In my experience in Europe, dining cars seem to be more of a Central (and maybe also Eastern) European thing.
Benelux doesn't have dining cars at all, and in France and Italy the best you can usually hope for is a cafe-car that will give you coffee or at most a microwaved snack to take back to your seat.
On the other hand, the German, Swiss and Polish railways still have services with true dining cars where you can sit at a table, a waiter will take your order, then bring you a good-quality hot meal served on a real plate with real silverware (and at least in Poland, actually cooked to order on the train).
Oddly, in some cases eating the dining-car food at your seat is seen as a more premium experience. On Swiss trains, only standard-class passengers need to use the dining car- a member of staff walks through the first class section taking food orders which are then brought to your seat. In my experience of Poland's flagship high-speed EIP services, there are no chairs in the restaurant car- you can either stand and eat at one of the small bar-type tables, or order your food to be brought to your seat.
The food is still microwaved on the ICE and presumably in other countries too, but the presentation is fantastic. The experience of eating in a proper restaurant while seeing the landscape roll by is amazing and while not all services need a restaurant or can support one I don't expect restaurants to go away. More automation might mean more people can work on the presentation of the food while the kitchen can take up less space which should overall improve the economics of the onboard eating experience.
Polish trains can have some really excellent dining cars. We take the Warsaw to Berlin regularly and they have fresh cooked food like friend eggs for breakfast, or breaded cutlet. Shorter distance trains have the standard snack bar.
I must say when ever I have the chance I do really enjoy the Cff/sbb dining cars on the swiss network. A real sense of luxury to see the Alps go by drinking a ok coffee or decent beer in a nice environment. Feels nicer than bussiness class on a plane.
Lot of transportation dining was luxurious at the first half of 20th century. Ocean liners were of course famous for their dinners, afaik zeppelins had at least decent food available, and airplane travel had some glamour too.
If you watch aviation channels on YouTube, the middle eastern airlines keep trying to outdo themselves with private enclosed suites/apartments on long haul aircraft.
There's also the Gerald of Wales service, now run by Transport for Wales.
(GWR is no relation to the original company of the same name, by the way. It's a modern creation, named to capitalise on the positive associations of Brunel's memory.)
Seconded. As an introvert who took a cross-country trip on Amtrak for fun in 2023 (BOS - LAX), I thought I’d hate having to share a small booth with total strangers.
Turns out it gave me confidence in defending my positions to strangers, improved my small talk game, and exposed me to viewpoints I’d never consider otherwise.
And the food was amazing, too. Way better than anything I’ve had on a plane or in an airport.
I find it odd that they force you to sit with other people. I walked into a nearly empty Empire Builder dining car and was still forced to sit with people. Why not ask for people's preferences?
During that trip, the company at breakfast was a nightmare. I sat across from two very drunk young men who were traveling on there father's money. At one point they started a fight with our waiter. Thankfully, our dinner companions made up for it by being delightful.
I completely agree about the quality of the food. For dinner I ate the steak, and it was quite good.
My favorite Amtrak dining car "meet your neighbor" experience: taking the Southwest Chief between Chicago and (in our case) Santa Fe/Lamy, and having dinner with a couple of guys from LA, one a fashion designer, the other a rapper/beat producer.
So there I was, a late 50s anglo-american white programmer having a polite disagreement with a mid-30s african-american rapper about why Kanye West was either shit or a genius. For the record, I was in the shit camp.
I just got back from a short vacation on Amtrack. It was my first sleeper car experience -- I slept poorly, but the dining was not too bad. Much better than airplane food and with an excellent view of the fall foliage.
I took the Lake Shore Limited between Boston and Chicago and got a sleeper car and the full-service dining car was the most depressing dining experience I had in years.
In the USA the Great Northern continued to run its own commissaries even after most other railroads turned dining car operations over to the Pullman company. During the 1930’s, the Empire Builder famously would slow going over a particular bridge in western Montana so that the kitchen crew could “hoop up” a package of freshly caught trout. I find that factoid unreasonably charming.
