CHICAGO — Beginning with its southbound departure on Monday, March 3, the Chicago-San Antonio Texas Eagle will gain a staffed Superliner Sightseer Lounge-café. The first eastbound trip is slated for March 5 after the equipment turns at the Texas city.
The train will retain its diner-lounge, which will continue to provide “flexible” self-contained meals to sleeping-car customers.
Trains News Wire confirmed the long-anticipated debut date and a timeline for capacity improvement rollouts for other trains through Memorial Day with Harris Cohen, Amtrak’s service and consist planning director.
“Route development service line teams continue to explore further enhancements to food service on other trains that feature flexible dining,” Cohen says. These currently also include the Cardinal, Lake Shore Limited, City of New Orleans, and Crescent.
The Eagle had always been assigned a Sightseer Lounge until October 2020, when Amtrak management sidelined and curtailed maintenance on equipment as most long-distance trains moved to triweekly operation during the COVID-19 pandemic. Capacity has been restored throughout the system as the company continues to work through a backlog of overhauls. Texas Eagle revenue and ridership received a significant boost last September when a through Chicago-Los Angeles coach and sleeper were added to — rather than substituted for — the regular Chicago-San Antonio cars [see “Amtrak adds to Texas Eagle capacity …,” News Wire, July 29, 2024].
Other trains gain
The company has traditionally expanded consists on many routes during peak spring, summer, and holiday periods, but the delay in returning equipment to active service has led to year-round sellouts on many routes [see “Amtrak still falling short …,” News Wire, Sept. 1, 2024], even as it achieved a patronage record in fiscal 2024 [see “Amtrak notches ridership and revenue record ….,” News Wire, Nov. 25, 2024]. The availability of additional equipment and staffing promises to partially rectify that situation.
Adding a car every day to each overnight train consist requires:
— Two to always be available for Auto Train and the Cardinal;
— Three for the Lake Shore, Sunset Limited, and City of New Orleans;
— Four for the Texas Eagle, Coast Starlight, Crescent, and Silver Meteor;
— Five for the Southwest Chief, Empire Builder, and Floridian;
— Six for the California Zephyr.
Additional stand-by equipment must be deployed at major terminals, as well.
Here are planned consist expansions with their tentative implementation dates:
Southwest Chief: Also starting March 3 from Chicago, a full baggage car, second Superliner sleeper and third coach are being added through Labor Day. The lack of capacity until a coach was added toward the end of last summer meant that the train missed out carrying scouts to the Philmont Ranch near Raton, N.M. “We hope to pick up on some of that ridership this year,” says Cohen.
Cardinal: A third Amfleet II coach is added March 5 from New York and March 6 out of Chicago
Floridian: A third Viewliner sleeper is set to debut April 7 from Miami, April 9 from Chicago.
California Zephyr: Beginning May 19 from Chicago, the Zephyr finally gets a third coach, and on June 9, a third Superliner sleeper (from the Auto Train pool). This will allow the popular train to capture more high-revenue sleeping car demand and alleviate coach sellouts that occur out of Chicago, west of Denver, and between the San Francisco Bay Area and Reno, Nev.
Empire Builder: A second Seattle coach will be added April 14 from Chicago for one month. This is Winter Park Express equipment; that seasonal train’s last run is at the end of March. However, the cars move back to the California Zephyr (see above) and Coast Starlight (see below). Except in the winter months, this train always operated with two Seattle and two Portland, Ore., section coaches and for several years ending in 2020 had two Portland sleeping cars, so the Builder will likely experience sellouts and high fares. The Chicago-St. Paul Borealis offers an alternative on the eastern part of the route.
Coast Starlight: A third coach will be added out of Los Angeles on May 19. The equipment manipulations show how available rolling stock is moved to fit anticipated demand.
Crescent: The New York-New Orleans train has been running with only one Viewliner sleeping car and one Viewliner II dorm-sleeper (with about four revenue rooms being sold). The second sleeper’s restoration is targeted for mid-May, but Cohen tells News Wire, “the date is largely dependent on parts availability, which is a challenge for these cars. From the seat that I sit in, I have the authorization — as long as it will be a positive deployment based on the formulas we use — to deploy a car. But we don’t always have the equipment based on out-of-service counts. I would love to deploy even more than what I’ve described today.”
In addition, all Superliner-equipped trains are now operating with a transition sleeper. This means onboard service employees no longer occupy revenue space. Four to eight roomettes are always available for sale in these cars. On the other hand, there is no progress in moving 14 Superliners assigned to the Chicago-Carbondale, Ill., daily Saluki and Illini round trips to overnight trains because locomotive antennas designed to ensure track-circuit signal shunting on that route have not been funded or procured.
Cohen says coach and sleeping car inventory has been loaded for the entire summer, so travelers are more likely to get the best price and space by booking dates after capacity has been expanded.
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