Performance Improvment Plans

[user 1215]

Two years ago, Amtrak was mandated to come up with performance improvement plans for its long distance trains. In 2009, there were PIPs for the Pioneer, Pennsylvanian, North Coast Hiawatha, then in 2010, PIPs for the Sunset/Eagle, Cardinal, Capitol Limited, and the California Zephyr.

Are there any plans to implement any of the proposals? Are they going to wait until the rest of the proposals are completed in 2011?

 

[had8ley]

Two years ago, Amtrak was mandated to come up with performance improvement plans for its long distance trains. In 2009, there were PIPs for the Pioneer, Pennsylvanian, North Coast Hiawatha, then in 2010, PIPs for the Sunset/Eagle, Cardinal, Capitol Limited, and the California Zephyr.

Are there any plans to implement any of the proposals? Are they going to wait until the rest of the proposals are completed in 2011?

This is a recording; "I'm sorry but the PIP's have joined the Sunset East and will be buried in a time capsule at an unnamed station the location of which will be released to the public in 2299."

 

[Trogdor]

You're confusing PIPs and route studies. The North Coast Hiawatha and Pioneer were not PIPs (there's no performance on which to improve).

 

[user 1215]

You are right. I did mix up PIPs and Route Studies.

 

[Devil's Advocate]

I don't think it's up to Amtrak at this point. All Amtrak can do is ask what the host railroads want in return for a one-time schedule change and then beg congress for more money to pay them off. I don't see our current congress spending any more money on Amtrak. Nor do I see the host railroads substantially discounting their fees. All of which probably means that no major changes will be coming anytime soon.

 

[trainviews]

I don't think it's up to Amtrak at this point. All Amtrak can do is ask what the host railroads want in return for a one-time schedule change and then beg congress for more money to pay them off. I don't see our current congress spending any more money on Amtrak. Nor do I see the host railroads substantially discounting their fees. All of which probably means that no major changes will be coming anytime soon.

I don't know if it has anything to do with implementation of the the PIPs, but on time performance has improved a lot on most of the LD's over the past year or two due to better cooperation with the host railroads.

 

[AlanB]

I don't think it's up to Amtrak at this point. All Amtrak can do is ask what the host railroads want in return for a one-time schedule change and then beg congress for more money to pay them off. I don't see our current congress spending any more money on Amtrak. Nor do I see the host railroads substantially discounting their fees. All of which probably means that no major changes will be coming anytime soon.

I don't know if it has anything to do with implementation of the the PIPs, but on time performance has improved a lot on most of the LD's over the past year or two due to better cooperation with the host railroads.

That has less to do with the PIP's and more to do with the rail bill signed by President Bush in 2008 that gave the FRA some teeth to penalize the RR's that don't meet certain standards.

 

[Devil's Advocate]

I don't think it's up to Amtrak at this point. All Amtrak can do is ask what the host railroads want in return for a one-time schedule change and then beg congress for more money to pay them off. I don't see our current congress spending any more money on Amtrak. Nor do I see the host railroads substantially discounting their fees. All of which probably means that no major changes will be coming anytime soon.

I don't know if it has anything to do with implementation of the the PIPs, but on time performance has improved a lot on most of the LD's over the past year or two due to better cooperation with the host railroads.

That has less to do with the PIP's and more to do with the rail bill signed by President Bush in 2008 that gave the FRA some teeth to penalize the RR's that don't meet certain standards.

I'm sure you meant to point out that this was the same president Bush who repeatedly called for zero funding of Amtrak operations. What I'd like to know is who actually sponsored the bill Bush signed and who voted for it? I'd also like to know when have these new "teeth" ever been used? According to the people I've spoken to, which include staff from both Amtrak and freight carriers, the improved schedule keeping has come about almost entirely as a result of a severe reduction in competing freight traffic. Sure enough as freight traffic has increased while available routings have decreased we have started seeing passenger train schedules increasingly deteriorating as would be expected from this explanation.

 

[saxman]

The Bush Administration only tried to 'zero' out Amtrak funding once in 2005. And what does he having signed the PRIIA bill have anything to do with that? And if you want to know who sposered the bill and who voted for it, that's probably a fairly easy search on Google.

 

[Devil's Advocate]

The Bush Administration only tried to 'zero' out Amtrak funding once in 2005. And what does he having signed the PRIIA bill have anything to do with that? And if you want to know who sposered the bill and who voted for it, that's probably a fairly easy search on Google.

When you post a comment that makes George Bush sound like a pro-Amtrak president without including any of his anti-Amtrak rhetoric or any of the people who actually wrote and sponsored the bill that's sounds a bit like spin, and I'm sure Alan wouldn't want to be perceived as spinning his posts.

 

[afigg]

Two years ago, Amtrak was mandated to come up with performance improvement plans for its long distance trains. In 2009, there were PIPs for the Pioneer, Pennsylvanian, North Coast Hiawatha, then in 2010, PIPs for the Sunset/Eagle, Cardinal, Capitol Limited, and the California Zephyr.

Are there any plans to implement any of the proposals? Are they going to wait until the rest of the proposals are completed in 2011?

As noted, the Pioneer and North Coast Hiawatha were service studies, not PIP reports. Without funding to buy new equipment, funding to pay the freight railroads for the track and signal upgrades they demanded (although there is likely a lot of negotiation room on the X hundred of millions the freight railroads were asking for), and additional annual funding to cover the operating losses, nothing is going to happen. Personally I think over the next 3-5 years, high oil and fuel prices will result in commercial airlines increasingly pulling out of small and rural airports entirely and a less ideologically rigid House will eventually result in a change towards restoring or starting up new LD routes. But don't hold your breath.

