It appears there is no fifth coach for the Star this week. Crescent, Meteor and Lake Shore have all gained an extra coach and the Meteor picked up a fourth sleeper. I'm glad the extra sleeper was put on the Meteor instead of Star where it will obviously maximize revenue at the higher fares.The Star ran four coaches until early September. The general understanding was the fourth coach would return after the slow September travel month. Well, hello November with no sign of the fourth coach returning. Maybe instead of five coaches for Thanksgiving we'll get the fourth one back temporarily. That'll make for some really ugly ridership numbers. Maybe this is all part of the plan? I dunno... It's depressing, though.BTW, did the Star always carry only three Coaches, or is that something that happened recently? Have the consists remained the same relative to revenue seats in Coach pre and post test? I don;t know the answer. I am wondering if anyone has kept track of that aspect. Discussion about revenue and ridership without information about what was offered in the way of inventory seems to be half the analysis.
Lack of the fifth coach is sad as looking on Amtrak.com, 91/92 is sold out in many city pairs today, tomorrow, Friday and Sunday.