URPA Newsletter

[frj1983]

it just not LA (where LSAs are quitting) its every where. I work out of Washington and just as bad. In January we are going to be the 1st crew base to go over with new combin diner/lounge and it suppose to be getting rid of another job.

Amtrak wants to this fail . They want to outsource food service jobs so they hired folks who willing to make less 18.76 hour with no benefits.

Guest,

It seems unreasonable for Amtrak to want this to fail, even if the jobs are outsourced, who in their right minds would hire on to work such a job for less money and the many days away from home. It seems to me that your Union needs to collect some stats to show where there might be a need for more workers to cover the job. Wearing out your employees guarantees bad customer service.

 

[saxman]

I'm wondering if SDS is really the answer, and this can go in the SDS forum as well. I'm all for saving money on food service, but the diner is being used it should be staffed to handle it all. My recent trip on the Texas Eagle, Zephyr, Builder and Lake Shore gave me a good perspective, that the dining car is completely full. For all meals and all routes, it was very busy, and I'm wondering how much money they are really saving. I thought the food was good and I'm even for the plastic plates. I really didn't notice much difference between the Builders enhanced service and the other trains' SDS, except for the real chinawear and the extra wait staff. Amtrak should be trying to increase revenue with service and not just cut corners off on their more finer trains.

I wanted to comment on the number of pax on the long distance trains. We have one side that blames Amtrak for putting too much into the NEC and letting the LD trains fall apart (which i agree with). Then you have the Vraniches saying Amtrak has been wasting too much money on the LD trains that carry "no pax" and cost $1000 per passenger where they should be investing in the NEC where it really only matters. Bottom line is, I'm a frequent rider of the LD trains, and those trains are full! Even on a Tuesday in the middle of October I had real problems getting a double seat to myself. And to say one or two people using a stop, is just not relavent in my eyes.

 

[AmtrakFan]

Remember Amtrak is under pressure by Congress in Washington to cut Food Service so they are under-pressure to do that. I think Amtrak needs to invest more in Intercity Service but there best service is usually on NEC and the Midwest/West Coast Corridor and sadly that has lead to Intercity Service Falling Apart.

 

[AlanB]

Remember Amtrak is under pressure by Congress in Washington to cut Food Service so they are under-pressure to do that. I think Amtrak needs to invest more in Intercity Service but there best service is usually on NEC and the Midwest/West Coast Corridor and sadly that has lead to Intercity Service Falling Apart.

While I know what you meant, let's be clear here. Amtrak is not under pressure from Congress to cut food service. Amtrak is under pressure from Congress to cut the monetary losses associated with food service. It was Amtrak management that foolishly decided that the correct and only way to cut the losses on food service was to cut the service. As I've clearly pointed out in my analysis in the SDS topic, cutting staffing and introducing SDS may well have reduced costs, however it also reduced revenue. The only real question that we don't know is, what was the net result of the loss in income vs. the money saved by the cuts.

I'm betting that Amtrak will end up finding out that they didn't cut the losses, since there is less revenue to offset many of the fixed costs that they can't avoid. Even worse however is the fact that the hiring of the new onboard service managers will definately offset any savings from the SDS initiative, if there is any. Those salaries however aren't directly charged to food service, so it only hurts Amtrak's overall bottom line, not the food service bottom line.

But I'm certain that Congress if they were really interested in Amtrak wouldn't appreciate Amtrak's rearranging the deck chairs as it were. The ship is still sinking. Amtrak is still loosing the same amount of money, if not more, thanks to the SDS concept, yet they've now reduced income. :blink:

 

[haolerider]

As I understand it, the current Customer Service managers are not new headcount, but all came from internal positions, some of which will not be filled.

We shall see what will happen in the final count of costs versus revenue.

 

[Amtrak OBS Gone Freight]

As I understand it, the current Customer Service managers are not new headcount, but all came from internal positions, some of which will not be filled.

This is true, but regarding those "new" jobs which were filled, these folks make a "better" salary! So this is what happens when a company pays out too much payroll costs! Amtrak is a prime example of top heavy payroll! If some of these management positions were cosolidated into less postions, then I personally believe the results would be substantial. I mean we have to have managers to do just that, and that is manage the company. But why so darn many? And not many ride the LD distance trains and interact with the passengers. This is what I see every day!!!! It doesn't seem to change. OBS....

 

[rmgreenesq]

I mean we have to have managers to do just that, and that is manage the company. But why so darn many? And not many ride the LD distance trains and interact with the passengers.

Maybe management should be required to ride a Long Distance train (in coach) now and again. In-n-Out Burger, a sucessful fast food restrauant in Southern California requires all of its non-restrauant personnel to spend a week a year in a restrauant flipping burgers, tapping soft drinks, cooking fires, etc..... From managment, to accounting, to legal, to shipping, they all spend a week in a restrauant a year.

Rick

 

[haolerider]

As I understand it, the current Customer Service managers are not new headcount, but all came from internal positions, some of which will not be filled.

This is true, but regarding those "new" jobs which were filled, these folks make a "better" salary! So this is what happens when a company pays out too much payroll costs! Amtrak is a prime example of top heavy payroll! If some of these management positions were cosolidated into less postions, then I personally believe the results would be substantial. I mean we have to have managers to do just that, and that is manage the company. But why so darn many? And not many ride the LD distance trains and interact with the passengers. This is what I see every day!!!! It doesn't seem to change. OBS....

Out of curiosity, how many management staff does Amtrak have? Does anyone know the percentage of management to agreement employees?

 

[frj1983]

Out of curiosity, how many management staff does Amtrak have? Does anyone know the percentage of management to agreement employees?

I would be curious also...as I understand it, David Gunn, chopped out quite a few managers during his tenure. Was that true and is Amtrak suddenly hiring more???

 

[MrFSS]

This Week at Amtrak; October 27, 2006

A weekly digest of events, opinions, and forecasts from

United Rail Passenger Alliance, Inc.

1526 University Boulevard, West, PMB 203

Jacksonville, Florida 32217-2006 USA

Telephone 904-636-6760, Electronic Mail [email protected]

http://www.unitedrail.org

Volume 3, Number 43

Founded three decades ago in 1976 by Austin M. Coates, Jr., URPA is a

nationally known policy institute that focuses on solutions and plans for

passenger rail systems in North America. Headquartered in Jacksonville,

Florida, URPA has professional associates in Minnesota, California,

Arizona, the District of Columbia, Texas, New York, and Tennessee. For

more detailed information, along with a variety of position papers and

other documents, visit the URPA web site at http://www.unitedrail.org.

URPA is not a membership organization, and does not accept funding from

any outside sources.

1) The new Amtrak Fall 2006/Winter 2007 timetables are out. Here is what

one wag had to say:

[begin quote]

Have you seen the new system timetable? This company plainly is beyond

irony: the cover photo shows what appears to be a Philadelphia -

Harrisburg local in the Amish farm country of Pennsylvania, no doubt to

celebrate completion of the INVESTMENT (NOT "subsidy") of $140,000,000 of

your money to turn this 104-mile model corridor into the wave of the

future.

This is hilarious for at least a couple of reasons: the train depicted is

being pulled, under the [catenary] wire, by a Genesis diesel

[locomotive], and the train consists of three 30-year old Amfleet cars,

all coaches, from the look of them. Granted that this may have been a

photo-special, not a revenue train, but it is still perfectly

illustrative of everything that is wrong with Amtrak's business strategy.

At least it is sized correctly, more or less, for the actual volume of

traffic in this market. But no three-car train will ever be economic at

Amtrak's fare and cost levels, even at an unprecedented load factor.

[End quote]

Another note of interest in the new timetable is the lack of the renowned

Pacific Parlor Car for sleeping car passengers on the Coast Starlight

between Los Angeles and Seattle, Washington. This signature service,

which has been operated using magnificently refurbished Santa Fe Hi Level

lounge cars that are more than 50 years old, has been a staple on the

Starlight for over a decade. One of the reasons for losing the service is

the lack of lounge car attendants in the Los Angeles Crew Base which

staffs the cars. Many LSA jobs (the classification for the lounge car

attendants, who handle passenger money) have become vacant recently by

employees either leaving the company or moving to other jobs.

2) Whither the Sunset Limited, yet/still/again? Still no Sunset Limited

operating east of New Orleans in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and

Florida. The new timetable (see above) has this note, as provided by a

This Week at Amtrak reader:

[begin quote]

Page 98 of the new Amtrak timetable dated October 30, 2006 contains the

following footnote:

"The Sunset Limited normally operates three days weekly between Orlando

and Los Angeles. Due to severe infrastructure damage from Hurricane

Katrina, Train 1 and 2 will originate and terminate in New Orleans, LA

until a date to be announced. No alternate transportation is available

between New Orleans and Orlando.

I guess in official Amtrak legalize that means that Amtrak still plans to

restore the train sometime in the 21st century.

[End quote]

Okay, it’s time to get creative about this situation. Perhaps, until

Union Pacific Railroad can get serious about dispatching Amtrak trains,

and until Union Pacific can expand the fabled former Southern Pacific

Sunset Limited Route between Los Angeles and New Orleans via Arizona, New

Mexico, and Texas, then the Sunset Limited may not be the best choice to

use for restored service between New Orleans and Florida. However, other

choices abound, with just a little creative thinking.

Choice One: Institute a daily daytime train between New Orleans and

Jacksonville. Limited hubbing choices would be available at either

terminus, with the Sunset, City of New Orleans, Crescent, Silver Meteor

and Silver Star. If the Palmetto was extended back to Jacksonville where

it belongs (and, has a much better chance of financial success than

terminating in Savannah, Georgia just for the advantage of train and

engine crew turns), that would provide another hubbing opportunity for a

Sunset Limited replacement east of New Orleans.

Choice Two: Extend the City of New Orleans, making it a

Chicago-Memphis-New Orleans-Mobile-Jacksonville-Orlando (or Tampa or

Miami) train. This has been studied several times by URPA over the past

20 years, and this very viable option, operating the train on its present

schedule between Chicago and New Orleans, would provide daylight service

between New Orleans and much of the Gulf Coast, while still maintaining a

rail lifeline for Florida’s panhandle between Pensacola, Tallahassee, and

Jacksonville.

In the years before the Sunset Limited was extended east of New Orleans

in 1993, an internal Amtrak study obtained by URPA showed that Amtrak

estimated there were over 75,000 calls a year to its reservation centers

looking for passenger train service between New Orleans and Florida.

While the Sunset Limited, at an undesirable and horribly expensive three

frequencies a week service helped fill that gap, until full daily service

is instituted, the entire route of the Sunset will take financial hits

simply because of lack of daily service while maintaining all of the

station and other infrastructure costs of daily trains. The same

situation holds true for the Cardinal route between Washington and

Chicago. This route of spectacular scenery, a natural magnet for leisure

travelers, will always perform poorly for revenues and expenses simply

because of a lack of daily service.

3) Those who know North American passenger rail history, know that in the

late 1980s, the Canadian federal government of Prime Minister Brian

Mulroney became tired of constantly being "submarined" by VIA Rail

Canada’s management. Too many times VIA’s management cried "wolf" at the

door of the Prime Minister’s government, saying one thing when another

thing was true. As with some former Amtrak chief stewards, VIA’s

management at the time felt that money from the Canadian government was

plentiful and abundant, and it wasn't necessary to "play nice" with VIA’s

government patrons.

The result? VIA’s annual free federal monies were drastically slashed,

and VIA lost about half of its route system, including the original

Canadian Pacific transcontinental routing of the historic Canadian train,

the former CN Super Continental (which was renamed the Canadian), the

Rocky Mountaineer was privatized (and is doing spectacularly and growing

constantly under private ownership and operation), and a number of other

trains that were daily became less than daily operations. In short, VIA

was gutted down to a skeleton of its former self.

Are we seeing a Washington version of this scenario? For years, under

Amtrak’s previous management of former boards of directors and presidents

of the company that have tried every social engineering and transit

concept they could think of instead of running a healthy passenger

railroad, Amtrak always thumbed its corporate nose at Washington

oversight and pretty well "submarined" anyone who tried to change

Amtrak’s wicked ways.

A news release came from Capitol Hill this week, from the U.S. House of

Representatives Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure:

[begin quote]

To: National Desk/Transportation Reporter

October 26, 2006

Top Legal Expert Critical Of Amtrak Legal Department’s Relationships With

Outside Law Firms; "Instead Of Being The Aggressive Protector Of Amtrak’s

Interests, Many In The Law Department ... View Themselves As The

Advocates For Outside Counsel" - John W. Toothman, Esq.

Washington, D.C. - An expert forensic legal fee analyst hired by the

federal government to investigate Amtrak’s extensive legal expenses with

private law firms has found numerous questionable management practices

and lax oversight over tens of millions of legal expenses billed to

Amtrak each year.

"Amtrak’s Law Department is not fulfilling its role," John W. Toothman,

Esq., wrote in his 102-page report. "Instead of being the aggressive

protector of Amtrak’s interests, many in the Law Department, including

upper management, seem to view themselves as the advocates for outside

counsel."

Toothman was hired for his expertise in analyzing legal billings to

assist in a federal investigation of Amtrak’s Legal Department by the

National Railroad Passenger Corporation (Amtrak) Office of the Inspector

General and the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Inspector General.

The investigation was requested by U.S. Rep. John Mica (R-Fla.), a senior

Member of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, and U.S.

Rep. Don Young (R-Alaska), the Chairman of the Transportation and

Infrastructure Committee.

A copy of the redacted Toothman report can be accessed on the

Transportation Committee’s website at: www.house.gov/transportation

On Wednesday, the Transportation Committee released the report by Amtrak

Inspector General and DOT Inspector General which outlined numerous

examples of mismanagement and lack of oversight for more than $100

million in taxpayer-financed legal fees paid by Amtrak during a

three-year period (2002-2005). This report is also on the Transportation

Committee’s website.

Summary Of Toothman’s Findings

Toothman was selected to assist the Amtrak and DOT Inspector General

investigation as one of the top U.S. experts in the field. He is a former

Department of Justice attorney, an experienced litigator, and a Harvard

Law graduate who has published extensively on the subject of legal fees

billing.

He is regularly retained by public entities and large private clients who

feel the performance of their legal counsel is in question. He is

regarded as an expert in managing outside counsel and litigation in

general.

Some of the major findings in his report include:

Questionable Process For Selecting Outside Legal Firms

"Amtrak’s in-house lawyers appear to have been co-opted by their outside

firms, they rarely select new outside firms, they are making no apparent

effort to engage in a thorough law firm selection process, and the firms

they use are among the largest and most expensive in the country."

Questionable Billings & Expenses By Outside Legal Firms Are Rarely

Challenged

Instead of challenging many of the fees and expenses billed by the

outside legal firms, Toothman wrote: "Amtrak’s Law Department acts as

though its job is to defend outside counsel, not manage them. The

attitude exhibited by Amtrak’s Law Department when their handling of

outside lawyers was questioned was to defend the lawyers and provide

excuses for not reviewing them more aggressively.

"This is a bad sign, indicating that the Law Department has lost sight of

its primary job: To protect the interests of Amtrak."

Other Legal Firms Could Provide Less Expensive Service

"Amtrak’s Law Department has not investigated its firms properly and not

considered alternative law firms that would be cheaper and provide

equivalent, if not better, services," Toothman wrote in his report.

"There are thousands of firms with expertise handling most of the work

done for Amtrak - most of Amtrak’s work is routine, both in subject

matter and complexity."

Toothman said using smaller firms outside "expensive metropolitan areas,

would save Amtrak millions a year in legal fees."

Lack Of Oversight & Enforcement Of Legal Bills

Toothman said after examining a sample of bills from six law firms

billing Amtrak the largest amounts, "I noted pervasive, obvious

violations of the Billing Guidelines and general billing standards. There

was almost no indication that anyone from the Law Department is reviewing

the content of the bills, let alone enforcing the guidelines."

