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Thanks for sharing your experience--that is very interesting to me, since usually what I read makes it seem like they only started hogging tables and blocking off areas in the last couple of decades!

FYI for those who haven't seen already, the RPA & volunteers have already put together a PDF schedule for the Borealis; it shows the Builder and Borealis. https://www.railpassengers.org/site/assets/files/20928/borealis.pdf

Fair enough, but there's only going to be ~14 or so business class seats anyway, as compared to probably ~270+ regular coach seats priced starting at $41. Even if those prices get pushed up some at peak times, they'll still be way less than a roomette, and probably less than the exorbitant coach...

Quite odd, I must say! Clearly the far-future fares are looking much more expensive, based on what you've found. It feels too coincidental that the advertised $41 based fare for the Borealis would be what's shown for the EB, almost as if there's a system glitch that switched things up by...

This is correct! I apologize if one of my posts late yesterday on this topic contradicted itself--I was tired and overexcited. The Great River Rail Commission (MN coordinating partner--long story) and others have made it very clear that there will be 4 coaches and one 'cafe' (club/dinette as Jis...

I think that you might have accidentally seen this backwards, or else they haven't built out the fares in their system properly that far yet? Everything I've seen looking closer in time is $41 or $44 for the Borealis (which is the announced lowest possible coach fare) NOT for the EB, with the EB...

That's not correct, though I wish it were (better storage location), it is being stored and serviced at Union Depot; if you look back in this thread I believe some of us were discussing this in March. Ramsey County had to approve a new lease and operating agreement with Amtrak that included the...

All I know is what this post said! I sure as heck hope that this refers to, as you said, 4 Horizon COACHES plus the cafe or cafe/business car (one of which is confirmed to be part of the consist). If it's only 3 coaches, Amtrak and the state partners really, awfully goofed on this. I mean, the...

https://www.greatriverrail.org/post/ride-amtrak-borealis-trains-starting-tuesday-may-21 "Amtrak Borealis trains will consist of four Horizon class passenger cars with one cafe car and a locomotive." My *goodness* this service needs 5 cars; I cannot believe they are only doing 4. Come on! Well...

Yes, I should have said in the modern/PRIIA-era! Thanks. Or maybe I retain so much frustration at the (in my opinion) medicore way that Minnesota barely supported the service to Duluth that I choose to ignore it 😆 The many fluctuations in timing, schedule, route, etc. really did not help...

Oh yes, definitely! VA is rocking it along with the others. I hope that MN and its partners can get a third daily train on the same (Empire Builder's) corridor going in the next 3-6 years, and later on, the planned train through Madison & Eau Claire, and more. Long way to go though to get...

This is a momentous day for passenger rail in Minnesota and the upper Midwest in general! If I had a penny for each time I (fairly understandably so) heard people claim this service would NEVER happen, I could have funded the service upgrades myself! MN especially has a long way to go to get...

Wow, the Facebook post seems to confirm the May 21st start date 100%! Thanks for sharing, fairviewroad. The state partners are going to be (well, I think at least in Minnesota) rather grumpy/mad that Amtrak straight-up scooped them on their own state-sponsored service start date announcement...

Amtrak has the website for the TCMC service up, which apparently will (again, despite protestations to the contrary after the name first came out--they said It was "retracted") be named the Borealis! Hat tip to Ian Gaida on Bluesky. https://www.amtrak.com/borealis-train

Hmm! Interesting...very very interesting on multiple counts. 1. They said the name Borealis was being retracted and replaced. 2. It was also said (for the last half-year!) that the start of service would be at least a month after the official service announcement (it's been crickets since March...

I love to hear the agreement on a second Carolinian! It's also great to learn from those in the know that there's plenty of timeslots on the NEC outside of rush hours. With the runaway success of its trains, and this potential change with the Star, I would be surprised if NCDOT doesn't examine...

No kidding...this now-likely change will kinda screw over, to put it bluntly, many NC riders, mostly Triangle-area riders, but others as well. Sigh. Having a single solitary option to get north of D.C. without a train change is ridiculous for such a growing area, especially when the Carolinian...

Yep, I've done that on the Carolinian and won too! It was fine.

That's great to hear! I did a multiple (3) leg trip to get home to Minnesota last December and wanted to do BidUp on the Empire Builder portion of my itinerary, but I was only ever offered to BidUp to a bedroom (unnecessary as I was traveling alone & $$$) from a roomette on one leg.

You are welcome, and I agree! So, so much easier for this service to survive future shocks if it just...gets...running! And once it does, barring catastrophe or equipment shortages, the positive side of me thinks it's going to put up gangbusters ridership numbers, just far beyond what was...