URPA Newsletter

[MrFSS]

This Week at Amtrak; June 14, 2007

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 4, Number 25

Founded over three decades ago in 1976 by the late 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, and New York. 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) There is ample evidence the dog continues to eat Amtrak's homework.

Russ Jackson of California, master communicator and pretty good

photographer, and one of URPA's earliest denizens, made a personal survey

of Sunset Limited "passenger stations" in the Southwest. Mr. Jackson also

shares his skills with the California RailPAC group and is the retired

editor of the esteemed Western Rail Passenger Review. The commentary

below is in part featured on www.railpac.org with accompanying color

photographs of the "station" sites.

As you read Mr. Jackson's account of his survey, keep in mind one of the

main reasons Amtrak cites for not restoring the long missing Sunset

Limited east of New Orleans is a lack of station facilities because of

damage from Hurricane Katrina, now almost two full years ago, late in the

summer of 2005. Here is Mr. Jackson's account.

[begin quote]

A tale of three Sunset Limited flag stop "stations" and a very late

train!

By Russell Jackson

Benson, Arizona; Lordsburg and Deming, New Mexico

Note: Color photos of the stations described below accompany this report

on www.railpac.org

Sunset Limited on time performance has been 19.1% since Oct. 1, 2006.

Another major problem for that train happened on May 3, 2007 when Amtrak

train No. 2, the eastbound Sunset Limited, was 12 PLUS hours late east of

Tucson, Arizona. This writer was on a road trip this time, and a call to

Amtrak's automated reservation voice, "Julie," found No. 2 would arrive

at Benson, Arizona, at 1:57 P.M. instead of 2:20 A.M. We were on target

to arrive in that town, the location of the very successful Kartchner

Caverns State Park, at about that time, so we parked and waited. And

waited.

Sometimes the view from the ground gives a better account than from the

train. Unknown to us at the time was the reason for the long delay, which

was a derailment of the train on Union Pacific's Guasti siding, 5 miles

east of Ontario, California, the day before, and we were waiting for a

"makeup" train which departed Los Angeles at 1:42 A.M.

This is the scene we found in Benson: A shack with the word "Benson" and

an Amtrak logo sign bent so it was almost unreadable, a car containing

folks who intend to board the train enroute to Michigan, and a lady in

another car expecting arriving passengers from Los Angeles who tells us

that the UP container train we see parked on the track the passenger

train would have to be on had been there since she arrived at 12:30 P.M.

It was still dangerously blocking two signaled crossings in town,

including one just to the left of station where the gates were down and

the bells a-ringing.

Even if the Sunset arrived at 2:00 on the adjoining track how can these

passengers get to the train? While we waited a boy climbed across the

couplers, a very dangerous thing to do. At 2:27 "Julie" informed us the

train won't arrive until 3:15, so we decided not to wait for it, and

headed for Tucson. At least the Amtrak logo is on the shack, but NO

information about how to contact Amtrak or what the shack is. In 2004-05

there were 1,492 passengers to/from here. We learned the train finally

arrived in Benson at 3:55 P.M.

WHAT COULD BE at Benson ... The new Benson Chamber of Commerce Visitors

Center is located just east of the "station." The building is in the

style of the old Southern Pacific train stations, has full facilities,

and is staffed. The lady on duty said, "No, this isn't the station. They

stop at that 'lean-to' over there."

When No. 2 departs Benson its next stop is Lordsburg, New Mexico, about

an hour later. Again, there is only a small railroad shack with the word

Lordsburg on it, but NO Amtrak information. The tracks are quite a hike

across an unpaved yard vehicle area, there is no platform to mark where

the train stops, and yet, 304 passengers used this station in 2004-05.

Another hour later, No. 2 arrives at Deming. To get to this "station"

from town requires a circuitous trip through an underpass, a right turn,

travel a few blocks, turn right again, and re-cross all the tracks

without any signs saying how to get there. When you do get "there" you

find two cheap benches next to a green rail logo sign and NO Amtrak

information in sight. Behind the benches is a westbound one-way I-10

off-ramp. Deming is the center of UP's massive double-track project that

will soon make the line between Tucson and El Paso a "speedway." We

assume the Sunsets load passengers at the road crossing, as there is NO

platform of any kind. In 2004-05 Deming saw 704 rail passengers.

WHAT COULD HAVE BEEN at Deming? The historic Southern Pacific era train

station building stood at track-side in various configurations since its

original construction in 1881. Now it has been fully restored and moved

across Interstate 10 to a new location where it is a learning center

annex. Attempts to keep it at track-side were unsuccessful.

Okay, Amtrak, you wonder why smaller cities and towns don't provide more

riders. You're lucky that many do take the trains. Yes, it's up to the

towns to provide stations, so above is what you get for that hands-off

policy. Where are your signs? Are these stations ADA compliant? It

doesn't look like it. Just think: Each 100 additional tickets sold among

just these three towns each year could yield $150,000 in additional

revenue at NO incremental cost.

[End quote]

2) Mr. Jackson's commentary brings us back to Beaumont, Texas, featured

two issues ago in This Week at Amtrak for its shameful "station,"

consisting of a bare concrete platform in a high crime area of Beaumont

with no lights, no security, no telephone, no nothing.

Jamie Reid, an enterprising reporter for the Beaumont Enterprise daily

newspaper, wrote a Sunday piece for June 10, 2007 titled The Lost Rail

Station (www.beaumontenterprise.com) which provided many of the same

details TWA reported previously on the "station." One important set of

facts Ms. Reid reported was Amtrak/Sunset Limited ridership for Beaumont,

which is a crew change point for conductors and assistant conductors. In

FY 2006, 903 passengers used the desolate Beaumont station platform, down

from 1,209 passenger in FY 2005.

Ms. Reid also interviewed Amtrak Central Division spokesman Mark Magliari

about Beaumont, and Mr. Magliari allowed that Amtrak is now working on

the new Fall 2007 timetable, which comes out in October, and there is a

chance Beaumont may be discontinued as an Amtrak stop.

Ms. Reid's story goes into further detail about how Amtrak says it isn't

responsible to have a station so it can stop its trains for passengers,

and city officials wonder why they should spend tight public funds to

supply a station for so few visitors and citizens. It's a classic

Catch-22 situation.

Here are some things we know about the Sunset Limited:

- It is incorrectly considered to be one of Amtrak's worst financial

performers in terms of revenue versus expenses. Perhaps, that's because

it operates so infrequently, only three days a week in each direction,

yet has all of the infrastructure costs of daily trains. If the Sunset

was a daily train, it would be a good financial performer in all

respects.

- Amtrak has already suspended the Sunset Limited east of New Orleans de

facto, apparently hoping some state or state consortium will pick up the

tab for restarting the route. Perhaps some of the loss at Beaumont can be

accounted for by the loss of half of the Sunset's route, east of New

Orleans. For every station that is not served by the Sunset, there are

that many fewer city pair opportunities for travelers to go to or from

Beaumont.

- If Amtrak continues to gnaw away at the Sunset by dropping station

stops like Beaumont, there will be little, if any, reason to operate the

train, at all, and Amtrak will suffer a huge loss to its national matrix

system where each trains supports all other trains it intersects with for

cross platforming passengers and other functions.

- It costs less than $100 to stop a train at a station; the only real

cost is the cost of the extra locomotive fuel it takes to get the train

moving again. Dropping Beaumont, or any other station to save a lousy

hundred bucks is not only penny wise and pound foolish, but totally

counterproductive towards building Amtrak revenue passenger miles and

helping the company become a healthy, robust passenger carrying system.

The Amtrak joke for years, when the silliness started a couple of decades

ago about "loss per passenger," a totally false measurement which means

nothing, is that if only Amtrak could stop running those money losing

trains and didn't have to worry about passengers, it would have no

losses! Yes, theoretically that may be true, but how ignorant is the

concept? Shouldn't Amtrak be doing everything it can to reduce losses and

build ridership, and not run away from problems such as the Beaumont

station and stations east of New Orleans?

3) Amtrak is not doing itself, its passengers, the towns and cities it

serves, nor the American taxpayers any service by hoping the issue of the

Sunset Limited east of New Orleans is going to quietly steal away into

the night. Amtrak's unions are wondering what is going on (there has

never been any train-off notification about the Sunset east of New

Orleans, as is required), its employees are wondering what is going on,

local and state governments are wondering what is going on, and people in

Congress are wondering what is going on. Amtrak needs to make a decision

one way or the other, let the public know of the decision, and then real

debate can begin, and whatever action is necessary can be taken by both

sides. In the meantime, Amtrak is just playing a gigantic game of

Chicken, hoping a collision will never occur.

4) Here in the heat of summer, Amtrak seems to be suffering some

mechanical and passenger relations problems in New York along the Empire

Corridor route.

[begin quote]

Last night [Tuesday, June 12, 2007] my train was an hour and forty

minutes late due to mechanic problems. Not mechanical -- the problem was

that the one mechanic on duty was working on another train and couldn't

get to mine for a half hour after the engineer discovered the engine

wouldn't start. You'd think there would be more than one mechanic on duty

during rush hour at New York City's Penn Station, but failing that they

could just ask "is there a mechanic in the house?" over the P.A. system.

It would a welcome respite from those idiotic "if you see something, say

something" announcements.

I called Amtrak, asked for Customer Relations, described the incident,

and they graciously agreed to send to send me a $22.00 voucher which can

be applied to my monthly pass. It's not much, but those vouchers can add

up when Amtrak has one of their periodic bouts of breakdowns and delays.

Besides, Amtrak is a political bureaucracy rather than a business, so it

hurts most when someone complains, and forces them to do extra paperwork.

Call early and often!

[End quote]

URPA does not endorse pestering Amtrak over minor issues, but the above

quote does reflect the frustrations of people who use Amtrak on a daily

basis. Since Empire Corridor trains handle a lot of rush hour patronage,

and the train is serviced in Amtrak's huge Sunnyside yard in New York,

why in the world were there not adequate mechanics to handle what must be

routine work? Is Amtrak incapable of appropriate employee scheduling?

5) And, some thoughts from a young, 20-something banker who is an Amtrak

rider, and has experienced much of Amtrak's national system, as well as

having ridden passenger trains all over the world.

[begin quote]

I am a relatively new TWA subscriber, but long have I been forwarded the

publication from my father. In all the stories and dialogues I have read

over the years I can see one bottom line issue with Amtrak - Customer

Service. In response to the gentleman whom noted in No. 6 in the May 18th

issue, I wholeheartedly concur with your conclusions. I grew up riding

Amtrak due solely to my father, of whom I am very appreciative.

Amtrak is supposed to offer a different kind of travel. Through the

historical progression of passenger trains, there has been a marked

decrease in quality, and an increase in what I can broadly describe as

"system-wide issues". The trains ridden by my father, and his father, and

his father before him were designed to provide luxurious, interstate

cross country travel. Vista domes, providing beautiful views of the

landscape, have become obsolete. Fresh air is a scarce commodity, and a

clean window rarely exists. You used to be able to get top-tier food and

drink, service with a smile. Now, you are lucky to get a fully cooked

piece of chicken.

Yes, I have had excellent experiences with Amtrak. I have encountered the

few friendly conductors and handful of fun ops people, but, for the most

part, the service has been lacking the basic necessities to keep the

customer happy. A smile, which was noted in a previous letter, is

missing. You can tell me to "have a great trip," but when the face of the

person saying it is exhausted from a long shift and full of scorn, how

will the comment be received?

This "experience" I speak of is that of the vacation. Even if it were a

trip for business, the purpose of taking the train rather than flying

would be the pleasure of sightseeing in a friendly and fun environment.

This has disintegrated since I began riding Amtrak. I have experienced

far more negatives than positives when it comes to the basic service

provided by the people running these trains. The long distance trains

display this discourteous nature much more frequently than they should.

This customer service is not solely encapsulated in the people running

the trains. It is up to the service people, the shops, the ops managers,

and everyone to make sure this machine runs well. The oil is not being

applied to the proverbial gears. Trains are late due to basic errors. The

staff are not friendly. The basic service has left the business. They are

losing their fan base.

To which demographic should Amtrak be focusing on? It is people MY age.

At 24 years old, I have undoubtedly put more hours into Amtrak than any

of my peers. I have continued to put faith into the idea that "maybe this

trip will be different". The simple question has become: When do you cut

loose your bad experiences and abandon the industry? If my cell phone

provider dropped 90% of my calls, I would drop them. The argument is

there are no other alternatives to rail travel beyond Amtrak. If someone

asked me what the best way to get from New York to Seattle without

flying, I would tell them to make their way to Toronto and take VIA.

Otherwise? Road trip; gas prices may be high, but the experience of

driving long distances holds a much higher appeal than sitting in a

poorly ventilated passenger coach.

When I mention Amtrak as an option to travel for my friends, the

unanimous response is "absolutely not". Where Amtrak stands currently,

the costs heavily outweigh the benefits. Until I see them make moves on

the corporate, marketing and service fronts, they have lost my patronage.

Where will Amtrak be 20 years from now? Still milking the feds because

they cannot figure out what revenues and costs are? Completely

privatized? Or bankrupt, out of business, and a distant remnant of what

rail travel used to be. If they do not clean their act up by the time

people my age are interested in taking family vacations, they will no

longer exist.

The bottom line: Amtrak needs to stop trying to refurbish, and instead

begin to focus on reinventing themselves.

[End quote]

6) This comment comes from an Amtrak employee, sent unsolicited to TWA,

also referring to the May 18, 2007 TWA.

[begin quote]

I have a background in hospitality and we were trained to say"good

morning," and that a smile cost us nothing, but accomplishes a great deal

...

We were trained that making a guest feel like family, brought that guest

back to our hotels. We were trained to keep the facility clean and in

working order, because there was another hotel down the street that would

welcome our guests. We were trained that theft is theft and that affected

our raises. Lastly, we were trained to understand that our jobs and our

paychecks relied on happy guests.

There are a few wonderful employees on Amtrak, but I would bet my last

dollar they are long-term employees. I saw too many employees hired who

were a cousin, a brother, a sister (etc.), of another employee.

Convenient employees were hired ... not necessarily excellent, or even

good employees.

I watched dining car employees unnecessarily open food before the train

reached it's final destination ... and then I watched the employees (that

includes conductors) haul the food away. So, now you have a problem with

the Mechanical Department, Human Resources, the bottom line, and that my

friends, leaves you little to work with.

I would highly recommend Amtrak hire employees that are good to

excellent, not just because they are someone's relative. I would

recommend Amtrak employees spend more time learning customer service. It

does not matter if the mattress is lumpy, or the train breaks down ...

guests are unhappy, and soon the pennies you save will cost us a

fantastic way to travel, and far too many jobs. Use the Radisson or

Marriott philosophy, and watch how fast things will change ... for the

better.

[End quote]

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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

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[George Harris]

You watch New Management walk into a place and commence new programs with the idea of creating a "more nimble, customer service organization"

I have heard this or similar words so many times over my working life it tends to activate my gag reflex. It generally means the new boys have read the latest "how to" management books, understand about 1/3 of it, misunderstand the rest, understand little to nothing of how the business really functions and are going to throw out the parts they don't understand, usually the important parts and then screw over the older employees because they want to look young and energetic. Normally after a year or two, they are out the door and things are worse off than before.

Classic example in a company and place not to be named: New top guy says, "People keep too many personal files and the office is too cluttered." When dispute time came, it was "can you provide me copies of your personal files on such and such a subject, as the central filing system is incomplete, and oh yes, the informal meeting notes you were not supposed to be taking."

 

[AlanB]

URPA does not endorse pestering Amtrak over minor issues, but the abovequote does reflect the frustrations of people who use Amtrak on a daily

basis. Since Empire Corridor trains handle a lot of rush hour patronage,

and the train is serviced in Amtrak's huge Sunnyside yard in New York,

why in the world were there not adequate mechanics to handle what must be

routine work? Is Amtrak incapable of appropriate employee scheduling?

While I'll allow that it is possible that Amtrak didn't schedule properly, I have to wonder if URPA considered a far more simple and reasonable answer. Could it possibly be that perhaps the second mechanic called in sick? :unsure:

This does happen in all walks of life and in all businesses.

 

[MrFSS]

This Week at Amtrak; June 22, 2007

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 4, Number 26

Founded over three decades ago in 1976 by the late 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, and New York. 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) Texas!

Continuing our series on how Amtrak can help itself to become closer to

self-sufficiency, we're going to look at under-utilized routes along with

five severely under-served major cities in Texas, and how each can be

improved.

Remember the rules of this exercise; this is about upgrading existing

routes, using as many existing stations and maintenance facilities as

possible, and using existing motive power and rolling stock out of

Amtrak’s current pool of active and stored equipment. Under these rules,

while many new routes or extensions of current routes to areas not served

make sense, they are also expensive and beyond consideration for this

exercise; those considerations will be addressed at another time.

The majority of changes suggested here are targeted to cost about $11

million or less a year to operate, with income higher than expenses; in

other words, each of these trains would make money because much of the

infrastructure and other overhead costs are already in place and charged

to the existing long distance routes. While these suggested trains would

share those costs, the benefit is to both the existing routes and these

changes; shared costs are always less than stand-alone costs, and more

travel opportunities always provide higher ridership and higher revenue

passenger miles. The typical train would consist of a locomotive, baggage

car, premium coach, food service car, and four to five coaches, depending

on demand.

In this issue, we will look at the Texas Eagle, Sunset Limited, Heartland

Flyer and service throughout Texas.

2) Texas, as Texans will tell you, is a big place. It has five major

cities under-served by Amtrak, which are Dallas, Fort Worth, Houston, San

Antonio, and El Paso. Throw in other cities such as Austin, the state

capital, and Beaumont, and you have a lot of Texans who have a much

better chance of getting somewhere on horse than on Amtrak.

The route of the Texas Eagle, by Amtrak standards, has good service

between Chicago and St. Louis. A bright opportunity exists for a second

frequency following our day train model, running between St. Louis and

Fort Worth, via Little Rock. The 738 route miles are currently covered by

the Texas Eagle in just about 18 hours, traveling an average of 40 miles

an hour, and serves Little Rock, the capital of Arkansas, in the dead of

night in both directions. An early morning to late evening day train

would provide a much increased opportunity for passenger convenience.

Since Fort Worth is already a maintenance base for the Heartland Flyer,

and St. Louis is already a maintenance base for trains on the St.

Louis-Chicago route, no new maintenance facilities would be needed.

The populous Fort Worth-San Antonio section of the route, which also

needs a second frequency, could be more cleverly served by a new San

Antonio-Fort Worth-Oklahoma City train, a run of less than 12 hours and

only 490 miles. The current, anemic Heartland Flyer, which is primarily

paid for by the State of Oklahoma suffers from a short, stub end route,

only one connecting train, and relatively high operating costs for the

services provided. It takes just one train set to operate this service

today; adding this route extension would require a total of two trainsets

instead of one.

If the Heartland Flyer ran from San Antonio to Fort Worth to Oklahoma

City, it would have a much better chance of success because of a larger

city pair matrix. It should be noted this proposed train, with the

exception of a 156 mile long piece of track from San Antonio to Temple,

Texas would operate on Amtrak-friendly BNSF tracks.

That scenario is good, because it provides a better matrix for the

Heartland Flyer (which ultimately could lead to lower costs billed to the

State of Oklahoma because of higher revenue passenger miles), but, let’s

take that scenario one bold step further.

It is just less than 200 miles, and about three to four hours (all on the

BNSF) from Oklahoma City to Newton, Kansas, a stop on the Southwest Chief

route. String together a route from San Antonio to Austin to Fort Worth

to Oklahoma City to Newton, Kansas, and you have created a route of less

than 700 miles and less than 16 hours running time, which fits perfectly

into our $11 million model of operating a day train.

Here’s what we have accomplished by doing this:

- The Heartland Flyer would connect with not one, but three Amtrak long

distance routes; the Southwest Chief from Chicago to Los Angeles, the

Sunset Limited from New Orleans (hopefully, back to Florida) to Los

Angeles, and the Texas Eagle from Fort Worth to Chicago via Little Rock

and St. Louis

- Provide second frequency service between San Antonio and Forth Worth.

- One small, stub end train with currently high operating costs and low

revenue passenger miles and load factor has the potential to become a

profitable, low cost train.

The next consideration, beyond getting the Sunset Limited on a daily

basis versus the horrid tri-weekly schedule it currently operates, is to

rebuild business for Houston.

Here are some startling numbers. In FY 2006, there were only 10,855

passengers in and out of the Houston Amtrak station. Houston is one of

America’s largest metropolitan areas. In contrast, Longview, Texas, to

the northeast of Houston, which is a small East Texas city, had 24,449

passengers pass through its Amtrak station. Houston is served by the

Sunset Limited, and Longview is served by the Texas Eagle.

In another life, Houston was the southern terminus for a section of the

Texas Eagle, and the turn maintenance facility is still in place. Instead

of breaking the Texas Eagle into two sections, how about creating a

sister train for the Heartland Flyer, which would operate Newton, Kansas;

Oklahoma City, Fort Worth, Dallas, and down to Houston? It is a six hour

run from Dallas to Houston, and add the proposed Heartland Flyer time

from Newton to Dallas, and you will create a total running time of about

16 hours, and a route of 700 miles, again ideal for our $11 million model

day train, using just two trainsets.

This puts a second frequency between Newton and Dallas, and lower station

and infrastructure costs for each train. Still, though, this leaves only

one train operating in each direction between Dallas and Houston.

To put a second train on the Dallas-Houston piece of track, lets create a

train running in a Texas Triangle. Each morning, a train would depart

from San Antonio and run north to Fort Worth, east to Dallas, south to

Houston, and west back to San Antonio. A reverse train would also depart

San Antonio each morning, in the opposite direction. We will leave it to

others with more experience to figure out how to number these trains;

whether they should carry a timetable designation of travel in a north,

south, east, or west direction.

The Texas Triangle would be about 750 route miles, and take a running

time of approximately 18 hours for the full circuit. Theoretically, this

would require just two trainsets, but the realities of late trains may

require a backup set always ready to go in place of a late arriving train

from the previous day. This ambitious project would most likely cost a

bit more than $11 million a year, but not much more.

Adding a Texas Triangle creates a robust route and passenger matrix that

connects every major Texas city served today by Amtrak with frequent

service, except El Paso. It provides not only good intrastate travel

opportunities, but also strong connections to the long distance passenger

system.

The concept of the two Heartland Flyer extensions, combined with the

Texas Triangle concept, provides direct service to San Antonio, Fort

Worth, Dallas, and Houston all from the route of the Southwest Chief.

Conversely, Sunset Limited route passengers are provided connections to

such places as Kansas City, Oklahoma City, and Dallas and Forth Worth on

an easy basis.

Eventually, when new sleeping cars become available, a promising route

would be Chicago-Kansas City-Tulsa-Oklahoma City-Forth Worth-Austin-San

Antonio, or Fort Worth-Dallas-Houston (or both).

What about El Paso? It sits all by itself in the extreme western tip of

Texas. There isn't much between El Paso and San Antonio, a distance of

605 route miles, taking about 12 hours to cover. Of all of the major

Texas cities, El Paso has the smallest passenger count, at 9,195. If the

Sunset Limited was made a daily train, El Paso counts would grow

dramatically. However, considering the dual scenarios of bridge traffic

and increased local service, it’s doubtful an El Paso to San Antonio to

Houston run would generate a huge increase in traffic by itself. There’s

a lot of nowhere in between El Paso and San Antonio.

Two other scenarios would perhaps best serve the needs of travelers in

and out of El Paso. First, eventually the Texas Eagle should be extended

from San Antonio to Phoenix, Arizona. That’s a long run, which would

require two more train sets for the Eagle. But, it would serve to provide

a second service between San Antonio and Tucson, Arizona, and it would

restore much needed train service to Phoenix from the east, where good

tracks are still available. Second, El Paso has more in common with

cities in New Mexico and Arizona than it does with Dallas or Houston, so

expansion of El Paso services should be considered in a context of far

western services instead of Texas services (those services will be

addressed in a later edition of TWA).

In a previous edition of TWA, we have addressed service between San

Antonio and Houston and New Orleans with a day train running San Antonio

to New Orleans; this is still a viable concept in concert with the Texas

Triangle proposal.

Eventually, Dallas needs to be connected directly to New Orleans and the

east via Kansas City Southern routes through Baton Rouge and Meridian,

Mississippi.

The Sunset Limited still remains a shadow of itself without full service

between New Orleans and Florida. Until that gap is filled in the system,

and the Sunset is made daily, it will continue to look like a poor

performing train, although statistically, it does well considering the

level of service it provides.

3) Here’s a typical entry from Amtrak’s daily report; this one is about

the Silver Star, running between New York City and Miami. This southbound

train departed New York City on the morning of Monday, June 18, 2007.

This is generally considered unremarkable by Amtrak and the news media

because it happens so frequently, and somehow, "rail travel is supposed

to have problems like this."

[begin quote]

Train 91(18) Delayed Richmond, VA

18 JUN 07/642 P-ET/Train 91(18) E/142-179 with 10 cars arrived Richmond

[enroute to Miami].

Mechanical made repairs as listed below to equipment and train departed

at 751 P-ET.

C/62033 – arrived with air conditioning and toilet problems. Circuit

boards rebooted and car cooling. Retention tank was full and necessary to

dump it. Car then had ‘valve open light’ with the valve closed.

Mechanical unable to repair and train departed with toilets not working.

Sleeper space closed down for sale. (AC problems also reported on 5/13

and 5/26 enroute and 6/18 at New York).

C/62003 – arrived with air conditioning problems. Mechanical reset faults

and car cooling.

C/8507 – arrived with air conditioning not working to the cook area.

Mechanical found AC control switch bad order. Temporary repairs were made

and cook area cooling. (AC problems also reported in the cook area on

6/11 and 6/12).

C/25008 – arrived with inoperative toilets. Retention tank was full and

necessary to dump. Breakers reset and toilets working on departure.

Delay: 91(18) 59"

[End quote]

The interpretation of all of that is a long distance train, the

southbound Silver Star, departed its terminal in New York City with cars

that had not been properly serviced, including toilets not working

because retention tanks were full, air conditioning not working in the

middle of the summer (especially in the diner where cooking is done and

in high revenue sleeping cars), and other problems. What is particularly

disturbing is the person who wrote this report noted how many times

previously the same problems had been identified on the same equipment,

with no repairs completed, even though the New York City Amtrak coach

yard, Sunnyside, is a complete maintenance facility, as is Hialeah, at

Miami, where the train terminates. What repairs could be made enroute

occurred at Richmond, Virginia, 334 miles and six hours into the trip.

Richmond handles light turn maintenance for some Northeast Corridor

trains which use Richmond as a southern terminus. There was a hint of a

critical tone by the report writer as to why these problems had not been

previously addressed.

Inquiring minds want to know why this train was ever let out of Sunnyside

Yard and spotted in New York’s Penn Station to allow passengers to board.

Here are some thoughts that may help to correct problems such as those

outlined above.

- Both a manager and a union crew chief need to sign off on every

trainset released for service, stating it has been properly serviced and

cleaned, and is roadworthy. There needs to be visible accountability for

this.