For additional information, access the Transportation & Infrastructure

Committee website at: www.house.gov/transportation

[End quote]

It is fascinating to note the period in question, 2002 to 2005, the exact

same period of time the mercifully departed former Amtrak President and

CEO David Gunn held the top job at Amtrak. This is the same David Gunn,

who, when he was invited to hastily leave by the Amtrak Board of

Directors, so many in Congress rallied around to try and save his job.

In an earlier press release this week from the same Congressional

committee, some of the other areas of Amtrak which have been under

investigation showed these troubling results:

[begin quote]

To: National Desk/Transportation Reporter

October 25, 2006

* Media Advisory *

... Summary Of Prior Investigations By The Amtrak Inspector General

1) Massive Financial Losses In Amtrak’s Food & Beverage Operations [This

was the impetus for Diner Lite]

The Amtrak Inspector General audited the performance under the contact

and found that:

Food and beverage operations were losing $83 million per year;

- Amtrak was losing $2 for every $1 it received.

In addition, the GAO found that:

- Amtrak management exercised very little oversight of the Gate Gourmet

contract;

Amtrak did not enforce the contractual requirement that annual reports be

filed.

2) Lack Of Quality Control Management & Financial Oversight at Amtrak’s

Mechanical Department

The Amtrak IG’s Mechanical Report found that:

- Amtrak’s Mechanical Department (AMD) did not maintain adequate

information to allow the company to properly keep track of its

maintenance costs;

- AMD did not prioritize its maintenance expenditures based on ensuring

the greatest reliability of its fleet;

- AMD had virtually no quality control management system;

- Cost data was so inaccurate, misleading, and inefficient that it lead

to waste, fraud and abuse in the course of Amtrak procuring goods and

services.

3) Theft By Amtrak Personnel

More than 200 employees have been removed because of financial

irregularities and theft against Amtrak. In the period from January 1,

2005 to September 2005, the Amtrak IG’s office referred 22 cases for

civil or criminal prosecution.

[End quote]

What does all of this demonstrate? A company that has been out of

control, and off the leash. For those who have been impatient with the

current Board of Directors and new president, imagine being from the

private sector and walking into this mess and having to clean it up while

at the same time keep the trains running. Also imagine that several major

executives in the company who have been responsible for much of this, are

still employed by Amtrak; why, is any rational person’s guess.

David Laney, Amtrak’s Chairman of the Board has said there is much that

needs to be addressed in the corporate cleaning up of Amtrak, and that

much has been accomplished. Many accomplishments, such as weeding out

those who have stolen from the company, have been invisible to the public

and Amtrak’s passengers.

Most likely many other things, beyond Amtrak’s Law Department, are going

to be found that need to be fixed immediately. Fixing Amtrak is not going

to be an overnight process, but it must be an ongoing process with great

transparency and oversight to bring Amtrak into the good graces of

corporate decorum.

4) The other big Amtrak headline of the week is the strange behavior of

Canadian National, owner of the former Illinois Central Railroad, which

hosts several Amtrak daily trains, and will be host to new Illinois state

service allegedly beginning operations on Monday, October 30th.

So the story goes, Amtrak and CN came to a contractual agreement to host

the new Illinois-funded daily trains in and out of Chicago. Inaugural

runs were held to great fanfare, with CN dispatching the trains over its

tracks.

Now, the week before service is scheduled to begin, CN is suddenly saying

it may not allow Amtrak to operate the new daily trains over its tracks.

Huh? What? Inaugural trains were run, there have been literally dozens of

stories in the news media about these new trains, reservations have been

taken, tickets have been sold, train crews have been hired, and cars and

locomotives have been spiffed up for Monday’s start of service.

What’s going on, here? Nobody seems to know. CN, North America’s largest

railroad, is usually pretty good at keeping its corporate word and

honoring contracts. Amtrak, for all of its sins, is not about to

advertising and inaugurate new train service without a valid contract.

What has happened?

Whispers abound, everything from Amtrak jumping the contractual gun, to

CN getting a better offer for use of its infrastructure by another party

to carry freight. Nobody knows for sure, but we have been assured

negotiations between Amtrak and CN are continuing, plus Amtrak has

threatened to go to court to force CN to honor the contract for the new

train service. The Chicago Tribune reported October 25th that a low-level

CN executive, without authorization to sign a new contract with Amtrak,

signed the contract anyway, and when the finished deal reached CN

headquarters in Montreal, higher level executives claimed the contract

was void because the original CN signature on the contract was

unauthorized to consummate the deal with Amtrak.

For whoever has created this mess, this will probably go down in

passenger railroad history as one of the most hair raising beginnings of

new passenger service in modern railroad history.

5) One final note for this week. Our Canadian cousins, operating VIA Rail

Canada’s greatly reduced system, is celebrating an anniversary of

Canadian passenger railroading. Here is a current press release from VIA

Rail Canada:

[begin quote]

Montreal, October 26, 2006 - Tomorrow marks a major milestone in the

history of passenger rail in Canada - the 150th anniversary of what is

now known as VIA Rail's "Quebec City-Windsor Corridor". On October 27,

1856, at 7:00 AM, the first passenger train left Toronto and travelled to

Montreal in 14 hours. That same day, the first train left Montreal at

7:30 AM and travelled to Toronto in the same amount of time. This was the

first stretch of track linking the two largest cities in Canada.

The Grand Trunk Railway Company of Canada was formed in 1852 as a

consolidation of several railways, some under construction, others only

projected. It became one large system stretching from Levis, Quebec

(already connected to Montreal) all the way to Sarnia, Ontario (later

extending to Windsor). Just three years after the amalgamation of the

railway, the line from Montreal to Toronto was complete and open for

service. The Kingston Advertiser, on October 28, 1856, wrote that "the

Grand Trunk Railroad will henceforth be the great commercial artery of

Canada". Grand Trunk Railroad was eventually fully merged into Canadian

National, which later spun off passenger rail with the creation of VIA

Rail Canada in 1978.

Today, the 1150-km Quebec City-Windsor Corridor in central Canada is a

spine travelling through the most densely populated and heavily

industrialized area of the country. This region contains over half of

Canada's population - 16 million - and some of its largest cities.

VIA's busiest route

The corridor is VIA's busiest route, running more than 400 of Canada's

intercity passenger trains on tracks throughout the corridor every week,

using CN's former Grand Trunk Railway network. Traffic in the corridor

represents close to 90% of VIA's volume or more than 3.5 million trips,

which means that VIA derives the majority of its revenues from this

route.

Earlier this year, VIA was the first passenger rail operator in North

America to provide wireless access to Internet on board trains travelling

in the corridor. This allows passengers, many of whom are business people

and students who commute frequently, to make more productive use of their

busy time.

"Passenger rail in the corridor is still going strong after 150 years.

The long-lasting popularity of this service illustrates the on-going need

for passenger rail in Canada. Last year alone, VIA carried a record 4

million passengers," said Paul Côté, President and Chief Executive

Officer. "It is clear that more and more people are turning to passenger

rail as a safe and environment-friendly travel alternative, something we

at VIA are very proud of."

How it started

In 1852 the Canadian government officially announced its plan to build a

railway between Montreal and Toronto. The following year it purchased

existing railway companies in Quebec and Ontario, and the Grand Trunk

Railway Company began the construction of the proposed railway.

A major commercial link

On July 22, 1854, the first stone was laid in building the Victoria

Bridge, by far the biggest construction project of the entire Grand Trunk

network. It took 5 years to build the bridge, named in honour of Queen

Victoria. When completed, it was the longest bridge in the world, and

remains a major contributor to Montreal's role as a continental hub in

the North American rail system. The bridge was inaugurated by the Prince

of Wales on August 25, 1860. This was the first visit of a royal prince

to a British colony in Canada.

Some important milestones

1851 - On August 30 an act was passed to build a railway the length of

the province of Quebec

1852 - Plan made public and birth of the Grand Trunk Railway Company of

Canada

1854 - Construction began on the Victoria Bridge, the largest project of

the Grand Trunk network

1854 - Work began on the main line, from Montreal to Toronto

1856 - In September, last gaps were closed and rushed to finish the

project on time

1856 - On October 27, first passenger trains travel between Montreal and

Toronto

1920 - Grand Trunk Railway fully merged into Canadian National Railways

1978 - VIA Rail set up as independent Crown Corporation to operate

passenger rail in Canada, taking over from CN.

About VIA

As Canada's national passenger rail service, VIA Rail Canada's mandate is

to provide efficient, environmentally responsible and cost effective

passenger transport services, both in Canada's business corridor and in

remote and rural regions of the country. Serving more than 450

communities with a network of inter-city, transcontinental and regional

trains, demand for rail services continues to grow as more Canadians turn

to train travel as a safe and convenient travel choice.

[End quote]

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All other correspondence should be addressed to

[email protected]

J. Bruce Richardson

President

United Rail Passenger Alliance, Inc.

1526 University Boulevard, West, PMB 203

Jacksonville, Florida 32217-2006 USA

Telephone 904-636-6760

[email protected]

http://www.unitedrail.org

mailto:[email protected]

 

[haolerider]

Does anyone know if Bruce Richardson has a real job - or does he just pontificate about Amtrak and how it should be run?

 

[WICT106]

Submitted for the board's comments:

This Week at Amtrak; November 8, 2006

A weekly digest of events, opinions, and forecasts from

United Rail Passenger Alliance, Inc.

1526 University Boulevard, West, PMB 203

Jacksonville, Florida 32217-2006 USA

Telephone 904-636-6760, Electronic Mail [email protected]

http://www.unitedrail.org

Volume 3, Number 45

Founded three decades ago in 1976 by Austin M. Coates, Jr., URPA is a nationally known policy institute that focuses on solutions and plans for passenger rail systems in North America. Headquartered in Jacksonville, Florida, URPA has professional associates in Minnesota, California, Arizona, the District of Columbia, Texas, New York, and Tennessee. For more detailed information, along with a variety of position papers and other documents, visit the URPA web site at http://www.unitedrail.org.

URPA is not a membership organization, and does not accept funding from any outside sources.

1) Amtrak, perhaps more so than most entities, is governed by politics. This week, the political winds in Washington brought a sharp change to the landscape, and many will be wondering how Amtrak will be affected. Probably, not much.

For the past several years, Amtrak has become mostly a bipartisan issue, especially when it comes to funding. Amtrak has consistently had most of its budget requests met by Congress (about as well as any other program requesting money from Washington, on a percentage basis), so there is not likely to be much change on that front.

Also in the past, Amtrak, during its more naughty management times, had consistently submarined Congress, which brought about much needed oversight, even to an unnecessary point of micro-managing the company's affairs. The unnecessary micro-managing may change, but not necessarily immediately, at least until Amtrak proves it can be trusted to do the right thing in everyone's mind.

From the standpoint of appointments to Amtrak's board of directors, those will be controlled by the White House. Considering the current Senate's complete lack of enthusiasm for approving any board member's nominations, there may be some improvement in that respect, but one has to always consider Amtrak's board needs are pretty low on anybody's calendar for urgent action.

All in all, those hoping and praying for a change in Congressional leadership that may help Amtrak will probably be disappointed. The Congressional change has occurred, but since Amtrak was mostly a bipartisan issue, and considering the company has been receiving record high amounts of free federal monies, things will probably stay pretty close to the same as they are today.

2) The Wave of the Future by Dennis Larson, Vice President, Minnesota Association of Rail Passengers

Amtrak's new CEO, Alex Kummant, has already jumped on the 30-year-old "corridors are the future" bandwagon in his initial public statements. Not a good start for a supposed reformer. Let's look at two of these bright beacons, one urban, one rural.

In Pennsylvania, Amtrak has just finished putting $140 million of federal money into the Philadelphia - Harrisburg "Keystone Corridor," bragging along the way about the 110 mph service, the federal funding partnership (never once using the word "subsidy"), and the prospects for growth.

There is a lot a room for growth, because something else they never say is what this corridor is actually turning out: The $140 million track upgrade to the Keystone Corridor is nice, but I just could not help but notice that the trains there are carrying only 88 passengers on average, at a 38% load factor. This is the "fast growing" corridor service that never gets mentioned regarding operating loss.

So if this semi-urban short corridor can't compete with the expressway, what about rural service in New England, competing with I-89? The Vermont services are supposed to be the trains of the future, that is replacing the so-called obsolete long distance services. They have what the politicians want, ridership numbers, but unfortunately they also have relatively steep fares as compared to the perceived cost of driving which keeps the masses away.

The Vermonter carries about 106 passengers per mile for an average trip of 178 miles, at a 34% load factor; the Ethan Allen carries 94 on average for an average trip of 147 miles, at a 29% load factor, nearly identical to the so-called successful corridor services elsewhere. These are distances that are also in the comfortable driving range for the private auto/truck/SUV.

The Coast Starlight, a so-called obsolete long distance passenger service and in the process of being downgraded by Amtrak managers, has 211 people on average that fill the Starlight's seats at a 62% load factor for average trips of 576 miles, which is outside the comfortable driving range.

What makes the most sense in Vermont would be extending the Silver Star to Montreal. Ridership on the Connecticut River Line went in the tank when the Montrealer was discontinued several years ago.

It used to be possible to take a train on Friday night from New York City to Waterbury, Vermont, get off Saturday morning and ski in nearby Stowe, and come back Sunday night getting to New York City in time for work on Monday morning. The Vermonter as it stands is pretty useless for anything other than seeing the Connecticut River scenery.

The proposed, efficient Rail Diesel Car concept makes sense in this market as a secondary train. An RDC running from Springfield to White River Junction to Burlington to Rutland to Saratoga Springs to Albany would be a useful service. Hopefully you could find a way to connect to something on both ends. Then, the Silver Star becomes the primary overnight train on the route.

3) DOT Admits Long Hauls Subsidize Corridors by Andrew C. Selden

If we ever needed a final proof from a high federal official that the long distance trains are being used to cross-subsidize the Northeast Corridor, and that the national system is being methodically cannibalized to prop up the failing NEC, here it is, quoted by Amtrak itself, from a new report from the United States Department of Transportation's Inspector General:

"Incremental operating savings over the next five or six years will not be sufficient to fund the significant increases in capital investment required to return the system to a state of good repair and promote corridor development."

Let's ask these questions: in what segments of its operations is Amtrak pursuing incremental operating savings and where is it planning to make significant increases in capital investment?

Well, thanks to the I.G. himself, we know where the operating savings are coming from: The I.G.'s report points to "? sustained reform, ? in the areas of food and beverage service, sleeper car service, route restructuring, state payments, and labor contracts." That spells "long distance" and "national system" because that is where (and only where) Amtrak is slashing route, food service and sleeper service, and on-board staffing.

And as to where the dollars from these avoided costs will be redirected, the I.G. himself points to the only application where significant increases in capital investment can be expected: "? return[ing] the system to a state of good repair and promot[ing] corridor development." The only place we know that is happening is in the dilapidated environs of the NEC.

4) Last week we talked about how URPA receives lots and lots of mail. Well, we also receive mail about the mail we talk about. Here's an insightful e-mail that arrived last week.

[begin quote]

It was interesting reading some of the comments of your readers. I realize this can not be a feature every issue, but it was an informative interlude this time. In regards to the east coast fellow who apparently is a regular user of corridor service ... he spoke well of the concept of long distance service, but fell into the same trap most east coast people do, whether they be for, or against rail passenger service, be it Amtrak or whatever other operator you can name. He, and they, compare "end point to end point" service with air service. Why even get into the silly game of trying to compare on time New York City to Los Angles train service with air? Obviously air is faster. I know you and other insiders at URPA know the biggest value of long-distance trains lies in their intermediate stop service, not their end point to end point service. We here in La Crosse, Wisconsin for the most part "don't care" about the Empire Builder west of the Twin Cities, because most riders to/from La Crosse are bound to Chicago-Twin Cities-Milwaukee, in that order ...With Whitefish, Montana a strong contender also ... oops ... now we are west of the Cities ... but what of those going to Fargo ... or Winona, Minnesota to Spokane. You know the argument ... but even the east coast supporters of long distance trains must be reminded that we here in the "Great Flyover" are real people too, and have real life things we do ... sometime we even travel for non-business purposes We actually have lives in La Crosse and Red Wing we consider every bit as important as those who have lives in New York and Los Angles.

