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No, as far as anyone knows prior to the first train on Tuesday, unless there's magical bicycle space that emerges, the Borealis won't be able to take bikes to begin with. The Horizon cars don't have places to put bikes, and the Borealis isn't running with a baggage car or anything like that...

Love that! They make the best cheese and cheese curds! I have no idea if being close enough to smell the creamery is a good or bad thing, though, I gotta say😆

Yes, someone on Facebook suggested curds! You're right that fried wouldn't work, but they could do Ellsworth 'squeaky' (fresh) refrigerated curds! Wouldn't be all that hard to procure; Ellsworth or other options are of course widely available in WI and even MN.

This service starts in only a few days! And as such, Amtrak has posted the cafe car menu on their website. They promised "regional food/beverage items," and it's mostly a letdown, unless you care about alcohol the most...which, given the hard-drinking reputation of WI and honestly MN as well...

Thanks once again for the excellent, informative, and very interesting report, @Septa9739 ! :) I always look forward to your analysis.

I have only used business class once on the Carolinian and it was fine; I can't say it's enormously worth it unless the business class cost isn't that bad when you're traveling (or if you do BidUp, which is I think what I did). That said, it was a short trip. I can't tell if there's actually...

I would bet you're right! Once things like this (somewhat bespoke, detailed changes to a relatively small number of cars) get to a certain point, I'm sure the calculus is that spending $$ to modify on something that isn't directly revenue producing (more seats for pretty views!) is clear. Not to...

Thanks for sharing this info, because as a younger person who has only been riding Amtrak since 2018 or so, the SSL upstairs weird bar area has always confused me, and I have wondered how it was originally intended to be used. It's felt like a strange and kinda sad vestige of a time long since...

As far as we all know the business class on the Horizon will be in the Amfleet I club-dinette, where half of the car (roughly) is the cafe + table seating, and the other half is 2-1 business class seating, of 15 seats per car. This prediction appears to have been confirmed by photos and video...

Thanks for sharing your experience--that is very interesting to me, since usually what I read makes it seem like they only started hogging tables and blocking off areas in the last couple of decades!

FYI for those who haven't seen already, the RPA & volunteers have already put together a PDF schedule for the Borealis; it shows the Builder and Borealis. https://www.railpassengers.org/site/assets/files/20928/borealis.pdf

Fair enough, but there's only going to be ~14 or so business class seats anyway, as compared to probably ~270+ regular coach seats priced starting at $41. Even if those prices get pushed up some at peak times, they'll still be way less than a roomette, and probably less than the exorbitant coach...

Quite odd, I must say! Clearly the far-future fares are looking much more expensive, based on what you've found. It feels too coincidental that the advertised $41 based fare for the Borealis would be what's shown for the EB, almost as if there's a system glitch that switched things up by...

This is correct! I apologize if one of my posts late yesterday on this topic contradicted itself--I was tired and overexcited. The Great River Rail Commission (MN coordinating partner--long story) and others have made it very clear that there will be 4 coaches and one 'cafe' (club/dinette as Jis...

I think that you might have accidentally seen this backwards, or else they haven't built out the fares in their system properly that far yet? Everything I've seen looking closer in time is $41 or $44 for the Borealis (which is the announced lowest possible coach fare) NOT for the EB, with the EB...

That's not correct, though I wish it were (better storage location), it is being stored and serviced at Union Depot; if you look back in this thread I believe some of us were discussing this in March. Ramsey County had to approve a new lease and operating agreement with Amtrak that included the...

All I know is what this post said! I sure as heck hope that this refers to, as you said, 4 Horizon COACHES plus the cafe or cafe/business car (one of which is confirmed to be part of the consist). If it's only 3 coaches, Amtrak and the state partners really, awfully goofed on this. I mean, the...

https://www.greatriverrail.org/post/ride-amtrak-borealis-trains-starting-tuesday-may-21 "Amtrak Borealis trains will consist of four Horizon class passenger cars with one cafe car and a locomotive." My *goodness* this service needs 5 cars; I cannot believe they are only doing 4. Come on! Well...

Yes, I should have said in the modern/PRIIA-era! Thanks. Or maybe I retain so much frustration at the (in my opinion) medicore way that Minnesota barely supported the service to Duluth that I choose to ignore it 😆 The many fluctuations in timing, schedule, route, etc. really did not help...

Oh yes, definitely! VA is rocking it along with the others. I hope that MN and its partners can get a third daily train on the same (Empire Builder's) corridor going in the next 3-6 years, and later on, the planned train through Madison & Eau Claire, and more. Long way to go though to get...