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More Yummy Dining Car Food News
Wednesday, December 19, 2007
As a brief follow-up to my last post, it turns out that omelettes (or omelets, in the variant that Amtrak spells it) are no longer pre-prepared. They are now freshly made aboard the train, which should represent a major improvement in most cases. Scrambled eggs, which are newly offered on most routes after a long absence of regular egg dishes, are in fact pre-prepared in bulk.
We had also erroneously reported last week that dining car menu cycles will change every three months. In fact, the actual cycles of the menus between trains will change every six months. The good news is that the various specials offered at each meal may change more frequently. In any case, Amtrak has still scored a winner with its new formal dining offerings. Now they just need to update their web site to show off the commendable menus!
Meanwhile, north of the border, VIA Rail Canada is continuing a Canadian railroading holiday tradition in the dining car, and the Toronto Star is there with good coverage:
When the federal government’s carving knife first scraped VIA’s carcass a quarter-century ago, the plum pudding fell by the trackside for budgetary reasons. Now, with trains back “in” with the public and politicians alike, the tradition is being revived for Christmas week on the stainless steel dining cars of VIA’s transcontinental streamliner, The Canadian.
VIA’s Vancouver director of customer experience, James Kleiner, says the inspiration for the holiday-only dessert came from one of the railway’s Winnipeg chefs, who sent him a Canadian National (CN) cookbook from the 1950s containing the original recipe. “I did my apprenticeship with Canadian Pacific Hotels,” says Kleiner.
...
“I’ll bet there hasn’t been a railway that’s ever made money on its dining cars. But you have to do it and do it well because it’s the one thing, above all, that people expect and remember. You’re helping to create an experience that will last them a lifetime. That’s a challenge and a pleasure. Bringing back the old CN plum pudding is one of those pleasures,” Kleiner says.
This year he received a call from a Winnipeg woman whose father is terminally ill. One last thing he wants is to taste the CN plum pudding again. It has been arranged.
Amtrak officials are known to follow VIA’s customer service practices, and should especially take note of the lore of the plum pudding. Imagine if any item in Amtrak’s dining cars could become such a cherished national tradition that Americans request it on their deathbeds.
—Matthew Melzer
Posted by NARP
Tags: amtrak, food service, via rail canada,LaHood: Don’t expect Japanese trains in U.S. overnight
Friday, May 14, 2010
Fresh off a tour on which he rode bullet trains in China and Japan, Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood is using his blog to temper the expectations of Americans anxious to ride similar trains here. “No, Japanese and Chinese trains are not coming to the US,” he writes. “BUT, Japanese and Chinese high-speed rail technology and expertise may be on its way.”
NARP shares the Secretary’s (and, by extension, the President’s) conception of a near future in which design techniques gleaned from overseas are incorporated into modern, mostly American-made trains that provide frequent, reliable service to more places on existing, upgraded rail lines.
It’s easy for American public officials to point enviously to Europe, China and Japan. But we commend those, like Mr. LaHood, who realize that the U.S. cannot play decades’ worth of catch-up in a matter of a few years.
In other recent news and views:
- Faced with a choice between speeding up existing trains and adding more trains at current speeds, VIA Rail Canada (the national intercity operator) makes the right choice.
- An airline passenger laments inaction on rail connectivity in his home state of Texas. “What does it say about Texas that there’s a need for high-speed rail, broad support for it, and yet we can’t seem to make much concrete progress?” he writes. As always, it’s a matter of demonstrating to those who hold the purse strings that modern passenger trains are a high priority when most of what elected officials hear is “cut spending.” Helpfully, the Texas DOT’s newly appointed rail chief reminds us to temper our expectations.
- The coalition calling for a $4 billion appropriation for the high-speed intercity passenger rail program in fiscal 2011 held a press conference at Washington’s Union Station on Tuesday to formally launch its campaign, with NARP’s full backing. A funding increase for the greatly oversubscribed program has gotten significant backing from members of Congress.
- Amtrak employees go out of their way to reunite NARP Council member Jim Loomis with a pair of reading glasses he left on a train.
—Malcolm Kenton
Posted by Malcolm Kenton
Tags: bullet trains, china, expertise, fourbillion.com, high-speed rail, japan, passenger trains, ray lahood, technology, texas, upgrade, via rail canada,Hopping the Local: Small Steps Forward
Thursday, November 03, 2011
While passenger train supporters’ attention has been rightfully focused on the meaningful improvements being made with the unprecedented $10.5 billion federal investment in rail infrastructure grants to states—and on ensuring that this crucial investment in our nation’s economic strength and sustainability continues—there is also important progress being made at the state, local and community levels. A survey of stories appearing in recent issues of the newsletters of state passenger associations reveals the following noteworthy developments not yet reported by NARP:
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| Amtrak’s eastbound Cardinal inches along very poor Buckingham Branch track at Orange, VA on Oct. 10, 2008. Photo by Donnie Biggs, RailPictures.net |
A faster, smoother ride for the Cardinal through Virginia: The Commonwealth of Virginia is partnering with the short line Buckingham Branch Railroad to invest in long-overdue upgrades to the track Amtrak’s tri-weekly Chicago-Cincinnati-Washington-New York Cardinal uses between Clifton Forge and Culpeper, the Virginia Association of Railway Patrons (VARP) reports.
Several miles of bumpy jointed rail has been replaced with smooth welded rail, the signal system has been modernized, and the slowest 10-mile segment of the line (Orange to Gordonsville, VA) has seen its maximum speed go from 15 mph to 30 mph after the track was improved. While these are rather modest gains in ride quality—and so far have not resulted in any shortening of the Cardinal’s schedule—they are steps in the right direction, and are paving the way for the eventual daily operation of this oft-neglected national network train.
I personally experienced a noticeably better ride on the eastbound Cardinal this past Sunday. On previous trips, the train rarely got above 60 mph over the Buckingham Branch as it rocked along over rough track. Now, with the exception of a couple of slow bumpy stretches, the train rocketed through the countryside at 65 to 70 mph. On previous trips, the train would often lose time even if it didn’t have to pull onto a siding on the single-track line to wait for a train going the opposite direction to pass.
This time, though we did lose 30 minutes waiting for another train to pass, we were able to make that up before arriving in Washington. Nevertheless, the Gordonsville to Orange portion was still painfully slow. The host railroad has neglected to properly maintain that segment since the Cardinal is the only train that uses it on a regular basis.
Posted by Malcolm Kenton
Tags: amtrak cardinal, buckingham branch railroad, canada, connecticut, housatonic railroad, infrastructure upgrades, manassas, metro-north railroad, station signage, via rail canada, virginia,©2010 National Association of Railroad Passengers | » NARP website
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