Texas Eagle getting "Contemporary Dining?"

[cpotisch]

Correct, all of his ideas are good business decisions, they just might not be decisions that we want.

I don't even know if they are good business decisions in the long run. IMO, a lot of these changes cut cost in the meantime but will ultimately alienate Amtrak's best customers in the long run. Cutting costs and expenses doesn't necessarily equate to a thriving business, and all Amtrak is supposed to do anyway is to cover as much of its costs as possible while providing adequate rail service to the people of the United States.

 

[Tennessee Traveler]

Not necessarily sitting on the sidelines, but I do find it interesting that all the Texas Eagle news is supposedly from Amtrak employees on board the Texas Eagle. Until there is official announcement with sufficient lead time as was the case with the Capitol Limited and Lake Shore Limited, I have to consider the Texas Eagle conversion to "contemporary dining" to rumors. If changes are made to the Texas Eagle(and I'm not suggesting such), I expect it to be more a conversion from full diner to City of New Orleans dining without a chef style.

 

[cpotisch]

If changes are made to the Texas Eagle(and I'm not suggesting such), I expect it to be more a conversion from full diner to City of New Orleans dining without a chef style.

They did that before when they first put the CCC on it. It was a disaster and they quickly realized that it didn't make sense for that route.

 

[crescent-zephyr]

Correct, all of his ideas are good business decisions, they just might not be decisions that we want.

I don't even know if they are good business decisions in the long run. IMO, a lot of these changes cut cost in the meantime but will ultimately alienate Amtrak's best customers in the long run. Cutting costs and expenses doesn't necessarily equate to a thriving business, and all Amtrak is supposed to do anyway is to cover as much of its costs while providing adequate rail service to the people of the United States.

While I agree, the same can be said for most corporations in America that continue to cut costs and lower quality. Walt Disney Parks and Apple both come to mind as examples.

 

[cpotisch]

Correct, all of his ideas are good business decisions, they just might not be decisions that we want.

I don't even know if they are good business decisions in the long run. IMO, a lot of these changes cut cost in the meantime but will ultimately alienate Amtrak's best customers in the long run. Cutting costs and expenses doesn't necessarily equate to a thriving business, and all Amtrak is supposed to do anyway is to cover as much of its costs while providing adequate rail service to the people of the United States.

While I agree, the same can be said for most corporations in America that continue to cut costs and lower quality. Walt Disney Parks and Apple both come to mind as examples.

What makes you say that Apple is cutting costs or lowing quality?

 

[IndyLions]

If Amtrak were indeed being run as “poorly” as Apple we’d be in a lot better shape as Railfans. They market their products as being worth the extra cost and have convinced hundreds of millions of customers that they are right...

 

[MikeM]

The thing that concerns me about the "contemporary dining" on the Eagle is that all the provisioning of the Eagle diner happens in Chicago. So... if you're on the northbound train to Chicago eating breakfast or lunch, your meal has done a round trip over four days on the train. Not real confident salads and sandwiches will hold that great for four days in a railcar. If they provisioned the car in San Antonio before the return, that'd be one thing, but this way not only will your meal have more rail miles than you do, but either Amtrak overprovisions the train, or everyone gets to eat the unpopular meals by day 4.

Main hope now is that Anderson alienates enough people that his tenure is short, and someone else competent joins the company. But the burn of institutional knowledge with all the buyouts, retirements, and such has to be hobbling the company at this point where any recovery from this fiasco is concerned.

I don't think that storing them in the dining car for four days is going to be the main concern. We don't know how far in advance the meals are prepped anyway, and I don't think it makes much difference for them to be stored in a dining car fridge or a commissary fridge.

The difference now is that the meals loaded in the dining car are typically are not that perishable, other than salads. Many items are traypacked in sealed containers in bulk, if not frozen. Not a lot of fruit in the diner vs. the "fresh" option.

 

[crescent-zephyr]

Correct, all of his ideas are good business decisions, they just might not be decisions that we want.

I don't even know if they are good business decisions in the long run. IMO, a lot of these changes cut cost in the meantime but will ultimately alienate Amtrak's best customers in the long run. Cutting costs and expenses doesn't necessarily equate to a thriving business, and all Amtrak is supposed to do anyway is to cover as much of its costs while providing adequate rail service to the people of the United States.

