Amtrak California San Joaquin

For some reason there is a worldwide trend to crappy seats. Ask a Brit about the IET/800 class and their seats. Be prepared for a long rant. Privatisation has seen a tripling of passenger traffic in the UK but for some reason they are now ordering trains with crummy seats. The 43-class HST has the best seats on rails in the first class cars. Huge wings on the headrests make it easy to sleep without falling on your neighbor's shoulder.

The "Simply Railway" guy on Youtube -- I think his name is Thibault -- seems to like Amtrak seats a lot. He's not so happy with some of the seats on European trains.

The lack of cafe service is not really anything related to the cars themselves – I'm sure Siemens would be capable of building a cafe car if ordered.

That said, it's not like the existing cafe cars are anything to write home about. If anything, vending machines should provide a faster and more reliable experience, without the pretension of giving you "fresh" food when it clearly isn't.

Agree. Amtrak cafe food is something to pass the time and deal with hunger but you can usually get better food at a 7-11 or Circle K. I try to carry-on whenever I'm riding.