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New dining "option" on Capitol Limited and Lake Shore Limited


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#11 KevinKorell

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Posted 23 May 2018 - 11:58 AM

Opinion in Urban Milwaukee, 5/20/18:

 


 

Amtrak Cuts In Food Service a Mistake

 

Starting June 1, Amtrak’s Lakeshore Limited (the only daily service from New York and Boston to Chicago) and its Capital Limited (the only daily train from Washington to Chicago) will no longer offer First Class sleeping car passengers their currently included hot food choices!

 

 

 

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Kevin Korell


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#12 KevinKorell

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Posted 01 June 2018 - 12:21 AM

Toledo, OH Blade, 5/31/18:

 


 

Unions call for Amtrak to restore full dining-car service

 

 

A coalition of Amtrak employee unions has called on the passenger-train system to reinstate full dining-car service on the two routes that run through Toledo, the cancellation of which it says “threatens jobs and pensions from coast to coast” and already has annoyed passengers.

 

 

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#13 KevinKorell

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Posted 01 June 2018 - 12:31 AM

Column in Buffalo, NY News, 5/30/18:

 


 

 

Amtrak's meal squeeze will discourage ridership

 

 

 

When Amtrak was created in 1971, one of its first challenges was to recover from the terrible onboard service many railroads had provided in the late 1960s. Faced with the financial loss of the mail contracts and competition from the interstate highways, carriers such as the Southern Pacific systematically degraded their remaining passenger trains using tactics which included removing the diner and lounge cars. The hope was this would so upset riders that they would cease to travel by train, and the carrier could get federal permission to end service.

 

 

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#14 CNJRoss

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Posted 01 June 2018 - 07:23 AM

Times-Union, Albany, NY 5/31/18:
 

Boxed meals replace dining car on overnight train from Albany

 

 

Hot breakfasts and dinners will disappear from the Lake Shore Limited starting Friday as Amtrak looks to reduce costs. Sleeping car passengers, who typically pay a premium fare, instead will get box meals that they can consume in their rooms or in a special food service/lounge car.

 

"Breakfast will include items such as cold breads or yogurt with sliced fruit. No 'Railroad French Toast' anymore," said Carl H. Fowler, a vice-chair of the Rail Passenger Association/NARP, in an opinion column in Wednesday's Times Union. "Sleeper passengers paying hundreds of dollars more than coach fare will receive one free alcoholic beverage with their cold boxes, but that's not much compensation."

 

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#15 KevinKorell

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Posted 07 July 2018 - 12:10 PM

Column in Austin, TX American Statesman, 7/6/18:

 

 


 

Interested in dining on Amtrak? Better get it while it’s hot

 

 

The idea of taking a cross-country Amtrak trip, booking the sleeper compartment and all, is something my wife and I kick around from time to time.

 

It hasn’t risen to bucket list status, but a train tour is on whatever you’d call that other, lesser list of wanna-do’s.

Continue column

 



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#16 KevinKorell

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Posted 09 July 2018 - 11:05 AM

Newly refreshed announcement that appeared July 9th and is effective July 11th:
 

Contemporary Dining for Capitol Limited and Lake Shore Limited Sleeping Car Passengers

Effective July 11, 2018


 
Amtrak will offer hot and cold contemporary, fresh dining choices for sleeping car customers, in place of traditional dining car service, onboard the Capitol Limited and Lake Shore Limited trains, starting July 11.
 
Meals will be ordered with the sleeping car attendants and delivered to sleeping car passengers through enhanced room service. Sleeping car customers will choose from a variety of quality, fresh and ready-to-serve meals. A Kosher meal will continue to be available with advanced notice.  
 
Sleeping car passengers have the option to dine at available seating in the sleeping car lounge or can continue to be served in their bedrooms or roomettes. Meals will continue to be included in the sleeping car fare. The tables in both the sleeping car lounge and café/lounge cars will be on a first come basis for seating but there will be no at-table dining service.
 
Sleeping car passengers on all Amtrak trains are offered complimentary morning coffee, chilled water and juices, in-room meal service, turn-down service for their beds, private restrooms and shower facilities. Also provided are pre-boarding privileges and same-day access to lounges, such as Club Acela in the Northeast Corridor and the Metropolitan Lounge in Chicago.
 
Sleeping Car Customers
  • Fresh ready-to-serve hot and cold pre-packaged meals
  • An alcoholic beverage and unlimited soft drinks
  • A complimentary amenity kit
Business Class (Lake Shore Limited)
  • A la carte purchases from Café/Lounge menu
  • An alcoholic beverage and unlimited soft drinks
  • A complimentary comfort kit
Coach Class
  • A la carte purchases from Café/Lounge menu
The existing café menu will continue to be available to all passengers through the café/lounge.