While I agree, the same can be said for most corporations in America that continue to cut costs and lower quality. Walt Disney Parks and Apple both come to mind as examples.

What makes you say that Apple is cutting costs or lowing quality?

Apple Mac sales were down 13%, meanwhile there stocks are at an all time high. The new keyboards have known issues that apple is not addressing, they just keep replacing them if the computer is under warranty.

It's subjective... Just like the way Anderson is running things.

 

[Devil's Advocate]

Correct, all of his ideas are good business decisions, they just might not be decisions that we want.

I don't even know if they are good business decisions in the long run. IMO, a lot of these changes cut cost in the meantime but will ultimately alienate Amtrak's best customers in the long run. Cutting costs and expenses doesn't necessarily equate to a thriving business, and all Amtrak is supposed to do anyway is to cover as much of its costs while providing adequate rail service to the people of the United States.

While I agree, the same can be said for most corporations in America that continue to cut costs and lower quality. Walt Disney Parks and Apple both come to mind as examples.

What makes you say that Apple is cutting costs or lowing quality?

Apple Mac sales were down 13%, meanwhile there stocks are at an all time high. The new keyboards have known issues that apple is not addressing, they just keep replacing them if the computer is under warranty.

I generally tend to enjoy Apple products but I honestly have no idea what market the Mac line is chasing at this point. I wanted more storage, a larger battery, and more physical connectivity on my "professional" laptop but instead they gave us an emote touch bar. I guess there aren't as many teen girls buying multi-thousand dollar laptops as Apple originally envisioned.

 

[cpotisch]

Right now I'm posting from my 13" touch bar MacBrook Pro. It's not for everyone, but I love it. The new keyboards are admittedly dumb, but that's not from cost cutting, so much as a bad design stemming from how thin they chose to make it.

 

[crescent-zephyr]

I'm still an apple fan, but im looking for a 2015 model to be my "upgrade" rather than a 2018. They totally missed the mark on the "Pro" line.

While it may or may not be a cost cutting measure (back in the day the iBook and PowerBook had totally different keyboards and body designs... Not sure if making the MacBook and pro line so similar saves on parts, or it's more of a branding thing...) it seems they have lost touch with what some of their should be core market wants.

And that's where it comes back to Amtrak.... Anderson is making decisions the way a corporate ceo does. And that has never really been done before at amtrak has it?

Regardless of what the customers may want... If the current food service is losing money, common business sense says that needs to change. If the government wants Amtrak to be a tourist train to impress international visitors like the Canadian is, then fine, they can pay for that the way the Canadian government does and get that. But congress wants Amtrak to be a legit transportation system that doesn't need more than the basics.

 

[kdeschner]

I Rode on #21 last Night, and had a wonderful dinner! The LSA said the contemporary dining is a close reality on the eagle, and is being talked about happening on all routes by the end of the next 18 months. She was a very seasoned LSA, and definitely seemed like she knew what she was talking about... just an FYI on what I heard!

 

[Bob Dylan]

"Say it aint so Joe!"

 

[kdeschner]

I hate to say it... but on the TE, the CCC design in the diner just hurts the crew when there is a SSL, because 1/2 the car is dead weight, and they are WAY understaffed. Which I guess leads me to this question. If on the TE, I saw a LOT of coach Pax eating in the Full Service Diner, and even more just eating food they brought in their bags at their seats. This will sound incredibly stupid, but why could the SA of the lounge car not help in the dining car during peak meal periods... say 5:30-7:00, and then reopen once the train departs St. Louis? (And do the same for every meal.) THIS IS NOT IDEAL... I understand this, (it shouldn’t ever get to this. But theoretically couldn’t this be one less staff member needed, and you could still have somewhat of a Full Dining Service. I don’t see why minus a slight inconvenience from 5:30-7 if budget cuts had to happen.. that this wouldn’t work. If this is one employee a crew at $50k, and 20 are cut... that’s a savings of 1,000,000 30 would be 1,500,000 and 40 be 2,000,000. Just want opinions!

 

[dogbert617]

Got off the 21 last night. It seems like one of the dining car staff was a bit new to everything and made me wonder if she was just temporarily on staff since maybe others had jobs lined up elsewhere? My SCA confirmed the "Contemporary Dining" options were coming to the Texas Eagle.

