Train 91/92 Silver Star catering

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Inlander

Train Attendant
Joined
Jan 22, 2019
Messages
19
Hi guys, was wondering if sleeper pax on 91/92 get fed or do you have to buy at the cafe?
 
Rumor has it that flex dining meals will be coming to the Silver Star in 2020. However, rumor has it that the Silver Star will not be getting a "new" dining car/sleeper lounger and that half of the cafe car will be used by sleeper passengers and the other half will be used by coach passengers. I also hear that there will be an additional crew member in the cafe car (in addition to the cafe attendant).

I have no way to confirm these rumors. I have traveled in a sleeper on the Silver Meteor 4 times since October 1st and heard these rumors from Amtrak employees during those trips.
 
It's good that the Starvation is getting food for Sleeper Passengers, ( will Prices go back to par with the Meteor?)but if they're adding an LSA for the Sleeper pax, why No New Diner/Lounge like the other Viewliner Trains????
 
It's good that the Starvation is getting food for Sleeper Passengers, ( will Prices go back to par with the Meteor?)but if they're adding an LSA for the Sleeper pax, why No New Diner/Lounge like the other Viewliner Trains????

Equipment not available. Limited supply and these cars are not available for the Sliver Star. Got to have a high number of spares available much more than 80%. The boss needs his personal dinner ready to go in Washington DC. California and Illinois needs them for axle count cars. No staff available for repairs in Miami. Why repair if you can just grab a spare dinner instead.

Sarcasm maybe, but maybe not.
 
It's good that the Starvation is getting food for Sleeper Passengers, ( will Prices go back to par with the Meteor?)but if they're adding an LSA for the Sleeper pax, why No New Diner/Lounge like the other Viewliner Trains????
Or they could try a different experiment like making that food available to everyone for a price while still reserving a VLII Diner as Sleeper Lounge. That will of course remove the ability to cook the books on the amount transferred from Transport to F&B since now there will have to be a publicly listed price for those meals, though I don't for a moment believe that the transfer price even today is completely unrelated to the actual unit cost of those meals, possibly with a documented markup (wholesale to retail).

Anyway, this would at least remove the need for raising Sleeper fares on the Star - an experiment that appears to have worked well so far.
 
If they use the cafe car they wouldn’t need an LSA, they could just hire a server. Would save a bit of money? If that’s the goal that will be the future for the other trains as well.

How is it handled on the City of New Orleans? When that train went to “contemporary dining 1.0” they just had a server, not an LSA, handling the pre-made meals on the diner side and the 1 LSA. I’m guessing it’s the same setup?
 
My theory on this whole thing is that long term they are going to convert the VL2 diners into the “single food service car” model they are hinting at and this will require physical modifications to the car. It doesn’t really make sense to totally retire them as they are brand new and these cafe cars are ancient, but if this theory is right they probably don’t want to put too many of them out there until they have a design for whatever modification they’re going to do. Could be totally off base but that’s my guess at this point. I suspect eventually the VL2 will prepare all the food and whatever seating will be for sleeper passengers only and that coach passengers will have but one choice: to eat their meals at their seat. I envision the galley being reconfigured to have a ordering window on one side facing the coach cars and having a separate entrance on the sleeper side out to the seating.
 
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