[End quote]

Good thoughts like these were just too much for one of URPA's analysts to pass up.

[begin quote]

The gentleman from Wisconsin makes some good points and here are a few numbers to go with it.

In 2004, 2.7 million passengers, (inbound plus outbound) used air service between all New York airports and all Los Angeles airports out of about 700 million airline trips total. While air trips carry about one-half of their passengers for business reasons, only about 16 percent of all trips on all modes are for business reasons. Personal business accounts for 12 percent and those who travel for leisure purposes account for 56 percent.

In the New York City to Los Angeles travel market, nearly all travel is by air and only a handful of people use the surface transportation modes. But the highways in between these markets are crowded and so are the trains with average loads heavier than the airlines and rail corridor services. The New York City to California trains, the Lakeshore Limited and Southwest Chief, averaged 186 and 179 passengers per mile versus 144 passengers per mile for Amtrak's best service between New York and Washington. The airlines average just over 100 passengers per mile.

While airlines get nearly all the mega-length trips, the average airline trip length is now 1,100 miles, just slightly higher than that of a rail passenger on a long-distance train.

The airlines serve two travel markets, east and westbound only, and the long distance rail

routes serve 2,550 city pairs between NYC and Los Angeles.

In the transcontinental markets, and even in the interregional sub-markets, a long distance train like the Southwest Chief or Sunset Limited acts just like an interstate highway.

The Sunset Limited, trains 1 & 2 = Interstate 10. It's that simple. The California Zephyr, trains 5 and 6 = Interstate 80. The Empire Builder, trains 7 & 8 = Interstate 90, etc. You don't tear up the middle of I-80 in Wyoming (or close it four days a week like the Sunset Limited) just because very few people use I-80 to drive all the way from Boston to Oakland, or just because its heaviest use is around Chicago.

[End quote]

5) For decade after decade, Amtrak apologists and cultists, and their national organization, have desperately wanted to believe Amtrak has been receiving the fuzzy end of the lollipop in terms of free federal monies from Washington. This endless, incorrect drumbeat has been picked up by newspaper writers and editorial writers all over America, constantly chanting, "if Amtrak just had enough money, the world would be fine, and the Republic will be stronger." Keep in mind that in the very beginning, when Amtrak was formed, United States Department of Transportation estimates predicated that with a one-time infusion of $140 million (in 1970 monies), Amtrak could begin operating in the black. Boy, were they wrong. For a number of reasons, from lousy management to completely wrong business strategies to the hurtful emphasis on short rail corridors and boards of directors that had no business experience, Amtrak has now sucked up over $25 billion in free federal monies, and still needs more.

Numbers cruncher Dennis Larson recently took a look at some official federal government documents and came up with these startling results.

[begin quote]

Railfans in general are angry about the short end of the financial stick that Amtrak gets in the form of taxpayer subsidy.

Here are federal government's Bureau of Transportation figures averaged out from 1993 to 2002 regarding the various modes except for the airline figures which end at 2001.

The subsidy is based on amounts received per thousand passenger miles. This may not be fair to the commuter portions of Amtrak and transit systems as they are not really into transportation but more into rides, but nevertheless here are the figures.

Railroad - $186.35

Transit - $118.26

Air - $7.26

Bus- $3.52

Autos, Pickups and Vans- $3.52 PAID BACK (does not include social costs)

Highway - $1.91 PAID BACK (does not include social costs)

General Aviation, the touch and go people you see at small airports, which amount to most general aviation air travel, is expensive at $95.24.

The "all modes" average is just $.45, that is 45 cents.

Amtrak has a high of $407 in 1998 when they collected the taxpayer relief funding, most going to the Northeast Corridor but the entire system diluted the subsidy per 1000 miles considerably.

And the totals listed in their PDF document and their Excel document vary a bit as well. These figures are from the Excel document.

For more interesting reading:

http://www.bts.gov/programs/federal_subsid...n.html#_ftnref5

[End quote]

Now, step back and take a deep breath. For more than three decades, everyone has believed rail gets the smallest subsidy, and those mean, nasty, evil airlines and truck companies get the most. Oops! That's just not true.

What these numbers prove is not that Amtrak receives too little subsidy compared to others, creating false modal envy, but that if Amtrak were managed better, and invested its assets better (such as in long distance trains, and not short corridors), then Amtrak would not only be more viable and robust and a company and passenger system, but it would also need less continual federal and state money.

6) (Sigh) Here we are in Florida, preparing for a rip-roaring holiday season, very happy we're at the end of hurricane season with hardly a storm ripple, and, yet (sigh, again), still no Sunset Limited running between New Orleans and Florida. Every day the Sunset doesn't run east of New Orleans, is another day Amtrak has a huge hole in its route system and loses hundreds of connections in its route matrix. What is Amtrak waiting for?

7) For those in the back of the classroom who continue to nap, it's time again to revisit the true economics of long distance trains and regional trains.

[begin quote]

By Andrew Selden

Some of the data that no one (including Amtrak itself) seems to understand about the Empire Builder, and the interregional trains generally, includes these points:

- The Empire Builder is, by a wide margin, the highest grossing (in ticket revenue) single train that Amtrak operates, despite being ...

- ... the most geographically-isolated train in the country, and traversing the least-populated route in the country.

Isn't that remarkable? How could those two conditions co-exist?

- The Empire Builder also generates, by a VERY wide margin, the highest output of any single train Amtrak operates. Output is measured by revenue passenger miles, not ridership. Ridership (which is a measure only of transaction volume) is almost irrelevant to any meaningful measure of performance of any passenger transportation service (except in cases like urban transit systems where fares are not variable with distance, and headcount is a valid proxy for revenue, but still not output).

- The Empire Builder's remarkable results come about because it has the longest average trip length of any train in the system, over 800 miles. That means that the average passenger is on board for about 18 hours. Some traverse the entire route, and some even travel beyond by connecting to or from other trains at the three end-points. This average trip length is functionally identical to the average trip length in the U.S. commercial aviation industry. Every seat and every berth on this train turns over on average two to three times every trip.

- Calculations made by the Minnesota Association of Rail Passengers, before Amtrak stopped carrying mail and express on this train, the Empire Builder contributed from its revenues about $20,000,000 a year in free cash flow, after paying all of its direct operating expenses, towards Amtrak systemwide overhead and fixed costs.

- The Empire Builder would do even better commercially if Amtrak would add capacity to the train. It runs with one fewer coach and sleeper lately than it used to in the 1990s. That is not because demand is lower - in fact, demand is very high and growing - but because Amtrak does not have, or chooses not to assign, additional cars to this train.

- The Empire Builder, year in and year out, has extremely high utilization. Its load factor (the proportion of available seat miles that are occupied by paying passengers, i.e., available seat miles divided by revenue passenger miles) is in the range of about 60%. A long distance train is functionally sold out at about 65% (because of all of the many on-and-off boardings across its long itinerary), and the Builder is in fact sold out during the summer and holiday peak periods, especially in the sleepers. This compares well to the regional corridors, including the Northeast Corridor, where load factors range from the high 20% range to about 35-40%, which means Amtrak cannot sell, or even give away, well over half of its inventory in the short corridors, where it competes with private automobiles.

- As a group, the long distance trains require (depending on whom one asks) between $100 million and $300 million a year in subsidy (at Amtrak's current and bloated fixed costs; Amtrak refers to the $300 million figure, while a Federal Railroad Administration study a few years ago pegged the losses at under $100 million); the rest of the $1.3 billion annual subsidy goes to subsidizing the Railroad Retirement Fund and debt service (from borrowings used for the Northeast Corridor eight years ago), totaling a little over $200 million, and the rest - about $750 million a year - subsidizes Amtrak's short distance corridor services. Of that $750 million, more than 90% goes to support the Northeast Corridor. The long distance trains collectively produce about half of Amtrak's total output of transportation, on less than a quarter of the annual federal the subsidy, while the short distance corridors produce the other half of system output on about three quarters of the subsidy. The long distance trains are nearly full, while the short distance corridor trains, statistically speaking, are more than half empty. Which of these services is "successful"? Which has the greater growth potential? In which segment does the federal government pay more subsidy in the aggregate, or per passenger mile of output?

- Despite the foregoing, Amtrak has always plowed, and continues to this day to plow, the vast majority (historically, nearly 95% of its available investment capital - its annual free subsidy from the federal government) into the short corridors, and 90% of that has gone into the Northeast Corridor, where over the last two decades, in purely financial terms, Amtrak has achieved a negative rate of return on invested capital - it loses more money there every year than it ever has, and the annual losses are continuing to increase.

- In terms of capital investment, while the Northeast Corridor has received more than $20 billion over the last 25 years (which is equal to nearly $55 billion in today's dollars), the Empire Builder has received NO net capital investment at all. Amtrak has never addressed what performance metrics the Empire Builder - and its sister trains - could achieve if they were to add carrying capacity to match latent public demand for this service, and especially if they were to be networked into reliable interconnections with other existing trains and routes to allow usage by people in still more origin-destination city pairs than can now use these once-a-day (or less) services.

Thus, when we see discussions along the lines of, "What is to be done with this train/these long distance trains? It/they cost(s) so much, yet seem(s) so popular," it's perplexing, because no one ever wants to get into the actual results of operations of the Empire Builder, which by ordinary business standards are very, very good. If Amtrak were being run like a business, instead of a subsidized public transit service for the Northeast, it would be pouring capital into the Empire Builder and the other long distance trains, rather than starving them and then wondering why they aren't doing well, by Amtrak's distorted measures of performance.

[End quote]

8) The State of New York wants train passengers to eat, even if Amtrak doesn't. The Albany Times-Union reports that food service is planned on the new express trains that will be running between New York's Capital Region and New York City. Amtrak stopped serving food on trains originating or terminating in Rensselaer that are part of Amtrak's Empire Service at the end of June 2005, saying it was losing $1 million a year due to the onboard food service.

The new express trains, which are already in the printed Amtrak Fall timetable, but not yet running, are being funded by the State of New York. It's notable that only one other train in New York is funded by the state - the Adirondack - and all other New York service of all types is subsidized by free federal monies.

The Empire Service route, TWA readers may recall, was the testing ground for outsourced food service provided by contract with Subway sandwich shops. That test, which was done using non-union labor, was an immediate, colossal flop, for a number of reasons.

This time, New York is paying Amtrak to provide the food service, using Amtrak union employees, and food from Amtrak's commissary in New York City. The new service will feature food from both a café car and a rolling food service cart.

New York spokespersons say if the food service is successful, there is a desire on the state's part to re-institute food service on the other Empire Service trains, too.

The Times-Union further reported that recent ridership figures show boarding on service between Rensselaer and New York fell 1.1 percent in the fiscal year ending September 30th, even as boardings surged on other Amtrak trains passing through Rensselaer, all of which offer food service. Trip times between New York City and Rensselaer average about two and a half hours.

As usual, the question becomes, because Amtrak didn't use any institutional memory to understand that loss of food service also means loss of passengers, which means loss of revenues, but an increase in a need for subsidies, that yet another Amtrak experiment gone awry is another disgruntled group of Amtrak passengers that not only are no longer spending money with Amtrak, but are making sure their friends and family aren't, too.

9) Here's a bright spot. The Associated Press reported in The Times-Picayune in New Orleans that plans are still afoot to reconnect New Orleans and Baton Rouge, Louisiana with passenger rail service for the first time since the inception of Amtrak service, using Kansas City Southern tracks.

Louisiana's state transportation department says the service is a $60 million proposal, which could be funded out of federal monies used to help with Louisiana redevelopment after Hurricane Katrina. Many former New Orleans area residents and workers decamped to Baton Rouge due to the hurricane, and continue to live there until New Orleans is further rebuilt. The addition of daily train service would provide a long distance commuter service for those continuing to live in Baton Rouge while they help rebuild New Orleans.

While it's always difficult to become excited about new, high cost and low revenue commuter runs, this worthwhile project is part of a big picture that has a number of benefits. First, it demonstrates how rail is an important part of any domestic transportation network, even in a lower population state like Louisiana. Second, it makes economic sense from a standpoint of providing a worthwhile service over an existing railroad that provides reasonable, comfortable service for commuters helping with the enormous task of rebuilding New Orleans. And, third, if financially structured correctly, this should be an "off the books" project for Amtrak, where this service is operated as its own cost/expense center and is funded out of a special needs fund from outside of Amtrak.

For the future, if this service proves successful and works for a well run railroad like Kansas City Southern which will be hosting the proposed trains, this could be the beginning of a much needed new route from New Orleans to Baton Rouge to Shreveport, and on to Dallas and Fort Worth. Before Hurricane Katrina, Houston-New Orleans travel was huge, both for leisure and business, despite the lackluster performance of the Sunset Limited due to its tri-weekly service and on time performance problems. New Orleans-Dallas has a huge potential, too. This may be a way of opening a new route at someone else's expense, and turning it into an instant winner.

If you are reading someone else's copy of This Week at Amtrak, you can receive your own free copy each week by sending your e-mail address to

[email protected]

You MUST include your name, preferred e-mail address, and city and state where you live. If you have filters or firewalls placed on your Internet connection, set your e-mail to receive incoming mail from [email protected]; we are unable to go through any individual approvals processes for individuals. This mailing list is kept strictly confidential and is not shared or used for any purposes other than the distribution of This Week at Amtrak or related URPA materials.

All other correspondence should be addressed to [email protected]

J. Bruce Richardson

President

United Rail Passenger Alliance, Inc.

1526 University Boulevard, West, PMB 203

Jacksonville, Florida 32217-2006 USA

Telephone 904-636-6760

[email protected]

http://www.unitedrail.org

 

[rmgreenesq]

Does anyone know if Bruce Richardson has a real job - or does he just pontificate about Amtrak and how it should be run?

Well, according to his bio, he is a marketing consultant. I guess the answer to your question is no. Mr. Richardson does not have a real job.

Rick

 

[saxman]

He definetly puts things into perspective. First we have the Vranich's saying Amtrak is run poorly and they run LD trains that cost hundreds per passenger and should be cut and little is put into the NEC or other "profitable" corridors. Then we have Richardson here, saying Amtrak is run poorly and puts no money into LD trains and seems to be very harsh toward corridors and I get the impression he says they should be cut or made into LD trains.

I do say I have to agree with alot he has to say. This guy should be writing oped's and be interviewed on the tv and radio. If NPR is going to interview an "expert" like Vranich they need to interview this guy.

I also like his analogy to interstate highways. This is the exact same idea I come up with when a friend uses anti-Amtrak language that they once heard.

What do ya'll think??

 

[MrFSS]

This Week at Amtrak; November 17, 2006

A weekly digest of events, opinions, and forecasts from

United Rail Passenger Alliance, Inc.

1526 University Boulevard, West, PMB 203

Jacksonville, Florida 32217-2006 USA

Telephone 904-636-6760, Electronic Mail [email protected]

http://www.unitedrail.org

Volume 3, Number 46

Founded three decades ago in 1976 by Austin M. Coates, Jr., URPA is a

nationally known policy institute that focuses on solutions and plans

for passenger rail systems in North America. Headquartered in

Jacksonville, Florida, URPA has professional associates in Minnesota,

California, Arizona, the District of Columbia, Texas, New York, and

Tennessee. For more detailed information, along with a variety of

position papers and other documents, visit the URPA web site at

http://www.unitedrail.org.

URPA is not a membership organization, and does not accept funding from

any outside sources.

