# Caltrain votes Amtrak out



## had8ley (Sep 1, 2011)

In a unanimous vote today (9/1) the Caltrain board awarded the San Francisco to San Jose/Gilroy Caltrain contract to Transamerica, a division of Herzog Transit Services.


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## bobnabq (Sep 1, 2011)

had8ley said:


> In a unanimous vote today (9/1) the Caltrain board awarded the San Francisco to San Jose/Gilroy Caltrain contract to Transamerica, a division of Herzog Transit Services.


http://arm-corp.com/company/news/09-06-09_caltrain.html

*Caltrain Taps ARM for Multi-Year Turnkey Rail Management Contract*

Advanced Rail Management (ARM) has been chosen to oversee long-term rail management operations for Caltrain.


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## rrdude (Sep 2, 2011)

Soooooooooo who won the contract?

Really.


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## had8ley (Sep 2, 2011)

rrdude said:


> Soooooooooo who won the contract?
> 
> Really.


TRANSAMERICA won the operating contract to run, maintain and crew 86 trains a day. This other deal sounds like an outside contractor who is doing the duties of an agency representing Caltrain.


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## Dutchrailnut (Sep 3, 2011)

Topic is misleading, the Board did not vote Amtrak out, they voted to award to best bid.

I just happens not to be Amtrak.


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## had8ley (Sep 3, 2011)

Dutchrailnut said:


> Topic is misleading, the Board did not vote Amtrak out, they voted to award to best bid.
> 
> I just happens not to be Amtrak.


Whatever Dutch...Amtrak had the contract from the time the SP gave it up in the '80's. I think it deserves to be called getting the boot...

If Obama gets defeated in the next election don't we say he was voted out of office ??? I don't know where you're going with this ???


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## Dutchrailnut (Sep 4, 2011)

For Amtrak there was never any guarantee or favorite status.

The Boards obligation is to vote whomever is best for next contract, is it wise choice ???

sometimes cheapest is not always in best interest of commuters.


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## had8ley (Sep 6, 2011)

Dutchrailnut said:


> For Amtrak there was never any guarantee or favorite status.
> 
> The Boards obligation is to vote whomever is best for next contract, is it wise choice ???
> 
> sometimes cheapest is not always in best interest of commuters.


Well Dutch, Transamerica has a five year contract with five one year extensions. I can promise you the leadership of this Caltrain management team will be more responsive and transparent than any other Amtrak contracted service I've ever experienced. Go to caltrain.com and read the reasons just why Transamerica got the contract. One of the highlights was good management that worked well, and hung around for a few years and is not hiding behind a desk or a mountain or paper work either. I should know~ my son is giong to be asst. GM.


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## Bob Dylan (Sep 6, 2011)

had8ley said:


> Dutchrailnut said:
> 
> 
> > For Amtrak there was never any guarantee or favorite status.
> ...


:hi: Just a chip off the old block! I know he did a first rate job cleaning up the CapMetro RedLine fiasco here in Austin, hope his replacement is as good! Congrats to Brian and you also Jay!


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## Ness (Oct 11, 2012)

******************** NOTE - Year Old Topic **************************





When is the contract up and if they do not decide to extend, what happens to the employees?


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## jis (Oct 11, 2012)

Ness said:


> ******************** NOTE - Year Old Topic **************************
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Five years from 2011 is 2016. I am sure people will figure out how to cross that chasm when/if it shows up ahead of them. I am also sure that they are working hard to make sure that they get the extensions.


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## Texan Eagle (Oct 11, 2012)

jis said:


> Ness said:
> 
> 
> > ******************** NOTE - Year Old Topic **************************
> ...


I recently started commuting by Caltrain to work and everyday I see someone or the other tweeting to the effect of "Caltrain is going to the dogs under this new management, bring back Amtrak!". Generally these tweets are a result of frustrating delays that have been plaguing Caltrain in the last couple of weeks, for several reasons ranging from car on track to intruder on track to tree on track. I understand Caltrain administration has no control over either of these reasons and those tweets might be just random misinformed rants, but still I am curious to know- when Transamerica took over the operations from Amtrak, did they make any major changes to the way things work that would have been noticed by the end users aka the passengers? If yes, what was changed?


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## sechs (Oct 12, 2012)

They seem to have spent a lot of the maintenance budget on removing the Amtrak logos from huts and stenciling "THINK SAFETY" on them.


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## jis (Oct 13, 2012)

Well, maybe Jay will share the perspective of the new operators on this matter, if he so cares.


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