Make it Virgin Acela and I reckon he or another EU train operator would take you up on that, problem you have is you only have 6 passenger cars per train, some UK trains run to 11 coaches and it is all about economies of scale when running trains.
Not according to some of the new articles coming out.
Don't believe everything you read in British media, there is a push from the political left to renationalise the rail services due to the vast profits TOC's are making at the tax payers expense which are being siphoned off to prop up many still nationalised European train companies. All part of the anti EU rhetoric in the build up to this weeks referendum which has been building up over the last few years
One reason maybe that for whatever reason airlines seem to have a equipment assignment plan in place that contains more detail of specific equipment type assigned (or planned to be assigned) to a flight several months out, and the ability to notify equipment change should it occur, and provide a continuous ability to change your seat assignment, uptil the time that you actually check in for a flight, and even after that with a little extra footwork. I short most airlines today have a more capable IT systems supporting operations than Amtrak can afford to with its tenuous financial position. The integration of backend ops support and customer facing information and ability to change such from customer and agent facing UI is quite impressive these days for many airlines. The downside of course is that they are also able to do much more fine tuned fareclass availability management and therefore make the fares available even more mind-boggling. The upside is they are able to provide precise availability information on a flight for dozens of fare classes at any given time.
Because we are not Europe, and our politics are priorities are much different than Europe.
Just being a better customer does not necessarily cut it. What fare class is used plays into it too. For example, I booked an international trip out in January 2017 using a mix of fare classes. So on one leg I managed to get an upgrade to Business First using miles immediately, on one leg I was able to get a seat assignment for an additional fee, and on two legs I am not eligible to get a seat assignment until 24 hours before departure when I check in for the flight. I could have chosen a higher fare class on those other legs to get more immediate facilities, but I did not consider the fare difference worthwhile for what I get in return.
While there are many configurations of a B737, airlines know in advance what type of aircraft will fly on a specific route on a specific day. So if a B737-500 is scheduled, it will show a B737-500 seating configuration. If a B737-800 is scheduled, it will show a B737-800 configuration. If a B747-SP is scheduled, a B747-SP will be shown. If a B747-400 is scheduled, a B747-400 will be shown.
They seem to handle all this fine on Sleepers with things like Car 9810, 9811, 9812 etc. Indeed the Coaches also do have similar car numbers. If the yard crew is unable to put a train together according to a plan would suggest a lack of adequate management. In short I think this example and explanation is completely frivolous. There are railroads in the third world that can run hundreds of 24 car trains each day with assigned seat and berth reservations day in and day out. This suggest that when detractors of Amtrak sometimes call it a third world railroad that may be insulting the third world railroads when it comes to things like this - I am exceedingly sad to admit and say.
I believe that it was pointed out that the numbers on the assigned coaches are subject to change depending on how the consist is assembled that day or week. You can't sell assigned seats until the car numbers are assigned and known.
The "physical" car numbers are not used, the number is based on position in the consist. Sleeper rooms are designated a car and room number...coaches are designated the same way. The sleeper and coach numbers are not attached to a physical car number. My trips on the SL (actually the TE) are typically in car 2230 Bedroom E, D, etc. Coach seats may be assigned Car 0212 Seat #.
I've mentioned this before, but once I was on a plane where I couldn't find my assigned seat. There was extra baggage storage where my seat was supposed to be. Apparently this plane was the only one of its type from this airline with this configuration. Coach was already full, so we got moved to business class.They seem to handle all this fine on Sleepers with things like Car 9810, 9811, 9812 etc. Indeed the Coaches also do have similar car numbers. If the yard crew is unable to put a train together according to a plan would suggest a lack of adequate management. In short I think this example and explanation is completely frivolous. There are railroads in the third world that can run hundreds of 24 car trains each day with assigned seat and berth reservations day in and day out. This suggest that when detractors of Amtrak sometimes call it a third world railroad that may be insulting the third world railroads when it comes to things like this - I am exceedingly sad to admit and say.
Oh, and BTW, in spite of all attempts to standardize, the US3 all have the same aircraft type with multiple different seat layouts. They are treated as sub types of the same type and handled just fine. In case you don't believe me go and take a look at Seatguru and see how many different 777-200s United has, just as an example. Heck they even have two or three different engine types with different performance and range too!
Oh I'm pretty sure the Crescent will have three Amcan-II coaches next year, and the CZ will have some Superliner coaches. Now the Acela, that one's tricky I admit. They might have Superliners, the Horizons may make an appearance, heck, they may decide to dig up some Pullman Heavyweights, you just never know with the Acela.
Assigned seats are possible. I know how to do it. I think management can figure it out too if I can. Amtrak does not offer them because it does not currently want to assign seats, not because they can't. (I don't know what managements or marketings reasoning is on not having assigned seats) Some day they might decide to do assigned seats. Charge extra for assigned seats. Personally I don't have any strong opinion pro or con on assigned seats. There are issues without assigned seats. There will be issues with assigned seats. I suspect that the end result would be a wash.
Thank you for injecting some sanity into the discussion!