- If a car is junk, or an engine hasn't been repaired and checked out

from a previous trip, then it needs to be withheld from service. Amtrak

would be better off annulling carlines or trips than exposing people to

the conditions described in that incident report.

- This is not a fall-back situation on the old chestnut of "Amtrak is

living on a financial starvation diet." There is absolutely no

correlation between budgets and not dumping full toilet tanks. There is,

however, a very strong correlation between management doing its job and

making sure mechanical workers are fully performing their duties as

necessary for the welfare and health of all passengers.

- One part of this that does reflect the budget is budgeting for

priorities. What is more important, serving passenger today with healthy

and reliable equipment, or replacing bridges and interlockings on the

NEC?

Just five days before the Star left New York with full sewage tanks,

Continental Airlines was experiencing some waste water problems of its

own, and these made the front page of many newspapers because it was such

an infrequent experience.

One of Continental’s trans-Atlantic jets took off from Amsterdam, heading

for Newark, New Jersey. The jet carried 168 passengers (much less than

the carrying capacity of the Silver Star), and only got as far west as

Shannon, Ireland because of a problem with the lavatory. The plane, crew,

and passengers all overnighted in Shannon while the broken lavatories

were allegedly fixed. Oops! The problem wasn't fixed, and sewage again

overflowed from one of the toilets, and seeped into the cabin of the

plane.

When the plane finally landed in Newark, a full day late, it was

determined someone had flushed latex gloves down the toilet.

According to the Associated Press, a passenger told Seattle television

station KING that sewage flowed into the aisles, only one restroom was

partially working, and flight attendants kept serving meals, but told

passengers not to each much." Continental made public apologies for the

problem, most likely caused by a passenger.

Gosh, it’s tough to ever hear about Amtrak making apologies for

malfunctioning equipment, especially when most of the problem is caused

by Amtrak, and not by errant passengers. Maybe Continental has the right

idea.

4) It looks like Amtrak and host railroad Union Pacific are working out

their differences to get Amtrak trains moving on a more reliable basis.

Here is a recent Amtrak press release, edited for space.

[begin quote]

June 20, 2007

Amtrak, Union Pacific Reach Agreement for Passenger Train Performance

Plan

California Zephyr Schedule Temporarily Changed to Account for Track

Improvement Program in Utah and Nevada.

WASHINGTON – Amtrak and Union Pacific Railroad have reached an agreement

on a performance plan to reduce passenger train delays attributed to

track conditions. Under the agreement, Union Pacific will limit speed

restrictions that can cause Amtrak trains to fall behind schedule on

Union Pacific's routes.

Union Pacific is the nation's largest railroad and is one of the three

biggest hosts of Amtrak service, including short-distance trains and

parts of four overnight routes in the West, Pacific Northwest and

Midwest.

Imposing temporary speed restrictions is a common railroad practice.

Frequently called "slow orders," these restrictions are put into effect

when track conditions require reduced speeds and are then removed as

normal track conditions are restored. On routes with heavy traffic, it is

often difficult to make track improvements without affecting schedules.

"This agreement defines in detail the maximum number of minutes of 'slow

order' delay allowable on each Amtrak route operated on Union Pacific,

while Union Pacific makes track improvements that will increase service

reliability and satisfaction in the long term," said Paul Vilter, Amtrak

Assistant Vice President, Host Railroads. "On-time performance is the

single largest determinant of passenger satisfaction and these changes

will make a real difference."

"This agreement is instrumental in helping our crews complete the

necessary track maintenance that will further enhance safe and timely

railroad operations in these corridors as well as improved ride quality,"

said Tom Mulligan, director of passenger train operations, Union Pacific

Railroad.

"These track improvements are part of more than $1 billion Union Pacific

is planning to spend in 2007 to maintain its track across the 32,400 mile

system," Mulligan added.

Amtrak corridor routes governed by this agreement with Union Pacific

include the Amtrak Cascades (Oregon & Washington); Capitol Corridor

Service, Pacific Surfliner Service and San Joaquin Service (California);

Lincoln Service (Illinois) and Missouri Mules.

Union Pacific also hosts some or all of the routes of the California

Zephyr (San Francisco Bay-Chicago), Coast Starlight (Los

Angeles-Seattle), Sunset Limited (Los Angeles-New Orleans) and Texas

Eagle (San Antonio-Chicago), which are also covered by this agreement.

California Zephyr Schedule Changes

In return for Union Pacific's commitment to limit slow orders, and to

allow more accurate passenger expectations and planning, Amtrak is making

limited temporary schedule adjustments to the California Zephyr, starting

June 21. The longer schedule will allow improved on-time performance

before slow orders have been removed.

"During Union Pacific's track work on the California Zephyr route, the

time added to the schedule corresponds to the minutes of slow orders to

be removed, and both will decrease as the work progresses, until we

resume our current schedule when the slow orders have been removed,"

Vilter said. "Throughout this time, Union Pacific has committed to use

the extra time to significantly improve on-time performance."

Some shortening of the schedule is possible later this year and

incremental changes are expected through the end of 2009, as Union

Pacific completes track work.

"Our schedule will immediately become more reliable and will continue to

improve as Union Pacific finishes its work, largely between Reno and Salt

Lake City," Vilter added.

Amtrak Background

Seventy percent of the miles traveled by Amtrak trains are on tracks

owned by other railroads. Known as "host railroads," they range from

large publicly traded companies based in the U.S. or Canada, to railroads

owned by state and local government agencies and small businesses. Amtrak

pays these host railroads for use of their track and other resources

required to operate Amtrak trains, with incentives for on-time

performance. The three largest host railroads for Amtrak trains in the

past fiscal year were:

BNSF Railway, 6.5 million train miles

CSX Transportation, 5.5 million train miles

Union Pacific Railroad, 5.4 million train miles

[End quote]

5) Earlier this month, Amtrak issued another press release. Amtrak is

doing god things.

[begin quote]

June 8, 2007

Amtrak/Army Partnership Builds Post-military Careers

Amtrak and U.S. Army Join Forces in "Partnership for Youth Success"

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Amtrak and the United States Army are joining forces

to participate in the Partnership for Youth Success (PaYS) program which

provides career opportunities to soldiers upon completion of their active

duty service. The partnership launched today with a ceremonial signing in

Washington Union Station.

Under the PaYS program, the Army will screen and select applicants to

receive transportation related job training during their Army career,

with the guarantee of an interview with Amtrak after completing their

military service. The Army will provide formal skills and on-the-job

training to eligible enlistees and Amtrak will conduct interviews and

make job offers to qualified soldiers.

"These soldiers, who have served so admirably, should be given every

opportunity to make a seamless transition from citizen to soldier to

veteran to valued employee," said William Crosbie, Amtrak chief operating

officer. Amtrak is extremely proud to engaged in a partnership with the

U.S. Army to make this transition as easy and rewarding as possible."

The signing ceremony today was attended by Crosbie, Lorraine A. Green,

vice president of human resources, and Lt. Col. Burl W. Randolph Jr.,

commander of the U.S. Army Baltimore Recruiting Battalion.

[End quote]

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, including requests to unsubscribe, should be

addressed to

[email protected]

URPA leadership members are available for speaking engagements.

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

_______________________________________________

TWA mailing list

[email protected]

http://lists.unitedrail.org/mailman/listinfo/twa

 

[MrFSS]

This Week at Amtrak; June 30, 2007

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 4, Number 27

Founded over three decades ago in 1976 by the late 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, and New York. 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) Earlier this week, the local Jacksonville chapter of the National

Railway Historical Society held its monthly meeting, with a local guest

speaker bringing to the group's attention a Jacksonville transportation

project that cries out for common sense and help.

The project is a proposed trolley and/or light rail line on the former

roadbed of the Seaboard Air Line Railroad, now CSX. This former steel

highway of commerce and passenger transportation was the main line of the

Seaboard into and out of downtown Jacksonville, leading to Jacksonville

Union Terminal, which is now the local convention center (Amtrak has

hemmed and hawed about coming back into this magnificent facility for the

last 20 years or so, and nothing much ever seems to get done.).

The piece of former Seaboard roadbed in question runs just less of five

miles, and is a full 60 feet wide. It meanders through several

"economically challenged" neighborhoods, industrial areas, and some

up-and-coming residential areas experiencing an inner-city rebirth. What

is important about this route is that it directly touches (we're talking

about measurements in feet, not blocks or miles) many major employers,

shopping areas, and the city hospital. Every ingredient is present that

would make this a viable, and inexpensive project to create a trolley (or

light rail) line that would not only serve a deserving existing

population (which is notoriously under-served by city planners, and is

beginning to squawk about that), but would have the natural benefit of

being a huge boon to redevelopment, which has been proven time and again

in successful projects of this foresight.

A model which proponents of this project are using is Seattle, where a 65

foot right of way was available in a similar area. It is now a

combination jogging area and trolley line with heavy landscaping.

Almost all of the length of the right of way is owned by the City of

Jacksonville; today's CSX turned the land over to it when the track

became redundant after the merger of the Seaboard and the Atlantic Coast

Line back in 1967.

What does the city want to do with this land? Why, of course, turn it

into a jogging trail. There is currently a proposal to do just that

pending in front of the city council.

The Jacksonville Transportation Authority, an independent agency which is

in charge of our area's transportation planning, construction, and

operation, has received suggestions this valuable piece of land be turned

into the proposed trolley line. "No, thanks," the JTA has said with a

straight face. "We're in love with busses."

In fact, the JTA is working on a long range plan to bring a bus rapid

transit system to far-flung Jacksonville, the largest city in land area

in the country. The proposed BRT plan, now in the early planning stages,

is expected to cost around $1 billion in today's dollars, and reach less

than half way to the edges of the city in each direction from downtown.

Oh, and the plan won't finish construction until 2030, too. The piece of

the proposed BRT that will serve some of the same area as the proposed

trolley line (no part of the BRT will cover all of the area) is expected

to come in at cool $100 million, and, again not be ready until 2025. No

one has fully identified where all or parts of this expected $1 billion

total expenditure will come from, since it is beyond the scope of present

city financing.

The proposed trolley line, if approved now, is expected to in place and

running in 36 to 48 months, and cost less than $40 million, money which

the city has in place right now. The trolley line will also intersect

with the city's existing Skyway Express, a pie in the sky monorail

project that is now more than a decade old, and has been nothing short of

a spectacular failure, attracting a total of less than 4,000 riders a

day, at a cost (thanks to you, the federal taxpayer) of hundreds of

millions of dollars. While the trolley connection won't be the savior of

the Skyway Express, it will help boost ridership because of the natural

laws of the matrix theory and hubs and connections.

This is not rocket science to figure out what is the best solution for

Jacksonville. What is important about this saga is the crucial aspect of

selecting the right rail projects for the right conditions. Too many have

always wanted rail as any answer to any problem. Many of those projects

have become expensive failures, which have only served to tarnish the

image of rail in general (whether it's local or intercity), and make the

overall process even more difficult for good projects to move forward.

Supporters of rail, be it those in government, private industry, or the

public, need to have the courage to back away from projects which are

unlikely to succeed. Florida has some exciting projects underway right

now, including the expansion of Tri-Rail in South Florida, and the

creation of an entirely new transit system in Central Florida to serve

the Orlando metropolitan area. Jacksonville has the opportunity to join

that club with a small investment (by government standards) that has

enormous proven benefits, not hopeful benefits. The Jacksonville

Transportation Authority needs to understand the gift it has in front of

itself and get off of the bus bandwagon.

2) URPA's William J. Lindley of Scottsdale, Arizona had some similar

thoughts recently.

[begin quote]

By William J. Lindley

Taking three steps back for a view of the big picture:

In a discussion on California's high speed rail, I ran across the

statistic that of about 300 million persons in these United States, only

around 191 million have a driver's license. That's one-third of Americans

who can't drive. That includes our youth and our elderly, and those who

cannot afford, are physically incapable of, or who simply choose not to

drive a car. One-third. Gentle readers of this column will likely find

that among their personal friends and acquaintances, the ratio will be

similar.

Slicing these statistics differently, we find that among the 240 million

aged 15 and over, about 80% are capable of driving. That still means one

in five persons depends on walking, public transit, or getting a ride

with a friend. Some may say this means the "vast majority of Americans

prefer cars" -- and this is precisely the sort of misconception that

makes bad policy.

Around 80% of Americans identify themselves as Christian. Should we base

public policy on the assumption that everyone is Christian? Just over 90%

of Americans are not vegetarian. Should we base public policy on the idea

that everyone should eat meat? If 80% of Americans are capable of driving

a motor vehicle, should we assume that sidewalks and public transit are

useless?

Meanwhile, recently in the United Kingdom, the Daily Mail ran an article:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/arti...tml?in_article_

id=462091

about how today's parents don't let their children walk and play outside.

Instead, they are not permitted out of Mommy's eyesight, and must be

driven everywhere -- even from the garage to the school-bus.

We also read that children who are not permitted to play outside never

develop their immune system from touching dirty things. When we sit

inside and do nothing, we become sickly and fat. We grow unprepared to

interact in society. We grow too scared to confront our fear of going out

into the big room with the blue ceiling.

It is not crime, but the fear of crime that is the problem. There is

certainly far less crime in London today than in the 1800s, when

gentlemen carried walking-sticks for defense, not for style.

It is the fear of strangers, of anyone different than you -- also known

as "prejudice" -- that is the problem.

Our purpose here goes beyond having a better balanced transportation

system for its own sake. What we do here can make the world a better

place by improving our society, our economy, and our ecology. Perhaps we

can't change the whole world, but together we continue to make changes in

little parts of it ... more trains to more places for more people.

[End quote]

3) Okay, now, let's get down to some basic heresy, so grab your hats.

Amtrak runs too many trains.

It's alright to open your eyes, now.

In the imperfect world of today's passenger transportation by rail,

Amtrak is trying to be all things to all people. It wants to be a long

distance train operator in some part of the country, it wants to be a

regional train operator in other parts of the country, and it wants to

run commuter trains in a lot of places.

Amtrak needs to redefine itself as just one type of train operator (which

it was originally created to be): a long distance train operator, which

owns no real estate, and has a modern fleet of well-maintained equipment.

Take a serious look at some of the trains Amtrak operates, and ask

yourself why these trains are being run. The Empire Service, which with

the exception of one train to and from Toronto and one train to and from

Montreal, operates all of its trains in New York State. (The Lake Shore

Limited and the Ethan Allen Express also operate over these tracks, but,

like the Adirondack to Montreal, are not considered part of this route

for expense and income purposes.)

Ten daily trains (including the Maple Leaf to Toronto) operate along this

route between New York City and Buffalo, which has a 33% load factor. The

average length of trip is 123.1 miles, and the trains generate 31 cents

per passenger mile, based on 113,027,000 annual revenue passenger miles.

Just 96 passengers are carried per train mile. The Empire Service

generates revenues of $34,683,300 annually, but costs $57,300,000 to

operates, for a loss of $20,200,000 annually.

We know Amtrak has been saying state corridors will be its saving grace

and the future of the company. Okay, why are 10 daily trains being

operated in New York State, but at no cost to the state, even though the

trains run an annual loss of over $20 million? We also know Amtrak

recently raised the commuter fares to ride these trains, which brought a

lot of complaints from riders that don't understand why their rides to

and from work can't be heavily subsidized by federal taxpayers.

What do these trains overall contribute to Amtrak? Not much, since they

operate a such a loss. They do cost Amtrak a lot of money in management

and labor overhead, plus, of course, the cost of maintaining a lot of

rolling stock just for this service, and the cost of stations, not to

mention advertising, etc., etc., etc.

Partially using the California model, would these trains not be better

off (and their passengers more comfortable) if these trains were operated

by the State of New York, and not Amtrak?

We know Amtrak is always the most expensive operator of short distance

trains. Just ask any state legislator or state department of

transportation planner about the charges from Amtrak to run local area or

regional trains, and the answer will always be that Amtrak loads up state

supported trains with all kinds of overhead and other expenses, most at

above-market prices.

What difference would an Empire Service commuter notice if their train

wasn't run by Amtrak? There may be a chance at restored food service, the

equipment may be newer and more comfortable, and the cost may be lower

because the State of New York could independently decide what to charge

commuters (just at neighboring Metro-North does), and not Amtrak.

We see a wildly successful railroad run by Metro-North in New York State

and Connecticut. On time performance is good, and service level remain

high. Equipment is updated or replaced as needed, and the railroad runs

for the convenience of its passengers, not the other way around.

So, again, why is Amtrak operating the Empire Service instead of a state

agency? Because its always been done that way? Because the State of New

York doesn't want to pick up the tab?

4) For every similar service to the Empire Service Amtrak could cascade

off of its books, Amtrak would become a stronger, and more healthy

company. There would be less need for management, less need for labor,

and less overhead expenses. Local services would receive the attention

they deserved, instead of part time attention from distracted officials

in Washington at Amtrak headquarters.

But, wait! you caution, what about so many details, like ticketing and

reservations, and showing the flag? Details. Just details.

Before Amtrak, Americans were quite adept at taking trains offered by

different railroads, just like today travelers can figure out which

airline best serves their needs.

There is nothing wrong with Amtrak serving as a (paid) clearinghouse for

interline tickets and reservations, and coordinator of schedules.

If you travel to California today, and board certain trains that are

shown as part of the Amtrak national system, you will board equipment

that says Amtrak California, and is painted in a different paint scheme

than is found anywhere else in the system, and offering some different

seating choices and amenities.

5) Just like the Empire Service in New York, California has three

services which come under the Amtrak umbrella, but are local services,

including the Pacific Surfliner, Capitol, and San Joaquin services. The

difference in the two states is that California pays a substantial part

of the cost of operating these services, where New York pays none.

Load factors in California aren't much better than in New York; 33.1% for

the Surfliners, 28.5% for the Capitols, and 35% for the San Joaquins.

In other parts of the country, Amtrak operates other trains at the behest

of states. One notable train is the Heartland Flyer, paid for by the

State of Oklahoma. At a 36.5% load factor, this train single daily train

isn't clearing any loads off of highways over its 206 mile route between

Fort Worth, Texas and Oklahoma City.

In Michigan, the Pere Marquette, with a route length of 176 miles, and a

load factor of 60%, brings in a contribution of $1.5 million to Amtrak's

coffers, but only because the train is financed primarily by the Michigan

Department of Transportation.

Other services, such as the Hiawathas, running between Chicago and

Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on an 86 mile route, and having a 38.6% load

factor, deducts $1.1 million from Amtrak's coffers, even though both the

Illinois and Wisconsin DOTs heavily fund the service.

Could not Chicago's excellent Metra be a better operator of the

Hiawathas, and, perhaps some other company operate the Pere Marquette?

Your next question will be, but, who can operate these passenger trains,

other than Amtrak? The answer is, almost anyone. Herzog operates Tri-Rail

in South Florida quite successfully. Connex (and its successor company)

took over the Metrolink system in Southern California.

Has anyone considered the freight railroads? After all, they are in the

train business. Does anyone doubt these for-profit companies, if they saw

a long range opportunity to be paid 100% of the expenses to operate

passenger trains on someone else's behalf, they wouldn't be interested?

6) An Amtrak without the overhead burden and distraction of operating

commuter and short distance trains would be a much more dynamic entity

which could focus exclusively on what it should be doing: operating long

distance train where the real growth in passenger rail exists.

The old and worn thought that only Amtrak can operate passenger trains is

not only narrow-minded, but conceptually and factually wrong.

Too many opportunities exist for Amtrak expansion and movement towards a

successful company to let it be hampered by taking expensive, short

distance riders to and from work five days a week.

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, including requests to unsubscribe, should be

addressed to

[email protected]

URPA leadership members are available for speaking engagements.

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

_______________________________________________

TWA mailing list

[email protected]

http://lists.unitedrail.org/mailman/listinfo/twa

 

[MrFSS]

This Week at Amtrak; July 5, 2007

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 4, Number 28

Founded over three decades ago in 1976 by the late 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, New Mexico, the District of Columbia, Texas, and New

York. 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) So very many misguided people and organizations constantly repeat just

one refrain about Amtrak: "Give Amtrak enough money and everything will

be fine." Such ignorant drivel.

The fight for Amtrak and the future of passenger rail in America goes far

beyond propping up a company - really, a child of government masquerading

as a quasi-private corporation - that for its entire existence has been

rife with bad management making bad decisions, political compromises that

haven't satisfied anyone, and a demoralized workforce that often not only

doesn't understand customer/passenger service, but seems to work in the

opposite direction. Sure, just give all of this mess more money and every

problem will be solved. Uh, huh.

Amtrak suffers from a nearly non-functioning skeletal national system,

poor equipment maintenance, and a constant attitude that any problem can

hold on long enough for next year's batch of free federal money to come

flowing into Amtrak's coughing coffers.

Amtrak has often operated with no tangible credit facilities in the

national money market, and it has often suffered through long periods

where even locomotive fuel suppliers have gone unpaid, and then cutting

off service. During certain periods, even company cell telephone service

has been cut off for unpaid bills. Much of that financial silliness seems

to be gone now, departing with former regimes that had no clear

understanding of the real world.

2) Who are the people who can fix Amtrak? There are lots of choices of

fixers, but the great majority of them share one common denominator: they

probably haven't spend much, if any, time riding an Amtrak train outside

of the Northeast Corridor, and have no real, clear understanding either

of what Amtrak does, what it is capable of doing, and what can be

accomplished with a little vision and some goal-oriented managers.

One longtime Capitol Hill insider, when posed with the question, "...

taking just a ballpark educated guess, out of a total of 100% of elected

officials on Capitol Hill, plus relevant staff who advise on Amtrak

and/or freight rail matters, and the relevant folks at DOT and FRA, what

percentage of these people have probably ridden an Amtrak train outside

of the NEC?" responded by saying, "I would guess except for the top cadre

at FRA, it approaches zero (unless the person in question is from a

corridor area like Chicago or California). Single digits at best."

What this response indicates, is the ignorant refrain "just give Amtrak

more money and everything will be fine" has no real meaning to Amtrak's

bankers and owners (Congress and the United States Department of

Transportation). Amtrak coming hat in hand every year to ask for more

money just means another request, another political compromise.

Add the constant drumbeat that Wondertrain Acela is Amtrak's flagship

route, and future of the company, and not only does tunnel vision come

into play, but a completely skewed view of Amtrak emerges that has no

relationship to the rest of the country outside of the Northeast.

Keep in mind, since Acela is an "invented here" program for Amtrak, and

previous disastrous stewards of Amtrak literally bet the farm (and came

perilously to losing it; far more than many people understand) on Acela's

success, much of Amtrak management still adheres to the discredited

theory that Acela and its ilk will eventually make the company stronger,

instead of weaker by the day because of the financial drain which is

caused by Acela and the necessary infrastructure to keep Acela running.

Adding to all of this are allegedly important national writers and other

misguided opinion makers hawking their personal dreams of high speed rail

and how it will save the environment and have other miraculous outcomes,

and you have a very confused group in Washington trying to understand

passenger rail and what is good for it and what isn't good for it. The

reality is, until America again has a mature conventional passenger rail

system which is robust and self-sustaining, then no investment in any

type of high speed rail will be attractive to any realist with a

checkbook, even he public's checkbook.

3) How do we cut through all of this noise and misinformation, and help

decision makers come to real conclusions about Amtrak and the future of

passenger rail?

First, we demand accountability. Any project, be it public or private, if

it can't stand the transparency of accountability is just a rathole for

someone else's money.

Second, we take a long, serious look at history, and figure out what

worked, and what didn't, not using the rose colored glasses of nostalgia,

but the real facts of public passenger appeal, needs met, and

practicality. In the process, we come to the realization the era of the

complete future of transportation relying on the jet airplane and

multilane expressways is coming to an end, and a new generation of

Americans, now in their 20s and 30s, who had no idea passenger trains

were every privately operated, want to explore all travel options, beyond

small airplane seats and steel cocoons barreling down highways.

Third, we seriously educate the decision makers, be they Amtrak's

internal planners and board of directors, Capitol Hill staffers and their

bosses, US DOT and Federal Railroad Administration managers and staff,

and various national opinion makers, which all of those groups just

mentioned relay on for valid information. In the process, we also educate

the news media so they will write stories beyond "Amtrak, the beleaguered

national passenger railroad, will chug down the track for another year

because it has received a new federal subsidy." All of these people must

have more than a rudimentary understanding of passenger rail, and how it

works, beyond selling coach seats on the Northeast Corridor.

Fourth, we seriously engage the host freight railroads in a discussion

which will have an outcome that will include: a) meeting the needs of the

freight railroads to service their money making customers, and B) meeting

the needs of Amtrak to run a full schedule of trains ANYWHERE in the

country that can reasonably support passenger rail service and not

disrupt the critical function of delivering freight by rail in this

country.

Fifth, we start to educate state and local government about the potential

and importance of passenger rail as part of our domestic transportation

network. Once state and local highway and transportation planners come to

the realization passenger rail is not only beneficial, but desirable for

the public, then that group will become some of passenger rail's

strongest supporters.

Sixth, the travel and tourism industry must be re-engaged to sell

passenger rail travel as a desirable, money-making concept. Many of

today's travel agents, meeting planners, and other travel and leisure

industry leaders not only don't understand Amtrak, but they have been

rebuffed by Amtrak to be full partners in selling Amtrak seats and

accommodations. Hotels that willingly offer 24 hour a day pickup and drop

off service for guests at airports, won't even consider picking up a

guest at an Amtrak station, simply because they not only don't understand

who Amtrak passenger are, but they probably don't even know Amtrak serves

their city or town.

4) There are, of course, a number of other things to be done, but the

list above serves as a good starting point. Until at least the education

level of people in Washington holding the purse strings improves, Amtrak

will never be regarded as anything beyond yet another federal program

which needs to be funded every year along with thousands of other federal

programs, each which receives about 10 minutes of overall attention

before the next item is considered.

Amtrak, and the United States of America deserve better than what now

exists in the form of passenger rail. One single company, often with a

skewed vision and horrendous management has poorly framed the future of

passenger rail, and worried more about how many employees work in a

dining car than creating any new trains to meet pent up demand. We can -

and, must - do better.

5) Speaking of dining cars, an enterprising URPA associate recently ran

across the web page for the Canadian National Algoma Central passenger

train, and made this report.

[begin quote]

Contrast the following to the "We'll open when it suits us and serve you

as we please" performance of Amtrak food service cars, where available.

This is from the web page for the CN "Algoma Central" Agawa Canyon Tour

Train. Their opening time is one hour before departure of the train.

Meal Service

Full meal service is available and depending on size of train, there will

be one or two dining cars located in middle of train consist.

Continuous service is available from 7:00 a.m. to 3:45 p.m. and includes

breakfast, hot and cold lunches, picnic box lunches, cold drinks, coffee,

tea as well as beer, wine and mixed drinks (alcoholic beverages are

available after 11:00 a.m. Personal alcohol is prohibited by law).

Breakfast Service: Seating is available at 7:00 a.m. on a first come

basis. Once Tour Train departs depot, and in order to accommodate

breakfast rush, passengers will be called to dining cars randomly by

Coach Number. Please listen for P.A. announcements.

Lunch Service: Service will be available immediately after last breakfast

seating and seating is come as you please.

