Letter from possible soon to be GOP chairs in House to Coscia

[Amtrakfflyer]

https://www.railwayage.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/2022-11-03_amtrak_bonuses_final.pdf

 

[zetharion]

Not sure anything will come of it but glad someone is actually paying attention and actually asking questions.

 

[MARC Rider]

Boy, the way these guys were going on about the lavish executive bonuses and how the grunts aren't getting anything, you'd think these Congressmen were Labor-supporting Liberal Democrats! I actually agree with them and hope that they'll switch parties soon.

There is a bit of grandstanding here. Notice that they pick the interval for the drop in ridership and customer satisfaction from 2019, when ridership was at its peak (or close to it.) It's not clear when the nadir of Amtrak ridership occurred, but I would think that it was sometime in the summer of 2020. It would be more interesting to see how ridership has recovered since July 2020 rather than how much it's dropped since July 2019. I can believe that current customer satisfaction for long distance services declined during the past year, but would have trouble believing that's the case for the NEC, which is slowly increasing the number of trains and runs pretty well. In fact, the article cited by these Representatives to support the idea that NEC riders have gotten "more difficult and expensive and are harder to justify ... than alternatives, like one's own vehicle," is entitled "Amtrak Gets Back on Track as Commuters Return." I'll have to find a copy of the Delaware Business Journal to read the article, though. In my experience, the main problem with the NEC is that there still aren't enough departures at the beginning and end of the business day. However, the service that does exist is just as good as its always been, and the fares (including on the Acela) seem to be lower than they were before the Pandemic, so I can't see how riding the NEC has suddenly got more difficult and expensive than driving, as the price of gas has gone up greatly, the tolls are as high as they've ever been, and the traffic is getting worse by the day..

If this actually gets anywhere, I'd hope that they ask more detailed questions about the operation of the railroad, like what's their status on rehiring staff, when they can expect to clear the maintenance backlog and return more sleepers and Sightseer lounges into service, and why are sleeping car fares so high.

 

[Amtrakfflyer]

This is the part I dont like:

“Intercity commuters have noted that trips have gotten more difficult, expensive, and harder to justify on a time and cost-effectiveness basis than alternatives, like one’s own vehicle”. I think they quote is saying it’s not cost effective for the consumer OR taxpayers.

This is the opening management has been waiting for to say, “we want to operate the long distance trains but they are bleeding us dry”. Last weeks news that ”Amtrak management bonuses are based off of raising NEC revenue and reducing expenses everywhere else” fits nicely with that narrative.


The letter talks about the billion dollar annual loss and uses the word profit more than a few times. The letter does indicate the long distance trains are recovering the fastest only down 23.7 regardless I don’t think these guys are friends of Amtrak or management.

 

[joelkfla]

I find the letter's focus on financial performance somewhat worrisome. Ridership & customer satisfaction are like, "Oh, and by the way ..."

 

[MARC Rider]

This is the part I dont like:

“Intercity commuters have noted that trips have gotten more difficult, expensive, and harder to justify on a time and cost-effectiveness basis than alternatives, like one’s own vehicle”. I think they quote is saying it’s not cost effective for the consumer OR taxpayers.

This is the opening management has been waiting for to say, “we want to operate the long distance trains but they are bleeding us dry”. The letter talks about the billion dollar annual loss and uses the word profit more than a few times. The letter does indicate the long distance trains are recovering the fastest only down 23.7 regardless I don’t think these guys are friends of Amtrak or management.

Uh, they were actually talking about the NEC in that part of the letter.

 

[Amtrak25]

I am glad Amtrak is being taken to task, but unfortunate that House committee Chair Payne (D, NJ) is asleep and clueless (yes, I have met with he and his staff), while these two ranking members did the right thing, but are not friends of Amtrak service in general, and should not be deemed our heroes.

They evidently think profitability is in federal code as Amtrak's goal, which it no longer is and impossible anyway, don't matter how much Amtrak's junk accounting judges national network by fully allocated cost and the NEC by only avoidable cost, all the rest is "capital", ergo profitable.

I also think Amtrak may have desired such negative attention to force their hand on federally subsidized LD distance service. They have in fact parked too many Horizon cars and poached LD coaches from LD service to cover for them, parked 15 more Superliner sleepers after Labor day, and parked most baggage cars so as to kill Amtrak Express, all of which slash revenue more than cost.

 

[Amtrakfflyer]

Crawford is NO friend of Amtrak and will not be an easy Chairman to deal with.
https://crawford.house.gov/posts/re...Eq7krpXamEfPy3Qswu0oOtBNCq_qhV9_VfwqEcYylelJ8