EB mess

[Just-Thinking-51]

Yes I have been told, it can take a HR dept 6 months just a hire a person. My last job offer was in three days flat.

It seem BNSF is able to hire people in 4 months, and train them in 17 weeks for its crew base in Minor, ND. Ad post in April, start day in July for 25 conductors.

However back to Amtrak, try hiring new trainee conductors with a note that they will be assigned to a location at the needs of the company. Help with a 6 month hotel, and relocate expense. After they may bid on jobs, locations. This will take care of spot shortages. So when the host has a melt down or a change of timetable. New employees can be assigned as needed.

Pretty common in the jobs I have applied for / worked. Not sure how a. Union would feel.

Question for EB_OBS has Amtrak made it official that the temporary timetable is going to forward past May?

 

[EB_OBS]

Question for EB_OBS has Amtrak made it official that the temporary timetable is going to forward past May?

No, unfortunately it's mostly speculation and discussion of several different scenarios, all of which have been discussed here. I haven't heard anything solid that I'd be willing to bank on.

 

[Green Maned Lion]

Listen, Boardman was hired by the Board Of Directors. The Board Of Directors was hired by the President. They were hired by the President to toe his party line. So the person in charge of Amtrak's executive is the POTUS, because essentially if everyone between the POTUS and up to and including Boardman want to keep their jobs, they are going to do that which they are going to be told to do. Part of what they are told to do is facilitate the Presidents desires as much as possible while complying with Congressional mandates and working with Congress to try and make sure those mandates aren't the result of Congress being pissed off at Amtrak. (For an example of where that can be a problem, see George Warrington)

We know Boardman isn't particularly interested in killing the LD trains because there is a huge argument for why they should be killed available at his disposal. 1) Investment in new equipment would take forever to accomplish and would take forever to pay for. 2) At the current equipment levels, the system is basically at capacity. 3) The system has more or less reached its gag factor in pricing level. 4) We are sill losing money. Ipso Facto, the trains can never be operationally self-sufficient. Ergo, I issue a 180 day train off notice for the entire system.

And there is nothing in Amtrak's charter that prevents Boardman from deciding that as of May 1st (forget about plastic plates and table cloths) all Amtrak dining cars will be taken off the trains, and converted into lounge cafes. As these new lounge cafes get put into service, all sightseer lounges shall be retired because of their massive haulage and cooling costs. Meals will no longer be included in the sleeping car price, and no, there will be no price reduction. All rail fares shall double, and sleeper fares shall triple. Etc. etc. etc. Trust me, if they were really trying to kill them, they'd be dead.

If you want to take a look at a truly hostile system, look at NJ Transit under Warrington and Sarles.

Boardman is trying to reduce costs, mostly by appearance, and is trying to run the system in an efficient way. I doubt service expansions will come anywhere that said service expansion won't pay for itself.

By the way, the logical reason for removing table cloths is probably nothing to do with the costs of the table cloths. Rather, it reduces the cost of staffing. It takes a hell of a lot less time to set a table by just throwing pre-wrapped silverware napkins onto the table after quickly wiping it down with a wet cloth.

 

[neroden]

My thinking is as follows. Of course anyone is free to agree or disagree....

Until Congress and BoD decide they want a thriving LD business, there will not be one. If Congress was serious about LD business, they'd have backed the PIPs up with funding, or a clearly stated plan for funding).

Net cost of implementing LSL schedule change recommendation according to PIP: less than zero -- improves bottom line by $1.9 millionNet cost of implementing CL-Pennsy through cars recommendation according to PIP: $700,000 (operating). And I think this estimate is pessimistic; at this point it would probably turn an operating profit.

Seriously, Amtrak should be able to implement that out of its budget without special funding. Even with the $1-2 million needed for capital improvements to make it work.

The California Zephyr PIP recommended a "customer service excellence program"g of management designed to cause *all* the CZ crews to be as good as the *better* CZ crews -- because Amtrak had solid data indicating that passengers loved some OBS crews, and hated others. I certainly hope Amtrak is still pursuing this program and expanding it to all trains, because goodness knows Amtrak needs this program.

In short, most of the stuff in the PIPs is targeted at improving the bottom line. This is not stuff which should require special funding to implement.

The rest was designed to massively improve ridership, so that the politically important "dollars per passenger", "dollars per passenger mile", and "farebox recovery percentage" numbers looked much better. For a daily Cardinal, the net costs were estimated at $2.1 million/year, and for the daily Sunset-Eagle, at $3.0 million/year. Again, the revenue and ridership numbers were pessimistic.

The various scenarios analyzed in the PIPs (the Cardinal PIP analyzed seven) should be reanalyzed using the more recent, higher ticket prices, better ridership, and changes in state funding, and Amtrak should aggressively pursue implementation of whatever scenario looks best. The LSL schedule change was considered a net positive for the bottom line already in 2011. The CL-Pennsy through cars

are probably a net positive under current conditions. At least one of the scenarios for a daily Cardinal is probably in net-positive territory by this point.

I understand that some of the PIP implementations have been stalled by things entirely other than Amtrak management; hostility from Union Pacific, for example, or lack of available rolling stock.

