Over the past several years, Amtrak executives have been making what they invariably refer to as ”tough decisions”, most of which have involved the elimination of the extras that helped make a long-distance ride in an Amtrak sleeping car a memorable experience. It’s a long list: the wonderful Pacific Parlour Cars; the small bottle of…
Those of us who are advocates for passenger rail often talk about how many towns are served by the Amtrak long-distance trains. But I’ve belatedly realized that there’s much more to the story. It happened during a reasonably polite discussion with another passenger over dinner one night in the Southwest Chief’s dining car. He…
Sleeping car passengers generate a disproportionate amount of revenue for Amtrak and, therefore, it would seem to me that an obvious way for Amtrak to generate much-needed additional revenue is to attract more of these folks.Let me begin by quoting a time-worn adage, which has been proven true time and time again: You can’t…
Yesterday I came across this wonderful little informal essay on Facebook, but I screwed up by not getting the writer’s name and therefore cannot give credit. Furthermore, I may be compounding the felony by reprinting it here without formal permission. That said, I do believe the writer would not object to my sharing his words…