By Steve Roberts, President RailPAC
It is with heavy heart and sadness that all the members of the Rail Passenger Association of California and Nevada (RailPAC) hear the news of the passing of Brian Rosenwald. For RailPAC members Brian was a “Superhero,” represented by Preston the brand’s signature logo, creating a level of quality on-board all of us could recommend to friends and family.
Brian’s entire career was at Amtrak. Over his forty years at Amtrak, he worked in a number of positions throughout the country, always bringing his passion to the task at hand. His greatest opportunity came in 1995 when Amtrak reorganized into Business Units and product managers were created for each train route and given managerial freedom to experiment and innovate with the only boundaries being ridership and ticket revenue performance. At Amtrak West and as manager of the Coast Starlight Brian took full advantage of this entrepreneurial freedom.
With the help of Gil Mallery, Brian corralled a fleet of Superliner II’s (Amtrak’s newest cars) from the company’s national equipment pool and set about creating his vision of “Superior Service.” Utilizing the talent of the on-board crews and coordinating with the mechanical, operating, and on-board services departments Brian turned his vision into reality. His “Piece d’ Resistance” was taking the financial risk of marshalling and overhauling five former Santa Fe Hi-Level lounge cars to become sleeping car lounges for the train. The Pacific Parlour cars, while offering some table seating, also offered a lounge area that harkened back to the days of railroad first class parlor cars.
On-board service included new quality and unique menu items in the dining car, presented as in a first-class restaurant. Superior Service also brought improvements for coach passengers. Food, snack, and beverage offerings in the Sightseer Lounge were also improved, making a much more enjoyable and memorable trip for coach passengers.
On of the things Brian brought to the enterprise was his love and knowledge of wines. He was a trained wine sommelier and of course the Coast Starlight operated through or near some the finest vineyards in the US – Central Coast, Napa and Sonoma Valleys and Columbia River Valley. Brian stocked the train with the best of the mid-priced wines and full bottles not miniatures. One of the most talked about features of the on-board experience were the on-board wine tastings every afternoon.
One of the unremarked features of the Pacific Parlour car was its positive impact on the experience of the coach passenger. With an extensive continental breakfast in the morning to the use of the table seating as extra dining capacity for peak dinner hours, the car freed up dining car capacity for coach passengers. It also resulted in the Sightseer Lounge car being less crowded since most sleeping car passengers relaxed in the Pacific Parlour Car.
And this extra capacity was needed. The public responded to “Superior Service” with additional ridership with the train operating with three sleeping cars and at least four coaches, which translates into over 350 passengers on the train.
I had the privilege of working with Brian at Amtrak West during my years at Amtrak (I was in Amtrak West Marketing). Brian’s vision and commitment to a first-class product was always his focus. Positive word of mouth from excellent trips from customers, members of the travel press and other travel partners made Marketing’s job much easier. And he also could recommend the best wine for any occasion.
After retirement Brian returned to Chicago and opened a wine shop following his other passion. Retirement also gave Brian the opportunity to freely explore his alternate persona train themed Phoebe Snowe, seemingly referencing the Lackawanna Railroad’s premier train. We will miss Brian’s passion, vision, camaraderie, and ability to rally everyone in the pursuit of his vision.
