JAMES SMITH RODE AND ATE ON THE SUNSET LIMITED
Trip report for April 7, 8, 9, 2006
By James Smith, RailPAC VP South
Received: Mon, 10 Apr 2006
22:18:01 EDT
(NOTE: Mr. Smith writes this as a veteran train rider, not in his
official RailPAC capacity. The opinions are his, not necessarily
those of
RailPAC, although they should be.)
Amtrak’s Sunset Limited, trains 1 and 2, have not had a good on time
performance for years. Now, they are saddled with, call it
whatever you want, a downgraded food service mandated by Amtrak
management. Some have written excuses for what has happened, but
I challenge anyone to ride that train or any of the other similarly
downgraded trains (all but the Empire Builder will be so by the end of
May) and say what you experience is good for the future of the
company. I have to wonder whether this isn’t an attempt to end
long distance first class service once and for all, not because of the
unfortunate Congressional mandate but because it would make things
simpler for Amtrak management. It’s bad. Very bad.
My seven year old grandson and I boarded #2 at Los Angeles Union
Station on Friday, April 7. The train departed almost on
time. My grandson was riding as far as Palm Springs where his
other grandparents would meet him, and I went overnight to El Paso,
Texas. He loved his trip. What I am reporting on here is
primarily about the food quality I experienced, and a little about
safety and scheduling. The train was delayed, according to the
current situation with the Union Pacific, but only had big delays in
California, and mostly around the railroad’s Colton yard even though we
were delayed at various times east of there including having to wait
for four freight trains to pass us out near the Salton Sea.. The
travel through Arizona and New Mexico went smoothly.
The return trip on #1 to LAUS was four hours late on Sunday.
Comments are pouring from everywhere about the food quality. If
you haven’t read it, there was a major article in the April 8 Wall
Street Journal, titled, “Removable Feast: The Last Steak on
Amtrak.” Be sure to also read the Special Report on what Amtrak
should be doing to enhance food service revenue on
www.railpac.org. While some have been excusing what Amtrak has
done on these trains, I challenge somebody to try it, then defend
it. I did, and can’t. I would not now recommend anyone ride
a long distance train in first class, except on #7/8. The food is
bad. I had two dinners and two breakfasts on this trip.
On the dinner meals my beef choice was Salisbury steak, and I can tell
you its quality was that of a bad TV dinner: rubbery. For
breakfast I tried the cheese omelette, which just stuck together.
The omelette is the only egg choice (no fresh egg selections), and
includes a sausage choice of links or a patty which tasted like it was
prepared the night before, potatoes which were ok, and black
beans. This breakfast item just cannot compare with a similar
breakfast I’ve had on the San Joaquins, which was very good and much
fresher.
A lady across from me at the breakfast table said the only thing this
food is good for “is getting air out of your stomach.” How’s that
for being direct? She didn’t want the sausage links after seeing
mine. A gentleman across from me said, “No bacon and eggs?” and
when told no, added, “I’m from the South. No grits?” This
is a train that goes into the heart of the South, and grits are an
important menu item to folks there. Did Amtrak think of that? A
couple who were Amtrak savvy, loudly said, “Who made up this menu?”
A family on #1 had the other beef entree, and had to wait 40 minutes
for their meals. There was only one waitress in addition to the
steward; the diner was about 3/4 full. Because of furloughs to
other employees, the young waiters and stewards are gone and only the
ones with high seniority are left to do the heavy work and long
hours. While attendants in the other cars can help out, it leaves
their passengers without assistance, which is a safety issue. My
sleeping car attendant had additional responsibility in the sleeper
section of the transition car. I noted also, that there is no
Sightseer Lounge car on the Sunset, a coach car has been converted to
a snack bar on the lower level, but the seats upstairs are not
available for revenue service! Only six crowded seats are on the
lower service level. I heard that management is saying that the
Lounge cars are in Beech Grove for maintenance, but there are three
sitting in the Los Angeles yard and I’ve have heard there are others
sitting unused in Chicago. The crew on this train cannot be
blamed, as they worked very hard to live up to whatever expectations
they could. I passed the new train “Manager,” (whom I saw only
one other time on my trip when he came in the diner to get food) and
replied when he asked me, that it was “the worst food I’ve ever had” on
a train. A crewman was heard after I went by, saying, “guess he
didn’t like our five star menu.”
For the life of me I cannot justify spending hundreds of dollars for
first class accommodations and then come back saying anything positive
now. I cannot excuse something that is just “bad.” To you
readers I say, take a train, eat 6 meals and then tell me you like
it. If you do, you have a bad appetite system or are lying.
I’m not looking for “fancy,” I’ve ridden Amtrak too much to have that
expectation. The plastic plates are ok, I could live with them,
but paper cups for beverages? Just not appropriate. I heard
no positive comments. I’m not alone feeling this way, the lady
across from me said people are getting off the train in San Antonio,
going to the nearby Denny’s, and bringing food back to the train.
The serving hours on board have been extended, and that’s great, but I
question whether travelers really want to reserve a breakfast time when
they don’t know when they’ll get up. The reservation system seems
to be working all right, though. They’ve had time to iron out
most of the problems with this new system, so unfortunately what
remains is what will remain.
I have to wonder if Graham Claytor was still Amtrak CEO if he would
have stood still for this kind of meddling by the Congress and if he
wouldn’t have killed this service downgrade before management could
have it hit the rails. The bottom line on this current Amtrak
food service is this: Once sleeper revenue dries up they can get rid of
them. I dare Amtrak management, which must have devised this
business without ever having ridden out there, and others who make
excuses for them, to get on board and then make the same excuses.
You can only defend what is right. This food service is
wrong. Where is the Amtrak Board? Have any of them ridden
(anonymously) and sampled it? My gut feeling is if someone gives
you a mandate to do something and it’s wrong, then fight it or it is
going to destroy your business. To excuse it makes you a part of
the problem. This is not good for rail travelers. It’s
bad. It will have a negative effect of revenue.
Yes, I will continue to travel by train, as it is the best way to go,
but until sanity returns to the food service I will have a hearty meal
before I depart Los Angeles and wait to have another meal at my
destination. Am I writing to Amtrak about this situation?
You better believe it!
Your comments would be appreciated: jsmith@railpac.org
(Thanks to Russ Jackson, RailPAC Secretary, for his editorial
assistance. - JS)
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