WASHINGTON — Amtrak’s New York-Miami trains will begin offering “traditional dining” to “a limited number of coach customers” starting today (Monday, March 4), according to spokeswoman Kimberly Woods.
The company dropped meal-in-a-bowl “flexible dining” last March on the Silver Star and last June on the Silver Meteor [see “Amtrak returns ‘traditional dining’ …,” Trains News Wire, June 27, 2023]. The March debut was billed as a “pilot” to determine whether the chef and lead service attendant would be overwhelmed by the extra preparation and serving protocols that would be required.
Coach passengers were also allowed to purchase breakfasts at $20, lunches at $25, and dinners at $45 aboard Superliner-equipped western long-distance trains offering freshly-prepared meals since last March, but it has taken until now for Amtrak management to begin generating extra revenue on the Silver trains’ dining cars.
News Wire has yet to receive a response to inquiries whether that pricing will remain constant or how the “limited number” is determined.
Riding the Star in June and September northbound from Orlando, the dining car staff was anything but overwhelmed. On the September trip, the lead service attendant suggested to people coming to the diner after boarding at Orlando that they have meals brought to their rooms, “because it is after the 8 p.m. seating.” (This was about 8:20 p.m.; the train was running an hour late.)
At the time, there was only one table occupied. This obviously made it difficult for the sleeping car attendants to prepare beds for use; and a couple boarding at Winter Park, the first stop after Orlando, came into the diner and were seated because their room had already been converted.
The chicken entree was tasty and the service was fast if not necessarily cordial. The entrée arrived in 5 minutes; I asked for a glass of water and was brought a plastic bottle. I asked for a glass, and was corrected by the service attendant, “You mean a cup.”
“Flexible” meals are still being served to sleeping car passengers only on the Lake Shore Limited’s Viewliner diner. The single-level Cardinal and Crescent, trains whose trips involve four or more meal periods, only have café cars. The Crescent and Meteor served both coach and sleeping car passengers in their Viewliner dining cars until October 2019, so it would not seem difficult to restore a diner on the New York-New Orleans train to serve all passengers.
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