Cafe Car Service: For your convenience Cafe Cars (dependent on train

size) will be located near both ends of train. Service includes hot and

cold beverages, light lunches and snacks.

[End quote]

6) Last week, we spoke of trolleys and transit in TWA. Distinguished

former Amtrak board member Paul M. Weyrich, now the Chairman of the Free

Congress Foundation, wrote one of his organization's daily columns this

week about the resurgence of trolleys.

[begin quote]

Free Congress Foundation Commentary

Oregon Iron Works - Let the Revival of Streetcars Begin!

By Paul M. Weyrich

July 03, 2007

There was a small victory for America last week. It went unnoticed.

Still, it is important and has a great future. What am I referring to?

The Oregon Iron Works, a company known mainly for defense contracts, won

a contract to build streetcars for the new line in Portland. The line

would travel toward the business district, in the direction of Mount

Hood. It would consist of a few cars but represents the first order of

new streetcars in America since the 1952 order of new PCC cars for San

Francisco, built by the St. Louis Car Company.

President Conference Committee (PCC) is an effort to develop a modern

streetcar. The first streetcar rolled off the assembly for a Brooklyn

line in the mid-1930s. Currently, the PCC operates in four cities, San

Francisco, Boston, Philadelphia and Kenosha. A single car operates in

other cities.

As late as 1970 the United States had three American streetcar builders

for subway, commuter rail and streetcars. All were closed. The era of

electric rail in America was over. Wrong. Whereas there were only seven

cities with streetcars today there are more than twenty. The number of

cities with subway systems has grown from five to twelve. Several systems

have placed orders for new commuter rail cars and several other cities

are considering modern streetcars. Unfortunately, all orders have gone to

Italy, Germany, Japan and other foreign nations.

Congress, following the demise of the United States railcar companies,

passed a "Buy American" Bill. Fifty percent of railcars built by foreign

firms must have half the parts manufactured within the United States.

This has been a thorn for American transit officials because they could

not place their orders with American firms. It is not that rail cars

built within America were a problem - indeed some of the cars built as

early as the 1950s are still operating. It is that the prospects for new

orders have been few and far between.

It could not be known that just a few years later the revival of electric

railways and diesel commuter rail cars was to begin. The revival began in

Edmonton, Alberta but Edmonton had to turn to Germany for its first set

of railcars.

When the rail revival hit America in San Diego in 1981, again German made

railcars whisked passengers from the Santa Fe station in downtown San

Diego to the Mexican Border at San Ysidro. City after city implemented

so-called light rail service: Los Angeles, San Jose, Sacramento,

Portland, Seattle, Phoenix, Salt Lake City, Denver, Minneapolis, St.

Louis, Jersey City, Buffalo and so on. There are modern lines in

Portland, Seattle, Tacoma and Washington, D.C. All orders have been

placed in the Czech Republic.

Another dozen cities such as St. Louis and Minneapolis are considering

modern streetcars. These cities use what is often referred as Heritage

streetcar lines. In other words, older streetcars. The first cities to

have such lines, Detroit and Seattle turned to England and Australia for

their fleets. The United States has a manufacturer of replica Heritage

streetcars. Charlotte, Little Rock and Tampa have American built Heritage

cars. Gomaco Trolley Company of Iowa completes such orders.

But Gomaco must turn to Milan, Italy for electrical components. Some

cities such as Memphis, have entire fleets which consist of three lines

of foreign-built cars.

The majority of cities considering streetcars would choose a modern

streetcar. That is the significance of the Oregon Iron Works contract.

These cities will now have an American company which might bid on orders

for new cars. There are light rail systems yet to be built, such as,

Norfolk, Virginia, which might turn to Oregon iron, as a light rail car

is just a souped-up streetcar. We need an American company to build

subway and commuter rail cars.

It is hard to imagine any other business which all but died has come back

as strongly as rail in America. Here is a toast to Oregon Iron Works. May

the Portland contract be just the beginning!

Paul M. Weyrich is Chairman and CEO of the Free Congress Foundation.

[End quote]

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[MrFSS]

This Week at Amtrak; July 14, 2007

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 4, Number 29

Founded over three decades ago in 1976 by the late 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, New Mexico, the District of Columbia, Texas, and New

York. 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) It's time for a short, but illustrative history lesson. There once was

a strong company, that lasted over a century, that Americans - and,

citizens of the world - knew and respected for good service, reliability,

and value. It was conversely loved and hated, depending on your class and

viewpoint. To most, it was a haven of fleet footed transportation known

as The Pullman Company.

George M. Pullman, in the middle of the 19th Century, was the principal

inventor of the railroad sleeping car, and refined the railroad dining

car to levels of gastronomic delights. The company at one time

manufactured and then owned, and operated sleeping, lounge, and dining

cars on virtually every train in North America.

At one point in the 20th Century, The Pullman Company was so large, it

boasted that every night it made more beds than any hotel chain in the

country.

It's employees were peerless and dependable, and its maintenance shops

were the best. The Pullman Company fully understood that even though it

had a virtual monopoly on sleeping cars on passenger trains, it still had

an obligation to provide unquestionable good and profitable service. To

its end in 1969, The Pullman Company accepted nothing less than the best.

Along the way, there were a number of labor issues, typical of its day in

the late 19th Century and early 20th Century. The Pullman Company could

be - and was - ruthless in its business practices and in ways it treated

its onboard service employees. You had to be black to be a Pullman car

porter, or Pullman lounge attendant, or Pullman diner waiter or cook or

chef. All of the Pullman conductors were white, as well as the dining car

stewards.

In a day far less understanding of human dignity, every black Pullman

onboard services crew member was addressed by the traveling public as

"George," in honor of George Pullman. It didn't matter what the age or

seniority of the employee was, they were always addressed as "George."

(This rather revolting practice even extended to other black service

personnel outside of The Pullman Company in hotels, restaurants, private

clubs or on steamships in the early 20th Century, the influence of the

company was so strong.)

Dining car waiters and cooks and chefs weren't offered overnight sleeping

accommodations; they were expected to sleep on top of the dining car

tables overnight, and be happy about it.

Still, beyond the many fallacies of The Pullman Company, the firm was a

success, and, after an anti-trust breakup by the federal government, the

sleeping, lounge, and diner operations were co-owned by the many

railroads over which Pullman cars operated.

There were many advantages to one sleeping car company offering service

all over North America. Equipment was pooled, and in the winter, heavy

traffic trains from the northeast to Florida had a full pool of equipment

from the heavy traffic summer trains of the west to draw on. Often, after

The Pullman Company stopped painting everything in Pullman Company olive

green, cars were seasonally repainted to reflect the routes being run. An

armor yellow Union Pacific Railroad sleeper from the west may go

Pennsylvania Railroad Tuscan red for winter traffic in the east.

Service standards were also consistent companywide and nationwide. While

dining car menus reflected regional tastes, there was a multi-page manual

on exactly how services such as a glass of beer was to be prepared and

offered for consumption. There was the way most people made beds at home,

then there was The Pullman Company way of making beds (an art in itself).

At every originating terminal, The Pullman Company maintained a cadre of

inspection employees that gave every car on every train a last look

before it was pulled into a station for passenger boarding. If something

was seriously amiss, the car was pulled from service and a substitute was

quickly added.

The history of The Pullman Company was long and colorful, and anecdotes

could go on for pages. The important aspect is The Pullman Company was as

a responsible vendor of passenger transportation, that, even though it

was a monopoly, it was a private company which took its responsibilities

and pride of corporate name and reputation very seriously. Up until the

very end, there were only a rare handful of Pullman passengers, who,

after a bad trip, said "never again."

2) Fast forward to the fall of 2007. A possible reawakening of The

Pullman Company is on the horizon, with the combination of Amtrak and

GrandLuxe Rail Journeys. Here is the official joint press release from

Amtrak and GrandLuxe.

[begin quote]

June 13, 2007

AMTRAK PARTNERS WITH GRANDLUXE TO OFFER LUXURY RAIL SERVICE

GrandLuxe attaches private train to Amtrak trains on three routes

Washington, D.C. and Evergreen, Colo.- Beginning this fall, passengers

traveling on select Amtrak routes will have the option of lingering over

five-course dinners, sleeping in luxurious suites and enjoying personal

butler service. The premium service is being made possible by a new

partnership between GrandLuxe Rail Journeys, the country's premier,

private rail tour operator, and Amtrak, the national passenger rail

service.

This is the first time in history that luxury accommodations have been

offered on multiple Amtrak routes throughout the country.

Called GrandLuxe Limited, the new service uses a separate, private,

seven-car luxury train attached to several regularly scheduled Amtrak

trains. The GrandLuxe train, which features Dining, Lounge and Sleeping

cars appointed with elegant vintage furnishings, will be occupied

exclusively by GrandLuxe Limited passengers.

With over 90 departures starting in November and continuing through the

holiday season into January 2008, GrandLuxe Limited will be available on

three major Amtrak routes:

. Between Chicago and the San Francisco Bay Area, three days and two

nights on the Amtrak

California Zephyr;

. Between Los Angeles and Chicago, three days and two nights on the

Amtrak Southwest Chief; and

. Between Washington, D.C. and Miami, two days and one night on the

Amtrak Silver Meteor.

Eight additional two-day, one-night departures will be offered on four

special itineraries: Between Washington, D.C. and Chicago on the Amtrak

Capitol Limited; Denver to the San Francisco Bay Area on the Amtrak

California Zephyr; Denver to Chicago on the Amtrak California Zephyr; and

Chicago to Albuquerque on the Amtrak Southwest Chief.

The unprecedented collaboration between Amtrak and GrandLuxe is an effort

to increase ridership and introduce a new market to luxury train travel.

GrandLuxe Limited offers two- and three-day itineraries at more

affordable prices than traditional GrandLuxe tours, which cover broader

itineraries of seven to 10 days.

"This partnership allows us to write a little history by bringing luxury

train travel back to routes that have not experienced it in decades,"

said GrandLuxe CEO Tom Rader. "It's a winning situation for everyone.

GrandLuxe will be able to introduce its product to a wider market, while

Amtrak gains new marketing visibility. Most important, travelers now have

many more options for the mode and manner in which they travel."

"This is precisely the kind of joint venture with the private sector that

is a good fit for us," said Amtrak President and CEO Alex Kummant.

"Amtrak provides facilities and operating expertise while GrandLuxe

offers highly specialized train equipment and service, broadening the

marketing appeal of both companies."

The partnership between Amtrak and GrandLuxe is in keeping with Amtrak's

strategic initiative to explore ways to expand its business reach and

find creative ways to increase revenues through innovative partnerships

with the private sector. The arrangement provides revenue for both

companies in the partnership.

Prices for GrandLuxe Limited range from $789 to $2,499 per person. For

information, schedules and reservations aboard the GrandLuxe Limited,

visit www.GrandLuxeRail.com or call 1 (800) 320-4206.

About GrandLuxe Rail Journeys

GrandLuxe Rail Journeys (formerly American Orient Express) specializes in

long-distance trips in which travelers sleep in private cabins aboard the

country's premier, private passenger train. With 13 different two- to

10-day itineraries offered year-round throughout the United States,

including national parks and other popular destinations, a journey aboard

the GrandLuxe Express is much more than a train trip. Passengers

experience the Golden Age of Rail on the elegant 21 car train appointed

with vintage furnishings. Guests dine on delicious, upscale cuisine in

the Dining Car, relax in the inviting Lounge Car, sleep in comfortable

cabins, and enjoy personal service from their porters, butlers, wait

staff and tour guides. Passengers also view some of the country's most

stunning sights as the train winds through some of the nation's rarely

seen countryside.

For more information, full descriptions and costs of itineraries, and

brochures, visit www.GrandLuxeRail.com or call 1 (800) 320-4206.

About Amtrak

Amtrak provides intercity passenger rail services to more than 500

destinations in 46 states on a 21,000-mile route system. For schedules,

fares and information, passengers may call 800-USA-RAIL or visit

Amtrak.com.

[End quote]

3) Let's take this new partnership apart and look at the pieces. This

partnership has a high chance of success from several perspectives.

The original American Orient Express, which inaugurated service on the

back end of Amtrak's Capitol Limited nearly 20 years ago between

Washington, D.C. and Chicago was not a success. The many reasons for

failure included the short duration of the trip, from late afternoon in

Washington to mid-morning in Chicago. It was essentially an overnight

trip, which did not afford passengers much of an opportunity to

experience the many delights of traveling on the AOE. The concept was

good, but the price was high for a single overnight hotel, even if there

was a baby grand piano in the lounge car.

Amtrak was also offering at the time a much higher level of sleeping car

service than it is offering today, including full service dining cars

which had edible meals prepared to order, and a full staff. None of

today's silly regimentation in the dining car was evident, and an Amtrak

meal had a decent chance of being an enjoyable experience.

AOE service was priced much higher than Amtrak sleeping car service, and

a clientele of business travelers was expected to abandon the friendly

skies for the down-to-earth pleasures of luxury rail travel. That never

happened, plus, there wasn't much of a market for land-based luxury

travel. Even though this was the time of the Concorde travel over the

Atlantic Ocean, luxury on land was relegated to hotels, not trains.

The standard departures in 2007 range from two days and one night to

three days and two nights, plenty of time for GrandLuxe passengers to

fully enjoy their luxury train experience. The value is much higher today

than it was 20 years ago mostly because of the length of trip and the

opportunities to experience the various facets of luxury train travel.

Pricing is an interesting comparison. All sorts of GrandLuxe

accommodations are available, including what used to be the standard

two-person upper and lower berth bedrooms that were prevalent in Pullman

cars, and, indeed, Amtrak today. On the Silver Meteor trips between

Washington, D.C. and Miami, Florida, these bedrooms are selling for $979

for a single sleeper (the equivalent of the old two person bedroom with

the upper berth removed) on GrandLuxe. In the Amtrak portion of the same

train, an equivalent sized bedroom, which can be occupied by one person

(but is available for two) costs $685 for one traveler, a difference of

$294, for the same departure from Washington on November 15, 2007.

On a northbound trip, the difference is $979 for GrandLuxe, but, with

Amtrak's yield management pricing, at this point, the equivalent bedroom

costs $569, a difference of $410.

Who will pay the difference? Plenty of travelers who are not looking for

basic transportation, but are looking for a travel experience.

GrandLuxe has made several very smart choices in its equipment. There are

very few senior citizen unfriendly upper berths on the train. Many

accommodations for two or three have all lower berths, eliminating the

hazardous and uncomfortable upper berths. GrandLuxe is not trying to

squeeze every inch out of every space, it's allowing its passengers to

have some convenience and breathing room - at a cost, which is fine, for

those who choose to pay the extra fare. On Amtrak, if two people

traveling both want a lower berth, two rooms must be purchased. Amtrak

bedrooms and roomettes are often less than clean, less than

well-maintained, and are utilitarian, at best. Too many times the

maintenance level of Amtrak sleepers is the same as an aging Holiday Inn

which is about to lose its franchise because of lack of maintenance.

GrandLuxe won't allow any deterioration of equipment or degradation of

cleaning and maintenance. The wood finishes and other appointments found

in the GrandLuxe cars were never found in this equipment when it was new

a half a century ago and running as part of The Pullman Company. It has

all been refurbished to levels normally found on smaller, exclusive

cruise ships or private railroad cars. Exotic woods abound, along with

plush fabrics and carpets. On Amtrak, the argument is often made that a

bedroom in a sleeping car is the same as a hotel room, so the price must

be high. The problem with this argument is the pricing is that of a

Hyatt, but the accommodation and service is often that of a Motel 6.

Lounge cars on GrandLuxe will not be the usual haven for loud, drunken

coach passengers as found on Amtrak, but a pleasant atmosphere as found

in better hotels and resorts. No culture clashes will exist here, and a

warm ambiance will rule the day.

In the dining car, there will be real cooking going on, with proper

service, good linens and china, and no plastic in sight. The meals will

be multi-course events with no rushing to shoo diners out for the new

wave of passengers. Food will be freshly prepared, often cooked to order,

including meeting the special dietary needs of passengers when requested

in advance. There are no "one size fits all" meals on GrandLuxe.

Onboard employees on GrandLuxe tell the strongest story of difference

found between Amtrak and the luxury train. Anyone who has ever been

around AOE or GrandLuxe knows these employees are crisp and well groomed,

well trained, and enthusiastic about their jobs. These employees have

been selected, not merely hired as part of some sort of social

engineering project as many Amtrak employees were in the past. If you're

wearing a GrandLuxe uniform, you want to be there, and look forward to

going to work, not merely counting the number of days until retirement

and hiding out in the crew car. GrandLuxe is part of the real travel

industry, as opposed to Amtrak, which often has very little focus on

hiring appropriate employees for onboard services. GrandLuxe employees

are the same as found on the better airlines, upscale cruise ships, and

in higher-end hotels and resorts. No compromises in appearance and manner

are allowed.

All of these employees have been extensively trained to graciously meet

the needs of demanding passengers with a smile and a crisp "yes, sir" or

"yes, ma'am." GrandLuxe employees understand the future of their jobs and

their company rests solely on high standards of passenger service, and no

free federal money at the beginning of the next budget year to bail them

out.

Some of the routes for the new GrandLuxe Limited service are notorious

for Amtrak train delays. What difference will that make to GrandLuxe

passengers? Probably not much, since these passengers are traveling for

the experience, not as basic transportation. There won't be any early

shutdowns of dining and lounge cars on late trains, and no running out of

food. The ambiance and entertainment on the GrandLuxe will remain, even

if the train is multi-hours late. Since the train itself is much of the

destination (as with a cruise ship), a late train will merely mean the

experience will only last longer, in a congenial atmosphere. At some

point some passengers will protest about late trains, but it won't be

anywhere near the unpleasant experience found in the Amtrak portion of

the train.

One of the routes, from Washington, D.C. to Miami on the back of the

Silver Meteor, begs the question why the trip doesn't begin in New York

City. The answer is an old one; the GrandLuxe consist includes a dome

car, which won't fit under the catenary of the Northeast Corridor north

of Washington, nor through the tunnels into New York's Pennsylvania

Station, or at Baltimore. So, GrandLuxe promotes use of Acela train

services into Washington, and then transfer to the luxury train for the

remainder of the journey from Washington to the south.

Some questions have also been raised about GrandLuxe having an end-point

mentality, not allowing passenger to board anywhere along the trip as

Amtrak passengers can do. GrandLuxe's travel agent materials inform

potential passengers to query GrandLuxe about intermediate stop boarding,

as this part of the program is still be worked out. That will greatly

open up the marketplace for GrandLuxe when this is accomplished.

Since GrandLuxe is controlled and run by savvy business people who come

from well known successes in the travel industry, such as Tour Alaska,

they understand the high value of partnering with travel agencies.

Already an enthusiastic campaign has been launched, and travel agents,

with high-end clients seeking something different for a domestic travel

experience, will not hesitate to sell GrandLuxe Limited trips. Amtrak has

become notoriously non-travel agent friendly, and has viewed the more

than 20,000 travel agencies in this country as expensive nuisances, not

industry partners. Some Golden Spike travel agencies, those which are

Amtrak's largest revenue producers, have already stopped selling Amtrak

products because of lack of reliability, poor response to customer

complaints on the part of Amtrak, and a general disinterest on Amtrak's

part to mine this crucial area of business versus placing all hope in

Internet booking.

4) The prediction is, this win-win partnership of GrandLuxe and Amtrak

will be a success, from every viewpoint, for all of the reasons outlined

above in the joint press release.

Here are some future ramifications, all very positive.

When this part of the venture becomes successful, it likely will be

expanded. There is no downside to that concept.

While Amtrak does maintain a better sleeping car service on its Auto

Train and Empire Builder, and is planning to do so on the Coast

Starlight, Amtrak still places itself in a corporate straight jacket with

its ongoing emotional complex that as a child of government, it somehow

seems wrong to attempt to provide any type of high end service, even if

it makes money. This aversion to success has been long ingrained at

Amtrak, and the recent downgrading of dining and lounge car services

proves the point. If Amtrak really had wanted to concentrate on

eliminating dining car deficits, they were many ways to do so without

cutting the service and lower onboard service standards.

If GrandLuxe becomes financially strong enough, what about the concept of

completely resurrecting The Pullman Company (less the bad racial and

employee practices), and GrandLuxe or a similar company privatizing all

of Amtrak's sleeping car, dining and lounge car, and first class

services? As The Pullman Company did in its day, almost two separate

trains would be operated in the same consist, with coach passengers

handled by Amtrak, and everyone else, willing to pay a higher fare,

handled by a resurrected Pullman organization? Unprecedented? Not at all.

A smart way to grow passenger business without Amtrak footing the bill?

Absolutely.

To make the concept work and be profitable would require two types of

first class service. First, maintain the high-end luxury service at

high-end prices for those wishing an ultimate experience. Second, take

over Amtrak's sleeping, lounge, dining car, and first class coach

services and merely upgrade them to the levels found at The Pullman

Company in the past (and, often found today in VIA Rail Canada), and

charge a similar, or slightly lower fare as being currently charged by

Amtrak.

This would relieve Amtrak of a large number of employees, administration,

and maintenance costs. Even though people dealing in the reality of

passenger rail know the sleeping car, lounge, dining, and first class

coach are ultimately where the greatest revenue passenger mile and profit

potentials exist, most likely Amtrak would feel much more comfortable

just being a provider of coach services versus full service passenger

train travel. The possibilities of this concept are endless.

For those wishing to raise a ruckus about GrandLuxe being an interloper,

and threatening the stability of rail labor, retirement systems, and all

of the other arguments, it should be noted GrandLuxe employees are part

of the Railroad Retirement system, not Social Security. GrandLuxe already

contributes to the maintenance of the retirement system.

Having a new Pullman Company promoting first class passenger rail travel

would also be a boon to Amtrak in the marketing areas. Any private

company would automatically work harder than Amtrak to market and

advertise its service, and this would, for many markets, be the first

time advertising for passenger rail was ever found. The increased

awareness would not only benefit the first class business, but Amtrak's

coach business, too.

5) Tom Rader, the Chairman of GrandLuxe, is no stranger to Amtrak. He's

also the head man at Colorado Railcar, manufacturer of the DMU prototype

cars in use in South Florida on the Tri-Rail commuter service, and under

consideration to be used in Vermont to bolster that state's passenger

train service on a lower budget. Mr. Rader is a savvy businessman, and

veteran of the travel industry, particularly both creating and operating

luxury train service aimed squarely at the tourism marketplace. Mr.

Rader, in partnership with the current Amtrak executive management and

board of directors, may be the spark that begins a complete

revitalization of first class passenger rail in our country, which has

endless miles and hours of countryside to showcase from coast to coast.

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, including requests to unsubscribe, should be

addressed to

[email protected]

URPA leadership members are available for speaking engagements.

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

_______________________________________________

TWA mailing list

[email protected]

http://lists.unitedrail.org/mailman/listinfo/twa

 

[MrFSS]

This Week at Amtrak; July 31, 2007

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 4, Number 30

Founded over three decades ago in 1976 by the late 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, New Mexico, the District of Columbia, Texas, and New

York. 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) It's that time of year, again, when Amtrak's fiscal future for the

next year is debated in Congress. Amtrak, again, is minding its manners,

and keeping a correct, behind-the-scenes approach to the whole thing,

working quietly to demonstrate to its bankers (Congress) why it deserves

it annual dose of free federal monies.

The ONLY person or group using the dreaded "b" (bankruptcy) word as some

sort of threat if Amtrak doesn't get what it thinks is enough free

federal money, is Amtrak's most unproductive best friend, the National

Association of Railroad Passengers. In NARP's ongoing quest to boost its

own membership and attempt to demonstrate relevance, it's keeping to its

usual off-key tune that Amtrak will be forced into bankruptcy if it isn't

given the whole amount NARP thinks Amtrak should receive from the public

treasury.

In its usual habit of ignoring facts, NARP says that $900 million in free

federal money would force Amtrak into bankruptcy. Rubbish. Amtrak's own

internal financial results show the company needs a nationwide operating

subsidy of less than $500 million, which leaves $400 million left over

the Railroad Retirement and other needs. The only real victim of such a

low free federal monies figure would be the ongoing infrastructure

rehabilitation of the Northeast Corridor, which, if it had to wait a few

months, well, it would have to wait a few months. It would not bankrupt

the company.

What matters is what the real figure will be for FY 2008, probably in the

$1.4 billion range, close to what the company received for the current

budget cycle.

Amtrak President and CEO Alex Kummant commented in the last few weeks

before Congress that even if the company received billions and billions

of dollars, it does not have the capability of managing projects that

large; that he was comfortable with projects running in the $200 million

range; a reasonable comment.

2) We are beginning to see a faint glimmer of light in many news reports.

What has been refreshingly different about the past few annual budget

cycles, and this one particularly, is that trade journals and the media

generally have been reporting a broader set of critical views, as opposed

to just a single, often ill-informed perspective from the former Railway

Express building at Washington Union Station that houses NARP and its

hired help. This is despite the many news reports from across the country

which regularly report passenger and train operations horror stories of

biblical proportions.

3) But, as we look at Amtrak's annual need, what are real business people

and serious legislators and Capitol Hill staff members seeing when

looking into Amtrak's corporate soul? A pretty frightening and daunting

picture. Keep in mind ALL of these conditions exist because someone at

Amtrak has made an intentional choice to make these conditions exist, not

a lack of money as has been erroneously reported time and time, again.

- Despite annual infusions of federal and state monies, Amtrak's cash

needs are growing, not shrinking. Annual subsidies seem to be more of an

enabler than a cure, much as giving drugs to a junkie at Christmas.

Financial results are more muddied than clear.

- The overall condition of Amtrak locomotives and rolling stock is not

improving. Equipment breakdowns remain frequent, and even when equipment

is operating properly on the road, much of it is shabby, out of date, and

covered with rust and neglect inside and out.

- Amtrak's route system is stagnant at best, if not in decline. Most

routes are under served and non-passenger friendly. Almost a third of the

passenger equipment Amtrak owns is out of active service, and, for the

remaining equipment on the active equipment list, sometimes as much as

12% to 25% of that equipment is out of service for routine maintenance or

breakdown. The locomotive fleet, on average, fares about the same, with

sometimes nearly 20% of the fleet out of service. Any older equipment

which may have been remotely serviceable for future expansion, either the

lengthening of trains or starting new services, was sold off or scrapped

by the three prior administrations before Mr. Kummant's arrival.

- Initial terminal on-time departures are unacceptable low. Systemwide

average for the year is around 92% of trains departing their initial

terminals on time, but on some days that figure dips below 50%. If Amtrak

can't get it own trains out of its own yards and terminal facilities and

onto host railroad tracks on a timely basis, why should the host

railroads worry about running trains on time? The very great majority of

initial terminal delays are the result of equipment breakdowns,

unavailable employees because of too few extra board employees (or, none

at all), or turning and servicing late arriving trains which become the

next departure. This could be fixed with more equipment taken out of dead

storage and restored to service.

- Amtrak still does not report any relevant information regarding load

factors or revenue passenger miles, but, instead, clings to useless

figures relating to ridership and revenue (without reporting

corresponding expense figures).