There is some indication of a bad attitude, however, even in the PIPs. "Full implementation of the Point of Sale system on long distance trains will be contingent on available funding." Implementing this will save lots of money every year forever after. If necessary, take out a loan to do it; it appears to be possible for Amtrak to take out loans now. Of course, this may actually be delayed by things other than money (apparently retraining all the cafe car staff has been... slow).

 

[Green Eye]

Continuing today on train 8. We arrived in Minot early and left on time. Freight trains today are mostly intermodal and unit grain.

Sent from my iPhone using Amtrak Forum

 

[Green Eye]

Well, train 8 just can't catch a break! Now we're stopped at Towner, ND, about 15 miles west of Rugby. My cell phone gave me a flood warning. The conductor said that there was a track inspector in front of us checking conditions. We are under slow orders and my speedometer app says we're doing 20 mph.

Sent from my iPhone using Amtrak Forum

 

[yarrow]

from a post on TO: eb 7 derailed 2 cars east end of bainville, mt. 8, at bainville, is to back into culbertson and wait

 

[greatcats]

Oh joy, oh bliss, oh rapture!!

 

[montana mike]

from a post on TO: eb 7 derailed 2 cars east end of bainville, mt. 8, at bainville, is to back into culbertson and wait

Wow, it has been a long time since the EB's have had a derailment like this. Good Grief!!!

:-(

 

[yarrow]

from a post on TO: eb 7 derailed 2 cars east end of bainville, mt. 8, at bainville, is to back into culbertson and wait

 

evidently just a minor injury to a pax. no word on any injuries to equipment

 

[EB_OBS]

#7 was on the move at 5:57pm MT. Left two cars behind. #8 can't get thru until the track is repaired.

Only one minor injury reported that I'm aware of.

 

[Big Green Chauvanist]

Talk about adding insult to injury. The Empire Builder's fall from grace has been nothing short of disastrous. On my next trip east I think I'll travel SEA-CHI via California (and take my chances). If only the Pioneer had not be axed!

 

[montana mike]

#7 was on the move at 5:57pm MT. Left two cars behind. #8 can't get thru until the track is repaired.

Only one minor injury reported that I'm aware of.

Amtrak can ill afford to loose rolling stock these days.

:-(

 

[TraneMan]

Seems like 8 won't make it to MOT till 8 or so in the morning.

 

[JoeZeppy412]

So what happens to the passengers on those two cars?

 

[Just-Thinking-51]

Move to the Seattle section, bus from Spokane to Portland. Very light passenger load report 117. They have the space.

 

[montana mike]

Meanwhile #7 in ND today is now about 7 hours behind. It was a brutally slow run thru ND.

:-(

 

[montana mike]

Meanwhile #7 in ND today is now about 7 hours behind. It was a brutally slow run thru ND.

:-(

This AM: #7, still not in WFH-now over 8 hours behind and #8, just entering MN now about 5 1/2 hours behind. Welcome to the "new" reality of the EB this Spring. Rats.

 

[montana mike]

Meanwhile #7 in ND today is now about 7 hours behind. It was a brutally slow run thru ND.

:-(

This AM: #7, still not in WFH-now over 8 hours behind and #8, just entering MN now about 5 1/2 hours behind. Welcome to the "new" reality of the EB this Spring. Rats.

This evening two of the EBS are now well over 9 hours late--good grief!! Another is almost 6 hours behind--and this is on the new schedule. I do not see any chance to go back to the old schedule. If anything they need to perhaps add even more time to this mess. Not looking good for the rest of 2014 for sure.

 

[andersone]

I see my vacation before me,,, scheduled arrival GPK 8:15 PM actual arrival 4:15 AM,,,,, hope I have enough of a cell signal to cancel the room at the Glacier Park Lodge,,, but what do until the rental agency opens,,, ? Canasta with the rest of the GPK souls?

 

[D.P. Roberts]

I got an e-mail from Amtrak today regarding my trip on the EB this June. It's a new schedule, showing the new arrival time in PDX of 11:40 am. So, it looks like they have officially moved the extended schedule past May 31st.

After trying several sample bookings on Amtrak.com, it looks like the new schedule is now in effect through June 15th.

 

[Just-Thinking-51]

Nice way to screw people up.

Short notice change of timetable.

 

[montana mike]

My BNSF contacts just told me that the new schedule will likely be in effect "indefinitely". They said the construction, now gearing up along the hi-line will be creating 4+ hour delays both ways thru out much of the summer., and freight traffic levels will remain high (they also reminded me they are beginning to receive the 5000 new oil tanker cars beginning this month). Looking at the recent arrivals in both CHI and the west coast I would say their info appears to be accurate. This AM's #7 for example is over 5 hours late, with all of the time lost thru ND and MT. As they say at Amtrak Enjoy the Ride!"

:-(

 

[rusty spike]

However, Amtrak wants you to continue to be confused....

FWIW, the new System Timetable just out and effective June 9, 2014 has the EB back to it's pre-April 15th schedule. :wacko: :help:

http://www.amtrak.com/ccurl/458/185/Amtrak-System-Timetable-Summer-Fall-2014.pdf

 

[TraneMan]

They are telling people that time can change..