Do you remember if the SCA had heard of a possible start date, for the downgraded 'contemporary'(my arse) food service on the Texas Eagle? That's very sad to hear. Somewhere else(don't remember which thread, it was on a thread on this message board somewhere), I heard a rumor that this was supposedly also going to happen later this year to the Southwest Chief.

 

[tommylicious]

I think it's a done deal to go systemwide personally. Sadly I've cancelled all LD Amtrak rail travel plans as a result.

 

[Tennessee Traveler]

When first started this RUMOR stated the conversion to boxed meals would be September. That's just 15 days away and no official announcement has been made. Even if from on board crew I still consider this as a rumor especially if they are rumoring that all long distance trains will convert in next 18 months. I am not planning my Amtrak travels based on rumors.

 

[NativeSon5859]

It would be sad to see this go systemwide from a nostalgia perspective...heaven knows I’ve had a lot of memorable evenings spent in the Diner...but as long as they have a mandate to break even (?) on F&B by 2020, I see it as a natural progression.

Though it wouldn’t cause me to cancel future trips, I hope the boxed meals continue to be refined so that there’s at least another breakfast option and (hopefully) one more hot option for lunch/dinner.

 

[VT Hokie]

Any chance of (a) getting Anderson out before further damage is done or (b) restoring proper meal service after his reign of terror ends?

 

[jis]

Any chance of (a) getting Anderson out before further damage is done or (b) restoring proper meal service after his reign of terror ends?

No, Maybe.

 

[crescent-zephyr]

Any chance of (a) getting Anderson out before further damage is done or (b) restoring proper meal service after his reign of terror ends?

The meal service has gone up and down for the entire life of Amtrak. When I was like 8 years old I remember my dad being disappointed that the Texas Eagle had switched from a diner to a diner / lounge... I barely remember it was set up like a cafeteria where they spooned the mashed potatoes and such out of the steam table and onto the plate in front of you. Well we all know that didn't last... the CCC cars themselves were designed to be a new type of "Diner & Lounge" - they were officially announced, and how long did that last? (I'm talking about the CCC as a service, not the physical cars).

So yes... the service can come back. What we have to do is make sure there are still Long Distance trains left for it to return to.

 

[tonijustine]

The mandate must be addressed first. If Anderson. Is replaced it will just be a different person operating under the same mandate. This starts with Congress.

 

[Mystic River Dragon]

It depends on the person. I never thought I would miss Hunter Harrison, but I think someone with that type of tough personality, if they were on the side of doing things right, would be able to handle things, including telling Congress to get rid of their stupid mandate. Of course, I suppose we've had that already in David Gunn--someone who did the right thing and didn't care about watching his back--and they simply fired him and then named an Amtrak engine after him.

 

[crescent-zephyr]

The mandate must be addressed first. If Anderson. Is replaced it will just be a different person operating under the same mandate. This starts with Congress.

Yes and no. The mandate isn't unreasonable. Amtrak has been losing alot of money on providing an extremely average meal service to only a percentage of it's long distance customers.

There are lots of options out there. The box meal option is, in my opinion, better than the Silver Star option or the City of New Orleans option (I've ridden both the Star and the City since they lost full diners, I have not yet ridden with the new box meals but based on photos and reviews, it sounds like the quality is good.)

I continue to believe that keeping the chef, eliminating the servers and using the coach and sleeper attendants for food service could be the way to go. Even if it means operating one train with only 1 LSA. If airlines can trust flight attendants to handle the sales of food and drinks, then Amtrak should be able to do the same.

 

[PVD]

I ate the boxed meals in version 1 (no short ribs, 2 granola bar in breakfast) The food itself was ok, I know that folks like to grouse about the nutritional balance being off, and while that's true, it isn't any worse than typical American food service establishments. Small changes and a few additional choices or mix and match capabilities would probably satisfy a much wider audience. example: go to a plain muffin, offer a choice of jellies/jams/spreads and you eliminate the whole only blueberry? deal a few extra desert choices including low or no sugar, and the ability to swap the sides in the lunch/dinner offerings and you cover many more of the shortcomings.Some kind of bkfst sandwich would be a big plus, even though it would give people another too much of (pick anything) to complain about. Pre order selections and choices would be huge.