- Of the generous amounts of money from the various governmental sources

Amtrak receives, it constantly invests that money in its least productive

services, the NEC and other short distance corridors, even though

Amtrak's own accounting system (flawed as it may be) still shows Amtrak's

best and most efficient revenue and revenue passenger mile generators are

the long distance trains. If you were the CEO of an ongoing enterprise,

and you were given five or 10 or 100 million dollars of free money, which

business would you invest capital improvement money in, infrastructure on

the NEC (often for the benefit of local commuter agencies), or getting

money-making passenger cars on the road which are the primary income

generators of the company?

- The great majority of Amtrak's passenger stations and terminals are

either in undesirable areas of the towns and cities they serve, in poor

condition, or lack basic facilities like shelter, safety, and running

water. Since its inception, Amtrak has used a prior century's station

facilities, with a prior century's amenities and locations. Quaint,

nostalgic locations offer little comfort for passengers seeking a modern

travel experience. Often, many of these same stations also lack adequate,

protected automobile parking, or any type of security measures for

passengers using the facilities during nocturnal hours. Even though

Amtrak has instigated a Great American Stations program to try and fix

this problem, progress is too slow and inadequate, with little

coordination with state and local governments, or private developers.

Even with the Great American Stations program, it's tough to forget

Amtrak history, and how many cities and towns have invested public money

heavily in locally owned stations, to have Amtrak abruptly cancel train

service on that route. Add to that Amtrak's excuses about the lack of

serviceable stations on the Sunset Limited route east of New Orleans as a

reason to keep any train out of that area, and one has to wonder how

serious Amtrak is about stations. If local communities can strive to fix

up stations along the route of the California Zephyr, then, why can't

local communities along the Hurricane Katrina ravaged Gulf Coast do the

same, so desperately needed train service can return to this area?

- On the whole, Amtrak employees and lower level managers, are underpaid

and under motivated, and have been working far too long without a current

union contract. This shameful condition has led to a decline in passenger

services, which has been exacerbated by poor hiring choices and a

willingness to keep too many employees which never should have been hired

at all. Often, the personalities of many front line and passenger

services employees are in direct contradiction with their job

descriptions and responsibilities, resulting in ongoing, unhappy

experiences for both the employees and passengers.

- Many Amtrak managers have survived and thrived because of membership in

the "good old boy" system, which has rewarded ineptness with promotions

or lateral moves to get rid of certain managers by making them "someone

else's problem."

- For almost all of Amtrak's corporate existence, there has been no

identifiable surface transportation policy coming from the executive or

legislative branches of government. As a result, Amtrak has been an

untamed child, sentenced to wander listlessly over the landscape,

existing on handouts from the goodwill of others. No one has ever

comprehensively looked at how Amtrak can completely fit into our nation's

domestic transportation matrix, and what it can realistically contribute

in a positive way. Instead, Amtrak has continued to ignore market

opportunities, focused on the worst type of capital investments, and not

really cared how many travelers do or do not become Amtrak passengers.

- Amtrak's overall relationship with its host railroads often is hostile

instead of friendly or mutually beneficial. The wars have gone on for so

long, it's often difficult to tell where common middle ground may be

found to make Amtrak the best customer of the host freight railroads,

instead of the most disdained customer.

- The overall marketing of Amtrak remains poor. Amtrak, regrettably,

remains America's best kept secret. No one really knows how much pent up

demand there is for passenger train service in America simply because a

great many Americans have no idea Amtrak exists, or if it serves their

town or city.

- Amtrak continues to say the dog ate its homework and not restore the

Sunset Limited east of New Orleans, or offer a similar substitute

service. If Amtrak is allowed to continue this charade, a precedent will

be set that will allow the company to discontinue any portion of any

route with impunity. Amtrak passengers and train-related employees will

find themselves without a train to ride or work on simply because some

Amtrak manager decided a certain route or part of a route was too

difficult to manage.

Now, if you are a banker (or Member of Congress or Capitol Hill staffer

gathering information for you boss to make an informed vote), no matter

what good things you may or may not perceive Amtrak to do, how could you,

in good conscience, continue to throw billions of more dollars at Amtrak

after it has already received nearly $30 billion since it was formed in

1971 and is in its present, reduced circumstances?

Since Amtrak, with the able assistance of NARP and other organizations of

its ilk, has constantly done a poor job of informing the public of the

real benefits of running passenger trains, and presenting the real facts,

either financially or about expansion opportunities, it's tough for

people of any sort to make competent decisions about Amtrak, and its

future potential. Therefore, many are operating on the theories that it's

only government money, and therefore from an unlimited pool, or if

everything humanly possible isn't done to keep a broken company like

Amtrak operating, then passenger trains will go away, forever. Both of

these theories are wrong.

Amtrak has serious problems, but is slowly attempting to fix many of its

problems. Inch by inch, some progress is being made. But, until Amtrak is

able to publicly demonstrate a better commitment to passenger service,

improve its on time performance by beginning with better initial terminal

starts, and willing to grow, either by lengthening too short trains or

outright adding service, then the perception is going to remain of that

of a seriously flawed and broken organization. If Alex Kummant does what

he says he is going to do, Congress can make a better decision in coming

years about the future of Amtrak.

Alex Kummant has already cleaned house of many senior managers and

executives who allowed these problems to fester over entire careers. More

needs to be done, on all levels. The entire corporate culture of Amtrak

must be changed, one employee at the time. It's not wrong to demand more,

as long as the tools and incentives to provide more are in place. It's

not wrong to find productive solutions to problems with host railroads;

every problem has some sort of solution, whether it's a pleasant or

painful resolution.

For those who wish to enable Amtrak simply because it's the only game in

town, that is wrong and unhelpful. Amtrak has the potential for

greatness, but that will never be achieved when mediocrity and the

corporate slovenliness of Amtrak are tolerated.

4) The Union Pacific Railroad is often named the best railroad in the

country. UP always has an all-star board of directors, and controls vast

amounts of freight traffic in the western United States. Too bad it can't

figure out how to live up to simple contracts it makes with Amtrak to run

one train a day in each direction on most routes.

First, on the Sunset Limited route between Los Angeles in Iowa Junction

in western Louisiana, the UP promised to run the Sunset in a more timely

manner of only Amtrak would adjust the trains schedule, and add more pad

time (time to catch up to the published schedule in case the train is

running late). Amtrak agreed, and moved the departure of the Sunset in

Los Angeles back nearly eight hours earlier. Whoops! The Sunset is still

one of Amtrak's worst performing trains for timekeeping.

Earlier this year, Amtrak and UP came to a similar agreement along the

route of the California Zephyr between the San Francisco Bay area and

Denver. Amtrak added more pad time to the schedule, moved up the

departure time to an earlier time, and allowed for UP infrastructure

maintenance and construction along the route. The Zephyr was supposed to

run sometime close to on time, by promise of the UP. Whoops! Some, but no

real improvement. Trains are still running too late.

Apparently, to the Union Pacific, contracts aren't very important, or,

absent that, their dispatchers just don't understand how to keep trains

moving out on the rails. Either way, Amtrak is paying a heavy price in

passenger dissatisfaction, poor equipment utilization, and onboard and

station employee overtime just because UP doesn't understand how to do

business in an honorable way. Keep in mind, this is the railroad which is

constantly named the best railroad in the United States. Perhaps new

criteria needs to be established for that honor.

5) In the last issue of This Week at Amtrak, we discussed the merits of

Amtrak partnering with GrandLuxe Rail Journeys, formerly American Orient

Express. Part of the discussion centered around the possibility of this

experiment being successful, and perhaps leading to GrandLuxe, or some

other company, reviving the concept of The Pullman Company for operating

Amtrak's dining, lounge, and sleeping cars, and leaving the coach

business to Amtrak. It was suggested the new service would provide the

same levels of service as today's VIA Rail Canada, or the old Pullman

Company, not the current levels of GrandLuxe service.

Boy, you should have heard the howls of protest. That exercise proves why

it is so difficult to propose anything new or perceived as radical when

it comes to the broken concepts of Amtrak. Every argument imaginable was

made against the service, from the fear of higher costs (which would be

almost impossible due to Amtrak's current sleeping car service costs

versus the passenger benefits provided) to the fear the service might

actually be successful and rock the Amtrak boat.

The reality is, unless Amtrak continues to think in terms of interesting

and innovative strategic partnerships such as with GrandLuxe, it will

never emerge beyond the poor condition it is in today. Everyone should be

hoping for the success of GrandLuxe in its current form, because it is a

successful travel services marketer, and provides high value for the

services offered to its passengers. If this experiment works, then a wide

door for other improvements will be opened, offering hope for the

American passenger train beyond the often rolling slums they are today.

6) URPA stalwart William J. Lindley of Arizona continues our series about

examining Amtrak's current route structure for better equipment

utilization and better passenger service, while increasing revenue

passenger miles.

[begin quote]

By William J. Lindley

Recently we have been looking at how Amtrak can do more with what it has.

As we consider increasing revenue (not merely ridership), the main

concern is on maximizing the use of scarce resources. Engineers and

conductors can be hired fairly quickly. Food, fuel, and other supplies

are readily available. Stations and new routes, take time to ready, but

can be usable within a year or two. What is not readily available now, is

additional railcars. Let's look at how combining two short corridors into

one longer route can maximize equipment usage and revenue.

Amtrak operates four daily round-trips between Chicago and St. Louis, and

two between St. Louis and Kansas City. Since the April schedule change,

the first train to St. Louis from Kansas City arrives an hour too late to

catch the last train to Chicago.

>From Chicago to St. Louis (284 miles) is about five and a half hours;

from St. Louis to Kansas City, 283 miles in about six hours.

Checking the timetable, we find Amtrak needs seven sets of equipment -- a

"set" being locomotive and cars -- to run today's schedule. Each set, on

average, is used only about twelve hours a day. Because terminating a

train, servicing, and turning it takes awhile, and because short-haul

trains need to operate at reasonable hours of the day, there is little

room for improvement in corridors of 300 miles. (The January timetable

could have been operated with six trainsets instead of seven.)

Let's consider, however, using six trainsets with each train operating

the entire length of a joined Chicago - St. Louis - Kansas City corridor.

Each trainset will run five and a half hours from Chicago to St. Louis,

with a half hour there, and six more hours to Kansas City (total twelve

hours), then lay over six hours. That's 18 hours from entering service

until it's ready to again enter service ... or, thirty-six hours from

when it leaves Chicago until it's again ready to leave Chicago.

If we divide that 36 hours in two, as with two trainsets, there would be

a train every 18 hours. With three -- every 36/3 = every 12 hours. With

four trainsets, every 9 hours; and with six sets, every six hours.

The schedule could look something like this:

Chicago southbound:

6 A.M., noon, 6 P.M., and midnight.

St. Louis:

- for Chicago, 6 A.M., noon, 6 P.M., and midnight.

- for Kansas City, 6 A.M., noon, 6 P.M., and midnight.

Kansas City east and northbound:

6 A.M., noon, 6 P.M., and midnight.

These four daily 567-mile round trips would require zero new equipment,

zero new station personnel, and zero new stations compared to today.

Daily train-miles, crew, and operating expenses would increase about 25%

while offering many more daily destination ticket opportunities.

Factor in the "matrix effect" and you'll find new revenue from passengers

riding the Southwest Chief from Albuquerque to Kansas City and then to

Springfield, Illinois. You can't do that, now. Nor can you ride the train

from Jefferson City to Bloomington today, without spending a night in St.

Louis. The whole matrix starts to open up with service like this ...

which can lead to revenue increasing faster than expenses.

Folks are already riding the expanded Illinois service far more than

critics expected. Let's build on that experience.

What are the problems? Money, for one. Missouri would likely be asked to

pay twice what it does now "since you're getting twice the service."

Meanwhile, Illinois probably wouldn't be asked to pay less. Why would

this be wrong?

Let's assume for a moment that capital costs -- depreciation and

maintenance on the locomotives and passenger cars -- account for one half

of the annual expense, and operating costs -- onboard personnel, food,

fuel, and such -- the other half. If capital expenses increase, say, 10%

(with the same amount of equipment used, running six extra hours a day)

and operating increases 25%, that's a total of under 120% of today's.

If Missouri today pays $.50 and Illinois pays $1.00, then a fair

allocation could be each paying $.90 (50% of 120% the current grand total

of $1.50). How exactly that would work is a matter for Amtrak and the

States to decide ... but Illinois' share should certainly decrease.

Money is just one of the points of dispute in rearranging and combining

corridor and commuter rail operations, as we'll see in an upcoming column

about Southern California.

[End quote]

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

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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, including requests to unsubscribe, should be

addressed to

[email protected]

URPA leadership members are available for speaking engagements.

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

_______________________________________________

TWA mailing list

[email protected]

http://lists.unitedrail.org/mailman/listinfo/twa

 

[MrFSS]

This Week at Amtrak; August 4, 2007

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 4, Number 31

Founded over three decades ago in 1976 by the late 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, New Mexico, the District of Columbia, Texas, and New

York. 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) If you have an advantage over your close or far competitors, why not

use it? Amtrak has not figured out that concept, and continues to

subscribe to herd mentality instead of the brightness of individuality.

Riding a passenger train, whether it's a commuter train, regional train,

or long distance train comes down to one factor: it is basic

transportation of cars on steel wheels traveling over steel rails. It's

not so different from riding a common carrier bus, such as Greyhound, or

flying on a jet airplane, such as offered by Southwest or Delta Air

Lines.

It's what can be offered to make the trip unique and desirable that makes

the difference.

Passenger airplanes, in the post war days of the turbo prop

Constellations, and the early Boeing 707s, offered an unique experience.

Well prepared hot meals were served, the Constellations had private

sleeping berths similar to the open sections of the Pullman Company

sleeping cars on trains, and those employees providing the service to

passengers were selected for their smarts, personalities, and good

appearance. Through the years most of that has disappeared, and today's

jet airplane travel, including overseas travel, has become a function of

seeing how many seats can be jammed into a long metal tube and shot

through the atmosphere. Oh, first class and business travel still offers

some perks, but they are limited compared to what they used to be and

they are expensive enough only the most well-to-do flyers can take

advantage of the service.

Bus travel has some improvements over the original open windows and what

today we would consider to be a school bus atmosphere. A limited number

of long distance bus carriers offer onboard movies, and a very limited

food and beverage service on certain routes, but this is not a common

practice. All busses have restroom facilities, but those facilities are

as cramped as the seats in the busses. There is nothing glamorous about a

bus terminal, and many are served by inhouse Burger King fast food

restaurants, not exactly most adults' idea of a good meal.

Passenger train travel is where the potential sits lurking, waiting to be

exploited. A passenger train, like a cruise ship, can be a moving city.

Trains and ships are the only two forms of common carriage with this

advantage. VIA Rail Canada figured out a long time ago (actually, they

never forgot) this concept, but Amtrak still often thinks of itself as a

Greyhound bus with steel wheels on steel rails.

Amtrak is in love with coaches, and thinks the need by passengers for

ingestion of nourishment during travel should be an annoying necessary

function, not a profit center. Likewise, the railroad sleeping car has

great potential, as demonstrated by GrandLuxe Rail Journeys, but scorned

by Amtrak. As we've said the past two issues of TWA, Amtrak's sleeping

cars, if only brought up to the level of the old Pullman Company, have

great potential. Instead, as Amtrak operates them, they are austere

shells with often less than ordinary passenger service.

A well planned train can have ordinary coaches (with excellent passenger

service and high levels of coach amenities and comfort), first class

coaches with more spacious seating and similar amenities to sleeping

cars, sleeping cars that offer many of the same levels of service and

comfort as good hotels, dining cars which offer satisfactory meals, and

grill and lounge cars which offer a friendly atmosphere and a variety of

light food, snack, and beverage items. Add to this a car with a gift shop

and entertainment venues such as electronic games and a children's play

area, and you have a full range of passenger services, all designed to

pay for themselves, and make a profit in the end. Plus, don't forget the

never-elegant baggage car, where great amounts of passenger luggage can

be stored and shipped.

If you're an Amtrak apologist, you will immediately say these types of

things can't be done without a lot of money. Or, you may say since Amtrak

is a child of government, then it should only offer the most basic of

services and not cater to upscale passengers. Such piffle. Imaginative

management, coupled with a motivated work force can accomplish many of

these things. A redirection of some resources away from the constant

financial black hole of the Northeast Corridor infrastructure and short

distance trains provides plenty of working capital to make this type of

train a reality. Amtrak, an a quasi-public entity, has a greater duty to

be self-sustaining and draw as little as possible from the public purse;

there is no commandment anywhere, written in stone or any other form of

writing, that says that passenger trains MUST lose money. That is only a

myth that has been perpetuated by Amtrak management and the National

Association of Railroad Passengers and other organizations of that ilk

which believe in the illogical concept that government is good, and

private industry is bad.

As we have discussed before, Amtrak onboard employees and station

employees, as well as those in back office functions like reservations

and accounting are de-motivated and self-demonized by their employment

and work atmosphere. Too many unresolved union contracts for too long,

too much negative discipline instead of positive discipline, and the

allowance of too many people to stay in jobs for too long they are not

suited for have made a complete mess of Amtrak passenger service.

Every passenger boarding an Amtrak train or coming into any type of

contact with Amtrak is always making a craps shoot, seeing if their

experience is going to be a good one because of a dedicated Amtrak

employee, or a bad or terrible one because an Amtrak employee is having a

bad day or a bad life. Airlines, cruise line, hotels, and just about

every other company in the travel industry does a better job than Amtrak

at customer service, because the employees have better motivation, and a

greater fear of losing their jobs. Amtrak tends to attempt to run off the

good employees, and retain employees that never should have been hired in

the first place.

Amtrak has all of the resources it needs to improve its trains, stop

being America's best kept secret, and be a successful company, beyond the

measurement of those ill-bred souls who believe Amtrak must be protected

in every instance because it's the only passenger system we have. Those

enablers would rather ride a bad train in agony than attempt to create a

good system of trains with potential. Those people need to go away and

allow Amtrak to flourish and grow, taking whatever painful steps may be

necessary to in the end have a healthy and robust American passenger rail

system.

2) This week's interstate highway bridge collapse tragedy in Minneapolis

will have many positive ramifications come out of the horror of losing

the bridge and those lives which were lost or forever changed by injury.

Already, there is talk of rebuilding America's aging infrastructure, and

perhaps giving a closer examination to surface transportation policy.

Add to that the current high prices of gasoline during the summer months,

and you would think commuter rail and short distance passenger rail

systems all over the country would be booming. Nope, that's not

happening. Those commuter systems and short distance lines which are good

and well planned, and do well under any circumstances continue to do

well. Those systems which have limited utility to people normally driving

their own cars remain as under performers. The bottom line of this is

that drivers are not going to abandon their automobiles until two things

happen: first, gas prices probably double or triple what they are today,

and second, a well planned commuter and transit infrastructure which

offers both convenience and choices comes into being.

Of course, it's a chicken and egg thing. In Dallas, they built a good

system, and the public flocked to it. Across the state in Houston, they

built a good system, and it has had decent ridership, but political

forces have decided not to expand the rail system, and instead rely on

busses.

In South Florida, the Tri-Rail commuter system continues to flourish, but

at a high public cost and not as high ridership numbers as are desirable.

Since Tri-Rail has added a tremendous number of departures, ridership

should increase, and plans to more than double the system's route miles

are still going forward.

If highway planners, who are most likely looking at a financial windfall

for rebuilding aging and out of date roads and interstates in the next

few years, look beyond the fish bowl and realize good, well-planned rail

systems can augment their highway plans, then the world will be a better

place. Rail will never replace highways, but it can be a vital component

in the domestic transportation matrix. The rail component can include

commuter, short distance, regional, and long distance trains, with as

many operators as there are as many types of rail. Amtrak doesn't have to

be the one-size-fits-all operator, and it won't offer all of the answers.

Thanks to the Minneapolis tragedy, and the success of systems like Dallas

and other cities and regions, surface transportation policy may again

come in vogue. We can only hope policy focuses on a salad bowl of all of

the components, and not just the pouring of concrete.

3) Last week, we briefly discussed the poor results of the Union

Pacific's operations of the California Zephyr and the Sunset Limited on

behalf of Amtrak. URPA's own Russ Jackson of California has been studying

the topic of the California Zephyr's on time performance in depth, and

offers a different perspective on the situation.

[begin quote]

How is the California Zephyr doing since its schedule was lengthened?

By Russ Jackson

We all know that Amtrak trains 5 and 6, the California Zephyr, have been

late regularly. From August, 2006 into June, 2007, the combined on time

performance of both trains at their endpoints, Chicago and Emeryville,

was 0.0%. On June 21, 2007, after arduous negotiations with the Union

Pacific the schedule was lengthened.

The new schedule has train 5 arriving in Emeryville at 7:50 P.M., with

very little extra pad from Martinez, and train 6 is scheduled to arrive

in Chicago at 4:25 P.M., but with almost 90 minutes of extra pad from

Naperville.

Since the 21st of June schedule change trains 5 and 6 endpoint OTP for

the year has "improved" and as of July 22 has reached 3.2%, but with July

1 through 22 showing 37% OT and improving almost daily.

The need for the schedule lengthening was the 129 miles between milepost

Alazon and Battle Mountain, Nevada, on what is nominally a double track

railroad. That stretch encompasses the historic Central Pacific line and

the parallel Western Pacific line that are both now owned by the UP. The

official reason is "temporary speed restrictions" (slow orders). The UP

has plans to repair the tracks in this area over the next two years, and

much has already been done. There was little for Amtrak to do, so it

chose to lengthen the schedule of the Zephyr running through that area,

with No. 5 scheduled to arrive in Sacramento at 5:50 PM instead of 2:15,

and train 6 arrive in Salt Lake City at 4:15 A.M. instead of 3:15 A.M. It

is this segment that is of interest here, so how has it been doing the

past few weeks: (not every date mentioned)

No. 5 Scheduled at Sacramento at 5:50 P.M.

Actual arrival time

July 1 1:54 A.M. (Very late)

July 12 5:09 (Early)

July 14 6:03

July 16 5:21 (Early)

July 18 5:03 (Early)

July 20 5:23 (Early)

July 22 6:16

July 24 5:31 (Early)

July 26 6:26

No. 6 Scheduled at Salt Lake City at 4:15 A.M.

Actual arrival time

July 3 12:09 P.M. (Very late)

July 12 4:00 (Early)

July 14 5:08

July 16 3:57 (Early)

July 18 3:30 (Early)

July 20 3:40 (Early)

July 23 5:34

July 24 3:50 (Early)

July 26 3:48 (Early)

So, what has happened? The planning for the segment between Salt Lake

City and Sacramento appears to have been correct. It is apparent that the

train can run on time, but of course the same old factors of freight

interference, on board incidents, locomotive failures, and other

variables enroute, some UP's fault and some Amtrak's fault, and in many

cases controllable by neither of them, will continue to cause occasional

delays.

Amtrak has said it will restore the shorter running time on the

California Zephyr when the UP repairs to the line are finished. We can

only hope, because it looks doable. Meanwhile, Amtrak invited cities

along the route of No. 5 and 6 to a conference in Denver on July 24 to

discuss station improvements and how to get money to improve them. Based

on the recent on time performance they had good news to report.

[End quote]

4) Here is a blatant, unpaid plug for a commercial product. If you are

interested in having a full understanding of passenger railroading,

including highly useful information from the past which can serve as

building blocks for a vision for the future, you should be subscribing to

the new incarnation of Passenger Train Journal, published quarterly by

White River Productions.

The magazine is available on many news stands which carry other, less

important publications such as Trains magazine, and you can also

subscribe to Passenger Train Journal. Look at the White River Productions

web site at www.whiteriverproductions.com . An important aspect of the

magazine is that it is not an automatic cheerleader for Amtrak or

anything related to passenger rail, and it often takes a realistic look

at the passenger rail products offered today. This refreshing editorial

viewpoint makes the magazine a valuable source of information assembled

by a professional staff.

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

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All other correspondence, including requests to unsubscribe, should be

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[email protected]

URPA leadership members are available for speaking engagements.

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

_______________________________________________

TWA mailing list

[email protected]

http://lists.unitedrail.org/mailman/listinfo/twa

 

[Guest]

This Week at Amtrak; August 4, 2007
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 4, Number 31

URPA leadership members are available for speaking engagements.

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

_______________________________________________

TWA mailing list

[email protected]

http://lists.unitedrail.org/mailman/listinfo/twa

Has anyone seen a more recent URPA newsletter?

 

[MrFSS]

This Week at Amtrak; August 4, 2007
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 4, Number 31

URPA leadership members are available for speaking engagements.

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

_______________________________________________

TWA mailing list

[email protected]

http://lists.unitedrail.org/mailman/listinfo/twa

Has anyone seen a more recent URPA newsletter?

I've not received any updates recently and the website doesn't show any, either. Don't know what has happened to them.

 

[MrFSS]

This Week at Amtrak; September 27, 2007

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 904-636-7739, Electronic Mail [email protected]

http://www.unitedrail.org

Volume 4, Number 32

Founded over three decades ago in 1976 by the late 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, New Mexico, the District of Columbia, Texas, and New

York. 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) Thanks to all who have inquired about the missing This Week at Amtraks

lately. Due to the death of an aunt, a trip to her funeral, the lengthy

terminal illness of a dear friend of 40 years who passed away last week

and taking care of his many final needs in the last few weeks, and caring

for my elderly parents, time has been in demand. This issue should be the

resumption of a regular schedule.

2) It's just a couple of weeks beyond a year that Alex Kummant, President

and CEO of Amtrak reported to work last September. Here is what Mr.

Kummant had to say to Amtrak employees in an internal newsletter on

September 18th, six days after the first anniversary of his stewardship

of our nation's passenger rail service.

[begin quote]

President and CEO Kummant: Outlook on Amtrak's Future

Dear Co-workers,

When I joined Amtrak a year ago, everyone told me that time passes

quickly here, and it certainly does. It's hard to believe that this month

marks my one-year anniversary - in some ways I feel like it was just

yesterday that I walked through the doors at Union Station. I've learned

a lot this past year, and while we need to continue to address our

day-to-day problems, I wanted to share with you a few thoughts about our

future together.

First, I want you to know that I am most impressed with the dedication

and expertise of our employees. There's a sense of mission that

collectively drives our employees - whether you're in an office, aboard a

train, in the shops or at a work site - and it's unique to Amtrak.

Despite our challenges, there is a great loyalty to our company.

Second, FY '07 will go down in the books as another strong year for us,

both in ridership and ticket revenue. We have managed - in the face of

rising fuel costs, inflation and other factors - to keep our operating

loss steady. The credit for these accomplishments belongs not only to the

employees who worked hard to deliver quality service this year, but also

to those who rebuilt our infrastructure and fleet over the last few

years.

Third, I've realized that there is a huge reservoir of people out there

who support Amtrak. It's not just the people who simply love trains and

train travel; it's local, state and federal elected officials, community

and business leaders, among others. I find that network very encouraging.

I've met station volunteers, people who memorize our schedules, and

others who know virtually every piece of equipment; they also give me a

lot of free advice.

Fourth, one of most important lessons I've learned over the last 12

months is that we think too much in the moment; we are too worried about

surviving and not enough about thriving. Simply getting through another

month is too low of a bar for a company with as much talent as Amtrak.

