Amtrak's 50th Year Message - "New Year, New Enhancements"

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And some European terminals had royal waiting rooms.
London's Paddington still does, although ordinary peons travelling in First Class are allowed to use it when not needed by the Royals.

From Tripadvisor:
The lounge is divided into two sections. The modern area has the main refreshment area, a good choice of papers and magazines, a bathroom, a television showing subtitled news, a train departures information board and some work desks. The older style area is the former Queen Victoria's waiting room (my preferred section) with Chesterfield sofas and chairs. This area is quieter than the other. This also has a bathroom and a (smaller) refreshment area.

Once you are inside you can help yourself to drinks (a selection of teas (some Cornish), coffee, juice, mini cans of fizzy drinks or water) and snacks (crisps, nuts, biscuits & fruit). A selection of little rolls and sandwiches are provided from about 12pm for lunch (these are usually very nice and I usually time my train to Cornwall to benefit from these).
 
Like the new bedding they promised a couple of years ago?


Correct. Lots of trains gone. LD is a skeleton of what they had. Classic food gone.


Great if going into or leaving from Penn Station. But helps nowhere else. New York deserves it and some tunnel, bridge and track work but it wasn't Amtrak's doing.


For those that can afford Acela over the Regionals. Only the rich and company-paid riders can afford or justify the expense of more than a one-time trip on an Acela over a Regional. On the other hand, look how long between when new sleepers were accepted and they started using them? And there are no plans revealed or proposed by Amtrak for the worn-out Superliners.



New places? Possibly some day we'll have NOL to Florida, Atlanta to Nashville, Chicago to Florida via Atlanta, more Auto Trains, daily service on Sunset Limited, daytime Cincinnati to Chicago, faster running trains on L.D. lines, more promised intercity service, etc, etc. Don't hold your breath too long.

More sincerely than you, Flynn,

Your Loyal Customers
 
My remark about the restroom facilities above was meant to question whether all the improvements to the facilities were just for the benefit of passengers paying extra, such as those mentioned as reserved waiting area, or sleeper passengers in the Lounge, or whether the ordinary passenger had some benefit from the new building.

:D I regard Mr. Devil's remarks as a badge of honour, rather than taking any offence.

I think “reserved” means you need to have a ticket on an Amtrak train.
 
An earlier post alluded to the high price of Acela. They had a sale a couple of months ago and I managed to do a round trip from Philly to Providence for $50 I think it was $25 or so each way. It's a nice experience,but I certainly wouldn't pay $40 or more each way.

This is Amtrak's 50th anniversary. Maybe around May 1 Amtrak can have a $50 Coach sale around the country. Obviously,prices that are lower will stay the same. $50 Coach from NY to Chi ,$50 from Chi to Lax $50 from NY to Miami,etc. I would love to see a roomette sale such as they are doing on the Auto Train(not including the cost of the car),which of course adds another $200 plus. The price of a roomette on the Silver trains from the NE to Fla is well over $400,WAY overpriced for a two day trip and the crap food being served.

I would love to see the Sunset restored to Florida,but I doubt it will ever happen.
 
An earlier post alluded to the high price of Acela. They had a sale a couple of months ago and I managed to do a round trip from Philly to Providence for $50 I think it was $25 or so each way. It's a nice experience,but I certainly wouldn't pay $40 or more each way.

This is Amtrak's 50th anniversary. Maybe around May 1 Amtrak can have a $50 Coach sale around the country. Obviously,prices that are lower will stay the same. $50 Coach from NY to Chi ,$50 from Chi to Lax $50 from NY to Miami,etc. I would love to see a roomette sale such as they are doing on the Auto Train(not including the cost of the car),which of course adds another $200 plus. The price of a roomette on the Silver trains from the NE to Fla is well over $400,WAY overpriced for a two day trip and the crap food being served.

I would love to see the Sunset restored to Florida,but I doubt it will ever happen.

And, like everyone else, I would love to see the pandemic gone, food service restored, and back to normal... but unfortunately 'normal' at this point is just a pipe dream.

It is my hope that for Amtrak's 50th anniversary... we can just plainly see...

