Amtrak Updates Contemporary Dining on Select Overnight Trains

Amtrak has introduced hot meal options for sleeping car passengers on two overnight trains operating between Chicago and the East.

Beginning in June, traditional dining car service on the Lake Shore Limited and Capitol Limited trains was replaced with a choice of cold pre-loaded meals for sleeping car passengers. Passengers booked in sleeper accommodations would also enjoy unlimited soft drinks, an airline-style amenity kit, and the first round of beer, wine, or liquor on the house.

When the changes were announced, Amtrak executives said that passenger feedback would be closely monitored for future refinement to the service. Starting this week, sleeping car passengers on these two trains will also have hot meal options, and further details about the service were released. Delivered bento-style in stylish balsa wood containers, the latest menu cycle includes a hot option of braised beef short rib in a red wine and beer sauce in addition to the cold options of vegan wrap, chicken caesar salad or antipasto plate.

In addition to the hot option, the new menus mark an increase in the number of cold entree choices. A children’s meal is also available, and kosher meals can be requested with 24 hours advance notice.

The two Eastern trains are not the only Amtrak overnight trains without traditional dining car service. Amtrak’s Silver Star, which operates coach-only service between Boston and Miami offers only a lounge car (sister train Silver Meteor offers sleeping accommodations and a full-service dining car). Sleeping car passengers onboard the Empire Builder are served complimentary cold meals on trays between Portland, Oregon and Spokane. That train combines with a Seattle-bound or originating train at Spokane which contains a dining car and offers full service on the remainder of the line to or from Chicago.

It’s notable that the Capitol Limited and Lake Shore Limited trains each presented logistical challenges for operating with a full service dining car, such as originating or terminating during typical meal service hours or involving a line split (Lake Shore Limited typically combines and splits Boston and New York-bound lines in Albany) which requires either a spare dining car or deprives one of the split sections of one.

Passengers can elect to dine in their Bedroom or Roomette, at an available table in the Lounge Car, or as Amtrak has clarified with their most recent announcement, sleeping car passengers have exclusive use of the dining car to enjoy their meals.