Without a doubt, we have to be focused on doing our jobs, operating

safely and being good managers, but we have to break through to the other

side.

There are very few opportunities in business where the path is as

well-lighted as ours. In addition to the growing support for passenger

rail, there are factors that make intercity passenger rail extremely

relevant in today's world. Highway and airway congestion, volatile fuel

prices, increasing environmental awareness, and a need for transportation

links between growing communities, are a few among them. The stage is set

for Amtrak to take on a role not just as a contributor to the nation's

transportation network, but as a leader among transportation modes.

Growth is my strategy for the future and it will take shape along three

integrated fronts: investing in our workforce, investing in our

partnerships with states and freight railroads, and investing in

equipment and infrastructure.

You are the face of our product, and all of us combined are its strength.

Our industry has changed and we have to change with it; we must invest in

our human capital to build a 21st century workforce. Achieving new union

agreements is only a part of the strategy; it also has to reflect the

large number of expected retirees in the next few years. Accordingly, we

need to map out sound hiring strategies to meet the needs of the future.

Nonetheless, I reiterate my willingness to join our unions at the

negotiating table to achieve fair and fiscally responsible agreements

that meet the needs of the company and our deserving agreement-covered

employees, as well as to better attract and retain a highly skilled and

engaged workforce.

At the risk of sounding like a broken record, the future of our business

is in expanding and developing corridor service. We need to strengthen

our partnerships with states and host railroads to make that happen. We

can take a leadership role in advancing corridor service with bold

infrastructure projects that would break apart some of the key

bottlenecks across the country. By dedicating some capital and working

with our state and freight partners, we could open up segments of routes

that would transform rail service.

Imagine what a dedicated line from Chicago to Porter, Ind., would do for

the Capitol Limited and Lake Shore Limited services, as well as our

Michigan trains. Imagine what an additional line between Richmond and

Washington could do to improve and expand service there, or another route

developed to link Los Angeles and the Bay area. What I'm suggesting is

that we have to be bold.

If we hold out the promise of growth, we have to acquire new equipment.

Much of our fleet is old and we run the wheels off our equipment. It's

high time we invest in new equipment and our state partners - and

prospective partners - are looking to us to take the initiative on this

front.

When I accepted this job, I knew I was joining a cause as much as a

business. Amtrak was created at a time when few saw any chance of

survival of passenger rail. Now we are seen as one of the solutions to

high gas prices, climate change concerns, and congestion. The company has

proven itself and now we have to be more than just survivors, we have to

be builders. That challenge falls to all of us - I'll do my part in

leading and driving the vision, but every single Amtrak employee can play

a real role in taking us to the next level.

Sincerely,

Alex Kummant

President and CEO

[End quote]

2) Let no one doubt Mr. Kummant is a good communicator. Since his arrival

last September, he has moved quickly to establish himself as a credible

and professional voice and image for Amtrak, eschewing the histrionics of

his predecessors.

In his outlook for the future, he hits some important highlights, such as

new union agreements, better partnerships with states and others,

thinking for the future, not just the present, and growth for the

company. Much of this is long-standing URPA doctrine.

There are two sad highlights, however, in his communique.

One, is his citing of increases in ridership and revenue, which, again,

at the risk of sounding like a broken record, are overall meaningless

numbers when not reported alongside of revenue passenger miles and

expenses. Mr. Kummant alludes to keeping costs under control, but he does

not share any goals implied or reached.

>From a ridership standpoint, if ridership on the Sunset Limited tripled

between Los Angeles and Pomona, California tripled, that would be a nice

bump in that figure, but it would be catastrophic for both the route and

the company, because the ridership would be for a very short distance

(only 32 miles), and travelers on that segment only would block out

higher revenue generating passengers who may wish to travel the average

length of the route many passengers do travel, which is hundreds of

miles. Again, ridership numbers are meaningless, and are only valid in

the transit world where a different type of zone fares are used, and

revenue passenger miles and load factor are not counted. Every other

common carrier, be it buses, airplanes, or steamships, count revenue

passenger miles, not ridership as the prime and only important

measurement of success or failure.

Amtrak continues to act like its only alternative to any scenario is to

continue to lose money on its operations. Again, this is unacceptable;

Amtrak does have the ability to make money on many of its trains when

actual, real-world accounting is used (including all types of railroad

accounting rules which are used by the freight railroads) instead of

Amtrak's current recipe for cooking its books.

The most grotesque statement of Mr. Kummant's was regarding growth, in

which he said, "At the risk of sounding like a broken record, the future

of our business is in expanding and developing corridor service." Someone

... anyone, please disclaim this unsavory business strategy which has

already been proven by Amtrak for decades to be doomed to failure.

Realistic and professional people can only hope that statement is a

canard of the worst sort; others cling to it as unholy gospel, hoping to

turn a sow's ear into a silk purse.

How many times does it have to be said? The only hope of a financial

future - and, therefore reliable future - for Amtrak is to rely on the

cheap to operate, high revenue generating national long distance route

system, and not the high expense, low revenue generating corridor route

system, which has little, if any, chance of financial success.

It wasn't the long distance trains that pulled down the private,

pre-Amtrak passenger railroads; it was the railroads which operated a

high number of commuter and corridor trains which suffered the greatest

losses. That fact still remains true, today.

3) The Wall Street Journal, in late August ran the ultimate puff piece on

Mr. Kummant, never really asking any difficult questions, and somewhat

slanting the article in favor of Amtrak. Andrew Selden of URPA had this

response to the article, which also correctly outlines many of the faults

of Mr. Kummant's approach to his year at Amtrak.

[begin quote]

By Andrew Selden

The Wall Street Journal Amtrak article of August 23, 2007, extolling the

wonders of Amtrak's recent ridership gains in the Northeast Corridor, and

almost glibly dismissing the rail network elsewhere in the country,

created a terribly misleading mis-impression of Amtrak's results.

By relying on an almost irrelevant metric, "ridership," which measures

only transaction volume, but omitting load factor and, most importantly,

output, measured by passenger miles, one is left with the sense that

short urban corridors such as the NEC are the best or most successful

market for intercity passenger rail. This is exacerbated by referring to

Amtrak's modal split in the northeast against the trunk airlines as a

proxy for market share. This impression is completely backwards and

wrong.

It is still the case that most of Amtrak's output of passenger

transportation occurs in its interregional, longer distance markets. The

long distance trains have by far the highest load factors, often double

the short corridors. Even the vaunted Acelas have no more than 50% load

factors, and that largely on the strength of 90-mile New York

Philadelphia ridership. Outside that tiny segment, Acela load factors

drop into the range of 30% or less. Amtrak's market share for intercity

passenger transportation in the Northeast is less than 2%.

It seems odd the story noted airlines are all too ready to shed their

high-cost short routes in favor of high revenue long distance routes, but

failed to question why Amtrak pursues the opposite strategy.

The most glaring omission was the failure to report that whatever

accomplishments Amtrak has made in the NEC come at an astonishing cost to

the taxpayers of a billion dollars a year in free federal subsidy. The

Acelas and the other NEC trains have the highest subsidy cost per

passenger and per passenger mile of any trains Amtrak operates. The long

distance trains produce (depending on the route) five to seven times the

revenue and output per dollar of federal support than any NEC train,

including the Acela. Their 50 to 70% load factors prove those markets are

underserved relative to demand. Corridor and NEC load factors of 30 to

45% prove that they are already overserved.

This variance also explains Amtrak's chronically dismal, and worsening,

financial results of operations: it consistently pours the vast majority

of its annual federal subsidy into its services with the lowest returns

on invested capital. In fact, measured by GAAP, the $3 billion federal

subsidy that created Acela has produced a negative rate of return on

investment, not even counting the hundreds of millions of dollars of

subsequent annual capital and operating subsidies without which no Acela

could turn a wheel.

[End quote]

4) To sum up Mr. Kummant's first year of stewardship, we have to visit

the following three points:

- Amtrak's financial results of operations are declining, it's dependence

on public sector welfare, such as new monies from state corridors is

increasing, it's relevance to national mobility measured by market share

and by total output are declining, and it has a vision and strategy that

have not changed (unlike everything else in America) since the High Speed

Ground Transportation Act of 1966.

- Mr. Kummant's direction for the company is nothing new. While he

personally has no history of passenger rail to know any better, and is

dependent on the staff brain trust for data and vision, the current "new"

direction of heavy growth on corridor reliance has been tried repeatedly,

and has never succeeded. This is "emerging corridors" redux - 1972 all

over again. Acela is the new TurboTrain.

- Mr. Kummant fortunately moved swiftly to achieve a much needed cleaning

out of Amtrak's upper levels of its management ranks. Gone were some of

Amtrak's worst executives in its history, and they were replaced by some

excellent (but not all excellent) choices.

5) On a positive note, we do have the upcoming experiment with GrandLuxe

Journeys premier sleeping and dining car service coming in the late fall.

If everyone keeps enough of an open mind, this could be a harbinger of

good things to come, based on concepts and revised applications to other

services.

We have also seen increases in corridor train services, but, again, only

at the cost of state treasuries kicking in more money to Amtrak instead

of Amtrak figuring out a way to generate more income from ticket revenues

and making better use of current assets.

6) The greatest sour note of the year remains the lack of service over

the Sunset Limited route between New Orleans and Florida. Amtrak

continues to ask everyone to believe the dog ate its homework instead of

offering any real reasons why this service has not been resumed.

7) Anyone who has had the pleasure of being a VIA Rail Canada passenger

knows our Canadian cousins excel at customer service. The following press

release from VIA explains why.

[begin quote]

VIA Rail Cites Customer Focus as Strategic Business Advantage

WEBWIRE - Wednesday, September 26, 2007

Brockville, Ontario - VIA Rail Canada's President and Chief Executive

Officer, Paul Côté, today emphasized that customer service is the

foundation for the company's success. VIA has chosen to focus on

providing excellent customer service as its core business strategy,

citing this as a strategic business advantage.

Addressing a group of business people at a luncheon organized jointly by

the Brockville Chamber of Commerce and Rotary Club, Côté showcased the

VIA experience as one-of-a-kind..

"A recent survey indicated a 98 per cent customer satisfaction rating for

VIA, a score that makes us one of the most trusted and admired

transportation companies in Canada" said Mr. Côté. "In a market that has

seen little growth over the past five years, there is really only one way

to make our business thrive - by increasing the value of that unique

experience for our customers. The reason people choose the train is it

offers something a little different - a more comfortable, convenient and

less stressful way to travel. We call it the more 'human' way to travel"

he added. "And our success as a business depends on delivering a 'human'

experience that consistently matches and surpasses expectations"

This strategy has produced tangible results. In the 2006 Commerce-Léger

Marketing Survey, respondents ranked VIA as the most admired

transportation company and one of the top 30 most admired companies

overall. Last year, VIA's revenues increased, for the third straight

year, to close to $300 million. More than four million passengers boarded

VIA trains last year; the Quebec City-Windsor corridor alone carried a

record 3.5 million passengers.

VIA has an established presence in the City of Brockville - the city that

opened the first railway tunnel in Canada, and marked the completion of a

new rail service from Montreal more than 150 years ago. That service grew

into a network linking Quebec City to Windsor, which now carries some 400

passenger trains per week, and 3.5 million passengers per year. Last

year, 63,000 passengers used the Brockville station, placing it among the

busiest stations in Canada.

[End quote]

8) URPA's always-pondering-the-world-around-him William Lindley of

Arizona has these worthwhile thoughts.

[begin quote]

Lessons From Busways and Trains

By William Lindley

Los Angeles in late August inaugurated a prototype 65-foot long bus. The

Metropolitan Transportation Authority is testing this bus, which fully

loaded, can carry over 130 sitting and standing passengers, to add

capacity to its strained Orange Line busway. The problem is, the Orange

Line has proven so popular that even as buses leave their first stop,

they are already packed. And significantly increasing frequency is not an

option because the busway is already handling nearly as many buses per

hour as it can. The only solution for now is to operate ever-longer buses

- and MTA had to get a waiver because this new bus is technically illegal

because of its excessive length.

Even such longer buses are unlikely to add enough capacity to handle

current, let alone future, demand. The only long term solution is... a

train. A 65-foot bus can carry about as many persons as a single car on

the Red Line subway... except a subway train can have four, six, eight,

or more cars in one train, all controlled by one motorman. One such train

every two minutes, then, carries eight times as many riders as one of

these new buses every two minutes.

So what was the point of building a busway instead of extending the Red

Line from the outset?

One could reasonably hold that Los Angeles could have worked harder to

overcome community opposition to a rail line. Yet, when all you have are

forecasts and predictions about ridership, it's hard to convince

politicians, much less the jaded voting public, that even the most

well-constructed model will reflect reality. Even though constructing the

busway first and then having to replace it with a rail line later will

have cost more, there is now unquestionable proof - in packed buses - the

riders are there. The case for rail here has become far easier to make.

And isn't it better for the public to have had several years of actual

bus service first, instead of bickering for years about rail that might

never happen?

In considering commuter and intercity rail, the same lesson applies.

It is better to build something small NOW and prove the demand, than to

study and argue for years. The high cost of inaction is in jobs not

taken, shopping trips not made, and time wasted sitting behind the wheel

of an automobile. And how do you calculate the cost of Grandma sitting at

home instead of going to a movie or visiting her family?

The more hidden lesson of the Orange Line, though, is in not starting TOO

small. We have lost count of the poorly-conceived and poorly-executed

examples of bus and rail service that litter the American countryside.

No, a line has to be designed to succeed.

Rolling even the most glamorous commuter train down a poorly-maintained

30-mph branch line twice a day, over the objection of the host railroad,

is not a plan for success.

Neither is spending billions on 150-mph speedster trainsets, and then

running them on a 90-mph railroad without addressing outdated tunnels,

crumbling stations, and poor integration with buses and other trains.

Despite what some rail pundits might say, the MTA did the right thing

with the Orange Line busway. Build something that's useful and usable,

and it will be used. That's the best way to build the popular and

political support any publicly-funded project deserves. Plan big, start

small, and serve the public.

[End quote]

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, including requests to unsubscribe, should be

addressed to

[email protected]

URPA leadership members are available for speaking engagements.

J. Bruce Richardson

President

United Rail Passenger Alliance, Inc.

1526 University Boulevard, West, PMB 203

Jacksonville, Florida 32217-2006 USA

Telephone 904-636-7739

[email protected]

http://www.unitedrail.org

_______________________________________________

TWA mailing list

[email protected]

http://lists.unitedrail.org/mailman/listinfo/twa

 

[MrFSS]

This Week at Amtrak; October 2, 2007

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 904-636-7739, Electronic Mail [email protected]

http://www.unitedrail.org

Volume 4, Number 33

Founded over three decades ago in 1976 by the late 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, New Mexico, the District of Columbia, Texas, and New

York. 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) President George Herbert Walker Bush, the father of the current

President Bush, was probably, by resume, the most qualified man to be

President of the United States in the 19th and 20 Centuries. In addition,

he is a true gentlemen's gentleman, and a master of making people in his

company feel at ease.

Like his presidential son, though, Mr. Bush sometimes had a tough time

coining a phrase. One of the phrases Mr. Bush was famous/infamous for was

"the vision thing." He knew what he wanted to say, and his thoughts about

a vision for his country and the world were right, but he just couldn't

express himself off the cuff in the best manner.

If only that was Amtrak's problem. Not only does Amtrak totally not

understand "the vision thing," it seems to go to great pains to prove how

much tunnel vision it has as a corporation.

We know every president Amtrak has had since the late Graham Claytor has

done their best either to run the company into the ground, or has been

cleaning up after their predecessors who nearly succeeded in running the

company into the ground. But, at some point, "the vision thing" has to

kick in for the company to ultimately survive.

To give credit where some credit is due, the two Amtrak presidents

immediately after Mr. Claytor, Tom Downs and George Warrington (the first

two of the Transit Trio), did have a vision for Amtrak, even though it

was completely flawed from inception. Mr. Downs and Mr. Warrington both

envisioned the Acela project in the Northeast Corridor would save the

company and create a pattern for the future of passenger rail in this

country.

Of course, just the opposite occurred, and the deeply flawed Acela and

its needs and the mismanagement of Mr. Warrington pushed Amtrak as far

towards bankruptcy as it has ever been. But, give Mr. Downs and Mr.

Warrington credit for at least having some sort of vision, wrong as it

was in so many ways. And, give David Gunn credit for going into a

desperate situation that still probably no one but him fully appreciated,

and holding things together.

Alex Kummant, Amtrak's current president and chief executive officer,

apparently envisions picking up where Mr. Warrington left off, and making

short distance and regional corridors the hallmark of Amtrak. Mr. Kummant

also is pursuing a strategy where someone, other than Amtrak, pays for

all of this new service.

The vision lacking here is real growth for Amtrak. With Amtrak just

running modified busses on rails on behalf of states, the company is

merely treading water, not growing. Amtrak works on a cost-plus basis for

the states, and these contracts can't really generate any legitimate cash

or real profits for Amtrak; they just cover expenses along with a

nuisance markup.

Everyone had hoped the Amtrak Board of Directors was going to select a

real visionary to run Amtrak this time; someone who knew how to hire the

right people to run the business while spending a lot of time building

for the future of Amtrak. More than one candidate interviewed fit that

description. Instead, they hired a technician with a resume, who has a

history of only keeping jobs for a relatively short time before moving on

to the next and better opportunity. The jury is a long ways from being in

on Mr. Kummant, and, indeed, he has done many things right in his first

year of service for the American people. But, we just haven't seen "the

vision thing" from him beyond what his staff has conjured up from the

ashes of failed past Amtrak strategies.

What resources is Amtrak putting into working with others? Historically,

Amtrak has put precious little human capital into paying attention to its

important partners, such as cities and states. Since these areas are

where Amtrak appears to be looking to build for its future, how much

attention is it paying to these areas? How much is Amtrak out "beating

the bushes" looking for new business opportunities? Does Amtrak care if

any city or town wants a new station? Does it care if a state or city

wants to restaff an unmanned station? Does it care whether or not

important cities, towns, and communities around the country even have

Amtrak service?

Amtrak's long distance system, the core of its being and its only hope

for a future, continues to languish. Mr. Kummant said in his one year

anniversary address to Amtrak employees he's planning for new rolling

stock. But, what kind? Diners, sleeping cars, and lounges? Just coaches?

Baggage cars?

We continuously hear from every quarter about a rail capacity crisis in

our country, and how he freight railroads would be put to great

discomfort if they had to run more passenger trains. Fine, but is anyone

with any type of vision, beyond railroad icons like former Federal

Railroad Administration Administrator Gilbert Carmichael, doing anything

to fix this problem? What is United States Secretary of Transportation

Mary Peters doing to help create a new vision? What is current FRA

Administrator Joseph Boardman doing to help create a new vision? More

importantly, what is Amtrak doing to heal relations with its host

railroads and reach equitable agreements which meet everyone's needs and

allow Amtrak to grow? What is the Association of American Railroads doing

to address the growing demand for passenger rail of all types? Does the

AAR have a collection of research showing how once again, passenger and

freight trains can successfully share tracks and still be profitable?

What about the money and financial people? Will we be mired in the mud of

misinformation another four decades as we have been in the past,

constantly touting the canard no passenger train can ever make money,

under any circumstances? Why do seemingly intelligent people allow

themselves to be unwittingly driven down this primrose path of thorns

that is so blatantly wrong, and no one is questioning this thinking or

bad reasoning?

2) It's desperately past time for Amtrak to stop focusing solely on

failure containment, and start focusing on future growth and expansion.

Just about every concept that could produce failure at Amtrak has been

tried and proven to be correct in its failings. The only concepts that

have not been fully exploited (but, are being partially exploited by the

Auto Train and Empire Builder) are the successful concepts which were

employed by the private railroads prior to Amtrak which operated

successful passenger trains.

The Atlantic Coast Line, and its successor, Seaboard Coast Line, had no

regulatory reason or legal duty to operate the seasonal Florida Special

every winter. Yet, for over 75 years, the train ran, including up to and

into the early days of Amtrak. The train ran, even through the dark days

of the 1960s for railroads, because it made money. If the private

railroaders, with only their own resources and no endless supply of free

federal monies, could figure out how to run successful long distance

passenger trains, why can't Amtrak?

3) We've known for years Amtrak has the least successful marketing

department in the history of modern corporations. Despite this, Amtrak

still seems to sell a lot of revenue passenger miles. Imagine what would

happen if Amtrak ever did have a successful marketing effort. It would

be, as they say, deja vu all over again as it was in the early days of

Amtrak when extra cars were added to trains, occasional special sections

of trains operated, and, heaven forbid, the company seemed to have a

desire to please passengers more than vacuuming up government dollars in

place of passenger revenue.

The question remains the same, where is the vision of the future of

Amtrak, when it comes to marketing? Where are the helpful public

relations and promotional efforts? Where is the news media being used to

Amtrak's advantage with positive stories about train travel in Sunday

newspaper travel sections and magazines? Where are the advertising

dollars being spent to generate high revenue and high revenue passenger

miles sales on long distance trains? Why does Amtrak constantly shuffle

around its marketing people, usually moving or getting rid of them just

as the right kind of business relationships and partnerships are being

formed?

4) Trains Magazine, which often has an amusing approach to passenger rail

(Trains has never really come to terms with the concept of passenger rail

being a real business, as opposed to a nostalgic endeavor for the

amusement of a small portion of the general population), in its October

issue presented "Three plans for passenger rail - but no additional

money." The first plan was Amtrak's strategic plan for 2008 and beyond,

which really is only a plan for failure containment.

The second is a "National 'Grid and Gateway' proposed by NARP." The plan

of the National Association of Railroad Passengers goes into great detail

over a 40 year period for taking just about every streak of rust called

rails in this country and running some type of passenger train on them,

but totally fails to mention who would pay for such a venture, or who

would patronize such a venture. NARP's plan can best be described as an

expensive social program paid for by someone else that will keep its

membership paying annual dues because someone actually came up with a

plan of action, no matter how flawed.

The third is "California High-Speed Rail," or, "How I spent my first $10

billion during my summer vacation." High-speed rail is a great dream, but

until this country has a fully mature conventional railroad system to

feed high-speed rail, it's just another expensive-to-plan pipe dream.

5) URPA has a plan for the future of passenger rail in this country, and,

indeed, North America. Much of the plan has often been chronicled in this

space, plus in such as white papers as The Selden Plan and Successful

Long Distance Passenger Trains of the Future found on our web site at

www.unitedrail.org .

URPA's vision is for Amtrak to roll up its corporate sleeves, apply

generous amounts of elbow grease and foresight, and take what current

assets Amtrak has and put them to use generating revenue and growth for

the company. As that is being done, start immediately working towards the

future, expanding the company and shedding unproductive efforts, such as

the operation of regional services - including the Northeast Corridor -

to other operators which specialize in short distance services.

Amtrak doesn't have to remain a corporate cripple and child of

government. It can begin to stand up on its own and walk, but it must

first have a vision to do so. Simply taking more money from state

governments to operate more marginal trains is not the answer. The answer

is to operate trains as part of a long distance, national system which

are real revenue generators with low operating costs.

Amtrak must stop things like owning train stations, and, instead, become

a tenant in someone else's property, which is cheaper and more

productive. Does Amtrak really need to be worrying about mowing the lawn

at the Jacksonville, Florida station, when, instead, some of the station

employees could be helping passengers?

Amtrak has got to start thinking like a successful company, not like a

government entity always depending on the largess of others for annual

funding. Why would anyone want to be a someone else's mercy when they can

stand on their own?

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, including requests to unsubscribe, should be

addressed to

[email protected]

URPA leadership members are available for speaking engagements.

J. Bruce Richardson

President

United Rail Passenger Alliance, Inc.

1526 University Boulevard, West, PMB 203

Jacksonville, Florida 32217-2006 USA

Telephone 904-636-7739

[email protected]

http://www.unitedrail.org

_______________________________________________

TWA mailing list

[email protected]

http://lists.unitedrail.org/mailman/listinfo/twa

 

[George Harris]

The third is "California High-Speed Rail," or, "How I spent my first $10billion during my summer vacation." High-speed rail is a great dream, but

until this country has a fully mature conventional railroad system to

feed high-speed rail, it's just another expensive-to-plan pipe dream.

I wil have to disagree with him here. If we can ever manage to get ONE truly hgih speed line built anywhere in this country, improved passenger service will sell itself from then on. Hgh speed means a line with the geometric characteristics where it looks easy to do it, not the NEC situation where you have to squeeze hard to do what is being done now, since all we have really done is to spruce up a 100 to 150 year old railroad with all its curves, bridges, urban slow areas, close track centers, etc. still there.

 

[AmtrakWPK]

Yup. Sometimes I wish he'd get himself a new soapbox.

I have to agree with you that if we could get just one truly high speed route, designed and build that way from the ground up, with performance in the same general area as TGV or the Japanese high-speed, it would probably be a huge boost to passenger rail of both regular and high-speed systems, all over the country. Right now nobody believes (1) anything like that could exist in the U.S. to start with, or (2) that it could actually be a viable and practical alternative transportation. Of course, the other argument is that if we can't even fund enough infrastructure to keep Interstate bridges from falling into the Mississippi, how the heck are we going to (a) build something like that and (2) keep it properly maintained and upgraded if we do build it? (Without even considering the issue of flushing a YEAR of Amtrak funding down the Iraqi toilet EVERY WEEK - quote from msnbc -

(T)he tab grows by at least $200 million each and every day.

-http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11880954/) That's $1,400,000,000 PER WEEK.

 

[saxman]

The second is a "National 'Grid and Gateway' proposed by NARP." The planof the National Association of Railroad Passengers goes into great detail

over a 40 year period for taking just about every streak of rust called

rails in this country and running some type of passenger train on them,

but totally fails to mention who would pay for such a venture, or who

would patronize such a venture. NARP's plan can best be described as an

expensive social program paid for by someone else that will keep its

membership paying annual dues because someone actually came up with a

plan of action, no matter how flawed.

While I agree with much of what he has to say about the lack of vision Amtrak has, I certainly disagree with this. In the past I have always wondered why NARP says, lets just fix what we got before we ever think about adding anything new. Well after every single year of "worrying" about Amtrak funding nothing new has happened. Finally NARP comes out with a new "vision" and this guy walks all over it, right after saying that we need "vision" for passenger rail. Thats exactly what it is...a vision. And after saying rail can make money, then asks how NARP's vision will be funded? Seems to be a little contradictory.

Just my take.

 

[frj1983]

The second is a "National 'Grid and Gateway' proposed by NARP." The planof the National Association of Railroad Passengers goes into great detail

over a 40 year period for taking just about every streak of rust called

rails in this country and running some type of passenger train on them,

but totally fails to mention who would pay for such a venture, or who

would patronize such a venture. NARP's plan can best be described as an

expensive social program paid for by someone else that will keep its

membership paying annual dues because someone actually came up with a

plan of action, no matter how flawed.

