Hi Everyone!
I'm back from my family visit in Florida and ready to take on the forum once more!!! No need to fear, trainboy is here!!!
:lol:
It appears that OBS Employee has covered this topic very well, especially from the Amtrak labor and front management point of view. Thanks to AmtrakFan for getting this started!
I don't have much to add other than for those who aren't big on dining car meals or believe that these changes are not bad for the railroad have missed the big picture. The simplified dining car service is that, SIMPLIFIED LABOR, regarding the process of taking stock and turning it into a marketable product or entree. As many have known for a couple of years now, the "brown and serve" system has taken over the bulk of the dining car's stock inventory since the introduction of the uniform national menu and modified when David Gunn insisted that some variation be added, so came the cycle system for the different routes.
The big picture is that Diner-lite and the eventual introduction of the single-car food service program is an OMEN of the serious threat of the abolishment of operating long-distance trains in the role of Amtrak and the passenger railroad system. For those who've traveled on Amtrak over the past 15 to 20 years have seen all sorts of "reform" methods to "improve" and "make the railroad more self-sufficient." Reforms of the past include, but are not limited to, the family style dining program, or "slop and drop"as it was known by crews and long-time Amtrak passengers, buffet and table cars used on the Auto Train and the notorious "china-free" trains using an assortment of fine plastics and styrofoam plates and cups. "Picknick" style was the name I believe used on the Silver Service trains back then.
As most of this forum's members have ridden an Amtrak long-distance train in the last year, you know that all of these previous "reforms" disappeared when they caused massive passenger abandonment by most Americans, who used their word of mouth, and told all their friends and family "never again." Over time, the "reformers" hired at Amtrak to implement the changes were replaced by other managers that were charged with "improving" passenger rail. The building and introduction of the Viewliner sleeper is by far the most significant remnant of this brief period in Amtrak's history. In, in 1997, when Congress mandated that Amtrak be self-sufficient by 2002, Amtrak's CEOs Tom Downs and George Warrington had an about face policy to service improvement and development and began a process of deferred maintenance and the implementation of "cost efficiency" that ultimately brought the railroad into the verge of implosion due to massive debt and an infrastucture that was in such poor shape it was unreliable at best. In addition, Amtrak had its round of train-offs with the truncation of the Pioneer and the Desert Wind. However, in their defense, they did protect the level of on-board labor that is the core component of running an effective and safe long-distance train compared to the current Board of Directors and Acting CEO David Hughes.
One of the best examples of Amtrak's great self-sufficency reforms was the the "brand" change with a new logo, purchase of Acela "high-speed" trainsets and the marketing of an Amtrak system that simply ignored the company outside the Northeast. Quite frankly, I'm surprised the long distance trains survived the Warrington adminstration as his business plan was simply to turn "Amtrak" into "Acela" supported by short distance corridors to Newport News, Pittsburgh, Buffalo and other points in the Northeast. Without the regional business offices to develop product lines and market routes and services, Amtrak became a big "unknown" in the minds of the vast majority of Americans who travel outside the Northeast Corridor. With the exception of a few state-sponsored train systems, Amtrak fell into an abyss of not knowing what it was suppost to do. Running trains seemed too much for its management, let alone looking for ways to improve the company.
The fact that more and more Americans want to find alternatives to rising gasoline prices and service strapped airlines in their choice of travel is the major reason why these threats to Amtrak have resurfaced. In Amtrak's 30-plus year history, Amtrak has never faced such an assult as these regarding the budgets and appropriations of 2004, 2005 and 2006. Even with Ronald Regan making his infamous claims and "burning cash" campaign advertisments, Amtrak always had "checks and balances" regarding the White House and the Congress having a pro-labor party in charge of the national public policy agenda. Now with an anti-Amtrak president with an anti-labor Congress, Amtrak management is faced with the fact that its time is up maintaining the status quo and crying "poor mouth" to run the trains while bilking the company's annual federal appropriation with extremely high salaries and a level of people in management versus labor for a company of Amtrak's size. Amtrak's Board of Directors is charged with the task of shutting down the company that has refused to abolish its expensive labor capital and excessive management layers. When Americans began to ride Amtrak trains that were more efficient and were beginning to restore a sense of "tradition" to the levels of service provided on board the trains, the Board bulked. Gunn was making it work, at that wasn't their definition of "reform." So he was fired, the "empire building" management corps began to squeeze the train budgets to protect their cushy jobs, and so here we are with diner-lite and the eventual abolishment of sleeping cars on the trains.
Diner-lite is bigger than "food service," it respresents an Amtrak that is actually going to abolish the long distance train. With "authorization" from Congress, Amtrak has been given the "mandate" to do things that it would have never considered due to the political fallout and "shut it down" cry from the Congressman and Senators from the states outside of the Northeast United States about funding a federal agency that doesn't serve the whole country. Diner-lite is the final straw the the long-distance trains have in order to remain. Even with extensive labor cuts, with the loss of revenue due to disatisfied passengers and the eventual loss of sleeping car revenue, which WILL take a major hit with this program, is the significant revenue stream needed to "save" the train in the eyes of the Inspector General's office. With the White House now seeking to see Amtrak end sleeping car service due to significant "subsidy per passenger" the President cites in his Department of Transportation 2007 Budget Message is just the next chapter for the "big picture."
I usually end my notes with "I hope I'm wrong," but I won't this time because I have no doubt in my mind that the end is near for the long distance trains the Amtrak we all know and love. Best wishes to those who remain connected financially connected to Amtrak, but it's time to seek a new path in your life. For those who wish to ride trains other than those that are in the existing federally determined corridors, your time grows short. With major service cuts, reduced frequencies and elimination of certain routes and the mandate to abolish discouts, riding the train will become even more difficult for those who use it often and want something other than a long car ride or a service-free coach airline trip. <_<