SPECIAL NOTE: Unless breaking news events warrant coverage, there will

be no TWA next week during Thanksgiving Week. TWA will return the week

of November 27th. Happy Thanksgiving to all, and a warm "thank you" to

all Amtrak employees who will be working during the Thanksgiving holiday

so many passengers will be able to be with their family and friends

during this important holiday.

1) The word on the grapevine is Amtrak is tinkering with the onboard

service levels on long distance trains, including trains based on the

Left Coast. The highlights (lowlights, in some instances) allegedly include:

- On the Coast Starlight, which runs between Los Angeles, California and

Seattle, Washington, the much used Parlour Cars for sleeping car

passengers will remain, but unstaffed. Morning pastries and wine will

remain, provided by the dining car crew.

The Starlight will also be returned to its former premier service

status. Two of the newly refurbished diner/lounges may be in the

consist, one offering traditional dining car service as is now available

on the Empire Builder and Auto Train, and the second diner/lounge could

be an upgraded lounge and food service which would offer a broader

choice of meals than now available in lounge cars.

Amtrak is currently assigning new service managers to the Starlight on a

daily basis to improve existing service and monitor the Parlour cars.

- There will be a lower level of service called red, white, and blue

service. This is still in the developmental stage, but it will be very

basic. For those familiar with the old slumber coach service, which

offered a private room for sleeping, but no amenities or food service in

the price of the accommodation, this should be comparable. One of the

things being considered is selling some roomettes in the crew dormitory

cars at a discount with no service, just a sleeping room. Food service

will be take out or cart going through the train.

- "Rightsizing" is the term being used to describe what the consist of

the trains will become soon. There will only be two sleeping cars on all

(perhaps most) trains. No more third sleeper on the Coast Starlight, or

the Florida trains, even during the holidays. The third sleeper

currently running on the Coast Starlight will come off soon and will not

come back.

This shortsighted development, if it holds to be true, is another

glaring example of no institutional memory at Amtrak, and disastrous

history repeating itself. Sleeping cars create and provide lots of cash

flow for long distance trains, particularly for dining cars. Without

adequate sleepers on trains, dining car revenues will decline, and

therefore another "crisis" will come about, because diners will be

losing revenue while not shedding costs.

Superliner and Viewliner sleeping cars have adequate capacity (even the

old Heritage 10 roomette, six bedroom sleepers had adequate capacity) to

generate more revenue than costs to operate the cars. Despite Amtrak's

best transit-oriented managers and planners (who hopefully will be out

of favor as soon as possible), sleeping cars are solid hits

amongpassengers, who have often been willing to pay over-the-top fares

for mediocre service levels in cars that desperately need to be shopped

for heavy maintenance.

One of the unique benefits of long distance train travel is the

availability of sleeping car accommodations and dining car service. It

continues to be incomprehensible why Amtrak's management bureaucracy

cannot grasp this simple, revenue generating concept.

- All of the Horizon coaches are supposed to be retired. It's doubtful

anyone will shed a tear over the loss of these basic cars, which, while

doing yeoman service, have never offered more than a warm seat on a cold

day.

2) A letter to the editor from Gilbert Carmichael, FRA Administrator

during the first Bush presidency, and Chairman of the Amtrak Reform Council.

[begin quote]

November 13, 2006

Dear Editor,

I wanted to take the opportunity to respond to Senator Trent Lott's

column published on October 9, Lanes, Trains, Planes and Ports. His

legislation supporting the 25% tax credit for the rail industry to

upgrade the national rail system is right on the money. The nation's

railroad right-of-ways have a huge untapped capacity because back in the

70's and 80's the railroads downsized and single tracked their main

lines. They didn't have the foresight then to see the intermodal

container business coming or $60 a barrel oil coming. They also didn't

realize the truck lines would become one of their biggest customers for

hauling trailers and containers long distances.

Senate Bill 3742, the Freight Rail Infrastructure Capacity and Expansion

Act, will stimulate the rapid reconstruction of the double and triple

tracking across this country. This could very easily solve a lot of the

congestion the highways have now. The key to all of this is the fact the

railroad train can move a ton of freight nine times further on a gallon

of fuel than a truck can. The higher fuel efficiency alone makes rail

look to be a more cost effective shipping method doesn't it?

Sincerely,

Gil Carmichael

Senior Chairman

Intermodal Transportation Institute

[End quote]

See item five, below, by noted author Al Runte, for some real-life

examples of why Mr. Carmichael's message is so important.

3) While past and potential riders of the Sunset Limited east of New

Orleans look in vain down an empty track waiting, and hoping, that one

day, the Sunset will return (still no word from anyone what's keeping

Amtrak from running this important part of its national system), one

icon which has returned to the passenger rail universe is Passenger

Train Journal magazine. The inaugural issue of the reborn magazine hit

the news stands the past few days, and it's a winner.

Magnificently editor by Mike Schafer, who was also editor of the

original PTJ, this magazine is mandatory reading for anyone who wishes

to have a full understanding of passenger trains, both past and present.

The original PTJ was a beacon of information about passenger rail in the

pre-Internet days before instant communications. The reincarnation of

Passenger Train Journal promises to pick up where it left off a decade

ago when it was discontinued. Too many pieces of the passenger train

puzzle are brought to light through this publication for it not to be

read and absorbed.

The magazine is available in many book and hobby stores, plus you may

call 660-695-4433 for subscription information.

4) Our Canadian cousins at VIA Rail Canada are taking advantage of their

terrain and weather. Here is VIA's latest press release.

[begin quote]

The best way to enjoy the magic of winter

EDMONTON - VIA Rail Canada in partnership with Marmot Basin and Jasper,

Alberta is proud to announce a new seasonal departure from Edmonton to

Jasper featuring VIA's Panorama (fully-domed) observation cars. For 15

weeks, from January 12th, 2007 to April 22nd, 2007, skiers, snowboarders

and outdoor enthusiasts can ignore the weatherman's stormy predictions;

leave the winter driving up to VIA and travel care-free from Jasper to

Edmonton in comfort and safety.

Travellers can make the best of both worlds combining a trip on VIA's

Snow Train Express with the award-winning Snow Train, (The Canadian)

National Champion 2000 Best Winter Product (Win with Winter in Canada)

as voted by the Canadian Tourism Commission. The schedule is designed

for a weekend getaway to unwind after the bustling tempo of the holiday

season.

"VIA is pleased to partner with Marmot Basin and Jasper to bring our

customers, skiers and snow lovers a travelling experience they'll never

forget," said Joe Volk, VIA's Senior Director, International Sales.

"This new service is the perfect travel companion for enjoying the best

of winter without the stress or worry about driving conditions or

fatigue following a full day of activities in the great outdoors. And

travelling in VIA's Panorama dome cars on the Snow Train Express you're

free to participate in aprPs-ski socializing with family and friends,

while enjoying a winter wonderland outside your window."

One-way, meal-inclusive fares for VIA's Snow Train Express (

http://www.viarail.ca/snowtrain/ ) is $123.00 (CDN) for adults, with

discounts for seniors (60+), students (12-17 or 18+ with ISIC) and

children (2-11), excluding taxes.

"Jasper has so much to offer as a winter destination and now with our

partnership with VIA, it's easier than ever to get here. All indications

are for an excellent ski season, and the staff at Marmot Basin is eager

to share our mountain with its 84 runs and 3,000 vertical feet," said

Dave Gibson, President Marmot Basin.

Don't ski - no worry - the magical winter town of Jasper offers visitors

a multitude of activities to choose from. Stroll down Jasper's quaint

downtown area, sip hot chocolate as you sit nestled in the carriage of a

horse-drawn sleigh, take a winter ice-walk in the Maligne Canyon, enjoy

the view of Mount Edith Cavell as you skate on Lac Beauvert nestled in

the heart of Jasper Park Lodge, or just enjoy the heart of Canada's

Rockies in picturesque Jasper. VIA's Snow Train Express and Snow Train

makes all this and more possible.

Trains from Edmonton to Jasper

No 7 : 16:00 - 22:00 (Friday)

No 1 : 08:55 - 11:48 (Thurs/Sat/Mon)

Trains from Jasper to Edmonton

No 8 : 17:30 - 23:30 (Sunday)

No 2 : 12:20 - 17:30 (Wed/Sat/Mon)

VIA developed this new service in partnership with Marmot Basin and

Jasper to help them build on important winter tourism products in key

markets.

Now there are two ways to get to snowy Jasper!

Customers can visit VIA's secure Web site at http://www.viarail.ca to

book a trip anywhere in the VIA system. Train tickets are also available

at VIA stations across Canada, including self-service ticketing kiosks

located at major stations in central Canada. Passengers can also book

their tickets by calling 1-888-VIA-RAIL (1-888-842-7245) or through

their travel agent.

About VIA Rail Canada

As Canada's national passenger rail service, VIA Rail connects the

entire world to the West's vibrant tourism industry. With more than 700

employees in Western Canada, VIA is dedicated to improving the quality

of passenger service. From Northern Manitoba, across the prairies, to

British Columbia's Pacific Rim, VIA serves more than 100 stations. VIA

continues to develop, market and deliver services to meet the needs of

Western Canadians, in partnership with the people, communities and

businesses served by passenger rail.

[End quote]

5) Author Al Runte provides his usual interesting commentary from

Seattle, originally published in The Seattle Times last week.

[begin quote]

In Washington state, what is it about transportation policy that always

seems to bring out our worst? Name your poison -- the Alaskan Way

Viaduct versus the waterfront tunnel, the failed Seattle monorail or the

crumbling Highway 520 bridge. And now, the so-called deal of the

century: Boeing Field to the Port of Seattle in exchange for replacing

the Eastside rail line with a trail.

When will we get serious and face the facts? Puget Sound is urban, not

rural Vermont. We have fallen terribly behind in public transportation,

always hoping to appease every interest.

For once, the public interest needs to be served. Called the railroad

equivalent of Interstate 405, the Eastside rail line fortuitously

complements our area of fastest growth. Along those 47 miles of track

between Renton and Snohomish, population will double over the next 10 years.

How will all those people get to work? And ship their products back and

forth? Hardly by using a trail. Recreation is not the crying need here;

transportation is.

Pure expedience explains losing this railroad. Led by the Washington

State Department of Transportation, the region has bet everything on

widening I-405.

In Bellevue, the I-405 tunnel under the railroad would need to be

modified to save the tracks. Conveniently, WSDOT plans to save $30

million -- and sever the "competing" railroad -- by not undertaking the

retrofit.

Its owner, Burlington Northern Santa Fe, also considers the line

redundant. More expedience. North to Canada and east over Stevens Pass,

Puget Sound has just one other track.

Normally, when bureaucracies are behaving selfishly, public opinion

reins them in. Why does that rarely happen here?

Because we, just like our leaders, substitute process for acting

decisively. Among all American cities, we are the least committed to

urban rail. We need a czar of transportation; instead, we elect

bickering Cossacks who make deals.

Above all, a czar would remind us we live in earthquake country.

Depending anywhere on a single railroad, we risk losing service for

weeks or months. Even now, the Seattle-to-Everett main line suffers from

winter mudslides that shut down all freight, commuter and passenger trains.

There is also the aging Seattle tunnel between King Street Station and

the waterfront. Should that tunnel collapse in an earthquake, the line

might be down for years.

Such is the Brave New World of railroads -- monopolies that cannot think

past 90 days. Fine, but our public officials are serving us. BNSF's

decision to abandon the Eastside rail line should indeed be challenged here.

As for WSDOT severing the tracks to save its budget $30 million, no

savings is more illusory. Widening I-405 will cost a fortune; currently

$1.6 billion has been authorized. Light rail between downtown Seattle

and Sea-Tac airport is costing as much as $450 million per mile. Imagine

bringing the Eastside rail line back into service.

In 1983, BNSF closed its line over Stampede Pass and, more, wanted to

abandon that line entirely. Fortunately, led by Sen. Irv Newhouse from

Yakima County, rail defenders threw a fit. They were right. With

container trains clogging the line over Stevens Pass, BNSF has spent

hundreds of millions to bring Stampede back.

The point is not to count on monopolies to see the future, including

highway lobbyists in Olympia. Rather, if we lose the Eastside rail line,

we can be sure its equivalent will cost us billions.

As for the future of I-405, the research is definitive: As soon as a

highway is widened, it quickly refills to capacity.

Even Los Angeles, the capital of the automobile, holds its public

officials accountable to these facts. Consequently, L.A.'s railroads are

being rehabilitated -- not abandoned. In a burgeoning urban environment,

every mode of transportation is needed to share the load.

It is no wonder that cities known to copy Europe threaten to leave Puget

Sound in their economic dust. Indeed, why come all the way from Bellevue

into King Street Station? In Europe, the Eastside rail corridor would

already be a main line, too, allowing people there to board a train with

equal ease.

Here, we protest loudly the need for choices while remaining road

warriors to a fault. Likewise, rather than improving the rails we have,

we opt for "new" ones that drive us broke.

Regardless, more road warriors are constantly joining us, making the

problem even worse. If Los Angeles can see the solution -- balance -- it

is time we saw it, too. For once, let us dare hold our elected leaders

accountable. Save the Eastside rail line, and we don't mean please.

[End quote]

Alfred Runte of Seattle is director of special affairs for All Aboard

Washington, a rail-advocacy organization, and the author of "Allies of

the Earth: Railroads and the Soul of Preservation" (Truman State

University Press).

Copyright © 2006 The Seattle Times Company

6) This Week at Amtrak (not to be confused with the Johnny-Come-Lately

Amtrak This Week published by Amtrak) has subscribers all over the

world. Plus, many subscribers living here in the United States roam all

over the world, too, and send along their comments to TWA.

[begin quote]

I've been reading the comments on long distance train operations with

interest. Last September I spent several weeks in Norway and Sweden.

While exact comparisons with the U.S. would be difficult, for example

the gasoline prices are much, much higher, there are some resemblances.

Population density in most of Sweden is much less than "down on the

Continent." North Sweden and Norway are lightly populated, much like a

lot of the Empire Builder's route. In the North much of it is actually a

lot like interior Alaska in appearance.

I traveled on a train running from Stockholm to Gällivare, an overnight

run of about 800 miles. GDllivare is a relatively small town of 20,000

north of the Arctic Circle. It is a center of the mining industry, and

also attracts many tourists, especially in winter for skiing. My train

left Stockholm at exactly 5 P.M., as scheduled, and arrived the next day

at precisely 9:29. I don't know the speeds at which it ran, but for much

of the evening the countryside was passing by at a noticeably faster

pace than 79 mph.

This train was electric powered as are nearly all the main lines in

Sweden. Most of the cars were sleeping cars of various types including

couchettes, single, double and triple bunk compartment cars of the

European type, a few second class coaches, and a food service car. The

sleeping cars were heavily occupied, only a few people on the coaches.

I'd estimate a total of 10 cars from my glance down the platform while

boarding. A large group of people were awaiting the train in Stockholm,

again I can only estimate, but probably well over a hundred people. Part

of the train went all the way to Narvik, Norway, and another part

separated at Boden station to go to LuleD, a port city on the Gulf of

Bothnia. The parting of the cars was managed quickly and with little

fuss, unlike similar events in the U.S.

Reading the onboard magazine, (in Swedish, so I may have missed some of

the meaning), it seems that these trains are operated by a private

railoperator, Connex under a state subsidy. The tracks are maintained by

a separate company known as Baneverken. Other freight and passenger

operators also use the tracks including SJ, the Swedish State Railways.

Connex has a good web site at www.connex.se .There you can read more

about their trains, and in English, as they let you pick the language

you want to read.

While I can't provide a lot of details on these Nordic train operations,

it does seem evident that there are other ways other than those of

Amtrak to organize a successful passenger train service.

Regards and c., R. van Wormer

[End quote]

7) A lot of the year may be cold in the state of Maine, but Governor

John Ellias Baldacci is hot for more passenger trains.

Here is an Executive Order, issued by Governor Baldacci.

