The folly of dismantling Amtrak’s National Network

https://www.railwayage.com/passenger/the-folly-of-discarding-long-distance-passenger-trains/

I found this in Railway Age magazine.

After 48 years of providing long-distance passenger train services, is Amtrak preparing to scuttle these operations and dismantle its National Network? That nightmare prospect, long desired for decades by anti-passenger-rail politicians, now seems a real and perhaps imminent possibility.

despite this background of compelling public need and clear benefits, Amtrak’s new administration seems intent on pursuing its funereal goal of dismembering the National Network, with a strategy apparently relying upon a process of systematic service downgrades

The article in the magazine seems to be spot on, sadly.

It's clear hiring an airline CEO to run Amtrak was a bad decision.

He and the corrupt board who hired him should be dismissed, pronto.

Anderson's numerous blunders and irrational changes demonstrates his ineptness which makes him unqualified for the job.

His hatred for trains is evident in the venomous statements he makes against passenger trains and his company's principal product, it's "brand" and the Amtrak that most Americans, in terms of geography, see.

Anderson knows little about travel and next to nothing about train travel.

ohle said:

It's clear hiring an airline CEO to run Amtrak was a bad decision.

He and the corrupt board who hired him should be dismissed, pronto.

Anderson's numerous blunders and irrational changes demonstrates his ineptness which makes him unqualified for the job.

His hatred for trains is evident in the venomous statements he makes against passenger trains and his company's principal product, it's "brand" and the Amtrak that most Americans, in terms of geography, see.

Anderson knows little about travel and next to nothing about train travel.

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I don't think that he hates trains and I disagree that he "knows little about travel". What I think he really doesn't know or understand is how to provide adequate passenger rail service without the goal of turning a profit. I don't think it's malice, but rather a lack of understanding and experience of what Amtrak is supposed to be.

cpotisch said:

I don't think that he hates trains and I disagree that he "knows little about travel". What I think he really doesn't know or understand is how to provide adequate passenger rail service without the goal of turning a profit. I don't think it's malice, but rather a lack of understanding and experience of what Amtrak is supposed to be.

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As originally authorized in 1971 by Congress, the National Rail Passenger Corporation (Amtraks' legal name, still) was as a 'for profit' corporation wholly owned by the US Government. There may have been some shares to various RRs, too.

To my knowledge, the profitability requirement has never been removed. So Congress and the president go around and around every year trying to make it profitable or get rid of it completely.

bratkinson said:

cpotisch said:

I don't think that he hates trains and I disagree that he "knows little about travel". What I think he really doesn't know or understand is how to provide adequate passenger rail service without the goal of turning a profit. I don't think it's malice, but rather a lack of understanding and experience of what Amtrak is supposed to be.

Click to expand...

As originally authorized in 1971 by Congress, the National Rail Passenger Corporation (Amtraks' legal name, still) was as a 'for profit' corporation wholly owned by the US Government. There may have been some shares to various RRs, too.

To my knowledge, the profitability requirement has never been removed. So Congress and the president go around and around every year trying to make it profitable or get rid of it completely.

Click to expand...

As I understand it, Amtrak is supposed to cover its costs, but it is not required to actually make money. Meanwhile, the goal of an airline is to make money, not to offer adequate service.

The railroads were issued shares. Amtrak made a buy back offer some years ago at a minimal price. The only ones that may still be outstanding are the NRPC shares issued to Penn Central that became the property of financier Carl Lindner (sp?). He was suing to get more out of them awhile ago, but don't know what, if anything, came of that.

The "for profit" language has never been amended.

If I may inject some fairness, Mr. Anderson is undertaking the replacement of the ageing Amfleet cars, as well as the much needed repairs at NYP and proposals for new and/or overhauled locomotives. Has he made some blunders? Absolutely. These have been well noted here. Is there room for improvement? You bet. But running a company that was originally set up to fail and has been used as a political whipping boy, I would say that, from where I am, he is making some efforts in the right direction, although some other efforts have not been in that direction.

It's a real shame that the topic of the dismantling of the National Network has come up so often and is now seen as a possibility, especially when an overhaul of the network could make it more efficient.

Right now, almost every LD train stops in towns that can only be described as backwoods rural areas. Take Bryan, OH for example. in 2017, there were ~5800 passengers that went through that station over four trains (two EB and two WB). That's an average of 16 passengers per day, 4 per train. Alliance, OH is slightly worse, with an average of near 3 passengers every train. It's ridiculous that what would be the equivalent of an express train in the UK is making stops that a "stopping service" would make.

That being said, if you remove those stops, the efficiency of the LD trains could improve. Look at the UK. Their long-distance trains make stops in major population centers or transfer points ONLY. There are dedicated services making stops at the smaller stations. I feel like Amtrak could benefit from reviewing how the UK operates their passenger trains. Obviously, not everything will transfer over, but the general idea would probably work.

NSC1109 said:

It's a real shame that the topic of the dismantling of the National Network has come up so often and is now seen as a possibility, especially when an overhaul of the network could make it more efficient.

Right now, almost every LD train stops in towns that can only be described as backwoods rural areas. Take Bryan, OH for example. in 2017, there were ~5800 passengers that went through that station over four trains (two EB and two WB). That's an average of 16 passengers per day, 4 per train. Alliance, OH is slightly worse, with an average of near 3 passengers every train. It's ridiculous that what would be the equivalent of an express train in the UK is making stops that a "stopping service" would make.