While I agree with much of what he has to say about the lack of vision Amtrak has, I certainly disagree with this. In the past I have always wondered why NARP says, lets just fix what we got before we ever think about adding anything new. Well after every single year of "worrying" about Amtrak funding nothing new has happened. Finally NARP comes out with a new "vision" and this guy walks all over it, right after saying that we need "vision" for passenger rail. Thats exactly what it is...a vision. And after saying rail can make money, then asks how NARP's vision will be funded? Seems to be a little contradictory.

Just my take.

Saxman,

Thanks for saying in a better way exactly what I was thinking and recently trying to type out!

It seems that he has now soured on "Savior Kummant," whose hiring he was trumpeting just a year ago!

 

[haolerider]

The second is a "National 'Grid and Gateway' proposed by NARP." The planof the National Association of Railroad Passengers goes into great detail

over a 40 year period for taking just about every streak of rust called

rails in this country and running some type of passenger train on them,

but totally fails to mention who would pay for such a venture, or who

would patronize such a venture. NARP's plan can best be described as an

expensive social program paid for by someone else that will keep its

membership paying annual dues because someone actually came up with a

plan of action, no matter how flawed.

While I agree with much of what he has to say about the lack of vision Amtrak has, I certainly disagree with this. In the past I have always wondered why NARP says, lets just fix what we got before we ever think about adding anything new. Well after every single year of "worrying" about Amtrak funding nothing new has happened. Finally NARP comes out with a new "vision" and this guy walks all over it, right after saying that we need "vision" for passenger rail. Thats exactly what it is...a vision. And after saying rail can make money, then asks how NARP's vision will be funded? Seems to be a little contradictory.

Just my take.

Saxman,

Thanks for saying in a better way exactly what I was thinking and recently trying to type out!

It seems that he has now soured on "Savior Kummant," whose hiring he was trumpeting just a year ago!

It must be very frustrating being Bruce Richardson and/or URPA, since it doesn't seem as though anyone listens to him and he keeps ranting about the same things. I have no idea how he supports himself, but I hope he has a regular job and other interests, since he does not seem to be making much progress. Everything is negative, unless it is what his group is preaching or it is something he did years ago, when Amtrak hired him to do work on some of the Gulf Coast trains - and that was not accepted or agreed upon by Amtrak. I keep hoping to see something that approachs reality, but it has not appeared in the years that I have been following them.

 

[MrFSS]

This Week at Amtrak; October 15, 2007

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 904-636-7739, Electronic Mail [email protected]

http://www.unitedrail.org

Volume 4, Number 35

Founded over three decades ago in 1976, 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, New Mexico, the District of Columbia, Texas, and New York. 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 Chairman of the Board David Laney is an American hero. His term as a member of the Amtrak Board of Directors is nearing and end, and he has signaled he doesn't want a second term. Jonathan Hutchison of Amtrak Governmental Affairs in California made the announcement concerning Mr.Laney at a San Joaquin Valley Rail Committee meeting on October 11th.

Mr. Laney was the right man at the right time at the right place for Amtrak. Appointed by the Bush White House and consented to by the United States Senate, he became Chairman after the chairmanship and term of Meridian, Mississippi Mayor John Robert Smith ended, and Mayor Smith rotated off of the board.

At the time Mr. Laney became Chairman, and other board members of the board were replaced by new members, David Gunn was President and Chief Executive Officer, having been selected by the previous board after an abbreviated search process.

Mr. Gunn, as history shows us, became a lightening rod for controversy (much caused by himself) and outspokenness. Mr. Laney moved quietly in the background, cleaning up after Mr. Gunn's follies. Finally, when Mr. Gunn made his position untenable, Mr. Laney and the rest of the board correctly took action to remove Mr. Gunn and find their own replacement as president and CEO.

The removal process of Mr. Gunn became politically messy (as much with Amtrak seems to do), and it was up to Mr. Laney to face hostile congressional hearings, which he did with great aplomb.

In the course of history, when events are seen with an unemotional eye, much credit will be given to Mr. Laney's work on the Amtrak board. After years of contentious budget hearings on Capitol Hill, Mr. Laney quieted things down and put the process of obtaining free federal monies on a professional - versus emotional - basis. He deftly deals with other government agencies, such as the United States Department of Transportation in the best interests of Amtrak. Mr. Laney is an activist chairman, traveling around the country speaking on behalf of Amtrak and passenger rail in general to important interest groups and the news media.

Mr. Laney has not been afraid to explore new ideas, despite what has often appeared to be very bad advice coming to him from inside the company's executive ranks and planning department. Under his leadership, the board started a worthwhile process of studying the idea of spinning off the black hole of the Northeast Corridor to another government agency. He has helped start the process of making the NEC tenant commuter agencies pay a greater fair share of NEC maintenance and operating costs. And, especially under his stewardship, he helped eliminate the welfare benefits made available to short distance Amtrak NEC riders by raising ticket prices to somewhere closer to realistic market levels.

The long distance system under Mr. Laney has been seriously studied for improvement. While we have witnessed poor decisions such as the downgrading of long distance train dining car service, and we still haven't seen any notable progress about restoring the Sunset Limited east of New Orleans into Florida, we have seen an overall preservation of the long distance system in a skeletal condition.

Internally Mr. Laney has helped accomplish much in terms of not always defending the executive rank status quo at Amtrak. We have witnessed the merciful departure of many top executives, and only a few notable misfires in the naming of replacement executives.

Overall, when a new Chairman of the Board of Directors of Amtrak is named, Mr. Laney's legacy will be strong, and one that will note a benefit for the taxpayers of America and the believers in a balanced transportation system that included passenger rail. Mr. Laney is an American hero.

2) The Amtrak Board of Directors is often populated by political appointees who take seriously their role in politics, but don't take seriously their role as stewards of public monies and public interest. While there have been many worthwhile Amtrak board members in the past, such as Paul Weyrich, Haley Barbour, Charles Luna, Ralph Kerchum, and others, so often the board could best be described as a collection of eccentric political pols basking in the glory of a political appointment.

David Laney and the undersized board he has directed these past few years has been an exception to that rule. Mr. Laney's own background, as a high level corporate transaction attorney, and the combined efforts of luminaries such as Floyd Hall and the now departed Enrique Sosa, both highly professional members of corporate America, have helped move Amtrak towards eventually becoming a healthier and long lasting company.

The politics of the Amtrak board during the Bush presidency have been odd. Mr. Bush made qualified nominations to the board, such as retired World Bank railroad expert Lou Thompson, a Democrat and probably one of the two most qualified men in America (the other being former Federal Railway Administrator Gil Carmichael) to be on the Amtrak board, but the Senate, in a snit because Mr. Thompson wasn't THEIR Democrat, wouldn't bring his nomination up for a vote by the full Senate. The whole mess was a tragic opportunity lost, and a loss for the entire nation.

Mr. Hall and Mr. Sosa, both distinguished businessmen from the highest ranks of American business, had to serve as recess appointees because the Senate, again, wouldn't bring their nominations up for full Senate vote confirmation.

As a result, Amtrak for too long of a period of time operated with an abbreviated population of board members, which caused unnecessary diversion away from the business of making Amtrak a viable institution as debate raged over the viability and legality of the Amtrak board.

Amtrak has been a political football from the day it was first a gleam in the collective eye of John Volpe's Department of Transportation in the Nixon Administration. The shenanigans of putting people on the board during the past few years has confirmed Amtrak's standing as a current political football, and yet another place for partisan bickering. Someday, that's got to come to a screeching halt.

3) So, what, now? There is already one open seat on the Amtrak board which has never been filled, and the departure of Mr. Laney at the end of his final year will open up a second seat. Will politics as usual continue? Will cooler heads prevail?

What would be best for Amtrak? The answer to that is simple.

First, immediately appoint Lou Thompson to the vacant seat. Appoint a Democrat to be confirmed by a Democrat controlled Senate. The Democrat opposition to Mr. Thompson was voted out of office, so there should be no one to be personally offended by Mr. Thompson's nomination. Mr. Thompson would bring such a wealth of knowledge and background insight to Amtrak that everyone would benefit by his presence on the board.

Second, nominate Gil Carmichael to the board. Mr. Carmichael continues to have much respect in Washington and throughout the country. His unique vision and ideas about the future of freight and passenger railroads in our country are startling in their simplicity and brilliant in their imaginativeness. In addition to his service as FRA Administrator in the Bush 41 administration, Mr. Carmichael also served with distinction as the Chairman of the Amtrak Reform Council.

Neither Mr. Thompson nor Mr. Carmichael would require any learning curve to serve Amtrak well. Their mere presence would bring a great deal of credibility to Amtrak and help guide the company to safe waters.

4) Amtrak apologists throughout the tenure of the Bush Administration have incorrectly labeled these last seven years as anti-Amtrak years. The old canards about Republicans hating passenger rail have been repeated time and again, and every old saw about the Bush Administration wanted to kill Amtrak has been repeated to distraction.

None of it is true. The Bush Administration, when the record is reviewed seriously, shoveled huge amounts of money into Amtrak. Even though a tragic public relations blunder was made one year by initially zeroing out the Amtrak budget request in the DOT budget to gain attention to the mess Amtrak finances were in (and, mostly still are) at the time, billions of dollars have flowed into Amtrak under a Republican president and a then-Republican led congress.

One thing accomplished by the inept budget zeroing stunt was to get people talking and debating about Amtrak, not just handing it money year after year with no consequences. Much of that debate has contributed to the Senate Bill 294, the Amtrak reauthorization bill which is expected to pass the full Senate before the end of this calendar year. This bill provides some of the most needed - and sweeping - restructuring of Amtrak since the company was formed in 1970.

Former Bush DOT Secretary Norman Mineta became another topic of derision during his stewardship of Amtrak. A former well-respected Democrat congressman, Mr. Mineta was the only Democrat in the Bush cabinet. In addition to having the bad misfortune of being DOT secretary during and after 9/11, he also was badly served by his staff when the staff provided him with speeches and thoughts about Amtrak. Mr. Mineta's background was mostly in the aviation industry, and rail was relatively new to him. Some of the speeches he made during the Amtrak debate and the positions he staked out were almost completely indefensible from a realistic rail industry standpoint. This provided yet another distraction from a serious debate about Amtrak and the future of passenger rail in this country.

All of this added up a near complete loss of faith by Amtrak apologists who instantly go into defense mode should anyone even think about tampering with the Amtrak status quo, even if that status quo is deeply flawed and hurtful to Amtrak's existence.

As a result, any reference to the Amtrak Board of Directors under Mr. Laney has usually been negative and unnecessarily derogatory. Very few have actually attempted to analyze what the board has accomplished, or what the board has put in place for Amtrak's future.

One of Amtrak's constant sour notes is the proclamation that short distance and regional corridors are the future of Amtrak. This goes hand in hand with the Bush DOT position of shifting some of the costs of short distance and corridor trains to from the federal treasury to state treasuries.

While we know this does nothing for the overall health of Amtrak (it simply shifts incoming money from depositing one check from one source to depositing a check for the same amount from another source), it will eventually serve as a fairness mechanism, putting states on a more even basis when it comes to passenger train service.

We know California, Illinois, and North Carolina all pay annually for regional train service, and pay dearly. In New England, the Downeaster between Boston and Maine is completely paid for by regional money.

But, New York State, which is served by dozens of daily trains in and out of New York City and other points in the state, only pays to help support one daily service, the Adirondack, between New York City and Montreal. Everything else, including the commuter services of the Empire Service and the NEC trains all come out of Amtrak budgets, even though the tickets are still radically under priced for the service provided. New Jersey still pays nothing for Amtrak service, as well as Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, Connecticut, Rhode Island, and Massachusetts. Pennsylvania gets a free ride for NEC trains between New York and Washington, but pays heavily for the Keystone Service west of Philadelphia.

If the intention of states paying more for local service was to bring the NEC states in line with other states such as California and Illinois, then that intention is good, and Amtrak would end up a healthier company without the constant financial drain of the NEC. If the intention of states paying more for long distance services as part of the national system where overnight trains originate in one state and end up at another end of the country, then that is bad. We still have not seen a clear declaration of that policy.

5) In the end, Amtrak and America have been fortunate to have had the services of Mr. Laney, Mr. Hall, and Mr. Sosa. While not everyone (including this writer) agrees with all they have done or not done, they have accomplished far more in moving Amtrak away from being a financially handicapped company to one that has a chance of survival.

That is why we say "thank you" to these three gentlemen for their service to their country through their stewardship of Amtrak. Their work has helped move Amtrak in the right direction.

6) One important change has occurred at Amtrak. National timetables are now going to be updated and printed four times a year instead of twice a year. This is very good, and seems to be an indication Amtrak is serious about making system changes more frequently, and adjusting to demand as market forces come into play.

Also, we can only hope Amtrak will see this golden opportunity to make money from its timetables. Printing four times a year should be very appealing to advertisers wishing to tap into the passenger rail market. With double the frequency of printing, there should be many more instances where advertising to Amtrak passengers is appealing to many players in the hospitality, entertainment, and other parts of the travel industry. Here's hoping Amtrak realizes what a great opportunity it has to create an entire new area of income and profit.

7) There's always something interesting happening on the Left Coast in California. URPA's senior professional associate, Russ Jackson, regularly reports on rail events in California. Here is his report (abbreviated for interest) from a meeting of the San Joaquin Valley Rail Committee on October 11th. Mr. Jackson brings news about an important retirement from the Amtrak executive ranks, an important transfer of another executive, a possibility of a long sought after new route, and news of schedule changes. Much of Mr. Jackson's excellent reporting may be seen regularly on the web site of the Rail Passenger Association of California & Nevada at www.railpac.org .

[begin quote]

SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY RAIL COMMITTEE

Meeting Report, October 11, 2007

Bakersfield, California

Reported by Russ Jackson

RailPAC was well represented at the quarterly meeting of the San Joaquin Valley Rail Committee, led by Director Bruce Jenkins, and Associate Directors George Gaekle, Mike Barnbaum, and this writer. What made the meeting important was some news that we heard for the first time.

... A spirited discussion of connectivity for the San Joaquins to Amtrak's long distance trains, particularly the California Zephyr and the Sunset Limited, was sparked by Stanislaus County representative George Gaekle, who again expressed his dissatisfaction with the current schedule that does not permit connection to either train from the San Joaquin Valley. Under the current schedule a bus connection from train 711 to train 6 is at Reno, Nevada! "We know you can do it," Mr. Gaekle said. ...

The good news (almost) came from Caltrans Thruway bus supervisor, Rick Peterson. He stated that starting with the October 29 timetable change train 6 (California Zephyr) will arrive in Sacramento 55 minutes earlier but still not early enough for the 711 connection (an unreliable 14 minutes), so it will remain in Reno. This improved schedule was made possible by the early elimination of some Union Pacific slow orders in Nevada. The UP's Tom Mulligan reported there is great progress in the Nevada work, with Sparks to Winnemuca completed, the next phase from there to Elko is under way, and "if weather permits" this winter work will continue to Salt Lake City and completion in two instead of the anticipated three years.

The westbound train 5 schedule will also be shortened by 25 minutes into Sacramento starting October 29, so the connection to train 718 will continue. Trains 5 and 6 have been operating close to scheduled time almost daily in the past month or so. Further schedule changes will take place as soon as the UP completes track work, so the connection to 711 will be restored as soon as possible. Amtrak is working to have the Sunset Limited departure time from Los Angeles moved ahead to 3:30 if Metrolink will agree, which would restore the connection with the San Joaquins..

However, the fate of some Thruway connecting buses could be in jeopardy. State law requires these routes to "break even after two years." Mr. Peterson told this writer that while most Bakersfield to Los Angeles buses earn 300% of costs, other routes are not doing so well. "Bus operations costs have increased 40% lately due to fuel and some labor costs," rising faster than ridership. While no routes will be canceled October 29th, evaluations in process could produce changes next Spring. Routes such as San Francisco to Stockton, San Jose to Stockton, Merced to Monterey, and Bakersfield to Santa Barbara among others are showing low results and could be a problem to retain.

Another spirited discussion involving the freight railroads and Tehachapi pass for passenger trains ensued, following on reports the BNSF and this line segment owner UPRR are working on double tracking much of the remaining single track segments on this route. The question, again from Mr. Gaekle, was whether there was any involvement for passenger trains in this project. Tom Mulligan, the UP's "Director of Passenger Operations"

was present, taking some kidding when he admitted his railroad "does not operate any passenger trains of its own, only those under contract from Amtrak." When pressed by Mr. Gaekle, Fresno representative Larry Miller and others, Mr. Mulligan and the BNSF's Mitchell agreed that if Amtrak requests to have service on this line "the process will begin." (seeing the UP and the BNSF side-by-side at this meeting was refreshing) Extension of the San Joaquins would have to be initiated by Caltrans and it must go through Amtrak. Retired Supervisor Illa Collin representing Sacramento County asked for a "ballpark figure" of costs for a project like this, but neither railroad could give one. The "news" from this discussion was there was no "flat no" to having passenger trains there, which has been the response in the past. Mr. Mitchell did say, however, that if it was train 718 extended to Los Angeles overnight as the Committee proposes, the 5 hour running time from Bakersfield (compared to 2 hours by bus) was not something he would ride. When Tulare County representative Ty Holscher asked about running service on the UP south of Fresno, Mr. Mulligan replied in the same vein, "go through Amtrak and the

process begins." Again, no total rejection.

Amtrak's Jonathan Hutchison reported on the exciting prospects for Amtrak's budget for the coming year, with both houses of Congress passing significant amounts, and each version containing state capital- matching funds. The latter amount ($100 million), while relatively small, is considered "seed money" for future allocations. The President has threatened to veto the DOT authorization bill containing Amtrak, but this time Amtrak is not the issue. If a "continuing resolution" is the result rather than full passage, Amtrak stands to receive what it had last fiscal year, $1.294 billion.

Mr. Hutchison announced that former Amtrak West President Gil Mallery, who has been President for Strategic Planning and Contract Administration working out of Washington DC, has retired from Amtrak. His replacement is Don Saunders, who has been Superintendent for the Central Division in Chicago after working here on the West Coast for some years. Mr. Saunders' new title will be, "Assistant Vice President, State and Commuter Partnerships-West," and he will be stationed in Oakland. "This does not mean the return of Amtrak West," Mr. Hutchison said, but does mean more localized decision making. The Committee applauded this idea.

In another announcement, Amtrak Board Chairman David Laney has indicated he "does not want another term," which opens another board seat. When replacements will be appointed is unknown. ...

[End quote]

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[yarrow]

i get this newsletter in my e-mail and usually glance at it. the letter for 10/15, on a first reading, seems to blame the problems of the bush administration on bad speech writing and poor pr. not so with bush and amtrak or with bush and the rest of his ill advised adventures

 

[MrFSS]

This Week at Amtrak; October 22, 2007

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 904-636-7739, Electronic Mail [email protected]

http://www.unitedrail.org

Volume 4, Number 36

Founded over three decades ago in 1976, 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, New Mexico,

the District of Columbia, Texas, and New York. 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) Same song, different choir. Let's take a look at some of the issues

facing our Canadian cousins and VIA Rail Canada. How quickly can you spot

the different Canadian verses to the song?

For those of you who slept through social studies and world geography

classes, the total population of Canada is less than the population of

California. Canada shares the same eastern and western borders as the

United States, but the eastern border is further into the Atlantic Ocean,

providing an entire new time zone - Atlantic - that the US doesn't have.

The total Canadian land mass is about equal to the US land mass. Canada's

densest population corridor is between Quebec City and Montreal in the

province of Quebec, extending to the national capital, Ottawa, and

Toronto in the province of Ontario.

As this is written, one Canadian dollar roughly equals one American

dollar.

You may wish to note in one of the press releases below VIA refers to its

flagship transcontinental route of the Canadian as its most important

route, not the business travel route of VIA's equivalent of the Northeast

Corridor between Quebec City and Toronto.

One other note; harsh winter weather, which annually seems to take Amtrak

Chicago by complete surprise, is routine operating conditions for VIA

Rail Canada. Canada's long winters and constant frigid conditions make

railroading an entirely different proposition in Canada than in the

United States.

2) Recent VIA press releases (edited for duplication):

[begin quote]

For immediate distribution - Wednesday, September 19, 2007

VIA offers CEO treatment for $149

Company's Fall Marketing Campaign Targets Business Travellers

VIA Rail Canada has just launched a major 12-week fall marketing campaign

targeting business travellers between Montreal and Toronto and Ottawa and

Toronto, featuring a $149 one way fare in VIA 1. The promotion runs from

September 10th to December 7th inclusively.

VIA's campaign theme centers around the comfort of travelling in VIA I

business class. VIA 1 passengers enjoy WI FI access in all stations and

on board, pre-boarding, full meal and beverage service, larger seating,

ample legroom and access to Panorama lounges at major stations in the

Corridor.

"We are committed to offering business travellers convenience,

reliability and personalized service," said Steve del Bosco, Chief

Customer Officer at VIA Rail.

About VIA Rail

For a complete listing of train departures, fares, or information

customers can visit VIA's website www.viarail.ca, or contact their travel

agent. Passengers can also book their tickets at VIA kiosks located in

major Corridor stations.

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

to provide efficient, environmentally responsible and cost effective

passenger transportation services, both in Canada's busiest corridor and

in remote and rural regions of the country. VIA serves more than 450

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

trains. Demand continues to grow as more Canadians turn to train travel

as a safe and convenient travel choice.

[End quote]

[begin quote]

Monday, September 24, 2007

VIA Rail Cites Customer Focus as Strategic Business Advantage

Brockville, ON - VIA Rail Canada's President and Chief Executive Officer,

Paul Côté, today emphasized that customer service is the foundation for

the company's success. VIA has chosen to focus on providing excellent

customer service as its core business strategy, citing this as a

strategic business advantage.

Addressing a group of business people at a luncheon organized jointly by

the Brockville Chamber of Commerce and Rotary Club, Côté showcased the

VIA experience as one-of-a-kind..

"A recent survey indicated a 98 per cent customer satisfaction rating for

VIA, a score that makes us one of the most trusted and admired

transportation companies in Canada," said Mr. Côté. "In a market that has

seen little growth over the past five years, there is really only one way

to make our business thrive - by increasing the value of that unique

experience for our customers. The reason people choose the train is it

offers something a little different - a more comfortable, convenient and

less stressful way to travel. We call it the more 'human' way to travel,"

he added. "And our success as a business depends on delivering a 'human'

experience that consistently matches and surpasses expectations."

This strategy has produced tangible results. In the 2006 Commerce-Léger

Marketing Survey, respondents ranked VIA as the most admired

transportation company and one of the top 30 most admired companies

overall. Last year, VIA's revenues increased, for the third straight

year, to close to $300 million. More than four million passengers boarded

VIA trains last year; the Quebec City-Windsor corridor alone carried a

record 3.5 million passengers.

VIA has an established presence in the City of Brockville - the city that

opened the first railway tunnel in Canada, and marked the completion of a

new rail service from Montreal more than 150 years ago. That service grew

into a network linking Quebec City to Windsor, which now carries some 400

passenger trains per week, and 3.5 million passengers per year. Last

year, 63,000 passengers used the Brockville station, placing it among the

busiest stations in Canada. ...

[End quote]

[begin quote]

Friday, September 28, 2007

VIA Rail Canada Unveils its Route to Well-being in Paradise

VIA's Spa Train Travels to Ontario's Ultimate Spa Destinations

MONTREAL - VIA Rail Canada is pleased to announce it has partnered with

Premier Spas of Ontario to introduce the new Spa Train Route. Passengers

can immerse themselves in the relaxing comforts of train travel while

contemplating the peaceful spa treatments that await them at one of the

Premier Spa destinations along the Spa Train Route. So grab your

girlfriends for a special getaway, celebrate your anniversary with

special his-and-her treatments, or leave the world behind and get back in

touch with yourself. Let VIA Rail and Premier Spas show you the "Human

Way to Travel."

VIA Rail's Spa Train Route gives you access to 18 quality-assured Premier

Spa destinations in Ontario that are waiting to indulge you with facials,

massages, body wraps and other luxurious treatments to rejuvenate your

body - and soul. Each of the participating Premier Spas offers packages

that include return train travel and shuttle transportation to and from

the nearest VIA Rail station.

Use VIA Rail's Spa Train Route and take the healthy track to any of the

following Premier Spas:

Au Naturel Spa - Ottawa, ON (nearest station: Fallowfield)

Holtz Spa - Ottawa, ON

Claramount Inn & Spa - Picton, ON (nearest station: Belleville)

The Hillcrest -Valenova Hotel & Spa - Port Hope/Cobourg, ON

HighFields Country Inn & Spa - Zephyr, ON (nearest station: Oshawa)

Ste. Anne's Spa - Grafton, ON (nearest station: Cobourg)

Elizabeth Milan Day Spa - Toronto, ON

Elmwood Spa - Toronto, ON

HealthWinds - Toronto, ON

Rosewater Health and Beauty Spa - Oakville, ON

SilveryBlue Butterfly Spa - Oakville, ON

Magnolia House Spa - Waterdown, ON (nearest station: Aldershot)

Langdon Hall Country House Hotel and Spa - Cambridge, ON

Pillar & Post 100 Fountain Spa - Niagara-on-the-Lake, ON (nearest

station: St. Catherines)

The Spa at White Oaks - Niagara-on-the-Lake, ON (nearest station: Niagara

Falls)

Fayez Beauty Spa - London, ON

Looking to explore Ontario a bit more? There are also two Premier Spas of

Ontario destinations north of Ontario, along VIA's flagship Canadian

route:

Trillium Resort & Spa - Port Sydney, ON (nearest station: Washago)

Inn at Manitou - McKellar, ON (nearest station: Parry Sound)

For more information on the Spa Train Route and the various spa packages,

go to viarail.ca/spatrain. ...

[End quote]

[begin quote]

Wednesday, October 10, 2007

VIA Rail Offers Exciting End-of-Season Discounts on Its Ocean and Chaleur

Trains

Spectacular End of Season Discounts Add Lustre to Fall Foliage

MONTREAL - VIA Rail Canada's Ocean and Chaleur trains are offering

attractive end-of-season discounts in Comfort Sleeper and economy class,

and there's still time to enjoy some fall colours along the way. Until

October 31, 2007, customers can purchase reduced-price tickets for trips

taking place, no later than December 19, 2007.

Travellers can take advantage of discounts as high as 50% on VIA's

Montréal-Halifax (Ocean) or Montréal-Gaspé (Chaleur) trains. Tickets must

be purchased no later than October 31, 2007. Space is subject to

availability and some conditions do apply.

Fall is the perfect time of year to admire Canada's friendly eastern

shores and the wooded coast of New Brunswick aboard the Ocean. And nature

lovers will be captivated by the many grandiose landscapes: the Matapédia

Valley, Chaleur Bay and Gaspé Peninsula as they unfold while travelling

on the Chaleur. ...

[End quote]

[begin quote]

Thursday, October 11, 2007

Canada's new government revitalizes inter-city passenger rail services in

Canada

OTTAWA - The Honourable Lawrence Cannon, Minister of Transport,

Infrastructure and Communities, along with the Honourable Jim Flaherty,

Minister of Finance, today announced a new funding package for VIA Rail

Canada Inc., a Crown corporation, to revitalize inter-city passenger rail

services in Canada. The funding totals $691.9 million over the next five

years.

