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Amtrak dining and cafe service
- Thread starter Railspike
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Recently, I read a FaceBook post in one of the many Amtrak related groups that traditional dining was going to return to the Silvers on April 1st. The poster even posted photos of menus. Does anyone have any reliable information regarding the return to traditional dining on the Silvers? I am planning to travel during the week before April 1st, so I am very interested.
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Which group was it?
I hope the date April 1st has no great significance 
Either way it does exhibit a certain sense of humor I'd say
Either way it does exhibit a certain sense of humor I'd say JWM
Service Attendant
Certainly "Traditional Dining" should be returned to ALL one-night trains such as the Silvers, Crescent, Captiol Limited, Lake Shore Limited, Texas Eagle and Cardinal.
Should be .... no argument about that. But for now it is only the Silvers that will get it. My guess is it will be followed soon thereafter by the LSL. I don't think the Crescent or Cardinal will get it for a year or two. The Captol and the Texas Eagle will probably will get it before those two since they at least have the equipment in place to do so.
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It appears the menu is the same out as west but instead of the appetizers it’s a salad and roll. Kind of makes it equivalent to the auto train which makes sense.
A step in the right direction. I am riding the Lake Shore Limited in three weeks. But I am already aware of the flex dining and can work with it even though I don't like it.
trimetbusfan
Lead Service Attendant
LSL is currently running with a dining car. Therefore they just need to get the staff trained to implement traditional dining. Crescent is not running w a dining car due to equipment shortages. Will take a while to get that back.J
Curious as to why you guess that the LSL will get it back before the others mentioned?
Didn’t the LSL lose it before the Crescent did?
I don’t know if that makes any difference, or not…
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The LSL actually lost it even before “fresh contemporary” and was doing a “diner lite” style service due to heritage diner shortage. But that was different management. Current management seems to prioritize the Silver Service trains and Lake Shore among the single level LD trains - the Lake Shore also seems to be higher in the food chain than the Capitol. While obviously the Crescent makes more sense from a trip length time, the lake shore seems to be a higher priority for resources so I’d tend to bet on it getting it next if any more do - I wouldn’t expect any more beyond the silvers for FY23 though - I’d say FY24 would be earliest for any additional changes to F&B.
There are Viewliner Diners sitting in the yards, and since the Cardinal and Crescent aren't using them, why are they Parked???
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They were parked during COVID. Amtrak has stated non revenue cars would be restored from mothballs on a case by case basis based on decision making around Food service formats, checked baggage, package express, etc. they aren’t just going to automatically restore all of them unless a business decision is made to send them somewhere. The one exception right now may be getting a diner back to the CONO as that was caused by a shortage. So until an actual decision is made to change the food and beverage format on the crescent or cardinal or something else those diners will sit. It also means any decision will take a while to implement as the needed cars will have to go in the queue for the needed work - particularly if they’re due for overhaul. I personally don’t see any more dining cars, sightseers, or baggage cars added back in service until they get to where they want to be on revenue cars and they’re saying likely it will take until the end of FY2024 to deal with both stored and wreck repairs.
Boo! Hiss! I'm traveling the 2nd week of March (if all the nasty weather is gone by then.) Fortunately, I also have a May trip booked.
Always send back food that is unacceptable
There may be some substance to this since I did meet a Chef and an LSA in training on my last Silver Star ride, and the LSA on duty who has been there forever and who I trust as to not totally telling pie in the sky stories mentioned what is happening in preparation. Since he is an experienced LSA he is involved in training new LSAs for the traditional dining service.
But of course, nothing quite happens until the proverbial fat lady sings.
But of course, nothing quite happens until the proverbial fat lady sings.
This is the issue, though. It should not take nearly that long; all the cars should be back already. We all know of Amtrak's terrible hiring practices.
That is where the ideal and the reality clashes. Of course they should be, but all indications are they won't be no matter how many posts are made here and elsewhere saying they should be. Unless the Board and Management decides that they will allocate resources to make it happen, it won't. And I suspect that the Congress will do nothing, which may be not a bad thing since at least one half of it might actually be inclined to make sure that resources are rescinded as it seems.
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The April 1 date seems off to me beyond just the significance of April 1st but also because its a Saturday. I don't see a change like this taking effect on a Saturday. One would think they'd be more likely to do this on a weekday.
To talk again about the other routes I think it's perfectly reasonable with the Mica mandate gone to expect improvements eventually - I actually do think they will come eventually and some of these stored food service cars will get back out there. I certainly expect the F&B working group will make some positive recommendations. But I do think it's going to be at a slower rate than most of us would like for the reasons previously mentioned. I also don't know if I completely expect that every single overnight route will get the same treatment or if they'll try to revamp flexible dining into something more like the diner lite/simplified dining approach from before so that they can try to run just one food service car on the routes currently running with one nor do I know if they have totally given up on this idea of modifying the stored VL diners to use as a single food service car for routes like the Crescent and Cardinal.
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I suspect that the OBS are guessing on a date. They know for sure it is happening. The LSA that I know and chatted with on 92 thought it might be as early as mid-March, but the exact date was not known to him at that point.
Amtrak is always an adventure. Got this email today.
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We are contacting you about your recent trip on train 153
We have been informed by one of our food suppliers, Fresh Ideation Food Group LLC, that some of their Fresh Creative Cuisine Grab and Go products are being recalled. This recall was initiated because the products have the potential to be contaminated with Listeria. Products include sandwiches, salads, snacks, yogurt, wraps and related products, and were available on Acela and Northeast Regional trains between Jan. 24 and Jan. 29, as announced by the FDA on Feb. 3.
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It also said all subsequent testing was negative but you should destroy any products you retained. Fortunately I had a good breakfast before boarding in Alexandria, so just got a cup of coffee.
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We are contacting you about your recent trip on train 153
We have been informed by one of our food suppliers, Fresh Ideation Food Group LLC, that some of their Fresh Creative Cuisine Grab and Go products are being recalled. This recall was initiated because the products have the potential to be contaminated with Listeria. Products include sandwiches, salads, snacks, yogurt, wraps and related products, and were available on Acela and Northeast Regional trains between Jan. 24 and Jan. 29, as announced by the FDA on Feb. 3.
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It also said all subsequent testing was negative but you should destroy any products you retained. Fortunately I had a good breakfast before boarding in Alexandria, so just got a cup of coffee.
I don't think too many people take Amtrak Cafeteria or Cafe food with them when Detraining,especially Flex Food! Glad you're OK!
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