Amtrak back on track again!:oops::rolleyes:😌
 
Caravanman has a long history of being unapologetic about his status as a man of the people rather than a member of some private lounge, hence his "Joe Public" remark. He has visited NYP and CUS in the past so I presume he already knows about access to public restrooms. I took his emoticon to mean he was poking fun at things, but I suppose it's possible I've misunderstood him in this case. Either way he's a pretty affable guy and not prone to taking offense. :)
I think Caravanman was wondering about whether the only restrooms available are in the Metropolitan Lounger and in the Amtrak ticketed waiting room. Thus, only ticketed passengers (whether coach or first class) could use the restrooms. That's a reasonable concern, considering that many "public" spaces restrict restroom use in order to keep out "undesirables," however that is defined.

Fortunately, for those of us with weak bladders, that is not the case:

Getting Here - Moynihan Train Hall NYC

Public restrooms are located at the concourse and first floor levels of the Train Hall. There are also restrooms available in the Ticketed Waiting Room and in the Metropolitan Lounge.
 
There's still a shoe shine stand at Baltimore Penn Station. There's a coffee shop, too. (Food offerings are similar to that of the cafe car.) Plus a Dunkin Donuts (closed for the pandemic) and a news-stand.
I think the Dunkin' reopened on April 5th. I was there on March 31st and saw the sign (just not sure I remember the date).

As far as I know, Wilmington still has its shoe shine stand. I normally notice it when I enter the station, but we have to use a different door due to COVID and since it's in front of the men's room, I haven't noticed it.
 
There's still a shoe shine stand at Baltimore Penn Station. There's a coffee shop, too. (Food offerings are similar to that of the cafe car.) Plus a Dunkin Donuts (closed for the pandemic) and a news-stand.
On my tripto Dallas last month,I was surprised to see that there is still a Shoe Shine stand in the Waiting Room @ Dallas Union Station , although it is unattended! (the Waiting Room is open only to ticketed Amtrak Passengers and is controlled by Rent a Security Guards.).
 
May have some relevant info as to where the Amtrak boss sees the company going from its 50th anniversary...

https://slate.com/business/2021/03/...-coronavirus.html?via=rss_socialflow_facebook
On the night of 14 Mar 39 a Czech diplomatic mission was treated to use of the royal waiting room in Anhalter Bahnhof on their way to surrender their country to Adolf Hitler.
Anhalter Bahnhof is in ruins today. The remnants of it can be seen if you know where to look. This is all that remains of the once magnificent station:

DSC_0277.JPG
 
May have some relevant info as to where the Amtrak boss sees the company going from its 50th anniversary...

https://slate.com/business/2021/03/...-coronavirus.html?via=rss_socialflow_facebook
Anhalter Bahnhof is in ruins today. The remnants of it can be seen if you know where to look. This is all that remains of the once magnificent station:

I carefully prowled around Anhalter in 1969. The area behind the portico has been cleaned up since and there are sports fields instead of abandoned railway debris. In '69 the eeriest thing was coming through the doorway past a sign with directions to the air raid shelter and then finding a cab waiting in front of the station. Perhaps we should start a thread for ghost stations (Geisterbahnhoefe) of Amtrak at Year 50.

Summer05b 010.jpg
 
May have some relevant info as to where the Amtrak boss sees the company going from its 50th anniversary...

https://slate.com/business/2021/03/...-coronavirus.html?via=rss_socialflow_facebook
in that article, Flynn says "The administration and the Hill have prioritized long-distance services because they believe that while it may be losing money, the larger economic benefit is greater than the cost of providing service on the long-distance routes. And I support that."

That's a good sign, I just hope they actually do that.
 
in that article, Flynn says "The administration and the Hill have prioritized long-distance services because they believe that while it may be losing money, the larger economic benefit is greater than the cost of providing service on the long-distance routes. And I support that."

That's a good sign, I just hope they actually do that.
If I were in his position, I'd work to keep the current long-distance routes, but prioritize expanding the system to make rail travel a viable transportation option for a larger proportion of the country, across the country. That really means expanding corridor service, both improving existing corridors and establishing new corridors, especially in parts of the country that have no passenger rail at all. (Hello, Nashville!) The corridors can be located to connect, and once things are working smoothly, then perhaps it would be time to consider new long-distance services that can share overhead with the existing corridor service, and thus have improved financial performance.
 
They have already shown a lack of imagination and a poor job of implementation on the new overnight sleepers on the NEC. Witness the posting on the letdown of the first NEC Overnight Journey. ONE new train and they couldn't even make it anything memorable. Sad!

I dread the job they will do on the rest of the new trains, even given that they actually get $80B. Unless they do a better job than they have shown in the past in terms of service, quality and cost, more people will be voting for the anti-train congress critters than the pros and the remaining money will be pulled by the next congress.
 
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