The restoration of daily operation to most of Amtrak’s long-distance trains starting in late May will also coincide with a spiffing up of some amenities aboard those trains.
Some long-distance trains are expected to see the return of traditional dining car service.
The intercity passenger carrier said new Viewliner II sleeping cars will be assigned to the Silver Meteor and Silver Star between New York and Miami.
The Auto Train sleeping cars will receive new and what Amtrak described as upgraded bedding, towels and linens. These will be provided to other long distance trains with sleeping car service during the summer.
Eastern trains assigned Amfleet II coaches will get new seating cushions, carpets, curtains and LED reading lights.
Amtrak said cars that went through a multi-year interior renovation program for Superliner and Viewliner I equipment, which includes new seating cushions, carpets and curtains, will enter revenue service this summer.
Although no date was given, new ALC-32 Siemens Charger locomotives will begin pulling long-distance trains this year.
They will replace the ubiquitous P42DC units that have been maintays since the middle 1990s.
The Moynihan Train Hall at Penn Station in New York will get a new Metropolitan Lounge for sleeping car passengers.
Unspecified enhancements will be made to the Auto Train.
It also remains to be seen how Amtrak will handle the restoration of traditional dining car meals.
Roger Harris, Amtrak’s executive vice president and chief marketing and revenue officer, said the carrier needs to work through the health implications of dining car operation.
“Communal dining is probably a non-starter for now, and you can work backward through food preparation and delivery,” he said.
Harris did not say which trains would receive traditional dining service. Well before the COVID-19 pandemic began Amtrak had ended full-service dining car service on all eastern long-distance trains except the Auto Train.
Traditional dining aboard the western long distance trains ended early in the pandemic in favor of serving prepackaged meals.
“It’s important to figure this out because it involves the recall of employees for the daily service this summer, so it’s a rather intertwined process,” Harris said. “There will be some food service decisions in the coming months but there will be further developments in the next year, as we get our new team really focused on this.”
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