Philly Amtrak Fan
Engineer
I have also said in the past I think some people make too big of a deal about the food service (or lack of). The main goal of Amtrak is transportation. Food service is secondary. If there is food and beverage losses, someone's paying and we know who it is. Is it really fair for the rest of us to pay so some rich travelers can enjoy Amtrak steaks? A lot of people in this country cannot afford the Amtrak steaks or Amtrak in general and a lot of people have bad or even no service. Are you who insist on Amtrak steaks willing to pay $30-$40 a steak for a steak which at Outback costs half that (or pay much higher room charges?) Someone has to pay for you to enjoy your Amtrak steaks at $25. Think about that. I'm not saying we shouldn't strive for better quality of service but people act like Boardman is the worst thing that ever happened to Amtrak because a few trains lost their Amtrak steaks (and that's mainly because of a delayed CAF order). Meanwhile most of PA would like just a direct train to Chicago and would gladly take cafe car food (and we had that for about nine years and I didn't hear complaints until we lost it). And there's a lot of people out there who would like any train, period. If I can afford 3-4 more LD routes by making every LD train dinerless and serve more people across the country, I would.
It all comes down to money. If Congress gave Amtrak $2B a year, you'd see more routes and better service. But with the current subsidy, not everyone is going to get what they want. So there has to be choices made. Everyone (especially me) wants what is best for them personally. But you have to realize that there are two sides to every decision they made. You don't have to like the decisions they made and can be angry with them. But unless you increase the subsidy, something's going to go. If the diner car(s) don't go, what does? And I can pretty much guarantee someone else will complain. Unless a bunch of money falls from the sky to Amtrak, costs go up and things have to go. That's why Amtrak has overall cut service since 1971. Their costs have risen faster than the government subsidy. At least when I say I want something, I'm willing to at least answer what to cut to make up for it. You may not (and don't) agree with my proposal but the only way to increase service somewhere when under budget is to cut something else.
And if Amtrak does get the $2B, where's that going to come from? You know what the answer to that will be. Look in the mirror ... or your wallet.
It all comes down to money. If Congress gave Amtrak $2B a year, you'd see more routes and better service. But with the current subsidy, not everyone is going to get what they want. So there has to be choices made. Everyone (especially me) wants what is best for them personally. But you have to realize that there are two sides to every decision they made. You don't have to like the decisions they made and can be angry with them. But unless you increase the subsidy, something's going to go. If the diner car(s) don't go, what does? And I can pretty much guarantee someone else will complain. Unless a bunch of money falls from the sky to Amtrak, costs go up and things have to go. That's why Amtrak has overall cut service since 1971. Their costs have risen faster than the government subsidy. At least when I say I want something, I'm willing to at least answer what to cut to make up for it. You may not (and don't) agree with my proposal but the only way to increase service somewhere when under budget is to cut something else.
And if Amtrak does get the $2B, where's that going to come from? You know what the answer to that will be. Look in the mirror ... or your wallet.