Kevin Korell


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#17 CNJRoss

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Posted 15 July 2018 - 08:15 AM

Amtrak news release:

Contemporary Dining Menu Evolves on Two Amtrak Routes

 

July 12, 2018

 
Capital Limited and Lake Shore Limited sleeping car customers now have a hot entree option

 

 

WASHINGTON – Contemporary and fresh dining choices for sleeping car customers on Capitol Limited and Lake Shore Limited trains include a hot entrée in addition to chilled meals, starting this week.

 

“Our plan to provide fresh food choices now includes a hot option, which is based on engaging our sleeping car customers on what they would like and with special training for our train crews,” said Bob Dorsch, Vice President of the Amtrak Long Distance Service Line. “This contemporary style of service has been well received by customers, with meals of their choice and at times they choose. These customers also enjoy having exclusive use of the dining cars.”

 

Meals delivered to Bedrooms or Roomettes – or eaten in the private dining car – now include:

  • Lunch & Dinner: Slow braised Beef Short Rib in a red wine and beer sauce; Vegan wrap; Chicken Caesar salad; or Antipasto Plate, all with side items and dessert.
  • Breakfast: Seasonal fresh sliced fruit, blueberry muffin, Greek yogurt parfait and quinoa breakfast bar.

 

These meals are served in a balsa wood container and are delivered to the trains just prior to origination, eliminating most on-board preparation. Customers are also offered unlimited soft beverages, a complimentary serving of beer, wine or a mixed-drink and an amenity kit, all included in their fares. A Kosher meal is provided with advance notice and children’s meals are also available. Menus for both trains are available for downloading on Amtrak.com.

 

The Capitol Limited (Trains 29 & 30) operates daily between Washington, D.C., and Chicago, via Pittsburgh and Cleveland. The Lake Shore Limited typically operates daily between Chicago and New York, via Albany (Rensselaer), with a section to and from Boston (Trains 448 & 449). The New York section (Trains 48 & 49) will return to Penn Station this fall.

 

 



#18 XM40

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Posted 16 July 2018 - 12:23 AM

So what happens to the new Viewliner diners once spare parts arrive? Convert them to lounges or coaches?

 

I'm traveling via Cardinal & Capitol in August; guess which leg of the trip I'm not looking forward to? Being a lowly coach passenger isn't helping.

 

Already looking back fondly on my California Zephyr steak from last summer; $32 plus a very chintzy salad (every piece obviously counted out; every salad at my table had 4 carrot sticks, 12 shreds of lettuce and 1 tomato). despite the price, there's no steak better than a railroad steak.



#19 CNJRoss

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Posted 24 July 2018 - 05:59 AM

Trains Newswire, 7/23/18:
 

Union members frustrated over cuts to Amtrak dining car services; demand sit-down meeting with CEO

 

 

WASHINGTON — Members of the Amtrak Service Workers Council, a coalition of unions representing Amtrak’s on board service employees, say they are frustrated with changes being made at the nation’s passenger railroad.

Last week, the council, which includes members represented by Transport Workers Union of America, UNITE-HERE, and the Transportation Communications Union/International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, held a protest in front of Amtrak headquarters in the nation's capital. Union members were criticized the railroad for its recent cuts to dining car service and demanded a sit down meeting with President and CEO Richard Anderson.

Anderson briefly spoke to union officials during the July 18 “press conference” and suggested the labor representatives set up a meeting with other railroad executives. But union bosses tell Trains News Wire that is not enough.  .  .  .

 

SNIP

 

The change has eliminated some jobs for on-board service employees, but Amtrak officials are quick to note that the employees impacted by the change have been able to find new positions within the company.

SNIP

“Anderson says that no one is going to lose their jobs but he’s 100 percent wrong about that,” Feltz says.

 

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#20 CNJRoss

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Posted 20 January 2019 - 09:26 PM

Railway Age, 1/17/19:
 

More hot food for hungry Capitol Limited, Lake Shore Limited passengers

 

 

After months of having to endure mostly cold boxed food—what some critics dubbed “Unhappy Meals”—on two Amtrak long-distance route, the New York-Chicago Lake Shore Limited (Trains 48/448 and 49/449) and the Washington D.C.-Chicago Capitol Limited (Trains 29 and 30), sleeping car passengers on those trains now have can choose from several hot food choices on the menu.

 

When Amtrak, under President and CEO Richard Anderson (a former airline executive whose reputation with employees and customers was, according to some accounts, less than favorable), instituted cold food in a box soon after he took office and called it “Contemporary Dining,” there was a huge outcry. Apparently, the often-vocal complaining, which involved Amtrak unionized employees, worked. What Amtrak is now calling “Contemporary Dining Improvements” includes three hot entrées and “deluxe breakfast choices,” up from one hot-meal choice brought back in July 2018.

 

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