[begin quote]

OFFICE OF THE GOVERNOR

September 1, 2006

AN ORDER TO STRENGTHEN THE COMMUNITY AND ECONOMIC IMPACT OF AMTRAK'S

DOWNEASTER SERVICE, AND TO ADVANCE PLANS FOR PASSENGER RAIL SERVICE

NORTH OF PORTLAND

WHEREAS, the 115th Maine State Legislature enacted the Passenger Rail

Service Act directing the Maine Department of Transportation to

establish regularly scheduled rail service within and beyond the State

of Maine; and,

WHEREAS, the 122nd Maine State Legislature established the policy that

passenger rail service must be supported by the State, and directed the

Commissioner of Transportation to present implementing legislation to

the 123rd Legislature by and through Public Laws of 2005, Chapter 519,

Part YY, consistent with Executive Order 11, FY06/07; and, WHEREAS, the

Northern New England Passenger Rail Authority was formed in 1995 to

assist the implementation of the Passenger Rail Service Act; and,

WHEREAS, the Sensible Transportation Policy Act of 1991 requires the

State of Maine to incorporate transportation alternatives to highway

construction and meet the diverse transportation needs of rural and

urban populations, the elderly and the disabled; and,

WHEREAS, the Federal Clean Air Act Amendments require state action to

mitigate any increased air emissions from highway projects; and,

WHEREAS, by 2013, it is anticipated that congestion on 1-95 between Exit

44 and Exit 48 and 1-295 between South Portland and Falmouth will reach

unacceptable levels; and,

WHEREAS, rail lines exist in the State of Maine that may be used for

purposes of passenger rail transportation that could connect the

municipalities of Lewiston, Auburn, Brunswick, Portland and other

municipalities to each other and points south; and,

WHEREAS, the passenger rail system benefits freight services, supports

economic development in service center communities and improves access

to Boston and other major markets; and,

WHEREAS, passenger rail services address Maine's changing demographics,

shifting population and coastal development patterns; and,

WHEREAS, the cost of gasoline is currently at unprecedented high prices;

and,

WHEREAS, since 2001 the Downeaster has transported more than 1.2 million

passengers, and has the highest customer satisfaction, on-time

performance and ridership growth in the Amtrak system:

NOW THEREFORE, I, John E. Baldacci, Governor of the State of Maine, in

consideration of all of the above, do hereby order:

1. Economic development. The State Planning Office shall form a working

group to facilitate community and economic development near existing and

planned train stations. Participation in the working group shall include

representatives from the Maine State Housing Authority, the Department

of Economic and Community Development, the Maine Department of

Transportation, the Northern New England Passenger Rail Authority, real

estate development organizations, regional planning organizations, and

host municipalities. The State Planning Office shall facilitate at least

two forums for dialog on best practices, and shall submit to the

Governor a status report on activities, progress, and further

recommendations, by March 1, 2007.

2. Economic Impact. The State Planning Office shall coordinate with the

Maine Department of Transportation, the Northern New England Passenger

Rail Authority, and the Department of Economic and Community Development

to assess the economic significance of existing and planned passenger

rail service to local, state, and regional economies, and assess the

role that passenger rail service plays in supporting economic growth.

3. Planning new corridors and service. The Northern New England

Passenger Rail Authority, in coordination with the Maine Department of

Transportation, shall review matters relating to the development of

passenger rail service north of Portland to Brunswick and Auburn, and

shall report findings to the Governor by December 1, 2006. The review

shall include outreach to interested parties including but not limited

to freight rail advocates, passenger rail advocates, operators of

existing and planned passenger feeder services, and involved

municipalities. The report shall include, but not be limited to, review of:

- Rail alignment options for use in the short term and the long term to

extend passenger rail service north of Portland;

- Types of services - intercity, excursion, commuter, or other - for the

short term and the long term north of Portland;

- Types of equipment - Conventional equipment, Rail Diesel Cars (RDC),

Light Rail or other.

- Reasonably foreseeable capital funding options;

- Compatibility of rail alignment options with existing and planned

alignments for local transit or local light rail services, including

expansions of the Maine Narrow Gauge Railroad service in Portland;

Effective Date

The effective date of this Executive Order is September 1, 2006.

[End quote]

8) Hyatt Hotels & Resorts has added Amtrak to its list of travel

partners. Members of Amtrak Guest Rewards, the rail company's frequent

traveler program, can now earn up to 500 points for eligible Hyatt stays

around the world.

In a press release from Hyatt, Amy Weyman, vice president of marketing

for Hyatt Corporation said, "We're thrilled to partner with Amtrak, the

nation's hospitality leader in rail travel." Hmm ... perhaps it can be

said that Amtrak is the nation's ONLY hospitality leader in rail travel,

unless you want to ride a transit system. Oh, well, public relations

hyperbole lives on unabated.

This is an excellent partnership for Amtrak, which will help the

railroad to stop being America's best kept secret. The type of

hospitality clientele that is likely to use Hyatt hotel products, which

include Hyatt, Hyatt Regency, Grand Hyatt, Park Hyatt, Hyatt Vacation

Club, AmeriSuites hotels, Hyatt Place and Summerfield Suites hotels

brands are good candidates for long distance trains featuring high

revenue sleeping cars.

SPECIAL NOTE: Unless breaking news events warrant coverage, there will

be no TWA next week during Thanksgiving Week. TWA will return the week

of November 27th. Happy Thanksgiving to all, and a warm "thank you" to

all Amtrak employees who will be working during the Thanksgiving holiday

so many passengers will be able to be with their family and friends

during this important holiday.

If you are reading someone else's copy of This Week at Amtrak, you can

receive your own free copy each week by sending your e-mail address to

[email protected]

You MUST include your name, preferred e-mail address, and city and state

where you live. If you have filters or firewalls placed on your Internet

connection, set your e-mail to receive incoming mail from

[email protected]; we are unable to go through any

individual approvals processes for individuals. This mailing list is

kept strictly confidential and is not shared or used for any purposes

other than the distribution of This Week at Amtrak or related URPA

materials.

All other correspondence should be addressed to

[email protected]

J. Bruce Richardson

President

United Rail Passenger Alliance, Inc.

1526 University Boulevard, West, PMB 203

Jacksonville, Florida 32217-2006 USA

Telephone 904-636-6760

[email protected]

http://www.unitedrail.orgmailto:[email protected]

 

[frj1983]

I'm curious if J. Bruce Richardson sends any of his diatribes to his elected representatives or the Amtrak Board?? Or only to those who have signed up to receive his e-mails?? Some of his points are well taken(e.g. the Sleeping Cars being a big draw and revenue producer for the LD's).

I wonder if just the choir sees it?

 

[MrFSS]

I'm curious if J. Bruce Richardson sends any of his diatribes to his elected representatives or the Amtrak Board?? Or only to those who have signed up to receive his e-mails?? Some of his points are well taken(e.g. the Sleeping Cars being a big draw and revenue producer for the LD's).
I wonder if just the choir sees it?

Don't know the answer to your question, but I do know he answers email. I've written him and he promptly answered me. Send him one and see what happens.

 

[AmtrakWPK]

He does answer email. I sent him a minor correction once and he did respond quickly.

 

[Trogdor]

So, where does this rumor come from that the Horizon cars (which are currently going through a remanufacturing process) are supposed to be retired?

Funny how no source was quoted for that part. Just the "grapevine."

 

[WICT106]

Again, Fron The United Rail Passenger Alliance:

This Week at Amtrak; November 28, 2006

A weekly digest of events, opinions, and forecasts from

United Rail Passenger Alliance, Inc.

1526 University Boulevard, West, PMB 203

Jacksonville, Florida 32217-2006 USA

Telephone 904-636-6760, Electronic Mail [email protected]

http://www.unitedrail.org

Volume 3, Number 47

1) Memo To: Alex Kummant, Amtrak President and CEO

Subject: Please take a ride on your Sunset Limited

Mr. Kummant, we've all heard how pleased you were to ride the Coast

Starlight, and how there is a possibility the Starlight will regain its

rightful place as one of Amtrak's premier long distance trains. The

results of the Starlight come from the hard work of many dedicated Amtrak

employees, both onboard and in management and support positions, who have

worked many years to make sure this train represents everything a long

distance passenger train in America can represent.

There is another train, also based in Los Angeles, that needs your

attention and blessing. The Sunset Limited, which operates from the same

crew base and maintenance base as the Starlight, has long been Amtrak's

best/worst train. Those of us, including this writer, who worked long and

hard to make the Sunset the best train in Amtrak's long distance system

(including conceiving the groundbreaking 24 hour dining car concept and

trial runs, plus the Coast to Coast Adventure plan to address chronic

train delays due to host railroad congestion, and running a Sunset

version of the Pacific Parlour Car on occasion when a tour company paid

for the car and made it available to all sleeping car passengers).

The Sunset and its employees deserve your attention in a number of areas.

Foremost, the Sunset needs to return to its tracks east of New Orleans,

and come home to Florida. The gaping hole in Amtrak's national route

system is costing the company hundreds of thousands of dollars a year in

lost revenue not only from the Sunset itself, but connecting train

opportunities, as well.

As America's oldest, continuously operating named long distance train,

the Sunset serves important markets all long its route, including the

fringes of Phoenix, Tucson, El Paso, San Antonio, Houston, and New

Orleans, plus the Gulf Coast including Mobile and Pensacola, as well as

Florida' capital, Tallahassee. The Sunset is an important part of

Florida's tourism program, feeding passengers into Orlando, the world's

largest family vacation destination.

For too long, the Sunset has been burdened with most of the costs of

daily train operations, but it only provides tri-weekly service. As I am

sure you are personally aware, tri-weekly operation is the most expensive

way of operating a passenger train while providing some of the fewest

benefits for passengers and online cities and towns. When the Sunset runs

its full route between Los Angeles and Orlando, it takes seven train sets

to run daily service since it takes three nights travel time in each

direction and one night for a layover. We know it will require more

equipment, which you already have in storage in Beech Grove. The cost of

making this equipment roadworthy again is far less than the revenue it

will immediately begin to generate, plus with daily service, station,

management and infrastructure costs will decrease per passenger because

of more opportunities for more passenger to ride, and generate new

revenues.

History tells us that prior to the Sunset's extension to Florida in 1993,

Amtrak reservation centers received over 75,000 requests a year for train

service along the now-suspended Sunset route east of New Orleans. One can

only speculate now what those numbers are with the increased interest in

train travel.

Mr. Kummant, please take a ride on the Sunset Limited and see how

marvelous this train is as part of Amtrak's national system. The unique

scenery in the Southwest is mesmerizing, the onboard service is good, and

the route is impressive. An onboard survey done at the end of the 1990s

showed the upscale clientele which rode the Sunset, including on any

given day several passengers with doctorates, and a number of American

Express Gold Card members. These are people who are willing to take the

time to enjoy a pleasant rail journey, and are willing to spend the money

to book sleeping car space. As on many trains, the bedrooms on the Sunset

always sell out before the roomettes. Passengers are willing to pay the

fare for a first class train journey. You need to accommodate them with a

reinvigorated Sunset Limited.

Regarding the chronic tardiness of the Sunset, it's about par with the

Coast Starlight, perhaps a little less. A combination of telling

passenger in advance what to expect (as we did with the Coast to Coast

Adventure program), and providing dedicated good service onboard can turn

a tardy journey into an extended pleasant journey.

Please, sir, take a serious look at your Sunset Limited. You can make the

difference for this most worthy train. Here is a chart of information,

with information provided by the Amtrak Controller's Department on

October 7, 2004 (the last full year the Sunset Limited operated

normally).

Daily trains make 730 terminal departures a year (once a day, each

direction). Tri-weekly trains make 312 departures a year. When comparing

the tri-weekly Sunset Limited and Cardinal with the daily other long

distance fleet trains, on an apples-to-apples comparison, the trains

perform remarkably well financially. If these two trains were converted

to daily operation, providing more departure opportunities for

passengers, the Sunset Limited and Cardinal would perform at least as

well as other trains such as the Empire Builder, Southwest Chief,

California Zephyr, or Coast Starlight.

All figures are for FY 2004

Sunset Limited

Revenue Passenger Miles - 110,842,000

Passenger Miles per Train Mile - 131.1

Ridership - 96,400

Annual Farebox Revenue - $11,108,600

Passenger Mile Yield (cents per mile) - 10.02 cents

Load Factor - 59.0%

Average Length of Trip - 1,149 miles per passenger

Length of Route - 2,770 miles

Average Ridership per One Way Trip - 309

Extrapolated, if this were a daily train (estimated)

Revenue Passenger Miles - 259,341,850 (estimated)

Ridership - 225,551 (estimated)

Annual Farebox Revenue - $25,989,871 (estimated)

Cardinal

Revenue Passenger Miles - 37,442,000

Passenger Miles per Train Mile - 105.6

Ridership - 88,900

Annual Farebox Revenue - $4,410,900

Passenger Mile Yield (cents per mile) - 11.78 cents

Load Factor - 51.5%

Average Length of Trip - 421 miles per passenger

Length of Route - 1,147 miles

Average Ridership per One Way Trip - 285

Extrapolated, if this were a daily train (estimated)

Revenue Passenger Miles - 87,604,679 (estimated)

Ridership - 208,003 (estimated)

Annual Farebox Revenue - $10,320,375 (estimated)

Crescent

Revenue Passenger Miles - 145,466,000

Passenger Miles per Train Mile - 145.5

Ridership - 256,600

Annual Farebox Revenue - $22,255,800

Passenger Mile Yield (cents per mile) - 15.30 cents

Load Factor - 52.6%

Average Length of Trip - 567 miles per passenger

Average Ridership per One Way Trip - 352

Length of Route - 1,377 miles

Empire Builder

Revenue Passenger Miles - 337,836,000

Passenger Miles per Train Mile - 179.5

Ridership - 437,200

Annual Farebox Revenue - $39,130,700

Passenger Mile Yield (cents per mile) - 11.58 cents

Load Factor - 55.2%

Average Length of Trip - 773 miles per passenger

Average Ridership per One Way Trip - 599

Length of Route - 2,206 miles (Chicago to Seattle); 2,257 miles (Chicago

to Portland)

California Zephyr

Revenue Passenger Miles - 280,552,000

Passenger Miles per Train Mile - 157.5

Ridership - 335,800

Annual Farebox Revenue - $31,387,100

Passenger Mile Yield (cents per mile) - 11.19 cents

Load Factor - 54.3%

Average Length of Trip - 835 miles per passenger

Average Ridership per One Way Trip - 460

Length of Route - 2,438 miles

Southwest Chief

Revenue Passenger Miles - 312,645,000

Passenger Miles per Train Mile - 189.6

Ridership - 290,000

Annual Farebox Revenue - $31,736,300

Passenger Mile Yield (cents per mile) - 10.15 cents

Load Factor - 63.2%

Average Length of Trip - 1,078 miles per passenger

Average Ridership per One Way Trip - 397

Length of Route - 2,256 miles

Coast Starlight

Revenue Passenger Miles - 232,749,000

Passenger Miles per Train Mile - 228.8

Ridership - 415,600

Annual Farebox Revenue - $28,903,500

Passenger Mile Yield (cents per mile) - 12.42 cents

Load Factor - 61.5%

Average Length of Trip - 560 miles per passenger

Average Ridership per One Way Trip - 569

Length of Route - 1,389 miles

Note: Most common carriers consider a 65% load factor to be a full load;

at this point probably no endpoint-to-endpoint seats or accommodations

are available due to sell-out conditions. Seats would be available for

intermediate point travel on a random basis.

For comparison purposes, to determine the best investment of available

capital from the federal government, take the selected long distance

trains above, and compare them with the selected regional and short

distance trains, below. Make your own conclusions, based on how a select

few long distance trains generate revenue passenger miles, ridership per

trip, and average length of trips, versus the combined performance of NEC

and other regional services.

