United Rail Passenger Alliance

Volume 3 Number 42

1. As those of us living east of New Orleans are still helplessly peering down the tracks hoping to see an oncoming Sunset Limited, it seems things are not well in the Sunset’s onboard crew base in Los Angeles.Chefs and Lead Service Attendants for dining and lounge cars are deserting the Amtrak ship at a fast rate. There are dozens of LSA vacancies just in Los Angeles alone, thanks to Diner Lite, or what is otherwise known as Amtrak’s Simplified Dining Service. Since the great majority of crew members for all areas of dining cars – both the kitchen and service staff – have been laid off allegedly because they are not needed with the new menu, those remaining are working much harder than before, and are simply wearing out faster. The bottom line is that for these onboard employees, the pay and benefits are just not enough to justify the level of work that is required to keep the dining cars running without adequate staff.
2. On October 17th, Progressive Railroading magazine reported in a daily news digest on its web site: Read more…