That being said, if you remove those stops, the efficiency of the LD trains could improve. Look at the UK. Their long-distance trains make stops in major population centers or transfer points ONLY. There are dedicated services making stops at the smaller stations. I feel like Amtrak could benefit from reviewing how the UK operates their passenger trains. Obviously, not everything will transfer over, but the general idea would probably work.

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Not enough equipment! Freight railroads wouldn't like that either. A robust express & local train system would require many, many frequencies, wayyy more than one or two trains per day. The only way to get around the problem in most places is to reroute the train through bigger cities (Youngstown OH, Des Moines IA, stops in Montana, etc.). And we all know that no reroute will be approved by the freight companies for the petty concern of getting more passengers, unless it helps themselves.

ParanoidAndroid said:

NSC1109 said:

It's a real shame that the topic of the dismantling of the National Network has come up so often and is now seen as a possibility, especially when an overhaul of the network could make it more efficient.

Right now, almost every LD train stops in towns that can only be described as backwoods rural areas. Take Bryan, OH for example. in 2017, there were ~5800 passengers that went through that station over four trains (two EB and two WB). That's an average of 16 passengers per day, 4 per train. Alliance, OH is slightly worse, with an average of near 3 passengers every train. It's ridiculous that what would be the equivalent of an express train in the UK is making stops that a "stopping service" would make.

That being said, if you remove those stops, the efficiency of the LD trains could improve. Look at the UK. Their long-distance trains make stops in major population centers or transfer points ONLY. There are dedicated services making stops at the smaller stations. I feel like Amtrak could benefit from reviewing how the UK operates their passenger trains. Obviously, not everything will transfer over, but the general idea would probably work.

Click to expand...

Not enough equipment! Freight railroads wouldn't like that either. A truly robust express & local train system would require many, many frequencies, wayyy more than one or two trains per day.

Click to expand...

That stems back to the root of Amtrak’s problems: funding. How much equipment is sitting in Bear, Chicago, Beech Grove, etc, waiting for repairs that can’t be done because funds are needed elsewhere? The thread talking about the busted AC unit on the CZ is a perfect example. Mechanical guys and trainmasters are sending out equipment in such a condition because there’s nothing available to replace it.

If Amtrak had actually gotten the funding that it needed all this time, we could be looking at a very different animal.

As for the freight rail guys...come up with an incentive. It’s one thing to access the ROW...you want on-time service? Make it worth their while.

Also, I should note, I’m not talking 30 trains a day or something, CUS couldn’t handle that. I’m talking doing 4 round trips between CHI and Cleveland or Toledo, something that maintains service to the smaller stations while at the same time allowing the LD trains to skip ‘em. Use it as a learning opportunity. I agree that Amtrak doesn’t have the equipment to do this nationwide. I would hope that something could be worked out like how IDOT and CalTrans did their Siemens order: create a consortium with representatives from all states involved plus Amtrak and purchase equipment, spreading the cost out. Encourages teamwork and potential growth in an entire region as well as allowing Amtrak to overhaul the approach to long distance services.

zephyr17 said:

The railroads were issued shares. Amtrak made a buy back offer some years ago at a minimal price. The only ones that may still be outstanding are the NRPC shares issued to Penn Central that became the property of financier Carl Lindner (sp?). He was suing to get more out of them awhile ago, but don't know what, if anything, came of that.

The "for profit" language has never been amended.

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Only four of the railroads joining the Amtrak system elected the option to take common shares of Amtrak...besides the Penn Central, the other's were Burlington Northern, Milwaukee Road, and Grand Trunk Western.

Here's the story... https://www.railwayage.com/news/fini-to-saga-of-amtraks-common-stock/

AGM.12 said:

If I may inject some fairness, Mr. Anderson is undertaking the replacement of the ageing Amfleet cars, as well as the much needed repairs at NYP and proposals for new and/or overhauled locomotives. Has he made some blunders? Absolutely. These have been well noted here. Is there room for improvement? You bet. But running a company that was originally set up to fail and has been used as a political whipping boy, I would say that, from where I am, he is making some efforts in the right direction, although some other efforts have not been in that direction.

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No, his focus has been, and continues to be, off-course.

It's very hard to defend his numerous irrational decisions, which have little basis in reality.

One reading of his actions would assume he's a "plant," from the viscous Amtrak-hating "think tanks" that have long wanted to destroy passenger rail. Note how they never offer plans to improve service, only remove it.

Anderson has

• Ended travel discounts (AAA, student and others)
• Imposed stiff penalties for changing tickets
• Removed dining cars from important overnight trains
• Fired station agents, who help passengers, including elderly and disabled
• Plans to discontinue trains and turn them into BUS ROUTES !!!
• He has also bloodied the noses of the private varnish owners, which have been a loyal Amtrak constituency.

He claimed removing those cars -- which pay gigantic fares- would improve timekeeping. Instead, timekeeping has taken a dive with the system handling many late trains.

Next thing he foolishly did was give the finger to Toys for Tots. So charity isn't an important part of a corporation's service to the public?

These unnecessary and harmful changes are designed to discourage ridership and ultimately, end America's passenger trains.

He appears to know little about travel in general, and next to nothing about train travel.

His firing, as well as the dismissal of the corrupt and complicit board of directors, is long overdue.