true "experiential" cross country routes, as well as the Silver Meteor and the Auto Train because northeast to Florida is probably the biggest Amtrak overnight market.

I agree with almost everything you said here, but I feel like the Silver Meteor is (as much as it pains me to say this), one of the better candidates for "fresh choices". It's a single night train that only serves three or four meals, and there is sufficient enough demand NY-FL that they could probably still fill the train up, even with cold meals. I think that the Starlight is one of the best candidates to keep meal service, since it's a flagship route with some of the best scenery, and it serves three different major transit hubs with connections to other LD trains.

Don’t mess with our Meteor!!!!

Say it ain’t so, Joe!

Hey, the Meteor is my home train. I take it to and from Delray Beach more than I take any other Amtrak train, including the Regionals. So I would hate for it to get the contemporary treatment. But if you strictly look at trip length and demand for the route that likely will still be there, even with boxed meals, it is one of the less bad candidates. I would ardently opposite it, but it could make some sense for Amtrak. I hope any of what I just said makes sense.

 

[jis]

If the experiment is deemed successful it will get deployed in all LD trains. All this business about selective deployment is just wishful thinking beyond just staging of deployment IMHO.

 

[JRR]

If the criteria is an overnight train to institute “Contemporary Dining”, then just cut all food service other than a cafe car, and we in sleeper will just pack our own food and when you do that cut the ticket price appropriately.

 

[cpotisch]

If the experiment is deemed successful it will get deployed in all LD trains. All this business about selective deployment is just wishful thinking beyond just staging of deployment IMHO.

True, but there is the order in which it will be deployed. Some routes will almost certainly get "fresh choices" before others. The flagship routes with the best scenery, equipment, and the longest duration will probably get the changes a lot later than an often neglected single-night route like the Cardinal, TE, or CONO.

 

[cpotisch]

and when you do that cut the ticket price appropriately.

I wish.

 

[allanorn]

I agree. For me, there is no 1 meal that I can eat. I currently can't have gluten and I rarely ever eat red meat. If I could get the chicken salad, with the potato salad from the steak salad dinner and a gluten free dessert I would be satisfied for a meal or 2. There needs to be some room to customize your meal.

I'm full-blown Celiac and I was able to find enough food to eat for a couple of days on the train. But it's difficult for me to even think about another cross-country or multi-day train trip if I don't have a good feeling of what's there to eat.

I was hoping there would be some other dietary options available once they switched to box meals, but it doesn't sound like that is a possibility until much later, if ever.

 

[OBS]

The Cardinal has one person serving as LSA,Waitperson,Chef,Busperson and Dish washer in the Diner part of the DinerLite/Lounge Car.

But Acela FC has 2 attendants ( but not in the LSA position since no Money changes hands,except for Tips), so why not go with such a set up on the LD Trains so Acela type meals with pre-selection can be the norm.( I know, the plan is to cut Labor costs!)

Hopefully the Unions will become involved before there are no employees left on the Trains except for a Conductor and Engineer!)

Minor correction....The Acela FC attendants are LSA's.....

 

[lordsigma]

If the experiment is deemed successful it will get deployed in all LD trains. All this business about selective deployment is just wishful thinking beyond just staging of deployment IMHO.

Im sure that is exactly how it will go down. But what may be successful for one train may not be successful for others. There’s a big difference between the Lake Shore Limited and the Empire Builder. If boxed meals is really the long term intention for all LD trains the program needs to be scaled up with a wider menu with enough hot options for everyone and so that you aren’t eating the same thing for 4 meals on the longer trains before this program is deployed on the longer trains. They’d be better off continuing to experiment with the two trains that already have it and “perfect it” before expanding it to other trains.
Of course given that the current administration appears to dispise the LD trains in general there’s probably not much interest in perfecting it.

 

[Steve4031]

Documented consumption of chillaquas at lunch on 6.

 

[ParanoidAndroid]

IMG_1534976088.799420.jpg

Documented consumption of chillaquas at lunch on 6.

Chilaquiles?