Acela NEC Service (All trains combined)

Revenue Passenger Miles - 458,129,000

Passenger Miles per Train Mile - 149.8

Ridership - 2,568,900

Annual Farebox Revenue - $294,654,400

Passenger Mile Yield (cents per mile) - 64.32 cents

Load Factor - 49%

Average Length of Trip - 178.3 miles per passenger

Length of Route - 457 miles

Metroliner (All trains combined)

Revenue Passenger Miles - 61,713,000

Passenger Miles per Train Mile - 112.3

Ridership - 397,600

Annual Farebox Revenue - $41,123,900

Passenger Mile Yield (cents per mile) - 66.64 cents

Load Factor - 36%

Average Length of Trip - 155.2 miles per passenger

Length of Route - 226 miles

NEC Regional (All trains combined)

Revenue Passenger Miles - 995,476,000

Passenger Miles per Train Mile - 180.9

Ridership - 6,405,100

Annual Farebox Revenue - $319,994,300

Passenger Mile Yield (cents per mile) - 32.14 cents

Load Factor - 44%

Average Length of Trip - 155.4 miles per passenger

Length of Route - 644 miles

Pacific Surfliner (All trains combined)

Revenue Passenger Miles - 194,932,000

Passenger Miles per Train Mile - 129.6

Ridership - 2,334,700

Annual Farebox Revenue - $33,834,100

Passenger Mile Yield (cents per mile) - 17.36 cents

Load Factor - 31%

Average Length of Trip - 83.1 miles per passenger

Length of Route - 351 miles

2) Amtrak makes the point itself about the importance of the Sunset

Limited running its full route from Los Angeles to Orlando. The following

information came from Amtrak's web site, this week.

[begin quote]

Importance of the Long-Distance Trains

The route through the Northern part of the country, the Empire Builder,

which carried over 437,000 passengers last year, is the only public

transportation service in many communities in North Dakota, Montana and

Northeastern Washington. For most of the states along the Empire Builder,

tourism serves as a major economic engine. A recent study identifying the

economic contributions of the Empire Builder demonstrated nearly $14

million in annual economic benefits to the state of Montana alone.

Long-distance trains also provide transportation during periods of severe

weather conditions or emergencies that stall other modes of

transportation. This was demonstrated after the September 11 terrorist

attacks that grounded air travel. Additionally, these trains provide a

strong economic benefit for the states and communities that they serve.

The majority of passengers on the long-distance trains do not travel

between the endpoints, but rather to any combination of city pairs. For

example, the Southwest Chief, which travels from Chicago to Los Angeles

via Kansas City, has 33 stops, creating 528 possible trip combinations.

Measuring Financial Performance of Long-Distance Trains

Most of Amtrak's expenditures are due to the immense capital needs of its

infrastructure, particularly the Northeast Corridor, not the operating

costs of the long-distance trains. These operating cost figures should be

cited with caution. Critics often refer to the "loss per passenger" of

the long-distance trains. However, each long-distance train passenger is

the equivalent of five short distance train passengers because of the

greater distances traveled. More importantly, these "loss per passenger"

figures often include not only the "avoidable" costs of operating

individual long-distance trains (such as the cost of diesel fuel) but all

of the shared costs that Amtrak incurs for the benefit of both

long-distance and corridor trains (such as the cost of mechanical

facilities, Amtrak's computer systems, and stations like Los Angeles

Union Station). Including shared costs produces inflated and misleading

"loss" figures, since these costs will not go away if long-distance

trains are eliminated.

Eliminating all long-distance trains would produce negligible cost

savings in the first few years because Amtrak must pay labor protection

to impacted employees. When these payments end after five years, the

savings would still be minimal - around $300 million annually, or about a

quarter of Amtrak's annual appropriation in 2004 and 2005. Eliminating

individual trains produces even fewer savings - most of the shared costs

of Amtrak's long-distance network, such as the costs of maintenance

facilities that serve multiple long-distance trains, would remain.

Additionally, Amtrak continues to make changes to its long-distance

trains that will improve revenue and finances for the system. Amtrak

exited from the mail and express business in 2004, resulting in shorter

and more convenient schedules, with reduced labor costs. The repair of

wreck-damaged equipment continues and will allow Amtrak to increase

capacity, and therefore revenues, on long-distance trains, which often

sell out. These changes should help further reduce the losses of

long-distance trains.

[End quote]

3) Word arrived at URPA about a good Amtrak travel experience at the

beginning of the Thanksgiving holiday last week.

[begin quote]

I arrived yesterday (Sunday, November 19th) in Jacksonville on No. 97

[The Silver Meteor]. I boarded in Trenton [New Jersey] where sleeping car

attendant "Naim'' pleasantly greeted me and welcomed me on board.

Contrary to the negative comments I've read about "Diner Light," it

turned out to be "Diner Medium-Heavy." The food was surprisingly good,

with a nice, well cooked pork chop, potato and broccoli. Ice cream ,

unfortunately, is now just a memory and bacon is gone from the breakfast

menu. The real disappointment, however, was the cheap imitation plastic

disposable plates and cups, instead of the nice china, a victim of

"Simplified Dining." Another victim was the lone cook, obviously

over-worked, but he did something I never saw before - he came out of the

kitchen, went from table to table asking everyone how the food is, are

you enjoying it and is it cooked just right? We all looked at each other

in amazement! The three waiters provided excellent, friendly service. I

wish I had written down their names.

The CSX trackage is smooth and 97 moved like a rocket on rails. Because

of minimal freight traffic overnight and a heavily padded schedule, we

arrived 15 minutes early!

By the way, the dining car still features nice silverware carefully

wrapped in a cloth napkin, but plastic utensils are probably next, with

paper napkins! My roomette was clean and the bed comfortable, but the

lack of hot water was annoying!

I could have flown and saved about $500, but I hate the airlines and the

dehumanizing, ****-like treatment when you check in - you have to take

off your shoes, pull down your pants and get rid of your toothpaste and

shampoo. On civilized Amtrak, however, my shoes stay on, my pants up and

I keep my shaving razor, toothbrush and nail clippers! Such is the state

of airline travel today in post-"911" America.

... Well, I'll be here in Jacksonville until Nov. 28 and am certain I'll

have a good return trip, but I have plenty of time to return, and am

hoping there's a disabled CSX freight ahead and we detour via Waycross!!!

Thank you for all the fine work you do at URPA and your great newsletter!

[End quote]

4) Here's the reverse of that story, this time involving the California

Zephyr.

[begin quote]

The California Zephyr, departing Chicago on Monday, November 20th, got

stuck in rural Iowa east of Osceola, behind a BNSF coal train derailment

-- for more than 10 hours. The local TV station quoted passengers as

saying that NO Amtrak crew could be found on board to give passengers any

information, all night long, and the 800 number operators were equally

clueless, or prevaricating, all night long, and then, when movement was

authorized past the wreck site, the driver and conductor had expired and

the delay was extended waiting for a relief crew.

No explanation yet why the Zephyr couldn't have advanced to the station

at Osceola for the wait. According to the local television station, at

some point, Amtrak did offer the stranded passengers complimentary food

and beverages.

Two hundred and fifty passengers were on board. Downline, 30 passengers

were bused between Denver and Grand Junction, Colorado, 72 passengers

from Salt Lake City to Sacramento, and 80 more passengers between Reno

and Sacramento.

Those numbers compare well to the pre-Thanksgiving crush load in the NEC

on Wondertrain Acela 2151 (of Wednesday, November 22nd) enroute from

Boston to Washington, DC, doing its 3 billion dollar job relieving the

gridlock on I-95 and at Logan airport by transporting all of 57

passengers, when it broke down at 9:47 A.M. near Kingston, Rhode Island

with a broken pantograph. Those 57 NEC passengers didn't have to sit in

the dark all night with no information or food, however, because they

were soon transferred to 2153, which, miraculously, had open seats to

handle all of them -- on the day before Thanksgiving, in the vital NEC.

[End quote]

5) Here's a dreary piece of news. Amtrak has launched a motion picture

marketing tie-in with the new Warner Brothers Pictures, "Unaccompanied

Minors."

Beyond the good taste factor of America's only passenger railroad doing a

joint promotion with a movie about children traveling alone at Christmas

and being stranded in an airport, it's the prizes that really show a lack

of understanding.

Grand prize for the promotion is four round-trip coach tickets to

anywhere Amtrak serves. Big whoop.

Going back to basics, we know travel awarded as prizes is not charged to

anyone's budget, so the four tickets cost nothing. The winner will simply

occupy otherwise vacant space. Let's presume the prize winner lives, say,

in West Virginia, and wants to go to Los Angeles and return for the

prize. That means boarding a coach in West Virginia, and traveling all

the way to Los Angeles and back (without intermediate stopovers,

according to the rules) ... in a coach. Keep in mind all of the

connection possibilities between West Virginia and Los Angeles offer

sleeping car accommodations (which fall under the same budget cost as

coach seats - nothing). Here Amtrak ha a great opportunity to promote its

best service - it's highest revenue producing service - and it's offering

four coach seats.

Is it possible the Amtrak marketing department, as dismal as it is, is

only thinking someone living on a corridor such as the NEC or the West

Coast corridors are going to win and only want to travel in a short

distance by coach? Does anyone in the Amtrak marketing department fully

think these things through?

By all accounts, this is another gross error and missed opportunity.

6) The Wall Street Journal and other August publications are reporting an

effort by passenger jet manufacturers Airbus and Boeing, as well as the

airlines they supply with planes, to raise customer satisfaction levels

and increase returning passenger levels by (gasp!) coming up with new

first class amenities and comforts, including better in-flight food

service. These people have figured out that while a bus with wings may

serve a part of the travel market, it doesn't work for all of the travel

market, and many passengers are willing to pay for better service and

improved amenities. Amtrak, are you listening? VIA Rail Canada figured

this out nearly 20 years ago.

7) Amtrak equipment check: As of November 23rd, Thanksgiving Day, here is

what Amtrak had available.

Fleet out of service, locomotives - 11.1%

Fleet out of service, passenger cars - 8.7%

System, passenger cars

Active - 1,344

Required - 1,074

Available - 1,227

Comparison, January 22, 2003

System, passenger cars

Active - 1,546

Available - 1,318

For those keeping score, that is 202 less cars in 2006 than in 2003.

Plus, we know there are over 750 passenger cars in storage at Beech Grove

and other locations, out of service. If Amtrak put all of its out of

service passenger equipment back in the fleet, ready for service, either

train lengths (and revenue streams) would be considerably larger, or many

routes that now have minimal once a day service could be increased to

twice daily service, plus, the Sunset Limited and Cardinal could be made

daily and given the opportunity to be financial successes instead of

whipping boys for Amtrak critics.

 

[MrFSS]

A weekly digest of events, opinions, and forecasts from

United Rail Passenger Alliance, Inc.

1526 University Boulevard, West, PMB 203

Jacksonville, Florida 32217-2006 USA

Telephone 904-636-6760, Electronic Mail [email protected]

http://www.unitedrail.org

Volume 3, Number 48

Founded three decades ago in 1976 by Austin M. Coates, Jr., URPA is a

nationally known policy institute that focuses on solutions and plans for

passenger rail systems in North America. Headquartered in Jacksonville,

Florida, URPA has professional associates in Minnesota, California,

Arizona, the District of Columbia, Texas, New York, and Tennessee. For

more detailed information, along with a variety of position papers and

other documents, visit the URPA web site at http://www.unitedrail.org.

URPA is not a membership organization, and does not accept funding from

any outside sources.

1) In years past, Amtrak in Chicago has struggled, often without success,

against the cruelties of harsh winter weather. It has often appeared that

like clockwork, Amtrak in Chicago has been caught totally unaware that

winter was coming, and preparations should have be made for the

convenience of passengers and personnel.

This year, Amtrak Chicago boss Don Saunders and his many employees appear

to have "gotten the drop" on Old Man Winter, as he blew in with a late

fall visit to the Midwest.

Here is a December 1st internal Amtrak report of the preparations made in

Chicago last week in preparation for the coming pre-Winter killer snow

and ice storm.

[begin quote]

Winter Storm Warning, North Central US and Great Lakes Region

The first winter storm of the season is projected to bring heavy snow

from the southern Plains to the Great Lakes region, including Chicago, IL

and the surrounding areas. Forecasts from the National Weather Service

have light snow beginning mid to late afternoon on November 30, with the

heaviest snow moving into this area during the early morning hours of

December 1, 2006. Total accumulation of 10 to 12 inches is forecast for

portions of Kansas, Arkansas, Missouri, Illinois, Indiana and Michigan by

the time the storm moves out of the area on December 1, however moderate

temperatures may limit total accumulation near the Great Lakes.

Terminal Preparation: In Chicago, sleet, freezing rain and heavy snow is

forecast. Preparation for this weather event began on the afternoon of

November 30, 2006. Snow removal equipment was deployed, salt shed fully

stocked, salt applied to platform areas and walkways, switch pots were

lit, and tractors were deployed on platforms. Clean up and storage of

material including cables and air hoses was performed to minimize

tripping hazards and potential damage by plows. Extra forces from all

departments were on duty during the overnight and morning hours, and

rooms were secured at a local hotel for temporary housing for yard and

road crews, On Board Service crews as well as other forces from various

departments as required.

All trains and other rolling stock equipment were put on power and doors

were closed to prevent snow accumulation in vestibules and other weather

related damage. Equipment will be kept in the facility or under sheds to

keep trains out of the weather as much as possible during layover.

In accordance with the winter plan, salt, brooms and extra food stock was

deployed on trains for passenger safety, comfort and convenience in the

event of unexpected delay. Vendors were contacted at outlying facilities

to ensure their preparedness for the approaching storm.

Management personnel from Engineering, Transportation, Mechanical and

Passenger Services are on duty during the overnight hours when this storm

is expected to arrive.

[End quote]

And, a follow-up from the same internal Amtrak reporting source, on

December 2nd.

[begin quote]

Winter Storm Warning, North Central US and Great Lakes Region

The first winter storm of the season in the Midwest is projected to bring

heavy snow from the southern Plains to the Great Lakes region, including

Chicago, IL and the surrounding areas. Heavy snow and ice conditions

occurred throughout the region.

In accordance with the winter plan, salt, brooms and extra food stock was

deployed on trains for passenger safety, comfort and convenience in the

event of unexpected delay. Vendors were contacted at outlying facilities

to ensure their preparedness for the approaching storm.

Train 300(01) was delayed operating between St. Louis and Alton due to

down trees and frozen switches. Train 302(01) coupled to 300(01) at Alton

and operated to Carlinville, where both trains were terminated when the

UPRR found extensive areas of downed trees between Carlinville and

Lincoln. Train 22(30) was operated to Carlinville and coupled to Trains

300(01) and 302(01). At Carlinville, the passengers were provided

alternate transportation to Chicago. A light locomotive was dispatched

from St. Louis, coupled to the three train sets and operated back to St.

Louis. At St. Louis, the equipment from Train 22(30) was turned and

serviced to represent Train 21(01), St. Louis to San Antonio. Trains

304(01) and 306(01) were cancelled, with alternate transportation

provided to Lincoln, where the passengers boarded equipment from Train

305(01).

Trains 301(01), 303(01), and 21(01) were able to operate from Chicago to

Lincoln, were they were terminated, due to the above mentioned

conditions. Alternate transportation from St. Louis was provided to the

passengers traveling between Lincoln and St. Louis. 90 passengers were

taken to the Logan County Emergency Center to await 2 additional buses

for St. Louis. Train 305(01) was also terminated at Lincoln and

passengers provided alternate transportation to St. Louis. Train 305(01)

equipment then coupled to Trains 301(01), 303(01), and 21(01) and

operated back to Chicago. Train 307(01) was operated to

Bloomington–Normal, terminated, and returned to Chicago. There were no

passengers traveling beyond Chicago.

The following service was cancelled on 12/02/06:

Trains 300/301/302/303(CHI-STL)/304(KCY-STL)/380/381/382.

