Deciphering the Amtrak Puzzle

[TWA904]

www.railwayage.com/passenger/intercity/deciphering-the-amtrak-puzzle/?utm_source=&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=5494

Has anyone else read this article to developing and opiniThis would be on on these suggestions. I like them.
The national long distance trains should be a separate company run by separate management with
no influence from management of Amtrak. Reservations could still be handled by Amtrak and receive
a fee for reservations after the travel is completed. The two lines should still be able to interline passengers to each other. This would be like the major airlines and regional airlines do with code sharing on routes.

 

[sttom]

So separate companies that would likely not be getting extra resources? Or are we assuming the states would keep the public backed "I can't believe it's not Amtrak" instead of open up the management to other transit managing companies? Either way the idea of having two separate Amtraks doesn't sound like a great idea, unless it got more fleshed out.

 

[Roomette10]

Is another layer of management really the answer?

 

[TWA904]

It would not be another layer of management at Amtrak. It would be two companies independent of each other with a marketing agreement. The new company would do its own hiring and training, customer service, marketing, and accounting. We would development our own routes. We would share some stations with the state supported trains and the NEC where necessary. Amtrak would simply get paid a reservations fee for handling that function.

 

[sttom]

That still sounds like a waste of resources. Why not have First Transit or Herzog take over the state run routes and not have an "I can't believe it's not Amtrak"? The states could easily do that now, there is a reason why they stick with Amtrak. Also you're pushing for a solution that is looking for a problem. Even if Amtrak was split in two, there is no guarantee that the bad managers would get fired in the shake up.