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A Look Inside Amtrak’s New Dining Car Menu

Tuesday, October 07, 2008

Amtrak introduced new, expanded national dining car menus on October 1.  Click here to see the menu (.pdf) (there’s also a new separate menu for the City of New Orleans Cross-Country Cafe).

The children’s menu is now included on the new three-panel menu, with specials recited verbally.  Desserts are downsized, while some entrees are upsized.  Some entrees utilize a new deep-dish plate.  Several items are in rotations of three across the route system.  Many of the items are supplied by new vendors.  For example, the veggie burger is now Amy’s Organic and not Gardenburger.  The Flat Iron Steak is packaged pre-marinated with garlic butter before it hits the griddle.  The Buffalo Wings appetizer is back, and thankfully the menu specifies that it is not included in sleeper fares (which had been a source of conflict).  Amtrak will re-evaluate its menus before the Summer 2009 peak season.

Below are notes on only the items that have multiple rotation cycles (one per train), which are not specified on the menu.

Breakfast

Chef’s Good Morning Special:
1) Breakfast burrito (scrambled egg, cheeze and chorizo)
2) Egg, broccoli, and bread Strata
3) Sourdough sandwich (scrambled egg, cheddar, Canadian bacon)

Today’s Omelet Selection:
1) Garden vegetable
2) Primavera
3) Mexicali vegetable

“Extra” Special: Eggs cooked to order, up or over (not printed on menu, available only on select trains with sufficient staffing).

Lunch

Chef’s Luncheon Special:
1) Chicken, leek, and mushroom ragu
2) Thai red curry coconut chicken
3) Pork chile verde with roasted peppers and corn

Today’s Warm Sandwich:
1) Garlic chicken with provolone on wheat berry bread
2) Smoked turkey and muenster on pretzel roll
3) Beef pastrami with swiss on rye

Freshly Made Specialty Salad:
1) Tropical pineapple chicken
2) Albacore white tuna
3) Smoked turkey with walnuts and cranberries

Dinner

Today’s Seafood Selection:
1) Wild Grilled Alaskan Salmon
2) Wild Grilled Mahi-Mahi
3) Whole Baked Idaho Trout

Chef’s Marketplace Dinner Special [route-specific]:
Capitol Limited, Coast Starlight: Phillips Seafood Coastal Crab cakes in Maine lobster sauce
Crescent: Chicken and Andouille Sausage Jambalaya (no side veggies or starch)
Empire Builder (westbound): Roast Chicken Breast in wild Morel mushroom dynamite sauce
Empire Builder (eastbound): Red Rosemary-braised Roasted Lamb shank
California Zephyr: Pan-roasted Pork Tenderloin in roast garlic balsamic fig sauce
Silver Service: Phillips Seafood Coastal Crab cakes in Floridian green chile tomatillo sauce
Southwest Chief: Chicken and Cheese Trio of Enchiladas brushed with Santa Fe adobo sauce in salsa verde
Sunset Limited: Texas BBQ Pit-Smoked Beef Brisket [same as on Texas Eagle Cross-Country Cafe, but with larger portion]

Vegetarian Pasta:
1) Spinach and ricotta rollatini in vodka sauce
2) Jumbo ravioli stuffed with ricotta and baked red peppers in pesto alfredo sauce
3) Three-cheese jumbo ravioli in herb marinara sauce

There are two types of side vegetable medley loaded on each train, with one served each night (3 cycles, for 6 types total).

Dessert

Chocolate Dessert:
1) Raspberry Chocolate Tango drizzled with white and dark chocolate
2) Three-layer Oreo Chocolate Dream Bar
3) Chocolate Caramel Peanut Torte

Nut/Fruit Dessert:
1) Lemon Crumb Cake
2) Lemon and Barry Creme Torte
3) Green Apple and Almond Frangiapan Bar

Cheesecake Dessert:
1) Cheesecake topped with fired brulee on graham cracker crust
2) Classic New York Cheesecake on graham cracker crust
3) Raspberry White Chocolate Swirl Cheesecake

Menu cycles are as follows:

Effective now:
Cycle 1: Trains 1, 4, 19, 91, and 98
Cycle 2: Trains 2, 6, 7, 11, 20, 29, 30, 92, and 97
Cycle 3: Trains 3, 5, 8, and 14

Effective February 1, 2009:
Cycle 1: Trains 3, 5, 8, and 14
Cycle 2: Trains 1, 4, 19, 91, and 98
Cycle 3: Trains 2, 6, 7, 11, 20, 29, 30, 92, and 97

Have you tried the new menu?  What are your impressions?  Is Amtrak successfully balancing the need to both improve its offerings and keep costs down?