Train 22(01) was canceled STL-CHI, with alternate transportation.

Delay: Bus 8304(30) Cancelled

Bus 8303(01) Cancelled

316(30) 7’00"

300(01) 1’55" STL, Equipment off 300(30)

2’00" WR-Wan

Terminated at CRV

301(01) Terminated at LCN

303(01) Terminated at LCN

304(01) Cancelled

306(01) Cancelled

307(30) 2’10"

Terminated at BNL

302(01) 41" STL, Equipment off 307(1)

2’00" WR-Wann

Terminated at CRV

22(30) Terminated at CRV

21(30) 55" Striking ice laden trees, hanging in ROW

26" PBF, repairing damaged ditch lights

21(01) Cancelled LCN-STL

380(01) 46" No transportation for crew from hotel; BNSF provided

transportation

2’22" Frozen switches, blowing & drifting snow

821(01) 45" Crew-rest off 820(30)/transportation problems from hotel

[End quote]

Plus, the follow-up from the same report for Sunday, December 3rd.

[begin quote]

Winter Storm Warning, North Central US and Great Lakes Region

The first winter storm of the season in the Midwest is projected to bring

heavy snow from the southern Plains to the Great Lakes region, including

Chicago, IL and the surrounding areas. Heavy snow and ice conditions

occurred throughout the region.

The following service was cancelled on 12/02/06:

Trains 300/301/302/303/304/305/306/307/313/314/316/380/381/382 with no

alternate transportation.

Train 22(01) was canceled STL-CHI, with alternate transportation, and

equipment turned at STL to operate for 21(02) STL-SAS.

Train 21(02) was canceled CHI-STL, with alternate transportation to STL

and train service from STL-SAS.

The following service was cancelled on 12/03/06:

300/301/302/305/306/307/313/316/303 SPI-STL/304 STL-SPI with no alternate

transportation.

Train 22(02) was canceled STL-CHI, with alternate transportation, and

equipment turned at STL to operate for 21(02) STL-SAS.

Train 21(03) was canceled CHI-STL, with alternate transportation to STL

and train service from STL-SAS.

Train 21(01) was terminated at Ft. Worth due to late operation.

Passengers were provided alternate transportation between Ft. Worth and

San Antonio. The equipment was turned and serviced to represent Train

22(03) Ft. Worth to Chicago.

Delays: 311(02) 45" Initial terminal Delay

5’11"

21(01) 4’07" STL-PBF

Terminated at FTW

22(01) 4’13" WNR-STL

[End quote]

The storm was so severe, it’s hard to understand just numbers. Here is a

narrative provided by an anonymous Amtrak employee.

[begin quote]

Not one of the Chicago-St. Louis or St. Louis-Chicago trains made it into

their final terminals on Friday, December 1st. Not ONE!

Lincoln Service train no. 301 made it as far as Elkhart, Illinois (just

north of Springfield), where the UP dispatcher told them there was a

"telephone pole across the tracks" ahead, and then apparently could not

be contacted for over 3 hours. Lincoln Service train no. 303 (with a

newly promoted conductor working by himself) pulled up behind them and

eventually coupled up, then dragged the whole thing back to Lincoln,

Illinois. The train crews were told busses were on the way, and had told

their passengers to prepare to board busses, but they had not showed up

yet as of 8:30 P.M. Texas Eagle train no. 21 was advancing to couple up

to the combined train nos. 301-303 train sets; final disposition to be

determined.

Account Kansas City Mule train no. 316 (of November 30th departure)

arrived St. Louis 5:30 A.M. (due in at 10:10 P.M.) and crew would not be

rested to work Kansas City Mule train no. 311 (01), a conductor (train

operated with a conductor only) was pulled off his regular assignment and

train no. 311 barely departed St. Louis on time. The train departed St.

Louis with a dozen UP relief crews, to be dropped off where UP freight

trains had been sitting since their crews' Hours of Service expired.

That lone conductor got off at Jefferson City, Missouri to work Ann

Rutledge train no. 304 back to St. Louis, and ran out on Hours of Service

at Webster Groves, Missouri after following an eastbound coal train to

Kirkwood; picking up stranded UP freight crews along the way; and sitting

for three hours waiting for UP freight trains out of St. Louis that never

showed up. Train 304 finally arrived St. Louis about seven hours late,

but most of the passengers on 304 had given up and got off at Kirkwood,

anyway.

More than an hour of that delay was caused by a frozen compressor on AMTK

34 [locomotive] that had to be thawed out; the rest was due to delays on

the railroad enroute.

On Saturday morning, December 2nd:

Two routes out of Chicago ... St. Louis and Quincy ... were in a major

state of meltdown. Amtrak Central Division Operations set up conference

calls one after another to try and figure a way out of the morass, but

problems kept cropping up. Everything was going wrong: crew shortages in

Chicago, both road and yard; and in St. Louis and Kansas City. A shortage

of operable engines in Chicago. Equipment out of position at Chicago and

St. Louis.

Just on the UP Springfield Sub there were 34 locations without power

Saturday morning, and 45 grade crossings under "stop and protect" orders.

On the ex-Missouri Pacific tracks west of St. Louis, UP freight trains

were tied down all over the place with Amtrak stuck in that mess.

And THEN:

Despite what Amtrak Central Division wanted to do, UP refused to accept

the Texas Eagle, train no. 21 (2). It was bustituted to St. Louis and the

equipment at St. Louis from northbound Texas Eagle train no. 22 was

turned to a new southbound train no. 21. The crew rotation went out the

window; patch crews are being used to run the trains.

There was an extra set of equipment in Chicago that someone suggested be

sent out to see how bad things are, and even a crew to operate it. It

even had an operable cab car, so they could turn around and go home if it

got THAT bad. That plan went on hold until it could be discussed at yet a

fourth late afternoon conference call; and was ultimately abandoned.

Meanwhile the St. Louis-Kansas City service was cancelled, with the MoPac

blocked up solid with UP trains and no more crews, as they needed the

ones they had to dogcatch [substitute for] the ones yesterday, just to

bring them in to terminals.

What else could they do? Punt?

Later Saturday, it looked like a punt:

[From the Amtrak computerized reservations system]

******* NATIONAL OPERATIONS CENTER ADVISORY ***************

ISSUED 02DEC06 WILMINGTON, DE

DUE TO EXTREME WEATHER CONDITIONS, AMTRAK HAS BEEN FORCED TO TEMPORARILY

SUSPEND SERVICE BETWEEN CHI-STL. THE RECENT STORM THAT PASSED THROUGH THE

AREA HAS LEFT PORTIONS OF THE UPRR MAINLINE WHICH WE OPERATE OVER

CURRENTLY IMPASSIBLE.

And, if that was not enough ...

Illinois Zephyr train no. 383 (1) was terminated at Mendota, Illinois due

to mechanical issues on AMTK 169 [locomotive]. No traction; head end

power remained okay so at least the passengers didn't freeze. BNSF was to

drop a freight unit to rescue, but it turned out they could not do so

because that BNSF engine had mechanical problems, also. No buses

available. Carl Sandburg train no. 382 (1) coupled to train no. 383 and

they operated combined as train no. 382 (1), back to Chicago, arriving 3

hours and 40 minutes late. Passengers off train no. 383 were put up

overnight in hotels.

[End quote]

Do you ever wonder what it costs Amtrak (and/or you, the taxpayer when

the federal government is coughing up free federal monies for Amtrak

subsidies) to pick up the inconvenience tabs for stranded or

mis-connected passengers due to late or stranded trains?

On November 30th, seven passengers arriving Chicago on the Empire Builder

missed their connecting trains. A combination of taxis, commercial bus

service, and a charter van got the passengers to their final

destinations, at a total expense of $572.00 to Amtrak.

That same day, 60 passengers arriving Chicago on the California Zephyr

missed their connecting trains. Fifty-four passengers were housed in 42

hotel rooms for a total of $4,777.50. The cost of meals was $1,639.00. A

combination of taxis, commercial bus service and a charter bus was

$2,165.00, for a total of $8,580.50 for one late train.

On December 2nd in Chicago, 29 Texas Eagle passengers missed their

connections, for a total cost of $3,641.11 for hotels, meals, and other

transportation.

That same day in Chicago, two passengers from the Southwest Chief also

missed connections, for a total cost of $199.17 for hotels, meals, and

other transportation.

It is obvious to see the incentive for any business to operate as

promised, when dealing with passengers. This is what happens when host

railroads run Amtrak trains late, or Amtrak equipment plagued with

mechanical failures due to internal problems causes train delays.

3) If you haven't bought a Christmas card to send to former Amtrak

President and CEO and now New Jersey Transit Executive Director George D.

Warrington, go out and find the largest, most lavish card you can find

and spend whatever postage is necessary for him to receive the card

before Christmas Eve.

Mr. Warrington, possibly one of the worst presidents Amtrak ever suffered

under, is helping to float the idea of a business group supporting a

compact of states and the federal government (not Amtrak) assuming

ownership of the infrastructure of Amtrak Northeast Corridor. Called the

Northeast Corridor Action Plan, Amtrak would still manage the corridor,

but not be responsible for maintenance of way or upgrades to the track

and other infrastructure.

You may recall just a short year ago, when TWA reported this idea as

coming from the Amtrak Board of Directors, there was a storm of media

criticism and unnecessary posturing by NEC politicians how the Republic

would fall if Amtrak did not own the NEC and continue to pour countless

billions of dollars into the rehabilitation of the NEC for the

convenience and comfort of commuters and travelers in the Northeast. Many

were sure this plan was the result of Evil Republicans out to

systematically destroy Amtrak and all that America stands for. Now that

Democrats will control Congress starting next month for the next two

years, a positive, guarded reception to the idea seems to be forthcoming

from everyone, except, of course, Amtrak itself.

Quoted on November 29th on NorthJersey.com (a coalition of Northern New

Jersey newspapers), Cliff Black, one of Amtrak’s most respected

spokesmen, said, "A change in ownership won't change the underlying

funding needs for the corridor or the process to obtain that funding - it

just sidesteps the issue."

Well, yes, Mr. Black, it won't change the funding needs, but it will put

the funding needs in a clear spotlight, in a defined category to be

determined by Congress and supporting states, and it will keep that

argument away from the fundamental issue of Amtrak, which is operating a

viable national system, not the NEC and a subsidiary of the NEC, known as

the Amtrak national system.

Contained in Amtrak’s November 15th progress report to Congress, for the

fiscal year ending September 30, 2006, Amtrak reported total operating

revenue of $2,502,000,000, including $139,400,000 in state support, and

$485,100,000 in federal support. Whoops! If Amtrak only received $485

million in operating support, that means for the federal monies which

flowed into Amtrak, more than another $800 million went into other areas

(that translates to mostly into the NEC infrastructure). Would not it be

better if Amtrak’s annual federal budget begfest was for around half a

billion dollars instead of the usual figure of three times that much? The

incoming Democrat chairman of the House of Representatives railroad

committee which oversees Amtrak says he wants to give more money to

Amtrak so it won't always be struggled to meet payroll and buy paper

towels for restrooms. If Amtrak is receiving around $1.3 billion a year

now, and less than $500 million of that is going to operations for all

trains (including NEC operations), does that mean he wants to give more

money to NEC states for Amtrak infrastructure there? If the NEC was taken

away from Amtrak, the needs of Amtrak on a national basis would be much

clearer. The debate would be friendlier, and more meaningful.

The scenario of NEC states in conjunction with the federal government

taking over the NEC infrastructure is perfect for Amtrak, and is probably

another step in a long process wisely began by the Amtrak Board of

Directors in 2005 to allow Amtrak to be a successful company without the

millstone of the NEC’s infrastructure costs. Many will recall this was

one of the fundamental disagreements between mercifully departed Amtrak

President and CEO David Gunn and the board.

It’s amazing how the "not invented here" disease can be quickly cured

when the same proposal comes from the NEC states instead of the Amtrak

board. Whoever has the final plan for this great idea should take a medal

out of petty cash. Everyone will win with this proposal, especially

Amtrak, so it can rightfully focus on the national system, and not almost

exclusively on the NEC.

3) CLARIFICATION: Last week, TWA reported on Amtrak’s active and inactive

fleet of passenger equipment. Some readers did not understand Amtrak owns

two fleets of equipment. The first fleet, what Amtrak calls its "Active"

fleet, are all of the cars assigned to equipment pools for the operation

of current trains, and as "protect" equipment, to be used when regularly

assigned equipment is either out of service for routine maintenance or

needed because equipment may be isolated away from a terminal and

unavailable for use due to a freight train derailment, adverse weather

conditions, or other unforeseen difficulty.

There is a second pool of equipment, consisting of Amtrak’s current

models of cars, that is not on the "Active" roster. This equipment is

considered surplus by Amtrak, and has either been wrecked and not

repaired, allowed to fall out of required inspection routines, or not

considered necessary for the normal operations of the railroad. This pool

consists of about 750 pieces of equipment (and does not include counts of

any Heritage fleet equipment that was recently disposed of by Amtrak).

The active fleet consists of 1,344 cars of all types including

Superliners, Viewliners, Amfleet, Horizon, Heritage diners and crew cars,

and other equipment.

4) It’s lonely here in Florida, looking in vain westward down the CSX

tracks, hoping, just hoping, a Sunset Limited may be coming along, since

CSX released the track to Amtrak April 1, 2006 for use by the Sunset

Limited east of New Orleans after it was repaired from damage by

Hurricane Katrina.

It’s hard to understand how Amtrak can run bus connections from

hurricane-damaged areas such as Mobile, Alabama, but can't run a train

over a spectacularly rebuilt piece of railroad track. One has to presume

that for a certain element of the population, being in the bus business

may be considered a plus. However, if you're in the train business, like

Amtrak, being in the bus business is a poor second choice for passenger

convenience and comfort.

If you are reading someone else’s copy of This Week at Amtrak, you can

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All other correspondence should be addressed to

[email protected]

J. Bruce Richardson

President

United Rail Passenger Alliance, Inc.

1526 University Boulevard, West, PMB 203

Jacksonville, Florida 32217-2006 USA

Telephone 904-636-6760

[email protected]

http://www.unitedrail.orgmailto:[email protected]

 

[MrFSS]

A weekly digest of events, opinions, and forecasts from

United Rail Passenger Alliance, Inc.

1526 University Boulevard, West, PMB 203

Jacksonville, Florida 32217-2006 USA

Telephone 904-636-6760, Electronic Mail [email protected]

http://www.unitedrail.org

Volume 3, Number 49

Founded three decades ago in 1976 by Austin M. Coates, Jr., URPA is a

nationally known policy institute that focuses on solutions and plans for

passenger rail systems in North America. Headquartered in Jacksonville,

Florida, URPA has professional associates in Minnesota, California,

Arizona, the District of Columbia, Texas, New York, and Tennessee. For

more detailed information, along with a variety of position papers and

other documents, visit the URPA web site at http://www.unitedrail.org.

URPA is not a membership organization, and does not accept funding from

any outside sources.

1) Last week, here at This Week, we noted for the previous week how

Amtrak Chicago boss Don Saunders and his many employees appeared to have

"gotten the drop" on Old Man Winter, as he blew into the Midwest during a

late fall visit.

We noted that in years past, Amtrak in Chicago has struggled, often

without success, against the cruelties of harsh winter weather. It has

often appeared that like clockwork, Amtrak in Chicago has been caught

totally unaware that winter was coming, and preparations should have be

made for the convenience of passengers and personnel.

It can be said with some surety Mr. Saunders and his Chicago operations

employees did what they were supposed to do to be prepared for the storm.

It's too bad the folks at Amtrak's National Operations Center in

Wilmington, Delaware didn't do as well as Mr. Saunders to keep things

going for the benefit of Amtrak's passengers and crews who were battling

the elements. Mr. Saunders got the trains out of the terminals and on the

road. It's what happened then that things went far awry.

