Used with the permission of the author.

Quote

No more LSA's in Palour car, does that mean no more wine tastings or just no revenue sales? So I take it the cast of 6 or so palour car attendents are gone? Richard Tulmy and his scenic talks/wine tasting made the trip a blast. He has a love for the rails and amtrak that very few share. That I will miss if its true, but happy the palour will continue to roll.

This Week's Edition, quoted with permission of the aauthor.

Quote

This week's edition, quoted with permission from the author.

Quote

While I always find the URPA Newsletter interesting,

I am getting a little sick of the "David Gunn bashing" in each. So if you didn't like him or what he did, I respect Richardson's right to disagree, but to annoint Kummant an immediate "savior" seems to me "putting the passenger cars before the engine"...oh wait it does work that way. But I think you get my drift.

frj1983, on Thu, Sep 7, 2006, 09:32 AM, said:

Email Richardson. I did on another matter and he pronptly answered me. I'm sure he would like your opinion, but then, maybe not.

This Week at Amtrak; September 12, 2006

A weekly digest of events, opinions, and forecasts from
United Rail Passenger Alliance, Inc.
1526 University Boulevard, West, PMB 203
Jacksonville, Florida 32217-2006 USA
Telephone 904-636-6760, Electronic Mail info@unitedrail.org
http://www.unitedrail.org

Volume 3, Number 37

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

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

1) Memo To: Alexander Kummant
President and CEO, Amtrak/National Railroad Passenger Corporation
Washington, D.C.
September 12, 2006

Welcome to your first day as the new chief steward of Amtrak, our
national passenger railroad. We look forward to working with you as you
improve the company.

We trust you will have no problem finding your way around headquarters,
and, later, there are several good restaurants in the area we would like
to recommend for lunch.

May we offer the following suggestions as you begin the task of moving
Amtrak forward?

- Please note the name of the company, the National Railroad Passenger
Corporation. The "national" indicates Amtrak's mission and
responsibility to serve as much of the continental United States as
possible. "National" does not indicate disconnected regional corridors
serving only part of the national population. As Amtrak lives by
taxpayer support, each American in each part of the country pays taxes
to support the company, and, therefore each American should be afforded
access to passenger rail. Regional favorites, such as the NEC, should be
primarily supported by regions served (such as is the case with
California's excellent passenger rail program), not at the complete
expense of everyone.

- We very much applaud the statements you made to your hometown
newspaper, The Chronicle-Telegram, in Ohio. Phrases like "The nation
needs a vision for its rail system, one that can safely support freight
and passenger trains," and your "self-described passion for turnaround
work" sound very good. Particularly well received is your statement,
"People talk about losses, but without splitting the capital spending
out from the operational dollars. Infrastructure dollars can hardly be
characterized as losses." Also, "The board has only asked me to run
Amtrak crisply and efficiently; to take a look at the entity as a whole
and drive the operation and the business, as it were. That can mean most
anything, but nobody has told me to dismantle anything." Please continue
to make such positive statements. Amtrak has suffered too long from poor
leadership that has talked more about losses and crisis than about
improving the railroad so it can be a robust, healthy organization in
charge of its own fate.

- As said many times before, Amtrak is the best kept secret in America,
regrettably. Please find new ways to make Amtrak more visible to its
owners, the people of America. In coming weeks we will talk more about
this, including some very successful programs initiated by the former
Gulf Coast Business Group that made sad trains into happy trains with
more passengers and more revenue passenger miles.

- Please, for the sake of the company and those cities and towns served
by the Sunset Limited and Cardinal, find a way to make these two trains
daily. As long as they operate on discreet routes but only on tri-weekly
schedules, costs will continue to be high and revenue passenger miles
low. Tri-weekly is the single most expensive way to operate trains that
have large infrastructure costs like stations. And, please take an
immediate look at what it will take to restore the Sunset Limited to
service east of New Orleans. The infrastructure is back in place, the
only thing missing are useable station buildings in Pascagoula and
Mobile, which can be handled by using portable station buildings which
have been used successfully elsewhere in the Amtrak system for years.
The latest silliness about restoring the Sunset Limited is the Florida
Department of Transportation hasn't asked for the train to be restored.
What? That makes no sense. You have stations, you have a strong railroad
infrastructure, and you have waiting passengers. Why do you need some
state bureaucrats to ask you to restore a train you were happily running
before Hurricane Katrina? Please tell you staff to quit stalling by
saying the dog ate their homework and get the train back.

We will talk more later; we know you're having a busy day. Thanks for
coming to help Amtrak be a better, more reliable, healthy, passenger
railroad.

2) The welcome arrival of a new Amtrak president and chief executive
officer hopefully brings along a large broom which will sweep some of
the executive debris out of Amtrak. There are so many areas which need
new leadership; perhaps, for the future of the company, chief among them
is strategic planning. Amtrak's planning department is where all types
of critical data is refined and organized so senior management and the
board of directors can make intelligent decisions about all aspects of
the company and passenger operations.

The most reasonable question to ask is, how good is the quality of this
information? Is the Amtrak middle management bureaucracy simmering along
in its usual best imitation of the late Stalinist Kremlin in Moscow? Are
too many lower level decision makers too content in their jobs so they
feel invulnerable? Of all of the places in Amtrak, both the planning and
marketing departments need the brightest thinkers and those willing to
think outside the standard Amtrak box.

Also, for a company which has been around since 1971, Amtrak needs
desperately to draw on institutional memory (whether from inside the
company on all levels or outside) to avoid again making the near fatal
mistakes it has in the past.