Late 70s, early 80s in Europe we'd take the train for 1200 km (about 750 miles). First my parents and grandparents would drive their cars onto the train, then we'd go inside a cabin. There were 1st class and 2nd class cars/cabins. Then for dinner we'd go eat in the restaurant car.
This wasn't a luxury thing that said: we had a Lada (btw shittiest car brand ever and the Lada Niva, the 4x4, is the shittiest, scariest, piece of turd of a 4x4 ever made: this thing will flip over at 12 mph in S-turn no question asked and if you think Lada made good cars you know jack shit about cars). OK, ok, now I digress: maybe it's because my parents had a Lada and it was an utter piece of junk that I now drive a high-end luxury car: surely a seven years long psychoanalysis would figure that one out.
So yup, loading the Lada on the train and eating in the restaurant car.
The people doing the same around that time were typical middle class (and I don't dispute TFA saying that before that it used to be the height of luxury).
The Orient Express is a fancy fantasy tour, like a high-end cruise; great for Poirot re-enactors. But Europe's network of sleeper trains is slowly expanding again, and now features at least one dining car service. The best part is that while not cheap, they are certainly affordable.
I've been on the actual Orient-Express (which was a modern Euronightlines train) before it was withdrawn. I travelled on my InterRail pass. It has nothing in common with the luxury train service branding itself Orient Express.
Ah, true, as JWZ calls it, "brand necrophilia". Seeing that page again reminds me of my bucket list item of going from London to Instanbul by train (or trains, I guess). But it'd be funny because I would pass the city I currently live in.
High-speed rail in Europe (TGV (France), ICE (Germany), AVE (Spain), Le Frecce (Italy), Eurostar (UK-FR-BE), Lyria, (FR-CH), Nightjet (AT-DE-CH), etc. are generally up-scale transport. Ticket prices are not exactly cheap. The ultra-wealthy might use private jets, but rail is fast enough for inter-city travel, generally less problematic than commercial flight, enables work en route, and tends to have better dining amenities aboard.
In Soviet Union... well, I'm not actually sure what were the rules for having a dining car on a train, but all trains I rode had one. And I was very poor. So poor I couldn't always afford a ticket.
But, the system worked differently. There were "coupe" cars: the car is divided into small compartment for four people each. Each compartment has a door, a table the four have to share. Two double-decked beds. Upon request fitted with a hammock-like net that served as a crib.
Then there were "platz-kart" cars: similar idea, but six people per compartment. No doors (you could see into compartments adjacent to yours). These also had "third floor" of beds (so, potentially could house nine people, but the top floor didn't have padding and was originally designed for luggage).
Then there were "common" cars: these were usually the same as "platz-kart", but the third floor counted as a legitimate sitting place.
Then, as times got worse, the "common" class of cars became more prevalent, and sometimes these would be repurposed short-distance train cars that didn't have any place to sleep at all (just chairs, like on a plain, or wooden benches).
Any train had all kinds of cars, what was different was the proportion (as Soviet Union was headed towards its collapse, there were fewer and fewer "coupe" cars and more "common" ones). But, even in the worst times of the late 90's there still were dining cars. At some point train stuff stopped serving tea, which was the hallmark of any train travel: it came in special cups with heavy steel holders and with two bricks of sugar with the picture of train...
In my last visit to the dining car, the only dish on the menu was pelmeni (Russian-style wantons) with vinegar (a more upscale version is served with sour-cream) and vodka for dessert... Even by the standards of the day it was sad. But, hey, they still had a dining car!
In my experience in Europe, dining cars seem to be more of a Central (and maybe also Eastern) European thing.
Benelux doesn't have dining cars at all, and in France and Italy the best you can usually hope for is a cafe-car that will give you coffee or at most a microwaved snack to take back to your seat.
On the other hand, the German, Swiss and Polish railways still have services with true dining cars where you can sit at a table, a waiter will take your order, then bring you a good-quality hot meal served on a real plate with real silverware (and at least in Poland, actually cooked to order on the train).