--Matthew Melzer

Posted by NARP

Seeing an Old Friend Again

Saturday, October 04, 2008

While volunteering today at the NARP table at the 100th anniversary of Washington Union Station celebration, I bumped into a couple of old “friends.” The first was the Pennsylvania Railroad’s famous GG-1 4935, the venerable motor that was restored back about 1976 and ran in regular Amtrak service until its retirement.

After it had been overhauled and repainted in its original Brunswick Green, its scheduled debut was at the head of the 3:05pm train out of WAS, the Murray Hill. Its consist was a string of Amfleet cars with the observation business car #120 Pennsylvania on the rear (this “friend” was also here at Washington Union Station’s centennial today).

So in those times and with this knowledge at hand, I positioned myself trackside by the old Railroad Inn in Bowie, MD to watch it pass by.  The kicker here is that on the platform of #120 was a white-haired old gent to whom I waved and, as I recall, waved back.

This man was none other than one of the greatest industrial designers the world has ever known, Raymond Loewy!

Not only had he designed the great GG1 on the head end of that day’s Murray Hill, but also the streamlined Studebaker automobile, the paint scheme on Air Force One, the 7-Up logo and the Pepsi plant in Russia that heralded the closing of the Cold War.

As we turn the corner toward more and better American rail service, it is and has been great to be part of the effort and to remember some of the milestones that we passed on the way.

Jim Churchill
NARP Vice President-Northeast

Posted by NARP

Good Week for Trains

Thursday, October 02, 2008

On Monday, the Senate voted 69-17 to cut off debate, clearing the way for the long-sought up-or-down vote on the Rail Passenger Investment Act (now named for and including the rail safety provisions).  On Wednesday evening, the Senate gave final approval to the bill 74-24 (actually, one vote stronger than the financial overhaul bill that followed, which passed 74-25).

The roll call of how senators voted Wednesday night will be of great interest. It can be viewed here.

The members-only section of our web site has a more user-friendly version of the roll call, alphabetical by state, and side-by-side with other Senate votes of interest to us.  (Update: It also has a stand-alone chart for the Senate vote on H.R. 2095.)

On Tuesday, Transportation Secretary Mary Peters traveled to Richmond on the train with Federal Railroad Administrator Joseph Boardman to announce the $30 million in grants to 13 states, the first-ever such set of grants.  She also emphasized strong ridership growth on trains and transit, and the decline in driving.  Details, including list of the grants, are available here.

--Ross Capon

Posted by NARP

NARP Pushes CAHSR and Prop 1A, and So Can You

Monday, September 29, 2008

NARP is working actively to promote California Proposition 1A, the Safe, Reliable High-Speed Passenger Train Bond Act for the 21st Century, which will appear on the November 4 ballot to provide $9 billion in bonds to start construction of the CAHSR project, and $995 million to bolster existing conventional passenger train services.  I will be in the state next month to work with our Directors and allies on the ground to educate voters about the ballot measure.  We will distribute two-sided informational cards (pictured below), brilliantly designed with the volunteer labor of NARP member Alfred Twu of Berkeley.  (Thank you, Alfred!) It is co-branded with the web site for the grassroots Students for CAHSR.

If you’re in California and would like to assist, please consider downloading the high-resolution .pdf of the card design (1.1 MB) and professionally printing it to distribute in your community.  NARP is only able to sponsor a limited print run, and we would greatly appreciate your contribution.  You may also click on the image below to download.

For more information about the CAHSR project and Prop 1A, please see the following resources:

• NARP’s Resolution
• Californians for High Speed Trains (Official Campaign)
• CAHSR Authority
• CAHSR Blog
• Students for CAHSR
• Facebook Group: Support California High Speed Rail
• HSR for California
• Association for California High-Speed Trains
• Are You Hot For High Speed Rail?
• Golden State Rail
• CalPIRG HSR Campaign
• Ballotpedia: Prop 1A

As you can see, there is a tremendous groundswell of online support for Prop 1A.  The Facebook group mentioned above has nearly 39,000 members!  We need to work hard in the coming weeks to translate this enthusiasm into votes, and push back hard against baseless attacks from opponents (as Robert Cruickshank does so well every day on the CAHSR Blog).

What will you do to support CAHSR and Prop 1A?  Let us know in the comments.

