I agree with you. I rode the Silver Meteor North to NYP from Orlando and South from WAS to Orlando in June and I was extremely disappointed that the sleepers were in the rear. I phoned customer service. I think the phone number is used was the main number 800-872-7245. The person with whom I spoke never mentioned that it was a safety issue - she merely said that the reason for the change was that sleeper passengers were complaining about the whistle noise.
If it is actually a safety issue, then I will not complain anymore.
What is the safety issue? :huh:
Emergency exits. Single level lounges don't have vestibules with doors. By switching the cars to the back you put the sleepers (which do have vestibules) against the lounge car offering an exit that would otherwise not be there.
If you just flipped sleepers around there would still be a car with only one end with an emergency exit door. With the current arrangement, each car has an exit on each end.
Think of it this way-- if a train derailed and the one end was on fire then you want the other end to have an exit to the train. If you have no exits, you're in bad shape. If you have one exit you better hope that one exit is on the side of the train that isn't on fire. With exits on both sides it gives the best option in case of emergency.
All of this has been discussed
here.