"Today, Canada's New Government is acting to provide faster, cleaner,

more frequent and reliable passenger rail service across Canada," said

Minister Cannon. "The corridor between Quebec City and Windsor has the

largest passenger volumes and will benefit from infrastructure

improvements that will make the entire passenger rail system more

efficient and accessible."

"VIA Rail has a proud legacy of serving Canadians, and our government is

taking steps to make this wonderful service even better," added Minister

Flaherty. "We are launching the largest capital program in VIA Rail's

history. It will allow for the renewal of VIA Rail's fleet, the upgrading

of the existing network and it will support a stronger economy, a cleaner

environment and a safer Canada."

"I would like to thank the Government of Canada for this welcome and

timely investment in VIA Rail Canada," said Donald A. Wright, VIA's

chairman. "It is an important recognition of the entire team at VIA,

whose hard work over the past decade has earned VIA solid marks for its

excellent customer service and sound management. This investment is also

recognition of the potential of the current passenger rail service to

meet the growing transportation needs of Canadians in an environmentally

responsible, efficient and cost-effective manner."

This new investment addresses VIA's capital needs, ensuring that its

current network and service levels are sustainable into the future.

Of the total funding package, $516 million in capital funds will be

allocated over five years for infrastructure improvements and equipment

refurbishments, beginning in 2007. This investment will be targeted

towards:

fleet renewal, through refurbishment of the F40 locomotives and Light,

Rapid and Comfortable (LRC) passenger cars;

strategic infrastructure improvements to eliminate bottlenecks in the

Quebec City -Windsor corridor;

and station refurbishments.

The equipment refurbishment will also help improve the company's

environmental performance through increased fuel efficiency and reduced

greenhouse gas emissions per passenger.

The remainder of the funding, a total of $175.9 million over five years,

will be directed towards VIA Rail's operating costs. This additional

funding is needed to sustain VIA's national network until the capital

program is completed. VIA expects to reduce its maintenance costs after

the equipment is rebuilt and to attract more passengers as it moves to

provide faster, more frequent service on its trains in the Quebec City -

Windsor Corridor.

"Once the F40 locomotive rebuilding program is complete, VIA will have

one of the most fuel efficient fleets of diesel locomotives of any

passenger rail operator in North America. The locomotives will also meet

the new emissions standards set by the recent Memorandum of Understanding

between the Government of Canada and the Railway Association of Canada -

which includes Via Rail," concluded Minister Cannon.

Funding improvements to the national transportation system is one of

Canada's New Government's priorities for investments in infrastructure.

Through its unprecedented $33-billion Building Canada infrastructure

plan, the Government of Canada is making partnership investments to

support a stronger economy, a cleaner environment, and a more secure

Canada.

VIA Rail Canada Inc., a Crown corporation, was created in 1977 to operate

Canada's national passenger rail service.

A Backgrounder on the new funding is attached [see below].

NEW FUNDING FOR VIA RAIL CANADA

Canada's New Government recognizes that investments are required to

ensure the long-term viability of passenger rail services and to improve

VIA Rail's financial performance.

This new funding, totalling $691.9 million, will improve the

sustainability and reliability of passenger rail services in Canada and

provide more frequent, faster, cleaner and safer services along the

Quebec City - Windsor Corridor. The proposed equipment and facilities

investments, combined with strategic infrastructure improvements, will

address VIA Rail's capital needs and improve its operational performance.

The funding will allow VIA Rail to rebuild its aging fleet of locomotives

and cars, upgrade stations, and improve strategic infrastructure to

eliminate bottlenecks and enhance capacity for faster, more frequent and

reliable service.

These investments will benefit Canadians across the country. For example:

. The F40 locomotive rebuilding program will improve the reliability of

VIA services, lower maintenance costs and help to improve the company's

environmental performance through increased fuel efficiency and reduced

emissions. The rebuilt locomotives will ensure another 15 to 20 years of

service on the eastern and western transcontinental trains, on the

regional service to Gaspé (Quebec) and on remote services to such points

as Parent (Quebec), Churchill (Manitoba) and Prince Rupert (British

Columbia). They will meet the new emission standards for railway

locomotives set by the recent Memorandum of Understanding between the

Railway Association of Canada, Environment Canada and Transport Canada.

. Light, Rapid and Comfortable (LRC) cars will have their operating

systems and interiors rebuilt. Travellers will enjoy new seats, better

lighting, computer outlets and washrooms, while VIA will lower its

maintenance costs and energy requirements, thereby saving fuel and

reducing emissions.

. Several stations across the country will be refurbished.

. Strategic infrastructure improvements, which will be spread throughout

the Quebec City - Windsor corridor, will:

o increase track capacity and alleviate bottlenecks;

o improve ontime performance;

o reduce trip times through increased speed;

o allow for more trips; and

o improve safety and reliability of service.

With a total investment of $516 million in capital planned over the next

five years, VIA Rail's passenger services will continue to bring modern,

affordable, safe and efficient travel options to Canadians.

The government will also provide VIA with $175.9 million in additional

operating funding over the next five years. While VIA Rail's annual

funding level was frozen in 1998, the effects of inflation over the past

decade have had an impact on the purchasing power of this Crown

corporation and its ability to maintain its aging fleet of locomotives

and cars. Once the capital investment program is completed, VIA will be

able to operate without this additional funding.

[End quote]

3) Here's an activist press release from Canada of the type which hasn't

been seen in the United States for over two decades ago when the owners

of Greyhound Bus Lines constantly protested the free federal monies

flowing into Amtrak. This is from the Canadian Airports Council.

[begin quote]

"Unfair Double Standard," Canada's Airports Decry Continued Subsidization

of Via Rail

Via Rail receives millions in subsidies from the federal government while

the civil aviation sector pays rent, fuel and other taxes

OTTAWA, Oct. 11 /CNW Telbec/ - The Canadian Airports Council (CAC) today

decried the continued subsidization of Via Rail to the tune of nearly

$692 million while Canada's aviation sector suffers from competitiveness

challenges.

"Canada's civil aviation sector already suffers a serious competitive

disadvantage to other modes of travel and airports across the border in

the U.S. due to airport rent and other forms of high taxation," said CAC

President and CEO Jim Facette. "Canada's airports generate some $30

billion in economic output and employ more than 150,000 people while

facilitating international and domestic trade and tourism. To pump

millions of dollars into a competitor is inexplicable."

The statement comes after it was announced today that the federal

government will provide $691.9 million in capital and operating funding

to Via Rail. While shouldering the financial responsibility of more than

$9.5 billion in capital improvements over the past decade, Canada's

airports pay nearly $300 million a year in the form of rent to the

federal government.

In addition to rent, which is passed on to airlines and their passengers,

the government burdens civil aviation with fuel excise taxes, the air

traveller's security charge and other tax and regulatory costs.

"Canada's 100 million air travellers a year will pay nearly $300 million

in rent this year while the government pours nearly $700 million to

benefit Via Rail's 4.1 million passengers, said Mr. Facette. "This is a

double standard that clearly must end."

About the Canadian Airports Council

The Canadian Airports Council (CAC) is the voice for Canada's airports.

Its 47 members encompass more than 150 airports, including all of the

National Airports System (NAS) airports and most significant municipal

airports in every province and territory. Together, CAC members handle

virtually all of the nation's air cargo and international passenger

traffic and 95% of domestic passenger traffic. They create well in excess

of $30 billion in economic activity in the communities they serve. And

more than 150,000 jobs are directly associated with CAC member airports,

generating a payroll of more than $8 billion annually.

[End quote]

4) Here is a report from Canadian Press (a Canadian news service, similar

to the Associated Press.)

[begin quote]

Poor infrastructure blamed for late trains: report

The Canadian Press

Updated: Sat. Oct. 20 2007

OTTAWA - If your Via Rail train rolled into the station late this summer,

you weren't alone.

Internal reports from the Crown corporation show that crumbling

infrastructure has conspired against train schedules across Canada this

year, delivering passengers late in almost one of every four trips.

The situation deteriorated over the late spring and summer, partly

because Via's geriatric F-40 locomotives keep breaking down.

"Via equipment failure caused delay minutes (to) increase by

approximately 60 per cent from 2006 to 2007,'' says the September report,

obtained by The Canadian Press under the Access to Information Act.

Nationally, about 23 per cent of Canada's passenger trains ran late in

the May-to-July tourist period, well over Via Rail's target of 10 per

cent.

The late-train problem has gotten worse in every part of the country,

including the heavily travelled corridor between Quebec City and Windsor,

with four of every five Via Rail customers.

For the eastern service between Montreal and Halifax, trains were late

more than 60 per cent of the time in July, largely because of "major

locomotive failures.''

And for the western service between Toronto and Vancouver, on-time

performance was abysmal as well.

"The average West delay severity remains extremely poor,'' says the

report, prepared for a recent meeting of the board of directors.

"Western Services trains arrived in Vancouver and Toronto in May, June

and July 2007 an average of two hours and 42 minutes late, which

represents a sizable increase over the average delay a year ago.''

But the worst service in the country appears to be along the stretch

between Winnipeg and the Hudson Bay port of Churchill, Man.

In July, 10 of the 26 Via trains scheduled along the route never arrived

at all. Those that did make it to their destination were four hours late

on average.

Via Rail, which receives an annual federal subsidy of $170 million for

its 4.1 million passengers, is not always responsible for train delays.

The agency largely operates on track owned by other railways, such as CN

Rail, and its passenger trains must sometimes stand down to let freight

trains pass.

Freight-train derailments, track-improvement work and speed restrictions

along tracks that are prone to buckling in summer heat have all caused

disruptions in the schedule.

The report notes in particular that Via Rail has a "worsening

relationship'' with the Hudson Bay Railway or HBR, a subsidiary of

Denver-based Omnitrax, which owns the track between The Pas and

Churchill. Closures because of defects in the tracks, and derailments of

HBR freight trains, help account for many of the late and non-arrivals.

About 4,700 passengers were also hit by delays last summer caused by

native protesters blocking rail lines in Ontario.

But Via Rail's own F-40 locomotives -- 20-year-old workhorses of the

system -- are responsible for many of the delays. The corporation's 54

F-40s, representing more than 70 per cent of the fleet, are at the end of

their useful life.

"Regular overhauls and scheduled maintenance no longer ensure reliability

nor keep maintenance costs under control,'' says an internal analysis.

A spokesman acknowledged the F-40s have been a continuing headache.

"Despite concerted efforts to control those factors for which Via has

direct responsibility, the reliability of Via's locomotive fleet ... has

increasingly been a significant cause of delays,'' said Malcolm Andrews

from company headquarters in Montreal.

Earlier this month, the federal government announced $516 million in

capital funding over the next five years, much of which will go to

rebuild the F-40s from the ground up, giving them 15 to 20 more years' of

service. Tracks and other infrastructure will also be improved.

Quebec and Manitoba have also announced plans to improve rail

infrastructure in their provinces, which will help improve on-time

performance, Andrews said.

[End quote]

5) What do we take away from all of this about Canada? First, if you have

a government owned passenger railroad, as both VIA Rail Canada and Amtrak

are, you're going to have similar, on-going funding problems, plus the

performance disincentive of a monopoly situation.

The last Conservative government in Canada prior to the current Stephen

Harper government, which has been in office for just a matter of months,

was the government of Kim Campbell in the early 1990s. In between, for a

period of nearly 15 years, the Liberal government of Jean Cretien ruled

Canada. Prime Minister Cretien appropriated additional hundreds of

millions of dollars for VIA Rail Canada beyond its annual infusion of

free federal monies, and then withdrew the funding, leaving VIA holding

the bag. The money from Prime Minister Harper's government replaces much

of that withdrawn funding and allows VIA to move ahead with its capital

programs.

Second, we see VIA's ongoing commitment to customer/passenger service.

While VIA may have its share of operating and maintenance problems, it's

a rare VIA employee who is less than polite and accommodating.

Third, VIA continually "out markets" Amtrak, always coming up with good

domestic and international marketing programs which drive passengers onto

trains. VIA does not make the assumption because a train is there, people

will ride it. VIA works hard for each and every passenger it carries.

While Amtrak dwarfs VIA when it comes to budgets, employees, route miles,

and many other factors, both are creatures of government, operating at

the whim of lawmakers. Until both companies are set free from their

governmental restraints and allowed to operate as for-profit companies

after proper foundations are laid, both companies will be far less than

perfect.

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

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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, including requests to unsubscribe, should be

addressed to

[email protected]

URPA leadership members are available for speaking engagements.

J. Bruce Richardson

President

United Rail Passenger Alliance, Inc.

1526 University Boulevard, West, PMB 203

Jacksonville, Florida 32217-2006 USA

Telephone 904-636-7739

[email protected]

http://www.unitedrail.org

_______________________________________________

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[MrFSS]

This Week at Amtrak; November 2, 2007

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 904-636-7739, Electronic Mail [email protected]

http://www.unitedrail.org

Volume 4, Number 37

Founded over three decades ago in 1976, 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, New Mexico,

the District of Columbia, Texas, and New York. 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) National Review Online ran an article by staff reporter David Freddoso

November 1st recounting his exploits as an Amtrak passenger, and all of

the reasons he can think of to discontinue Amtrak's subsidies. While Mr.

Freddoso does get some of his points correct, Dr. Paul Wilson send him a

reply with a better set of facts presented. Here is Dr. Wilson's reply to

Mr. Freddoso.

[begin quote]

Dear Mr. Freddoso,

I read your NRO piece ("Money Train: Another subsidy, no real reforms for

Amtrak" (November 1, 2007) with much interest and I can certainly

sympathize with your experience in South Bend. Chronic tardiness and poor

service are a lamentable hallmark of Amtrak. The reasons vary. Weather

aside, some of the blame lies with the freight carriers, as Amtrak is

only a tenant on most of its routes. The second, and far more significant

reason, is 35 years of failed investment priorities and stifled growth.

On a national basis Amtrak has a smaller market share than motorcycles.

I'm not making that up.

<http://www.unitedrail.org/2005/11/10/amtrak-can-flourish-in-the-post-dav

idgunnera/>

It is not a stingy federal government - as many Amtrak boosters would

have you believe - but Amtrak itself that is largely to blame for these

woes. As you rightly point out, Amtrak has received upwards of $40

billion since its inception in 1971. It has a skeletal (and shrinking)

system to show for it. Not only is it skeletal, but it is poorly

coordinated and grossly inefficient. In the Northeast we have a bloated

jobs and commuter rail program masquerading as an intercity high-speed

railroad. Elsewhere, there are a handful of short corridors (many

operated on a cost-plus basis for the states, i.e., gravy for Amtrak) and

a dozen or so long-distance routes. Given the mare's nest that is

Amtrak's accounting, many have wrongly concluded the handful of

long-distance services are the source of the red ink. For this to be

true, the losses would have to be simply staggering to account for the

hundreds of millions of dollars Amtrak admits it loses on operations. I

submit the operating losses are in fact far higher, given that Amtrak is

very free and easy with how it categorizes its "capital" spending. A

time-honored tradition at Amtrak is re-classifying operating expenses as

dubious long-term capital expenditures. In short, Amtrak eats its own

seed corn year after year funding the high-cost rail (synonymous with

high-speed rail) that typifies the Northeast Corridor.

The bottom line is Amtrak is given more than a billion dollars a year,

largely free and clear. It can either choose to continue its profligate

ways, putting discretionary investment dollars into a failed strategy - a

strategy utterly incapable of earning a positive return on investment -

or it can choose to change. The change, I submit, is to jettison its

ownership position on the Northeast Corridor (NEC). Once freed of the

burden of owning the NEC, Amtrak can build a true national network system

of clean, comfortable trains people want to ride. These trains will run

largely on lines of the freight railroads and they will be market-driven.

Again, the lynchpin of a successful Amtrak is spinning off the Northeast

Corridor and getting Amtrak out of the railroad infrastructure business.

It should be solely an operating company, akin to Virgin Rail and its

competitors in the UK. We might even envision a day when Amtrak's

national monopoly is no more.

So, I would encourage you to dig a little deeper. Amtrak needs to change

its focus, and it's something Amtrak's board can do all by itself,

without further congressional micro-management and certainly without more

handouts. I suggest you check out www.unitedrail.org. URPA is a passenger

rail "think tank" of individuals all around the country who volunteer

their time and expertise toward addressing these issues. In particular I

commend to you the work of Dr. Adrian Herzog and Mr. Andrew Selden. On

the web site you can also sign up for an email newsletter, "This Week at

Amtrak," written by URPA President Bruce Richardson.

Sincerely yours,

Paul Wilson, AIA, PhD

Paul Wilson Architect PLLC

Washington, DC

[End quote]

2) A delightful young lady of Minneapolis is Peggy Herrmann, a world

traveler. Ms. Herrmann took her first long distance train trip last

month, as was kind enough to share her impressions with This Week at

Amtrak. She rode the Empire Builder, one of Amtrak's premier (and high

revenue earning) trains.

[begin quote]

In early October, I took my first train trip, from Minneapolis to

Portland and Seattle. I was somewhat surprised at the number of

passengers who boarded the train at the Minneapolis Midway Station. There

were a number of families, including small children, who were traveling

to the West Coast. According to the car attendant, the train was full.

The car attendant helped me get settled in my roomette, and then it was

time to go to sleep. I had been forewarned that sleep would be elusive

the first night, and it was true. The car attendant was very helpful to a

novice rail passenger, and he was very visible throughout the trip to

Portland.

The next morning, I managed to make my way to the dining car for

breakfast. The menu listed five or six items. The egg dish I ordered

tasted good, although I couldn't quite place the gravy used. Lunch and

dinner menus offered a decent selection of meals and desserts, and I was

quite satisfied after each meal. The wait staff was pleasant and

friendly. On the last morning of the trip, the breakfast offered to

sleeping car passengers was dismal. I ordered a breakfast sandwich, which

was not thoroughly heated.

Sleeping car passengers were invited to attend a wine and cheese tasting

on Friday afternoon, and the event was well attended. Four different

wines were tasted, two whites and two reds, with four different cheeses.

A couple of Amtrak trivia questions were asked, and the winners received

a bottle of wine each. On the return trip, this event was hosted by an

employee whose infectious good mood had everyone laughing throughout the

hour.

The lounge car was usually crowded, and loud. I tried to relax there and

enjoy the view, but after an hour I gave up and went back to my roomette.

>From Portland, I took the Amtrak Cascade service to Seattle. It was a

comfortable train ride, and a fairly current movie was shown. The scenery

was wonderful; I couldn't imagine watching a movie when I could look out

the windows and see the countryside go by.

The return trip from Seattle to St. Paul was as enjoyable as the outbound

trip to Portland. The announcements from the dining car were more

difficult to understand, and the car attendant was much less visible.

As we made our way north out of Seattle, I was fortunate enough to be on

the side of the sleeping car with a view of Puget Sound. Incredible

scenery. I was glad I could see Glacier Park during the earlier daylight

hours. There are no words to adequately describe the views.

The dining car attendant in charge of the wine and cheese tasting event

was very enthusiastic. He got the passengers involved and everyone had a

good time.

Overall, my first train trip was very enjoyable. I will definitely take

another trip on the Empire Builder.

[End quote]

3) If you or someone you know has subscribed to This Week at Amtrak or

changed their e-mail address in the last 10 days and neither the

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malfunction which is expected to be corrected in the next few days. We

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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, including requests to unsubscribe, should be

addressed to

[email protected]

URPA leadership members are available for speaking engagements.

J. Bruce Richardson

President

United Rail Passenger Alliance, Inc.

1526 University Boulevard, West, PMB 203

Jacksonville, Florida 32217-2006 USA

Telephone 904-636-7739

[email protected]

http://www.unitedrail.org

_______________________________________________

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[MrFSS]

This Week at Amtrak; November 20, 2007

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 904-636-7739, Electronic Mail [email protected]

http://www.unitedrail.org

Volume 4, Number 38

Founded over three decades ago in 1976, 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, New Mexico,

the District of Columbia, Texas, and New York. 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 has a new chairman of the board, and it's a lady for the first

time. Here's the news release from Amtrak.

[begin quote]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

ATK-07-138

November 15, 2007 Amtrak Board Elects Donna McLean Chairman

WASHINGTON - Donna McLean was elected Chairman of the Board of Directors

of the National Railroad Passenger Corporation (Amtrak) at the November

8, 2007 board meeting. McLean, who was appointed to the Board by

President Bush and approved by the Senate in July 2006, had served as

Vice Chairman of the Board. She replaces former Chairman David M. Laney,

who remains a board member until his term expires in late November 2007.

As Chairman of the Board, McLean will lead the board of Amtrak, the

nation's intercity passenger railroad, which operates in 46 states on a

21,000-mile system serving more than 500 stations. A former official at

the U.S. Department of Transportation, she is owner of Donna McLean

Associates, LLC, a Washington, DC-based consulting firm specializing in

transportation policy.

McLean praised the stewardship of former Chairman Laney, saying, "David

was an activist board member and Chairman who was keenly interested in

improving Amtrak's business model, accountability and service. He was

very successful in all those areas, and thanks in large part to his

efforts, Amtrak's relevance in the national transportation mix has never

been stronger, with record ridership and revenues being achieved for the

last several fiscal years."

Prior to forming Donna McLean Associates, McLean was Assistant Secretary

for Budget and Programs and Chief Financial Officer of the U.S.

Department of Transportation (DOT). She had also served at the DOT as the

Assistant Administrator for Financial Services at the Federal Aviation

Administration beginning in 1999. From 1993 to 1999, McLean was a

professional staff member of the Aviation Subcommittee of the House

Transportation and Infrastructure Committee in the U.S. House of

Representatives.

McLean earned a Bachelor of Science degree in political science and holds

a master's degree of public affairs, both from Indiana University.

[End quote]

We welcome Ms. McLean as the newest chairman of the Amtrak Board of

Directors.

2) The White House announced this week its intention to appoint three new

members of the Amtrak Board of Directors. The nominees are Thomas Carper

of Illinois, Nancy A. Naples of New York, and Denver Stutler, Jr. of

Florida. If confirmed by the United States Senate, this will bring the

population of the Amtrak board to full strength.

Mr. Carper is the former mayor of Macomb, Illinois, Ms. Naples was the

New York State Commissioner of Motor Vehicles under former Governor

George Pataki, and Mr. Stutler was the Florida Secretary of

Transportation under former Governor Jeb Bush.

There is a lot to be said about the current state of the Amtrak board

with the lamentable departure of David Laney and Floyd Hall. Sometimes,

an intelligent conversation can say more about a situation than a written

treatise. Let's take a peek at an internal URPA communication about the

new board between two Washington wags on URPA's private Intranet.

[begin quote]

[Washington Wag One]: Carper is the mayor of McComb, Illinois; don't know

whether he's part of the Delaware senator's bloodline. He was both pushed

by [senate Majority Leader and Democrat] Harry Reid and endorsed by UTU,

which should be conclusive evidence he won't be pushing any new

initiatives. I am sure he is representative of the same old

parcel-out-the-sinecures mentality, where expertise and understanding of

the concept of fiduciary duty are irrelevant. I would bet the same can be

said of the others.

Unless these worthies get instant confirmation, Amtrak will remain in the

headless-horseman configuration to which it has now once again reverted,

i.e., not a even a colorable claim to a board quorum (five according to

the articles of incorporation that are amendable only by two-thirds

shareholder vote; four according to the questionable DOT/Amtrak

position).

Thus, since Amtrak's self-handicapping policy statement requiring initial

(pattern) labor agreements to be directly approved by the board is

apparently still in force, a cloud necessarily exists over the fall 2003

TCU agreement and/or the contractual outcome of the likely upcoming

strike. I expect Amtrak to trot out its threadbare claim that an

"executive committee" can act as the alter ego for a board quorum. If

that questionable claim were true, the board of Coca-Cola or Microsoft

could (mostly) go on vacation, and make a rump board of unfortunates on

some exec committee do all the work, notwithstanding little details like

the corporation's articles, etc.

[Washington Wag Two]: As [Washington Wag One] lays out, the Am-Board will

be down to three members (Donna McLean, R. Hunter Biden and US DOT

Secretary Mary Peters) by the end of December, and thus without quorum.

Laney's term expires at the end of this month and Floyd Hall was a recess

appointment. Amtrak President and CEO Alex Kummant is a non-voting member

and doesn't count for quorum purposes.

The Democrats are using a parliamentary maneuver to keep the Senate

nominally "in session" so there won't be any recess appointments this

year.

Surely, I'm not the only one who's noticed that the only nominees

stone-walled by the Senate were those with just the sorts of real-world

transportation and business experience required under the Amtrak Reform

and Accountability Act (Floyd Hall, Robert Crandall, Enrique Sosa, and

Lou Thompson). The "political" nominees, senatorial offspring, etc., sail

right through with nary a whimper of protest. The latest round of

nominees appears to round out the Board with a full complement of party

insiders. Happy days are here again for the status quo folks.

[WW One]: There was a faint glimmer of hope a few years back the Bush

administration would bring this rogue government corporation to heel via

its board. They, perhaps naively, assumed the board that actually runs

the corporation, not the hired help and the hired help's protectors on

the Hill.

[WW Two]: I do fear that with Laney and Hall's departure, the Board will

lose any skepticism of management. It's not a very deep bench. The last

round of nominees has only been around for a year. Once again, we'll be

back to the status quo of the Board swallowing whatever Kummant and the

lifers lower down the ranks put before them.

[WW One]: The faint glimmer went away quickly when it became apparent the

Bush Administration, like its predecessor (which set out to sabotage the

reform law from day one), was going to treat the Amtrak board as a

parking place for political hacks and low-value trading cards with the

Senate Democrats, to whom they almost always surrender (no matter who is

in nominal control). In short, by being generally invertebrate and

specifically ignorant about Amtrak (such as the statutory requirement for

board member expertise - modeled on the National Transportation Safety

Board statute), the Bush Administration produced results generally

indistinguishable from those produced by the active sabotage under

Clinton.

[WW Two]: Sadly, someone might actually notice if the NTSB were stuffed

with unqualified seat-warmers.

Once in a while, a board member manages to exceed expectations. That's

what we have to hope for, I guess. Having looked at the Amtrak statutes,

the Board has a lot of latitude in how it conducts its affairs. It can do

as much or as little as it wants, subject to how much time its members

are willing to donate to the effort. It could take a much more hands-on

approach and not be content to hold (as it appears now) quarterly

meetings where it rubberstamps management decisions. Laney did show signs

of such activism (tentative steps to set up a NEC subsidiary), but it

withered away after former Amtrak President and CEO David Gunn got the

ax.

[WW One]: Ah, but the federal Amtrak statute is only the tip of the

proverbial iceberg for board members, who are not federal employees

(except for one slot that is allowed - but not required - to be unwisely

filled with the United States Department of Transportation secretary or

another fed). As specified in 49 USC 24301a,b, and f, Amtrak is a

District of Columbia business corporation subject to the DC Business

Corporation Act, except where the latter conflicts with federal

provisions. Among other things, this means Amtrak has non-federal

statutory requirements - almost universally blown off by the ace board

members, management and alleged general counsels - for annual stockholder

meetings etc., as well as being bound by its own articles of

incorporation and bylaws (which at Amtrak naturally contradict each other

on little matters like board quorums).