--Matthew Melzer

Posted by NARP

Senate Politics Impeding Rail Safety and Reauthorization Bill

Friday, September 26, 2008

On Wednesday, the House passed by voice vote H.R. 2095, which combines the Rail Safety Improvement Act of 2008 and the Passenger Rail Investment and Improvement Act of 2008 (the latter incorporating provisions from S. 294).  Yesterday, Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK) placed a hold on the bill, preventing an up-or-down vote in the Senate without cloture.

In a Wall Street Journal article posted yesterday afternoon, “Senator Holds Up Bill on Train Safety Device,” Sen. Coburn is quoted saying “Amtrak loses $2 billion a year subsidizing food.”

This is an absurd figure, since Amtrak’s total operating grant is under $500 million--$490 million in the FY 06 and 07 appropriations bills, and $475 million this year.
No one thinks operations generate a $2.5 billion profit that mostly goes to offsetting food losses, yet that’s what Coburn’s math implies.

While Amtrak has reduced food losses since the June 9, 2005 House hearing on this issue, it is important to remember what Amtrak Senior Vice President—Operations William L. Crosbie said in his testimony then: “Amtrak’s food and beverage service is a fundamental part of the service that we offer on board the majority of the trains that we operate on a daily basis.  Its primary purpose is to enhance ticket sales and ridership, not serve as a profit center.”

It would be nice if Senators could get the facts right, especially ones who are trying to deny the Senate the chance to vote on this bill.

--Ross Capon

Posted by NARP

NARP On the Air Following Chatsworth Tragedy

Tuesday, September 16, 2008

In the wake of the tragic Metrolink-Union Pacific freight train collision in Chatsworth, CA last Friday, NARP staff have been interviewed by several media outlets.  NARP’s overall message has been strongly in favor of industry-wide installation of Positive Train Control (PTC) or any other collision-avoidance system that prevents accidents like Friday’s.

On Saturday, NARP Executive Director Ross Capon and NARP Board member Ken Briers (a rail operations expert and former locomotive engineer) were interviewed on KPCC, Southern California Public Radio, as part of their “Off-Ramp” program.  An archive is available both in Real Audio and Podcast format here.  Capon’s interview occurs about half way through the program, starting at 25:45, and Briers’ starts at 44:05.  (Note that despite the program’s name, it is not usually about transportation.)

Last night, NARP Director of Communications Matthew Melzer was on “Which Way, L.A.?” on KCRW, another Los Angeles-area NPR affiliate, advocating for collision-avoidance technology such as PTC.  Streaming and Podcast archives are available here.

Sunday and last night, Capon also briefly appeared in segments on NBC Nightly News, pointing out that most of the nation’s passenger trains operate in shared-trackage situations, comingled with freight trains, and that Congress and regulators will need to examine the costs of implementing PTC.

--Dave Johnson

Posted by NARP

Introducing the NARP Shop

Friday, August 29, 2008

NARP is pleased to introduce the NARP Shop on CafePress.com, featuring NARP apparel and other products for rail advocates!  NARP has marked up the product prices by 10 percent; all proceeds will go towards our rail advocacy work.  Please spread the word, and let us know in the comments (or contact the NARP office) if you have any feedback or suggestions!

Thank you for your continued support.

--Matthew Melzer

Posted by NARP

Biden Puts the Spotlight on Amtrak

Please note: NARP does not endorse or oppose any political candidate.

The selection of Senator Joseph Biden (D-DE) to be Barack Obama’s Vice Presidential nominee has focused attention on Amtrak.  For 35 years, Biden has commuted almost every day on Amtrak from Wilmington to Washington.  There has been extensive media coverage of “The Amtrak Vice President.” For the first time in modern history, the word “Amtrak” was uttered in the acceptance speeches of both candidates of a major party.  NARP has done several press interviews and I was invited to write a guest entry for The Hill newspaper’s Congress Blog earlier this week.

As I cautioned readers in my entry, while Biden’s support of Amtrak during his Senate career is very clear, Administrations of both parties have never been especially supportive of Amtrak.  We all know that several Republican Administrations have tried (unsuccessfully) to zero-out Amtrak funding, while the worst sets of route cuts in Amtrak history have come at the hands of Democratic Administrations.

So, as I closed my The Hill blog entry, “If elected, will Senator Biden’s support and use of Amtrak translate into stronger federal support of and funding for passenger trains?  Time will tell.”

The following segment from NBC’s Today Show on Wednesday provides a glimpse into Biden’s life as a regular commuter on Amtrak’s Acela Express:

--Dave Johnson

Posted by NARP

Passing of NARP Treasurer Robert W. Glover

Wednesday, August 27, 2008

It is with great sadness and deep sense of loss that I report the death of our Treasurer and good friend Robert W. “Bob” Glover yesterday morning after a brief illness.

