Sponsors (7)
The bill expands and standardizes onboard dining access and dietary accommodations for overnight Amtrak passengers—improving health, accessibility, and choice—at the likely expense of higher fares/fees and added operational costs and staffing burdens for Amtrak.
Passengers on overnight Amtrak routes (including seniors, students, and families) will be guaranteed access to onboard meals, including a mandated healthy option aligned with Dietary Guidelines.
Coach and base-fare passengers (e.g., middle-class families and students) gain expanded service options through a fee-based, first-come-first-served system to use unused dining car capacity.
Passengers with allergies, religious diets, or other dietary restrictions (including people with disabilities and seniors) will have improved accessibility through required accommodations and pre-ordered meal options.
Passengers (especially middle-class families and students) may face higher ticket prices or new onboard fees to cover the cost of added dining services and a mandated healthy meal option.
Amtrak operations and crew (and the communities they serve) could experience staffing strain and operational burdens from reinstating or expanding traditional dining services, risking service disruptions or reduced frequency elsewhere.
Offering unused dining to coach passengers for a fee could limit availability for premium passengers during peak demand and complicate revenue management and service prioritization.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Requires Amtrak to offer traditional dining (when practicable), a lower-cost alternative, a healthy meal option, and pre-ordered meals on overnight routes, and to sell unused dining capacity to coach passengers.
Official title: To amend title 49, United States Code, to require Amtrak to make traditional dining and an alternative, more affordable food and beverage service available to passengers on overnight routes of Amtrak, and for other purposes.
Introduced January 9, 2025 by Stephen Cohen · Last progress January 9, 2025
Requires Amtrak to provide food and beverage services on routes that depart and arrive on different dates, including making traditional dining available where practicable and offering a more affordable alternative for all passengers. It directs Amtrak to sell unused traditional dining capacity to coach passengers for a fee, require a healthy meal option meeting the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, and provide pre-ordered meals that meet dietary restrictions, with the Secretary of Transportation to issue implementing regulations. Defines covered routes, healthy meal option, and traditional dining, and tasks the Department of Transportation with rulemaking to carry out the new requirements.