2) With the kind permission of The State Journal-Register newspaper of

Springfield, Illinois, which has been a leader in Illinois covering

Amtrak issues, we reprint two news reports of Friday, December 8, 2006.

[begin quote]

Ordeal on the tracks

When storm hit, hundreds rued choosing Amtrak

By PETE SHERMAN

STAFF WRITER

Published Friday, December 08, 2006

Friday afternoon at Chicago's Union Station, Jason Moulton bought his

train ticket home to Springfield.

He had come a long way - from Milan, Italy. Moulton, 26, had been

working in France the past six months learning the wine trade. He was

looking forward to a relaxing trip home. Amtrak seemed like a good way

to finish the journey.

At the ticket counter, an Amtrak clerk informed Moulton that his train

to Springfield, set to leave at 5 p.m., would make its final stop in

Lincoln. From there, passengers would take buses to their destinations,

ranging from Springfield to St. Louis.

Fine, Moulton thought. He knew the weather was bad and figured there'd

be adjustments.

Roughly 15 minutes before boarding time, however, plans changed again.

An announcement was made that the train would, after all, make its way

to Springfield.

At that point, he had a feeling that "a lot of weird things are going on

with Amtrak today."

What Moulton did not know - along with, apparently, every Amtrak

officialin Chicago - was that the three trains already headed south from

Union Station were struggling. Ice-covered tree limbs and power lines

had fallen over tracks in central Illinois. Electric switches weren't

working. Conductors were stopping the trains so crews could get out and

manually switch tracks and remove debris.

None of those trains made it past Lincoln, where Amtrak failed to

provide enough buses for everyone.

But that was only one incident among many that eventually made a bad

situation an ordeal for hundreds of passengers in the four trains headed

south from Chicago.

For the first half of the trip, Moulton's train kept a modest, steady

pace. But starting at Bloomington, it slowed to a crawl.

Between 8:30 and 9 p.m., Moulton said, the conductor announced a "90

percent" chance the train would stop in Lincoln, as Moulton originally

was told.

Moulton and the other passengers also learned the three trains ahead of

them were stuck near Lincoln.

Brian and Kate Flanagan of Evanston were on the first train, which had

left Chicago at 7 a.m. - more than half a day earlier. With their two

children, Brian, 20 months, and Mary Kate, one month, the Flanagans were

on their way to a wedding in St. Louis.

About the same time Moulton and his fellow passengers were re-informed

they would be stopping in Lincoln, the Flanagan family and fellow

passengers on the first train had been stuck on the other side of town

for hours.

"We had moved from a cornfield south of Lincoln, where we had been for

seven, eight hours," Brian Flanagan said by phone Thursday. "We rolled

back to Lincoln. We sat there for - time blurs - hours."

Out his window, Flanagan could see the buses waiting. He and his wife

also were running out of baby formula for Mary Kate. Many passengers

wanted to get off the train, but Amtrak employees wouldn't let them.

"I had had it by that point," Flanagan said. "We were 14 hours into it.

I lost my patience."

But when Flanagan approached an Amtrak employee, demanding information,

"I was told they weren't on duty anymore," he said.

"Quite frankly, that wasn't the answer I was looking for."

Federal law apparently prohibits Amtrak employees from working longer

than 12-hour shifts unless OK'd by superiors. Having passed that mark,

and with no orders to keep working, several train employees called it

quits.

On Moulton's train, the delayed passengers also were growing more

frustrated.

It didn't help when, at one stopping point, the conductor came into

Moulton's car and began shouting at a woman sitting next to him, accusing

her of dialing 911 to complain, he said.

According to Logan County Emergency Management Agency officials, at

least two passengers traveling in the four trains did call 911. But this

woman wasn't one of them, Moulton said.

"The conductor began screaming at this woman - 'Why did you call 911?'"

Moulton said. "It bothered a lot of us who knew she never made the phone

call. She had a right to call 911, anyway."

Things got worse.

As Moulton's train attempted to pull closer to the Lincoln station, it

stalled. Then the power went out. And, along with it, the heat.

"It was for a good 45 minutes to an hour," Moulton said. "It started

getting cold."

Moulton said the passengers could see it wasn't a long walk to the

station, where buses were waiting.

"Then the conductor made a point of announcing that anyone leaving the

train will be arrested," Moulton said. The conductor even enlisted the

snack car cashier to report passengers going AWOL.

When that employee left her station, "mob mentality set in," Moulton

said.

"The passengers started raiding the snack car. It was getting a little

bit out of hand. We were hungry and thirsty. People took it upon

themselves to go for the bottled water, at least."

About 9 p.m., Flanagan, desperate to get baby formula for Mary Kate,

dialed 911 on his cell phone. Another passenger, calling about someone

needing insulin, also dialed 911.

Both calls made their way to Dan Fulscher, director of the Logan County

EMA.

"People were on the train for 15 hours," Fulscher recalled Wednesday.

"They needed help. I go, 'OK.'"

One of the first things Fulscher did was dial Amtrak's emergency hotline.

"I was put on hold twice, then disconnected. On the third call, in an

elevated voice, I let them know who I am. That I need to talk to who's

in charge. They put me with some guy from Philadelphia. He confirms

three trains are stopped somewhere in central Illinois."

Fulscher also called the Illinois Emergency Management Agency's

operation center in Springfield.

"(Springfield) was astonished they had not been made aware that

passengers in trains were stranded in the storm," he said.

The Amtrak official told Fulscher that, of the three stuck trains, only

one was near Lincoln.

Of course, there were four trains. All at Lincoln.

Approaching 10 p.m., Fulscher and his Logan County crew made their way

to the Lincoln depot to help passengers from the first train, the one

that had left Chicago at 7 a.m.

At roughly the same time, local law enforcement got on Moulton's train

and began arguing with the conductor.

They wanted her name. She wanted theirs. The officers asked the

conductor what authority she had to arrest anyone who wanted to leave.

The conductor said she was following Amtrak policy, that it was illegal.

Then the officers accused the conductor of kidnapping the passengers.

"At that point, the conductor 'wakes up,' " said Moulton, who tried to

record the confrontation with his video camera. "At the same time this

is happening, family members are coming up to our train and screaming

for their relatives. 'That's my daughter! Get her off this train now!'"

"Then people start jumping off the train."

Attempts to reach the conductor through Amtrak were unsuccessful.

Moulton decided to remain on the train. Eventually, the power returned

and the train gradually made it to a crossing near the depot.

Fulscher's Logan County emergency fleet still believed he and his team

were arriving to help passengers from just one train.

"I see people coming off the train, believing this is all there is," he

said. Then he saw others appearing from the darkness behind the first

train, some having walked with their luggage for blocks.

"I look at some Amtrak employees and say, 'I thought your people said

one train,'" Fulscher recalled.

"No, there's four," they told him.

The conductor from Moulton's train met with Fulscher and demanded he

help her establish a head count.

"That's something you should be telling me," Fulscher shot back.

What he said next differs slightly based on various accounts. But all

versions agree in basic form.

"You're in Logan County now," Fulscher said, in more words or less. "And

we're taking charge of these passengers."

The buses that were supposed to be waiting for Moulton and the other

passengers on his train had left by the time they made their way to the

boarding area.

"We're not only stuck there. We had no place to go," Moulton said.

Then, he spotted the emergency management team.

"Maybe 10 vehicles, an ambulance, a pickup, Ford Broncos," Moulton said.

"Lincoln had banded together to transport us in our moment of need."

Fulscher and his crew gathered the remaining dozens of passengers from

Moulton's train and took them to the county's emergency safety complex

in Lincoln. Downstairs, he let them know he'd do his best to get them

home. Moulton video-recorded Fulscher's speech. On Moulton's tape, you

can hear a man off camera calling Fulscher, "Santa Claus."

"Mainly they wanted to hear someone tell them what's going on," Fulscher

said.

About 3 a.m., as his team worked on finding transportation, Fulscher

woke up the owner of a local pizzeria, who quickly baked up a dozen or

so pizzas. Fulscher woke up a local school bus driver and commandeered a

nursing home shuttle bus.

Eventually, he got enough vehicles lined up to get people on the road

again, providing a police escort just in case. When the passengers

arrived in Springfield, the emergency crews helped scrape ice off the

cars the passengers had parked there days before.

Approaching 6 a.m., Moulton finally arrived in Springfield. Another

passenger offered him a ride. It took them 45 minutes to scrape all the

ice off the car. Moulton didn't get to bed until 7:30 a.m. - 2:30 p.m.

in Milan.

"I'm astonished between the difference in European trains and Amtrak,"

Moulton said. "I haven't taken Amtrak in years. This is most likely my

last time."

Flanagan and his family had arrived in Springfield hours earlier, but

they were too late to make the wedding. They stayed overnight in a hotel

and rented a car to drive to St. Louis on Saturday. They at least made a

post-wedding party.

Like Moulton, Flanagan said his regard for Amtrak isn't high.

"To some degree, I have an ax to grind over Amtrak," he said. "If they

look bad, I'm not concerned."

Pete Sherman can be reached at 788-1539 or [email protected].

All Content © The State Journal-Register

[Mr. Sherman's follow-up article, the same day.]

Amtrak responds

By PETE SHERMAN

STAFF WRITER

Published Friday, December 08, 2006

Amtrak officials say they're trying to figure out what caused a massive

breakdown in communication during the snow and ice storm that stranded

four trains with hundreds of passengers for roughly 14 hours near

Lincoln last Friday.

Passengers were uninformed about the delays, and some were told they'd

be arrested if they tried to leave the train once it had stalled. After

12 hours in the train, some staff claimed they were off duty and

couldn't help. At least two passengers dialed 911 from inside their

train cars.

At one point, a set of passengers, noticing their snack car had been

abandoned, began to raid it.

By the time all the passengers had disembarked at Lincoln, dozens were

left stranded because Amtrak provided too few buses to finish the trek.

Eventually, a squad from Logan County's Emergency Management Agency took

away Amtrak's control of passengers.

"We want to make it clear to passengers that we're greatly concerned

about what they experienced that night," said Amtrak spokesman Marc

Magliari. "We're planning a series of debriefings to come up with

lessons learned from this experience."

"We also very much appreciate Logan County emergency services and law

enforcement," he said. "It was not a situation we could have

anticipated."

Amtrak employees are trained to follow specific safety policies,

Magliari said.

"We don't want people getting off of a train when it's not safe to," he

said. "It's a pretty big step from some of these cars to the ground,

especially in a snowstorm. Some of these tracks are near steep

embankments. It's not a safe place to get off."

Still, Magliari acknowledges that Amtrak has much to improve upon.

"We need to improve communication. We do want to know which employees

preformed well and which ones didn't," he said.

Magliari said there also are plans to assess Amtrak's training for

emergencies.

"Later this month, we'll be meeting with the Illinois Emergency

Management Agency and the Illinois Department of Transportation to find

out better what the communication and sheltering resources are, should

something like this occur again," he said.

Anyone with concerns about Amtrak service, in general or on Friday in

particular, can call its public relations office at (800) 872-7245, or

(800) USA-RAIL. The automated operator can be bypassed simply by saying

"agent."

Pete Sherman can be reached at 788-1539 or [email protected].

All Content © The State Journal-Register

[End quote]

3) The above is pretty awful stuff. Three Amtrak presidents ago (It's

hard to keep track of all of them), in the 1990s, Amtrak's long and

short distance trains were broken up into business groups, versus

today's divisions. The change to divisions was "supposed" to make Amtrak

more like a railroad, but that line of reasoning escapes everyone who

knows anything about passenger service or basic customer service.

Under today's system of divisions, managers of each division are

responsible for all Amtrak trains in their territory. They are

responsible for only those trains in their territory. Once the train

enters another division, their responsibility for that train disappears.

CNOC (Amtrak's central national ops center in Wilmington, Delaware) is

supposed to be the central coordinating authority for all trains, crews,

and passenger needs. They are the ones who are supposed to contract for

busses, handle emergency situations, and make sure things go smoothly.

If something happens on the Northeast Corridor where CNOC is located,

the problem is often solved quickly. If something happens in what CNOC

considers bow and arrow country, which is defined as west of Harrisburg,

Pennsylvania, and south of Washington, D.C., Amtrak crews are often left

up to their own devices to solve problems beyond the minimal help

provided by CNOC.

Under the old product line system, there were general managers of each

business group, and individual product line directors (managers) who

were responsible for a single long distance train (or groups of short

distance trains) every minute each train was rolling over the road. The

product line directors had service managers at each terminal, plus at

critical points along the way who kept constant watch on crews and train

progress. When a situation like what above happened, it was up to a

product line director, and when necessary, the help of a general

manager, to make sure all passengers were taken care of, and problems

were resolved.

Clearly, two things are evident. One, the current system doesn't work,

based on the number of reports this year in TWA which have highlighted

so many service failures by CNOC. Second, somebody needs to go back to

"owning" these trains, and be responsible for them all of the time.

Today, no one is held accountable for failures. Product line directors

and general managers were accountable, and it showed. Personal

responsibility is a good thing. Amtrak needs more personal

responsibility among its managers.

If you are reading someone else's copy of This Week at Amtrak, you can

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All other correspondence should be addressed to

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Jacksonville, Florida 32217-2006 USA

Telephone 904-636-6760

[email protected]

http://www.unitedrail.org

mailto:[email protected]

 

[AmtrakWPK]

The situation described in those news and eyewitness reports borders on criminal negligence as I see it. The dispatchers on the host railroad undoubtedly knew where those trains were, and that they were basically stranded, with passengers on board, and they were abundantly aware of the prevailing environmental (weather) conditions. When and what was the communication (if any) between those dispatchers and Amtrak NOC? If there WAS communication between those two entities that established the location of those trains and the fact that they were stranded with passengers, where and what (if any) was the communication from NOC to deal with it? If anything, Amtrak should have been the ones in contact with the local emergency agencies. Somebody, or several somebodies, need to be looking for new employment after that fiasco, and NOC and the Board need to send up prayers of gratitude that their incompetence didn't result in anyone's death.

Just out of curiosity, just what exactly does the Hours of Service law say about situations where the safety of life and property is in direct jeopardy but time has run out? The pilot in command of an aircraft, small plane or airliner, in an emergency, has the authority to basically throw out any and all FAA regulations regarding the operation of that aircraft that the pilot determines is necessary under the circumstances, in order to save lives. Is there a corollary to that in the rail Hours of Service law?

 

[AmtrakFan]

This is very disturbing with how CNOC and Amtrak handled it. The Conductor who wanted to arrest the Passengers for leaving needs to be shown the door. Stories like these make me question my support of Amtrak, I believe it is a good thing that these stories get out to the press for the fact that Amtrak NEEDS to learn from these apperntly they haven't.

 

[frj1983]

This is very disturbing with how CNOC and Amtrak handled it. The Conductor who wanted to arrest the Passengers for leaving needs to be shown the door. Stories like these make me question my support of Amtrak, I believe it is a good thing that these stories get out to the press for the fact that Amtrak NEEDS to learn from these apperntly they haven't.

Disturbing to say the least,

If Amtrak was already having problems with previous trains, why did it send out more??

Why did UP allow more trains out on it's tracks if others were having problems?? I will probably be taken to task for this, but I'm sorry, EVEN trains are not all weather conveyance...they too can be pole-axed by the weather...the story makes my point.

These trains should have been canceled and the passengers had their money refunded....they would have understood at this point. At least they could have remained in Chicago, warm, dry, and fed. I also agree with AmtrakWPK, once the situtation becomes critical, the hours of service law should automatically be suspended. And by the way, who was going to be doing the arresting? the foolish conductor and her crew of "it's not my problem?" Do you think the police would have arrested anyone in this situation?

The sad thing about this, is that each of the people who had a bad experience will tell others and the bad experience will mushroom into lack of passengers and lack of support from the public. I am saddened and angry by this story and I hope that Andrew Kummant will be kicking some butt, preferably starting with this train crew.