As for the PIPs, the first set were released only last September. The wheels of bureaucracy turn slowly. Some of the easy to do small recommendations have likely been done. But Amtrak can't do anything about the Sunset Limited without cooperation from UP. The lack of available Viewliner sleepers and equipment is a major issue with the Cardinal going daily or the Pennsylvanian connecting to the Capital Limited plan. Meanwhile, Amtrak has to go into survival mode for the next two fiscal years on the LD trains with the current House attempt to cut operational funding.

The next batch of PIPs due for FY11, likely this September, are for the Silver Star & Meteor, Crescent, Palmetto, and LSL. Of these, the Palmetto might be the most interesting.

 

[henryj]

I don't think it's up to Amtrak at this point. All Amtrak can do is ask what the host railroads want in return for a one-time schedule change and then beg congress for more money to pay them off. I don't see our current congress spending any more money on Amtrak. Nor do I see the host railroads substantially discounting their fees. All of which probably means that no major changes will be coming anytime soon.

Actually Amtrak could do a lot. Here is what I get from the Sunset Limited PIP. The plan emphasized the change to daily service for which the UP has asked for 750 million dollars. However when you get into the plan and read the details, much of what they wanted to do could be done to the existing 3 times a week trains right now and for little or no cost. For instance, schedule changes....leaving LAX much later, around 11:30PM is what the Sunset used to do before the UP melt down and Katrina. This would put Maricopa, Tucson and Houston back to normal arrival and departure times. Westbound they proposed an early morning arrival in LAX much as the train used to do also. The schedule changes, both ways, would eliminate much of the layover for the Eagle through cars and restore the eastbounds connection with the Coast Starlight. Equipment usage improvements could be implemeted by either restoring service to Florida or accepting it's demise and changing the layover times in NOL. Currently Amtrak has at times two sets sitting in NOL waiting to return westbound. This is because the schedule is set for a continuation on to Florida which does not happen. Crews sit in NOL getting paid while they do nothing. It's shameful and a scandal.

Here are some of the goals as listed in the PIP:

Service time improvements

LA arrival marketability

Daytime service in major markets

Restoration of CS connection

Reduction of the SAS layover

Optimization of train and engine crew expenses

Optimization of OBS crew expenses

Better equipment utilization

None of these are dependent on daily service. They could be done now and should have been done long ago.

In addition the plan mentions the possibility of a bus connection to Phoenix which of course could be done right now also.

These PIP's were part of Section 210 of the Passenger Rail Investment and Improvement Act and required Amtrak to identify the lowest performing third of their 15 LD routes and develop an improvement plan. Apparently the act doesn't require Amtrak to implement any of these plans. These plans are out there for the other trains if you wish to read them. None of the improvements have ever been implemented as far as I can see. What this means for the future of LD trains I will leave for you to decide.

 

[AlanB]

The Bush Administration only tried to 'zero' out Amtrak funding once in 2005. And what does he having signed the PRIIA bill have anything to do with that? And if you want to know who sposered the bill and who voted for it, that's probably a fairly easy search on Google.

Actually the Bush White House tried to zero out Amtrak twice, both in 2005 & 2006. But that had more to do with President Cheney and Andrew Card than President Bush. After all, it was President Bush who just a few years before when he was Governor of Texas that told that press that Amtrak was a Federal responsibility.

After two defeats with a Republican controlled Congress to zero out Amtrak, they stopped trying when the Democrats took control of both houses in 2007.

 

[saxman]

The Bush Administration only tried to 'zero' out Amtrak funding once in 2005. And what does he having signed the PRIIA bill have anything to do with that? And if you want to know who sposered the bill and who voted for it, that's probably a fairly easy search on Google.

When you post a comment that makes George Bush sound like a pro-Amtrak president without including any of his anti-Amtrak rhetoric or any of the people who actually wrote and sponsored the bill that's sounds a bit like spin, and I'm sure Alan wouldn't want to be perceived as spinning his posts.

Does it really matter? Bush signed it into law. Period. His past dealings with Amtrak have nothing to do with it. Lots of bills are signed by the president that probably wasn't exactly to his agenda. So what? Happens quite a bit. It's not a spin, just stating a fact.

 

[AlanB]

The Bush Administration only tried to 'zero' out Amtrak funding once in 2005. And what does he having signed the PRIIA bill have anything to do with that? And if you want to know who sposered the bill and who voted for it, that's probably a fairly easy search on Google.

When you post a comment that makes George Bush sound like a pro-Amtrak president without including any of his anti-Amtrak rhetoric or any of the people who actually wrote and sponsored the bill that's sounds a bit like spin, and I'm sure Alan wouldn't want to be perceived as spinning his posts.

My comment simply said that President Bush signed a bill that finally gave the FRA some teeth. Nothing about it indicated that President Bush was pro-rail. And actually I don't really recall Mr. Bush actually saying anything about Amtrak or rail. Other's working in the White House made comments, but it remains questionable as to who ordered those comments.

As for the bill that was signed into law by Mr. Bush, it had many more aspects than just giving the FRA some teeth. Between the fact that the pressure was on from both sides of the aisle regarding PTC and the fact that the administration had only 3 months left, the bill was signed.