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I would be interested in reading about that, do you have any links with more information?

Amtrak on-board service employees also have a strong union. It is very hard to find actual union contract pay scales, but this announcement from their last negotiation shows that they have secured raises well above projected inflation each year through 2028, plus retirement and medical...

The Amtrak pricing model is completely different now compared to pre-COVID. They used to open at low bucket, they slowly go from low prices to higher as rooms filled. That left a lot of money on the table for early-bookers who would pay more. Now they start at high bucket and stay there for...

I heard from an Amtrak OBS recently that there have been some changes around transdorms on LD trains recently. As we all know, a lot of transdorms were mothballed or put in storage during COVID. As Amtrak came out of COVID, they ran quite a few trains without TDs, just giving the crew spots in...

Is there any more detail than this? What is the source?

I've hoped to do that for my mid-May Zephyr run, but it looks like it's going to be sold out, not low enough demand to see price drops.

Yeah, it might have been 8, I didn't go downstairs too much, so I couldn't tell which of those were crew. With no transdorm or other accommodations, there was no where else to put them.

Supply of sleeper rooms is also really low right now, and will be until new cars are built and delivered. I rode the SL LAX->NOL around Christmas, and the sole sleeper for the New Orleans riders was half consumed by OBS. Total number of roomettes available for that trip was 5 (two upstairs...

This would be woefully insufficient. Those only work for people with partial mobility problems who can generally move themselves. Imagine a large, full adult with a battery-powered scooter. Both the scooter and the adult need to get upstairs, and they could weigh 200+ lbs each. Transfer is...

Perhaps, this could be a greenfield system that wasn't tied to all the legacy stuff. That's the real challenge Amtrak has, they have to keep the trains moving (literally) while doing any upgrade or improvement on what they have. Same problem the airlines see, but they have more revenue to...

The other big element that I see is the time-flexibility of coal and other bulk commodities deliveries in the freight system. Look at the chart of freight types here: https://www.aar.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/AAR-Coal-Fact-Sheet.pdf Excluding food and farm products, you're still at at...

The other key element on planes is their passenger-trips per day is much higher than ground transport, and their speed is much higher, so customers are willing to accept higher loads than buses can. If you have a bus running from City A to City B in 6 hours, people don't want to sit...

It is very good, and even doesn't fall into the usual trap of assuming that forcing priority will help. The problem is the disinvestment in the rail networks ability to run fast trains, and the use of trains that can't fit into sidings trumping the priority. Amtrack may have priority on a...

Amtrak has revived this offer again in January 2023: https://media.amtrak.com/2023/01/amtrak-usa-rail-pass-now-on-sale-for-299/

This is a fair take, but it elides over the fact that there is only one large room without a bathroom (the family bedroom downstairs). I would like to see some option for a bedroom-sized sleeper that could sleep 4 adults, and I feel like you could get there with the existing Superliner Bedroom...

Do these people not go to the bathroom when they fly, then? Do they not attend sporting events or other public attractions where shared bathrooms are ubiquitous? Anyways, I get that people feel that way, which is why I suggested that there be some rooms with in-suites, and more without...

Neither, I prefer my rooms with no bathroom. In-Suite bathrooms dedicate a large amount of square footage for a space that I will use for less than 1% of my total trip time. I would much rather have that space for seating, table, or other space useful during travel. Using a shared bathroom is...

Do you have any sense what the order of preference is? I've been put in room 14 when room 9 was available, which seems like the opposite of what I expected: upstairs first for better views, etc. I know some people like the quiet of downstairs, but I would still think Amtrak would rank upstairs...

Indeed, it's early in the morning..... I'll correct it.

Another anecdotal report: I'm on the Sunset Limited today, and there is no transition sleeper or crew car. There is one Texas Eagle sleeper and one Sunset Limited sleeper, that's all. Half the SL sleepers (7 of the upstairs roomettes) are in use by crew. No idea what demand would have been for...