For the directors individually (who I am sure receive "quality" briefings

from the Administration and Amtrak), this necessarily imposes personal

liability under fiduciary standards for all actions (except for the

federal immunity/indemnification for matters pertaining to

ownership/mortgage of the NEC, 49 USC 24907©). As confirmed in

testimony by the leading expert on the DC Act, the District of Columbia

is probably the worst of 51 jurisdictions in excessively limiting the

scope of what D & O insurance is allowed to cover. (This probably

explains why few businesses other than restaurants and real estate

outfits incorporate in DC.) Thus, given the years of dereliction,

conflict of interest, and all kinds of non-fiduciary behavior,

shareholders could have virtually all the past directors for lunch,

subject only to the DC three year statute of limitations. Because of the

latter, managerial Einsteins like former board members former Virginia

Governor Linwood Holton, former Massachusetts Governor Michael Dukakis,

former Amtrak Chairman of the Board John Robert Smith, and former Amtrak

Chairman of the Board and former Wisconsin Governor Tommy Thompson have

escaped their just reward. Oh, yes, the chief administrative enforcement

entity for violations of the DC corporation act (the local SEC if you

will) is Hizzoner, the mayor of DC. Presumably accountability standards

emanating from that source will be just as rigorous as they have been

for, say, the DC public schools. All of this should persuade even fully

qualified non-hack aspirants (IF adequately informed in advance) to keep

at least a 10-foot pole between themselves and any Amtrak board slot.

There wan an attempt to liberate Amtrak to pick a corporate domicile of

its choice - like normal corporations - in the 1997 reform bill, but

District of Columbia Representative Eleanor Holmes Norton and Amtrak's

putative management were having none of that. You might find it

interesting that the DC Business Corporation Act in 1970 - and now -

specifically prohibits incorporating a railroad there. Congress (probably

because of excellent research/staff work in '70) obliviously overrode

that in the original Amtrak statute, and it remains to this day.

Fortunately, for this and other reasons, DC is not a state. If it were,

the federal provision mandating Amtrak's status as a DC business

corporation would be facially unconstitutional on Tenth Amendment grounds

for trashing a state's domestic corporation law.

[WW Two]: Very informative. I've asked this before of several people and

never gotten a straight answer, but I think this comes close. Since DC is

not a state, federal law can override the corporation statutes for

Amtrak's benefit. It could not do that in any other mainland venue. I've

never heard of any other credible reason for having Amtrak domiciled in

DC. As for why Eleanor Holmes Norton should care: as a perpetual

money-losing basketcase, Amtrak would not owe any corporate franchise tax

to DC, aside from a few minor annual fees.

I looked up NRPC in the DC corporate registration database, and sure

enough, there it is, incorporated on March 3, 1971. (One day later would

have been entirely appropriate!) Curiously there's a "revoked" NRPC

incorporated in Delaware and registered as a foreign corporation on

November 16, 1970.

[WW One]: There was an separate Amtrak Commuter Corporation authorized in

the early '80s (when most of the embedded subsidies for NEC commuter ops

were inflicted in the statute), but it was never formed, and the

authorizing provisions were repealed in '97.

As for Norton's motive, besides carrying water for Amtrak and its unions,

she undoubtedly wanted a statutory guarantee that Amtrak would have to

keep its HQ and associated spending in DC. Remember, the federal statute

addresses not only legal corporate domicile, but principal place of

business, which do not have to be - and very frequently aren't in the

real business world - the same thing. The District, of course, had

already driven most of what used to be its retail downtown shopping

district across the river into Virginia (e.g., Pentagon City mall).

Regarding corporate/director accountability, I forgot to mention that

Amtrak is not subject to the SEC. (If it were, it might have supplied

almost as many inmates already as Enron.) Congressman John Mica of

Florida tried several years ago not to place Amtrak under the SEC on a

plenary basis, but just to impose Sarbanes-Oxley oath etc. standards on

its financial reporting. Amtrak got that appropriations rider shot down

on parliamentary grounds. Rather than being subject to the SEC, Amtrak is

considered a closely held private corporation, since its stock is held by

five shareholders (four common, one preferred) and is not publicly listed

or traded. The good news (sort of) is that if the inert shareholders

(three Class I railroads, plus Carl Lindner of Chiquita Banana fame,

through an insurance company he controls for common stock, US DOT for

preferred) ever bestirred themselves or were willing to convey their

holdings to someone who wasn't inert, Amtrak could be at least partially

reformed without Congress putting its mitts on the subject. The bad news

as I indicated is that, absent self-help by shareholders, the only public

entity empowered to address corporate irresponsibility/governance

violations is the DC government. Come to think of it, that would be a

self-sufficient motive for the status quo crowd to want a mandate for a

DC corporate domicile.

Back when UPS still aspired to be entirely under the Railway Labor Act, a

"takeover" scenario was created in which UPS would buy (presumably for

very little) most or all of the Amtrak common stock, then do a corporate

reorganization combining UPS air, UPS ground, and Amtrak. Since Amtrak

and UPS air were already RLA territory, there would be a good chance the

new entity would be ruled all RLA. Even without the RLA factor, if UPS

were to control Amtrak, it would acquire (1) a national rail express

franchise and (2) compulsory access running rights over every railroad in

the country.

Although I haven't checked the latest version, the alleged Amtrak

"reform" bills in the Senate that I have seen have been completely

retrograde on these subjects - letting Amtrak off the hook on board

quorum requirements, reinstituting a politician-studded quota structure

for the board a la the pre-'97 statute, and changing the statutory

standards for the overdue redemption of the common stock from the present

fair market value to screw the shareholders (quite possibly in an

unconstitutional fashion).

[End quote]

3) Let's take this discussion a little further. As long as Amtrak remains

a stepchild of government, it is going to be subject to political

appointees, no matter what is written into law regarding Amtrak. The Bush

Administration started out strong with good board members (perhaps, some

of the best in the company's history), but, in the end, has succumbed to

filling the board with political payoffs with little relationship to

Amtrak.

If Nancy Naples is confirmed by the Senate, does anyone believe she will

move to make New York state more accountable for the dozens of trains

which are operated by Amtrak at federal expense on behalf of New York? In

all of New York, with all of the NEC trains feeding New York City, and

all of the Empire Service trains feeding the Hudson River Valley and New

York City, only the Adirondack between New York and Montreal is state

supported. The rest of the trains, mostly regional trains and commuter

service trains with little or no benefit to the national system, receive

no state funding.

A stark reality is that for a corporation the size of Amtrak (which is

relatively small by Wall Street standards, but, still, a large company),

the board of directors is woefully small. In order to have a board where

decisions are made by challenging discussion and a diverse board

population, the board should at least be doubled. We again have an

intolerable situation where Amtrak will now have a fairly new president

who wasn't hired by the soon-to-be current board. This isn't fair to Mr.

Kummant, and isn't fair to the board. If the board were larger and terms

rotated on a more rational basis, there are least would be a semblance of

continuity between the board and Amtrak's executive suite.

As noted above, the status quo crowd, the folks who want Amtrak saved at

any cost no matter how broken it is, should be pleased with these board

appointments. It is highly unlikely this board will demonstrate any real

entrepreneurship, and dare to dream about an expanded national system for

Amtrak. This proposed board will also remain very comfortable with the

process of receiving free federal monies each year to prop up a system

which has the real possibility of being much more self sufficient on its

own, so will likely not act to reduce the annual federal contribution.

Hopefully, the personalities on this board, working directly with the

professionalism already demonstrated by President and CEO Kummant, will

not return Amtrak to the status of a public financial cripple waging an

annual battle for public handouts from the governmental treasury. If

Amtrak continues the very good example set by David Laney where annual

appropriations discussions are done using an orderly, professional

standard, then some progress which has been made will remain.

4) Here's the bottom line on the new Amtrak Board of Directors: a

reverting back to business as usual as demonstrated throughout the

company's history, little entrepreneurship guaranteed, and major

decisions signed off by people who look at things from a governmental

perspective instead of a business perspective. Don't look for Amtrak to

make any major improvements in the way it does business.

5) It's Thanksgiving week, and, as customary, Amtrak is gearing up for a

crush of riders on the Northeast Corridor. Lots of extra trains and extra

equipment will be put in place (all reserved), and lots of Amtrak

employees of every type will give up their holiday to meet an anticipated

public demand.

Passenger trips will be relatively short, and fares will be low. Riding

the NEC trains during Thanksgiving will be a well orchestrated event for

the thousand of passengers availing themselves of this travel choice.

Amtrak has prepared an extraordinary 33 page business plan just for this

holiday weekend. It goes into exhaustive detail covering almost every

contingency (including "regional leisure trains" feeding into the NEC,

whatever that means). The book itself is a marvel of professional

presentation and easy to use graphics.

Let's sum it up this way, as one URPA analyst put it.

[begin quote]

When can we expect a similar extraganza for the rest of the system,

proportionate to the RPMs it generates vis-a-vis the NEC? Seems to me the

whole exercise is to mimic the Pennsylvania Railroad, circa 1948. All the

local TV stations will be on the Union Station concourse to dutifully

record the "rush."

[End quote]

Also, what will this annual extravaganza cost Amtrak? It's doubtful that

even with trains packed like sardine cans (and, no additional food

service cars added, according to the plan) the whole exercise will be an

expensive one for Amtrak, with all of the costs coming out of the federal

treasury, most likely at the expense of the rest of the Amtrak national

system. If any extra equipment is added to regional trains in California

(one presumes Thanksgiving is celebrated elsewhere in our country, beyond

known civilization west of Pittsburgh, and south of Washington) or

Illinois where states pay for this service, will the extra costs be

gratis to the states, or will Amtrak invoice the states for the extra

services? Is Thanksgiving travel in the NEC just another huge gift all

American taxpayers provide to those living in the Northeast and Middle

Atlantic states, while giving the proverbial lump of coal to the rest of

us in the country?

Inquiring minds want to know.

6) Here's a delightful breath of entrepreneurship from Illinois, which

monthly feels the reach of Amtrak into its state treasury.

[begin quote]

A few days ago, my wife received her driver's license renewal notice from

IDOT, and in the envelope was a nicely done ad flyer promoting Amtrak

trains in the state. It's packed with useful information - schedules,

fares, etc., plus this reminder at the top of the page: $$ SAVE GAS $$

What a great promotion. Every Illinois driver will eventually be reminded

of the rail option - in an envelope they MUST open! If other states

aren't already doing this, they should.

[End quote]

The folks in Illinois have come to the same conclusion the folks in

California came to decades ago. If the state itself is proactive in

promoting train travel for which it pays Amtrak, then higher ridership

and revenue passenger miles should equal lower billed costs from Amtrak

since ticket income is credited against the cost of operating the trains.

Illinois continues to prove the theory that anyone other than Amtrak is

better at marketing passenger trains, especially when marketing efforts

pay off and Amtrak is forced to charge states less for services.

7) A final thought. As noted above, for many Amtrak employees,

Thanksgiving is just another work day. We thank each and every Amtrak

employee who is away from home and family on these major holidays, making

sure our national passenger railroad is a 365 day a year operation.

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

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URPA leadership members are available for speaking engagements.

J. Bruce Richardson

President

United Rail Passenger Alliance, Inc.

1526 University Boulevard, West, PMB 203

Jacksonville, Florida 32217-2006 USA

Telephone 904-636-7739

[email protected]

http://www.unitedrail.org

_______________________________________________

TWA mailing list

[email protected]

http://lists.unitedrail.org/mailman/listinfo/twa

 

[frj1983]

"I do fear that with Laney and Hall's departure, the Board will

lose any skepticism of management. It's not a very deep bench. The last

round of nominees has only been around for a year. Once again, we'll be

back to the status quo of the Board swallowing whatever Kummant and the

lifers lower down the ranks put before them."

_______________________________________________________________

Can you hear the venomous sarcasm dripping from J Bruce's keyboard? It looks like Alexander Kummant has now been lumped with, gasp, the "lifers!"

I just can't resist, do you remember when J Bruce said this:

"What do we bring from this? The Amtrak Board of Directors, under the

leadership of Chairman David Laney (even in its present reduced state

because of too many vacancies) has done a good job of selecting the next

chief steward of Amtrak."

How soon Alex Kummant has fallen out of favor!

 

[WICT106]

This Week at Amtrak; December 18, 2007

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 904-636-7739, Electronic Mail [email protected]

http://www.unitedrail.org

Volume 4, Number 39

Founded over three decades ago in 1976, 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, New Mexico,

the District of Columbia, Texas, and New York. 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) "Make no little plans; they have no magic to stir men’s blood and

probably will themselves not be realized. Make big plans; aim high in

hope ad work, remembering that a noble, logical diagram once recorded

will not die." — Daniel Burnham, architect of Washington Union Station,

El Paso (Texas) Union Depot and other notable structures

2) First, background from a notable Washington Wag about the beginnings

of Amtrak and the original intentions of Amtrak’s creators.

[begin quote]

The 1970 statute creating Railpax and then the National Railroad

Passenger Corporation, eventually known as Amtrak, was more complex than

a simple replacement of private passenger trains with Amtrak’s system.

Passenger train carriers were allowed to opt out of the NRPC system of

running existing trains, but did not have to – as evidenced by the trains

the Rio Grande and the Southern continued to operate into the ‘80s. As to

those trains "surrendered" and placed in Amtrak – and only as to those

trains – the previous carrier was relieved of its statutory common

carrier obligation.

However, little noticed until repealed in 1997, the Interstate Commerce

Act provisions on entry, exit, fare, and common carrier obligation for

passenger trains remained on the books; only Amtrak was exempted from

them as of 1970. Thus, any non-Amtrak train not covered by the 1970

conveyance of private trains to Amtrak would be subjected to the same

straitjacket that had helped cause the exodus in the first place. (Of

course, since Amtrak was also given a statutory neo-monopoly in 1970,

with a right of first refusal on all intercity service – not just the

services surrendered to it in 1970 – any new service would only occur by

Amtrak’s permission. The right of first refusal also survived until

1997.)

Without going into the extreme sloppiness that characterized the

corporate structuring of Amtrak, it seems clear the 1970 statute was only

slightly above back-of-the-envelope coherence of policy, and, in any

event, was the product of a policy environment in which Congress still

thought it was 1887 (or perhaps 1930) on the railroads, while the rest of

the transportation world had already changed dramatically.

There have been allegations the Nixon Administration expected a quick

fade-away (which still wouldn’t excuse the quality of the work-product),

but the railroads were literally at death’s door, and Congress was still

in a time-warp that did not include that reality. And, remember, all of

the freight-Amtrak access/compensation provisions of the 1970 act were of

a piece with a still- operative freight rail regulatory regime where

earning a viable return, or being able to alter prices or services, or

abandon lines on less than a decade’s notice, were still virtually

unknown concepts.

In short, the 1970 act was the last gasp of the hidebound regulatory

regime that nearly killed not only passenger trains, but freight service

as well. Some of it still lives on, including the statutory authority for

Amtrak to interpose itself in virtually any Class I main line abandonment

or facility downgrade; this was just invoked a few days ago regarding the

EJ&E transaction and sale of the railroad to Canadian National Railway.

On the freight side, it took Congress – remember it’s "the country’s

principal trailing indicator" – several major railroad bankruptcies and

over two decades to move the freight regulatory regime out of the 19th

century (statutes in 1973, 1976, 1980, 1982, 1986 and 1995). Nothing

comes easily or quickly there. There was no parallel modernization of the

Amtrak regime prior to 1997 – and the Clinton Administration made sure

that reform was sabotaged.

On the contrary, all of the legislative interventions between 1970 and

1997 exacerbated the problems by leaving the increasingly ossified

national route network ("basic system") in place, imposing restrictions

antithetical to network flexibility (such as statutory six-year labor

protection) and outlawing efficiency (non-food contracting prohibited by

law), while adding to Amtrak’s financial burdens the former

PennCentral/Conrail Northeast Corridor infrastructure, compounded with

statutory embedded subsidies to the NEC commuter outfits.

Until 1997, discontinuing an Amtrak route – although not subject to as

absurdly strict a standard as pre-1980 freight rail abandonments – still

required a quasi-abandonment proceeding by law. If the current "reform"

bills being considered are any indication, Congress is about to embark on

some backward time travel.

All of this argues strongly for not compounding or repeating the mistakes

of 1970. In fact, in a better world, if a more creative approach had been

taken in 1970 regarding passenger service (as was eventually done with

freight), and had the funding actually used on Amtrak and the NEC over

the intervening years been provided at the same levels as actually

occurred, we might well have a rail passenger system today more efficient

(not difficult to achieve) and more closely matched with national

demographics than the relic we now have in Amtrak.

Whether you agree with this analysis or not, it is an inarguable

political reality you will not get increased rail passenger

infrastructure by playing a zero-sum game with the freights. Both sides

have to gain, or you’re on a fast train to nowhere.

[End quote]

2) On that note, let’s take a look at Amtrak today, at the close of

calendar year 2007.

Amtrak remains statistically irrelevant as part of America’s

transportation network, and nobody is doing anything to change that fact.

Amtrak remains a financially bankrupt corporation, suffering under a

corps of non-innovative executives whose personal performance and

promotions are based on how much money is saved, rather than how many new

passengers are found, how many revenue passenger miles are generated, or

how much the national system is grown to accommodate passenger demand.

Even worse, at the end of 2007, Amtrak’s greatest supporters are often

ill-informed individuals with no useful understanding of the real

potential of Amtrak as an integral part of our domestic transportation

network, but rather consider Amtrak an environmental toy available for

the amusement of tree-huggers and those with an antipathy for fossil fuel

vehicles.

Hardly anybody inside government or private enterprise has a true

understanding of the most useful functions of Amtrak and the areas of the

company’s greatest potential.

Very few people understand that Amtrak’s value is that is uses proven,

passenger-friendly technology, and the overall infrastructure to grow

Amtrak’s national system and carry more passengers is relatively

inexpensive compared to upgrading or creating new infrastructure in other

modes of transportation. Passenger rail is the single most flexible form

of transportation beyond the automobile, because trains can be lengthened

or shortened to meet market demand. New train frequencies can be added

when financially warranted, and, if necessary, new station stops can be

created with a strip of asphalt for a platform, a small parking lot, some

light poles, and a portable building as a ticket office and shelter.

The only innovation needed in today’s passenger train world in America is

a lesson in history, as to what has worked in the past, and what from the

past can be viable for expansion in the future. Today’s two level

Superliners are just an improved idea on commuter gallery cars first

introduced in the middle of the last century, and refined by the Santa Fe

Railroad at the same time for use on long distance trains.

Passenger trains may be environmentally friendly, but that is the single

worst reason for the promotion of passenger rail. Passenger trains are

efficient in many ways, can provide any combination of Spartan-like

accommodations to grand luxury. Passengers trains, when properly

assembled are rolling cities, with places to eat, be entertained, shop,

sit, and sleep. Except for large ships, no other form of transportation

offers the wide variety of accommodations and amenities as trains.

Too bad Amtrak keeps refusing to understand these simple concepts.

Instead, Amtrak errantly clings to a concept of itself as a public

utility, capable of only providing bare necessities, and willing to do

little for the overall comfort of its passengers. Those who believe

passenger rail should be glorified transit, or believe it should

inherently be a stepchild of government, always reliant on a welfare

program for its existence do nothing to insure a future of passenger rail

in this country.

A quick check of the Constitution, as outlined by our wise forefathers,

does not show any right to, or guarantee of, passenger rail

transportation as a byproduct of government. Those who believe there is

an entitlement to passenger rail at the expense of others unwittingly

want to doom passenger rail in this country to a status of a barely alive

entity always at the mercy of others.

The real and true facts are right in front of everybody, found in

Amtrak’s own financial statements.

Here’s a sneak peek at some Amtrak financial results for Fiscal Year

2007. A broader analysis will appear soon in another edition of This Week

at Amtrak.

The Empire Builder, Amtrak’s long distance route between Chicago and

Seattle/Portland is the single best performer in the Amtrak system. This

one daily train in each direction generated 390,824,000 revenue passenger

miles and $53,177,800 in revenue. It carried 505,000 passengers for an

average length of trip of 774 miles, with 207 passengers riding every

train mile. The revenue per passenger mile was 13.61 cents, and the load

factor was 61%.

Contrast the Empire Builder with one of Amtrak’s best managed short

distance corridors, the Capitols, which is overseen by a professional

railroader of repute working for the State of California. The Capitols

feed passengers in and out of the San Francisco Bay area, east to

Sacramento, with connections to Nevada. The Capitol Corridor runs for 168

route miles. The Capitol Corridor fields 16 trains a day in each

direction, which generated 96,404,000 revenue passenger miles and

$16,723,700 in revenue. The Capitols carried 1,450,100 passengers for an

average length of trip of 66.5 miles (the lowest length of trip in the

Amtrak system), with 81 passengers riding every train mile. The revenue

per passenger mile was 17.35 cents, and the load factor was 26.7%.

To sum up, one long train a day versus 16 corridor trains a day have

these comparative results:

The Empire Builder generated 294,420,000 more revenue passenger miles

than the Capitols.

The Empire Builder made $36,454,100 than the Capitols for the fiscal

year.

The Empire Builder carried 944,600 fewer passengers than the Capitols.

The Empire Builder’s average length of trip was 707.5 miles longer than

the Capitols’.

The Empire Builder carried 126 more passengers per train mile than the

Capitols.

The Empire Builder’s revenue per passenger mile was 3.74 cents less than

the Capitols’.

The Empire Builder’s load factor was 34.3% better than the Capitols’.

This brings us to the always obvious question: Which is a more useful and

productive route, that of the Empire Builder or that of the Capitols?

From a purely economic standpoint the Empire Builder wins this race every

time. From a useful transportation output standpoint, the Empire Builder

also wins this race continuously. If you were an investment banker, or a

public servant charged with spending public money as wisely as possible,

which choice would you make for investment for the future, stability, and

growth?

California and North Carolina are probably the two most progressive

states when it comes to passenger rail. California’s model works well

everywhere, and it should be duplicated as often as possible. But, at

what cost?

Amtrak continues to pledge its future to corridors like the Capitol

Corridor, which has high investment and inarguable low return on

investment. The Capitols will always require large public subsidies for

both operations and capital improvements. It will be an endless money pit

that does not serve even a measurable minority of travelers in California

as compared to other modes of transportation.

The Empire Builder, which supports a full infrastructure over a route

length of 2,206 miles through vast, empty spaces continuously outperforms

corridors from every standpoint. If a second or third daily frequency

were added over this same route, the predictable scenario is a lowering

of infrastructure costs per train departure, an increase in revenue

passenger miles because of a choice of departure times, and an overall

healthier route. What will not change is Amtrak’s market share, which

nationally is about the same as motorcycles. Still, the Empire Builder

has a decent shot at complete viability from a financial standpoint,

while the Capitols will forever be mired in the economics of transit and

commuter services.

Again, which is the best investment? Californians, which pride themselves

on their "green" efforts, are willing to pay for their trains through

state subsidies. That’s fine, because it is their choice to do so.

However, routes like that of the Empire Builder are much closer to not

needing any subsidy at a realistic point in the future. Is Amtrak going

about things backwards by promoting corridors which do nothing to help

Amtrak’s financial picture? Is Amtrak trying to live off of someone

else’s money (the states running corridors), instead of saying, "Gee! I

can make a go of this if only I choose to run the right type of trains!"?

3) So, again, here we are at the end of 2007. Thanks to the United States

Senate, which rarely understands a good candidate for Amtrak’s Board of

Directors even when they are delivered on a silver platter, has confirmed

a new group of political insiders this year who will do their best to

represent all of the failed Amtrak policies of the past. The good

candidates for the board – those who actually understood the passenger

business and were willing to spend their time on behalf of Amtrak to

bring it to heel financially – are gone, thanks to the inaction of the

Senate in not confirming the White House’s Amtrak board nominees.

4) At the end of the year, we are also seeing a departure of one of

Amtrak President and CEO Alex Kummant’s lieutenants who was a key player

in Amtrak’s corporate planning department. Most likely, the gentleman ran

into the brick wall of Amtrak’s ingrained cadre of executives who are

masterful at stonewalling any idea which was "not invented here."

5) At the end of the year, we are also reading news reports from New

England of the alleged peril the Downeaster service between Boston and

Portland, Maine may soon be in because of a possible lack of funding from

the State of Maine to keep the service subsidized financially. The

estimated annual cost of the service is $13 million, which requires a

subsidy of between $7 and $8 million dollars annually.

The Downeaster’s plight mirrors that of Amtrak continuously; unless

someone else’s money is thrown into the pot, the service will disappear.

The Downeaster did "okay" in comparison to other short distance routes,

but its load factor for last year was only 37%. Again, the question must

be raised. How productive is the Downeaster in the overall scheme of

things versus the cost?

The answer should be, the Downeaster is a relatively new building block

onto which other services can be added, or the Downeaster itself can be

enhanced and end up a better financial performer. From a social

standpoint, with only a 37% load factor spread over eight trains a day in

each direction, carrying 361,600 souls annually who generate 28,809,000

revenue passenger miles for an average length of trip of 80 miles, the

train is not successful. Divided evenly over 365 days, the Downeaster

transports less than 1,000 people per day. By comparison, the Empire

Builder, with just one train a day in each direction, carries 1,383

people per day.

6) What to do? The easy answer is to break Amtrak into three financial

categories, each with it’s own set of financial reports. Take the 15

trains of the long distance system (and add a couple of the

now-classified short distance trains to the long distance category where

they should be, anyway), and run that system separately from a system of

state and federally supported corridors. Issue discrete financial reports

for each part of the system. Let each part of the system stand on its own

merits, with decisions made on that basis, and not a basis of either the

whole system or none at all. Add a third financial report, that of

headquarters and general overhead (such as the reservations system). No

one really knows today how these overhead expenses are allocated to each

route. Amtrak would be in a far better position to defend itself

financially if its arguing points were made on the financial merits of

routes, and not the overall health of the company.

Once a pattern was publicly established which Amtrak’s true revenues and

profit potentials are generated, and then the costs of running the

company are better known, then rational discussion can take place.

Today’s system is broken and nearly beyond repair, and does not allow

anyone to make reasonable financial decisions about Amtrak.

7) Amtrak needs to acquire a better set of friends. Most of the friends

it has today do not act in the best interest of Amtrak or the American

taxpayer, but, rather, make silly arguments about "green" issues, untrue

statements about transportation utility, and perpetually want Amtrak to

be a financial cripple and financial ward of government. Amtrak’s current

friends often lack any ability to look at the true potential of Amtrak or

passenger rail, and, instead, focus on spending someone else’s money on

fantasies which will never be viable under almost any scenario.

8) Amtrak has a monopoly on passenger rail in the United States of

America. The first impulse of most people is that a monopoly "must" be

successful, because it has no competition. The exact opposite is true.

Since Amtrak has no competition, and it is constantly suckling at the

United States Treasury, it has no sense of urgency, or sense of need to

attract and please passengers. Instead, it clings to unreasonable excuses

(most of which amount to "the dog ate my homework"), and always expects

another meal for another day from the government coffers. Is that any way

to run a railroad?