My dad & I took the Missouri River Runner from St. Louis to Kansas City on Christmas Day and I was pleasantly surprised to be seated in the old Amfleet-style business class car.
Last time I took this route in August and both ways were the newer cars in Business, which if you've ridden in them you know it's quite uncomfortable to what it used to be. I'm curious if anyone else had experienced the Amfleet business class on this route?
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2x1 business class is rare but such a treat
it was a Christmas miracle! I was very happy and surprised
Occasionally, you get the good fortune of these seats on the Midwest services. It's becoming increasingly rare as they phase out the old fleet, though. Funny enough, the first time I ever booked business class, I did so in order to sit in these older Amfleet seats, which had been on my last 5 Lincoln Service trips. I got the new Venture seats instead 🫠
Enjoy them! Maybe it's a golden age fallacy, but I really miss the access we had to thoughtful design for our national passenger railway
Pro tip: If you're ever going Chicago to STL and your schedule allows it, take the Texas Eagle. Guaranteed comfy seats
Yes! I told my dad this may be the last time we're ever in these cars. You're right about that; it reminds me of the "old world"style of train travel and what a luxury that was. And yes, great tip about the Texas Eagle. That's a definite.
The Midwest cars aren’t anything to do with Amtrak’s national operation, instead the states involved procure them and hand them over to Amtrak to operate and not maintain properly.
The suspicion is that the seats the states chose were the cheapest and easiest, as WSDOT have much nicer ones in their upcoming new trains, much like the Brightline ones.
The next generation equipment committee was formed by the USDOT, Amtrak absolutely had representation on it. And it doesn't matter if they're not to blame when they made the same mistake with Acela and are continuing the trend with the Airos. The only difference is they had plenty of warning and feedback from the Ventures and their official response was "we can assure the seats are comfortable."
Just never book the Texas Eagle from STL to Chicago
!!! Not unless you've got a lot of wiggle room!
These are great. The new cars suck. I’d love to know who made the decision to make the new business class cars suck and wha they were thinking
Siemens said "these are the seats you're getting" and Amtrak shrugged their shoulders and said "ok". The same organization that constantly advertises and comfortable and relaxing trip while they can't even figure it out how to work a thermostat and think it's ok to blast 10 minute behavioral lectures over the speakers instead of just confronting bad passengers.
We have these on the Downeaster, I miss them being on the LSL…
Amfleet > Everything else
I laugh whenever I see people excited for the Airos on the northeast corridor. People are going to HATE them.
Hold on a second...there are ACTUAL people excited about the Airos? 😂
My favorite Business Class cars. Love the single seat row.
yes, quite nice! Not sure what went wrong on the newer cars. Seems like business class was an afterthought. It's a shame
Seats in the newest generation of Amtrak rolling stock are abysmal. Somehow they manage to be even more uncomfortable to actually sit in than they appear to be at first glance. And they look like the bench in a prison cell. Once the old cars are entirely gone I'm going to be faced with some unpleasant choices when it comes to travel.
totally agree. My wife and I are trying to get in as many train trips as possible while we can with the older set.
I want a solo seat so badly without having to buy first class on the Acela. I’d be in heaven.
Yeah quick question, just took the Missouri River runner both ways from St Louis to KC and back this past week, what's with the hard seats that don't recline but have the button in coach?
They "technically" recline within the shell of the seat. The bottom moves out. Except when it doesn't work, which is often. (Already)
yeah, "recline" unfortunately just barely changes the angle. It's really crappy. I'm hoping at least the seats will begin to get comfier as more asses sit in them 😂
Yeah, need to be a lot more broken in
Mmmm cup holders
Looks so much more comfortable than NextGen Acela.