Bob underwent cancer surgery several months ago. He was recovering well but subsequently developed blood clots and then contracted pneumonia late last week. His passing was peaceful, with family and friends at his bedside.

At Bob’s request, there will be no service.

Bob was a NARP member almost from its inception. He joined the Board in 1977 and became Secretary in 1988. He served in this position until 2004 when he became Treasurer.

He served NARP and our cause faithfully and tirelessly all the way to the last days of his life. We will greatly miss his energy, his wit, his insights, his knowledge and his enormous dedication to our cause.

On behalf of NARP, I extend our sincerest condolences to his sister Linda, his family, his colleagues and many friends.

--George L. Chilson
NARP President

Posted by NARP

Bob Herbert Asks: What About Infrastructure?

Monday, August 18, 2008

In his New York Times column last Saturday, Bob Herbert spotlighted national infrastructure issues at the US Conference of Mayors meeting and lamented their lack of prominence in the Presidential campaign.  He highlighted the opportunity Meridian, MS Mayor John Robert Smith sees in a truly national passenger train network to address our transportation needs (my emphasis on the bolded part):

The mayors talked about clogged highways, the high price of gasoline and an air transportation system that seems to get more pitiful by the day. Mayor John Robert Smith of Meridian, Miss., called on the presidential candidates to take a bold, creative approach to the nation’s transportation needs, including substantial investments in railroad infrastructure.

Mr. Smith believes the nation should devote the same level of commitment to developing a first-rate passenger rail system as was marshaled for the interstate highway system in the Eisenhower era.

He also noted this gem from New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg:

At a press conference after the meeting, Mayor Bloomberg said, “We’ve got to make infrastructure investment a national priority,” and he took the federal government to task for “walking away from its responsibility in this area.”

We couldn’t agree more: The federal government needs to wake up.  See my guest entry in The Hill‘s Congress Blog that was published yesterday.

--Matthew Melzer

Posted by NARP

Re-Training America Sheds Light on Our Rail History and Future

As we posted in Hotline #565, NARP encourages its members to watch and share a recent student film about Amtrak and public transportation.  “Re-Training America” by Heydn Ericson and Malcolm Kenton, both NARP members and recent graduates of Guilford College, examines the history and future of passenger trains and alternative transportation in America.  It also features interviews with myself, other transportation experts, and the traveling public.  It is now available via YouTube in three parts:

Also see coverage from The Passenger Rail Blog and the CAHSR Blog.  Thank you, Heydn and Malcolm, for your efforts to raise awareness of passenger trains!

--Matthew Melzer

Posted by NARP

A Tale of the Georgia Mixed

Monday, August 11, 2008

While this might be a bit more nostalgia than rail advocacy, it won’t hurt for our younger fighters to learn what America once had and might indeed need again.

Back in the ‘80s, the Amtrak Timetable still had a section of connecting or other services. This once was where the Southern Railway’s Crescent, Piedmont, Asheville and Lynchburg services, the Rock Island’s Peoria and Quad Cities Rockets and D & RGW Western services resided.

Knowing that it would likely soon disappear, I wanted to ride the Georgia Mixed from Augusta through Social Circle to Atlanta.

I wish I had time and money to have ridden the other services—Macon-Camack, Barnett-Washington, Athens-Union Point—but life moves on.

It seems the Georgia Railroad received a tax break if they maintained passenger service, so they hauled a boarded up passenger car behind their freights and allowed the public to buy tickets. In practice, I learned, you were offered the opportunity to ride in the caboose instead of the stifling or freezing coach. 

The week before this odyssey, I called the Georgia Railroad to see how it worked I was politely told in a classic southern dialect that I was welcome to come down, but to be aware that the trains ran on a “leisurely” schedule. For instance, while the schedule called for an 8 or 8:30 departure, it was 11 AM And “We ain’t left yet!”

I booked a seat on the Silver Star to Columbia, wandered about town and departed on a Greyhound to Augusta in the wee hours of the morning.

Arriving early, I found a cab and went to Harrisonville Yard of the GA RR.

The departure being delayed as predicted, I was advised to take some nourishment along.

I called another cab, went to a 7-Eleven and bought a cooler, ice, Cokes and snacks.

Back at the yard, I was invited to the caboose and never even looked into the decrepit passenger car with unpainted plywood panels instead of window glass.

We finally got under way with 4 locomotives that I never saw because we had 133 cars.

I soon learned the powerful blows of slack runout and other things the professional railroader copes with daily.