Oddly, in some cases eating the dining-car food at your seat is seen as a more premium experience. On Swiss trains, only standard-class passengers need to use the dining car- a member of staff walks through the first class section taking food orders which are then brought to your seat. In my experience of Poland's flagship high-speed EIP services, there are no chairs in the restaurant car- you can either stand and eat at one of the small bar-type tables, or order your food to be brought to your seat.
The food is still microwaved on the ICE and presumably in other countries too, but the presentation is fantastic. The experience of eating in a proper restaurant while seeing the landscape roll by is amazing and while not all services need a restaurant or can support one I don't expect restaurants to go away. More automation might mean more people can work on the presentation of the food while the kitchen can take up less space which should overall improve the economics of the onboard eating experience.
Polish trains can have some really excellent dining cars. We take the Warsaw to Berlin regularly and they have fresh cooked food like friend eggs for breakfast, or breaded cutlet. Shorter distance trains have the standard snack bar.
I must say when ever I have the chance I do really enjoy the Cff/sbb dining cars on the swiss network. A real sense of luxury to see the Alps go by drinking a ok coffee or decent beer in a nice environment. Feels nicer than bussiness class on a plane.
Lot of transportation dining was luxurious at the first half of 20th century. Ocean liners were of course famous for their dinners, afaik zeppelins had at least decent food available, and airplane travel had some glamour too.
Queen Mary 2, the only still-existing ocean liner, is still famous for its dinners and generally sense of luxury.
If you watch aviation channels on YouTube, the middle eastern airlines keep trying to outdo themselves with private enclosed suites/apartments on long haul aircraft.
Great Western Railway in the UK still operates a Pullman dining car on select services between London Paddington and Plymouth or Swansea: https://www.gwr.com/travelling-with-us/pullman-dining
There's also the Gerald of Wales service, now run by Transport for Wales.
(GWR is no relation to the original company of the same name, by the way. It's a modern creation, named to capitalise on the positive associations of Brunel's memory.)
There are dining cars on Amtrack. Not the hight of luxury but not bad on a long trip...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NTGywoIytSw
I actually love the Amtrak dining cars and being forced to make new friends. The food sure beats the snack car.
Seconded. As an introvert who took a cross-country trip on Amtrak for fun in 2023 (BOS - LAX), I thought I’d hate having to share a small booth with total strangers.
Turns out it gave me confidence in defending my positions to strangers, improved my small talk game, and exposed me to viewpoints I’d never consider otherwise.
And the food was amazing, too. Way better than anything I’ve had on a plane or in an airport.
I find it odd that they force you to sit with other people. I walked into a nearly empty Empire Builder dining car and was still forced to sit with people. Why not ask for people's preferences?
During that trip, the company at breakfast was a nightmare. I sat across from two very drunk young men who were traveling on there father's money. At one point they started a fight with our waiter. Thankfully, our dinner companions made up for it by being delightful.
I completely agree about the quality of the food. For dinner I ate the steak, and it was quite good.
The rail bar car beats the airplane cart service anyday.
I'd occasionally take the train from Vancouver, BC to Seattle when visiting a girlfriend, and I was far less messed up after I got there.
My favorite Amtrak dining car "meet your neighbor" experience: taking the Southwest Chief between Chicago and (in our case) Santa Fe/Lamy, and having dinner with a couple of guys from LA, one a fashion designer, the other a rapper/beat producer.
So there I was, a late 50s anglo-american white programmer having a polite disagreement with a mid-30s african-american rapper about why Kanye West was either shit or a genius. For the record, I was in the shit camp.
Amtrak - bring America together, slowly.
I just got back from a short vacation on Amtrack. It was my first sleeper car experience -- I slept poorly, but the dining was not too bad. Much better than airplane food and with an excellent view of the fall foliage.
It might beat airplane food but just barely. I rather eat McDonald's.
I took the Lake Shore Limited between Boston and Chicago and got a sleeper car and the full-service dining car was the most depressing dining experience I had in years.
In the USA the Great Northern continued to run its own commissaries even after most other railroads turned dining car operations over to the Pullman company. During the 1930’s, the Empire Builder famously would slow going over a particular bridge in western Montana so that the kitchen crew could “hoop up” a package of freshly caught trout. I find that factoid unreasonably charming.