We set out and picked up cars along the way.

I think it was at Social Circle, but it might have been one of the above mentioned points, that my conductor and guide led me to an old wooden- floored country store where we bought apples, bananas and a sandwich to go.

At 10 PM or so, we arrived at Decatur, GA and I was informed that the crew had “died” on the hours of service rule.

I was left with the whole train under my “command” while we awaited a taxi to bring the new crew and my conductor and the voices I had become used to by radio went their ways.

The new conductor boarded and we were soon underway to Atlanta.

As we approached Hulsey Yard, the new conductor asked me where I was going, the hour now being 11 PM or so.

I replied that I had a hotel room and wanted to get near MARTA.

He said he did not have a radio, but that we were coming near a parallel MARTA line and station.

He asked if I had ever jumped off a moving train as he had no way to signal the engineer.

I replied that I had (I will reveal that tale in a subsequent article and the danger, caveats and apologies to rail advocacy to go with it).

I donated my cooler to the railroad crews, handed my bag to my new conductor and, in my safest and most professional form, followed his detraining with the correct foot first that would throw one away from the train in case of tripping.

It was very dark. I was told I had done the jump like a professional and that I was always welcome to come back and buy a ticket on the Georgia Mixed!

He directed me to an iron walkway over the Georgia yard to the MARTA station.

Alas, the service soon went away and the only remnant left are the lyrics to a great Hank Williams tune: “They took me off the Georgia Main and locked to a ball and chain...”

--Jim Churchill
NARP Vice President

Posted by NARP

Barron’s and Kiplinger’s Acknowledge Passenger Trains

Friday, August 08, 2008

Two periodicals have train-related stories of interest. In the weekly Barron’s (cover date August 4, but will soon be off news stands), the cover story is “ALL ABOARD! With gas prices high, traffic gnarly and imports buoyant, railroads look like terrific long-term investments. Just ask Warren Buffett. Why we like Bombardier, Burlington Northern and Canadian National” ("Ticket to Riches” in the online version).

Text does acknowledge Amtrak’s ridership (“up 12%”) and says “Wabtec, a brake manufacturer, is the only U.S.-traded play on passenger travel.”

Also, as noted in our September newsletter, the September issue of Kiplinger’s Personal Finance magazine (now on news stands) sports a letter from editor (and NARP member) Fred W. Frailey which discusses the decline of air travel and the need for passenger trains. Publisher Knight Kiplinger (editor in chief of this and two other publications) also has a column with good comments on the U.S. and its use of energy.

--Ross Capon

Posted by NARP

NARP Endorses CAHSR, Guestblogs the CAHSR Blog

Friday, July 18, 2008

NARP Board Member Dennis Lytton and I will be guestblogging on the CAHSR Blog over the next couple weeks as its primary author is out of town.  The timing is auspicious; last week, NARP’s Executive Committee approved a resolution endorsing California’s High Speed Rail project and Proposition 1, the ballot measure that will provide $9 billion in initial construction funding and $950 million to improve existing intercity and commuter train service.  I will be working with citizen activists in California to help promote Prop 1 in the coming months.

You can read my first post here.

--Matthew Melzer

Posted by NARP

Off-Shore Attacks on Light Rail

Tuesday, July 15, 2008

“What’s going on here is a battle between commuters who want to get to work and a bunch of people who don’t want to look at trolley cars while they play golf.  If the public understands that’s what this fight is about, then the Purple Line will be built.”

--Ben Ross, president, Action Committee for Transit (Montgomery County, MD)

This quote, one of the more effective rebuttals to anti-transit advocacy that I’ve seen, appeared in a July 13 Washington Post article about a strange web site fighting the Purple Line.  The Post reported that “the site’s owner is listed as a company based in the Madeira Islands off the coast of Portugal that allows clients to register Web sites anonymously…State tax records shed a little more light: Its founder is a board member at Columbia Country Club in Montgomery, whose 100-year-old golf course would be bisected by the transit line.”

Perhaps the Columbia Country Clubbers should visit Newton Massachusetts, where the Woodland Golf Club, founded in 1896, has long coexisted first with steam and diesel-powered commuter trains and, since July 4, 1959, with the Riverside branch of MBTA’s Green Line.

Next to the above article, The Post ran a nice report on plans for streetcars in Washington, DC, with a map showing potential linkage (at Silver Spring) with the Purple Line. Some trolley cars could even enter service late next year, said the headline.

--Ross Capon

Posted by NARP

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• NARP On the Air Following Chatsworth Tragedy
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