Today we have trains of nothing but luxury(ish) dining - I remember https://www.kydinnertrain.com/ , I assume others exist?
Though obviously not the same, as these are meant solely for dining and sight-seeing, not actual travel.
Late 70s, early 80s in Europe we'd take the train for 1200 km (about 750 miles). First my parents and grandparents would drive their cars onto the train, then we'd go inside a cabin. There were 1st class and 2nd class cars/cabins. Then for dinner we'd go eat in the restaurant car.
This wasn't a luxury thing that said: we had a Lada (btw shittiest car brand ever and the Lada Niva, the 4x4, is the shittiest, scariest, piece of turd of a 4x4 ever made: this thing will flip over at 12 mph in S-turn no question asked and if you think Lada made good cars you know jack shit about cars). OK, ok, now I digress: maybe it's because my parents had a Lada and it was an utter piece of junk that I now drive a high-end luxury car: surely a seven years long psychoanalysis would figure that one out.
So yup, loading the Lada on the train and eating in the restaurant car.
The people doing the same around that time were typical middle class (and I don't dispute TFA saying that before that it used to be the height of luxury).
"when wealthy people rode trains, they were accommodated"
Back then, sure. But last month a dining car was introduced by European Sleeper with completely normal prices on the Brussels–Prague sleeper train:
https://www.europeansleeper.eu/dining-car
The Orient Express is a fancy fantasy tour, like a high-end cruise; great for Poirot re-enactors. But Europe's network of sleeper trains is slowly expanding again, and now features at least one dining car service. The best part is that while not cheap, they are certainly affordable.
The whole article feels like an ad for the relaunch of the Orient Express next year.
I've been on the actual Orient-Express (which was a modern Euronightlines train) before it was withdrawn. I travelled on my InterRail pass. It has nothing in common with the luxury train service branding itself Orient Express.
https://www.seat61.com/history-of-the-orient-express.htm
Ah, true, as JWZ calls it, "brand necrophilia". Seeing that page again reminds me of my bucket list item of going from London to Instanbul by train (or trains, I guess). But it'd be funny because I would pass the city I currently live in.
High-speed rail in Europe (TGV (France), ICE (Germany), AVE (Spain), Le Frecce (Italy), Eurostar (UK-FR-BE), Lyria, (FR-CH), Nightjet (AT-DE-CH), etc. are generally up-scale transport. Ticket prices are not exactly cheap. The ultra-wealthy might use private jets, but rail is fast enough for inter-city travel, generally less problematic than commercial flight, enables work en route, and tends to have better dining amenities aboard.
In Soviet Union... well, I'm not actually sure what were the rules for having a dining car on a train, but all trains I rode had one. And I was very poor. So poor I couldn't always afford a ticket.
But, the system worked differently. There were "coupe" cars: the car is divided into small compartment for four people each. Each compartment has a door, a table the four have to share. Two double-decked beds. Upon request fitted with a hammock-like net that served as a crib.
Then there were "platz-kart" cars: similar idea, but six people per compartment. No doors (you could see into compartments adjacent to yours). These also had "third floor" of beds (so, potentially could house nine people, but the top floor didn't have padding and was originally designed for luggage).
Then there were "common" cars: these were usually the same as "platz-kart", but the third floor counted as a legitimate sitting place.
Then, as times got worse, the "common" class of cars became more prevalent, and sometimes these would be repurposed short-distance train cars that didn't have any place to sleep at all (just chairs, like on a plain, or wooden benches).
Any train had all kinds of cars, what was different was the proportion (as Soviet Union was headed towards its collapse, there were fewer and fewer "coupe" cars and more "common" ones). But, even in the worst times of the late 90's there still were dining cars. At some point train stuff stopped serving tea, which was the hallmark of any train travel: it came in special cups with heavy steel holders and with two bricks of sugar with the picture of train...
In my last visit to the dining car, the only dish on the menu was pelmeni (Russian-style wantons) with vinegar (a more upscale version is served with sour-cream) and vodka for dessert... Even by the standards of the day it was sad. But, hey, they still had a dining car!