We know Amtrak is talking about tinkering with the long distance route
structure. Hopefully, most of what we will see will result in just talk,
and not the mistakes of the past such as those made during the Mercer
days of the 1990s, or the disastrous route cuts of 1979. Both the Mercer
and 1979 cuts only hurt the company, not helped it. While some expenses
decreased, there was an alarming decrease in revenue passenger miles and
passengers as well, that far exceeded any expense savings. Will this
happen, again? Will no one in the planning and marketing departments
understand the critical importance of the matrix theory, where one route
always feeds multiple other routes? ... That every route is part of a
system, not a disjointed corridor?

Will the marketing and planning departments understand the future of the
company is outside of the NEC and other corridors, and the tracks of the
freight railroads are the only place Amtrak can grow to prosperity?

Will the marketing and planning departments understand that passenger
counts and revenues are meaningless, and the only real measures for
success are revenue passenger miles and revenues that exceed expenses?
In the September 5th issue of Amtrak This Week (the OTHER This Week
publication) for employees, Amtrak said that 54% of the passenger
revenues originate on the Northeast Corridor. Big deal. More than 54% of
the company's expenses and need for subsidy originate on the NEC, so the
NEC still operates at a loss.

We all remember Disraeli saying "there are lies, damned lies, and
statistics." It's time for Amtrak to start reporting real statistics
instead of those published to make people feel good, but actually do
little to improve the fate of the company.

If the Amtrak Board of Directors and new President and CEO Alexander
Kummant are going to be well served and make good decisions, they need
good data to work from; no one is completely convinced the data coming
from inside the company meets that standard.

3) America lost a great railroader with the passing of Henry Christie in
August. For those of us who were privileged to know him and work with
him, all that can be said is that it was an honor to part of his world.
He was a brilliant man who generously shared his knowledge and wisdom.

Those readers of this space who worked with him know that Mr. Christie
was one of the great railroaders of the 20th Century, starting in the
steam era and ending his storied career deep into the electronic age.

Mr. Christie was a great debater, and loved to talk about his favorite
subjects - the most favorite of which was the railroad universe.

Following is his formal obituary, as supplied by his wife, Ann Christie,
one of the world's most delightful people.

[Begin quote]
HENRY C. CHRISTIE, 79, died Monday, August 7, 2006 at St. John's
Hospital, Tulsa, OK after a short illness.

A memorial service will be at 1:00 p.m. Thursday, September 21, at First
United Methodist Church in Michigan City, IN.

He was born October 17, 1926 to Robert & Agnes (O'Brien) Christie in
Newcastle-on-Tyne, England. On December 17, 1976 in Kansas City, MO he
married Ann Mohegan who survives in Owasso, OK.

Henry's career was in the railway industry. He started his railroad
career with the Southern Railway in England and continued it after
immigrating to the United States December 1949. He worked for the New
York Central; Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railroad; Amtrak;
Pittsburgh & Lake Erie and Chicago South Shore & South Bend Railroad.
After retiring Henry served as Secretary-Treasurer for The Air Brake
Association for 11 years, retiring again two years ago.

In lieu of flowers, the family request memorial contributions be made to
First United Methodist Church Music Department, 121 E. 7th Street,
Michigan City, IN 46360, The Railway Supply Institute, Inc., Scholarship
Program, 29 W. 140 Butterfield Road, Suite 103-A, Warrenville, IL 60555,
Salvation Army or the organization of donor's choice.
[End quote]

There are many details to Mr. Christie's career. Here is a bio of Mr.
Christie written by this writer in 1993 when Mr. Christie was working on
a consulting basis:

[Begin quote]

Eastleigh Enterprises, Railway Consulting

Henry C. Christie

Eastleigh Enterprises is a railroad industry consulting firm,
specializing in equipment and operations issues. The firm offers
consultation for all phases of operations and rolling stock, as well as
analysis of costing, staffing, and budgeting. Eastleigh Enterprises also
offers engineering overviews and quality assurance services.

Henry C. Christie, as principal of the Canadian Premier Rail project,
provided the majority of the operating and maintenance expertise for the
study. Mr. Christie has excelled as a professional railroader since 1943
when he began his career as a Locomotive Cleaner and Fireman for the
Southern Railway in England. Since then, he has steadily moved through
the professional ranks of railroading in England and the United States,
where he has served the New York Central System; the Chicago, Rock
Island & Pacific Railroad Company; Amtrak; the Pittsburgh & Lake Erie
Railroad Company; the Chicago South Shore & South Bend Railroad; and the
Electro-Motive Division, EMD.

Mr. Christie served as Chief Maintenance Officer of Amtrak, reporting to
the Vice President, National Operations, and was responsible for the
overall direction of running maintenance functions of locomotives and
cars for the corporation, excluding the Northeast Corridor. He was
responsible for daily activities, planning, control, direction and
budget monitoring. He was also responsible for initiating action
covering all maintenance programs, directives and instructions to the
field. He assisted the regional vice presidents in the running of
maintenance facilities under their direct control. He was also
responsible for maintenance details of contract negotiations with
various carriers. He had an immediate staff of 37 people; indirect
control of 2,400 people, with an annual budget of $78 million.

Mr. Christie also served Amtrak as the Director - Running Maintenance,
and Manager - Car Planning and Engineering [Mr. Christie was responsible
for drawing up the Amtrak Heritage Fleet A & B Lists; cars on one list
were kept for conversion to HEP power, and the other list of cars were
sold as surplus.].

At the South Shore, Mr. Christie served as General Manager - Motive
Power & Equipment, and also as General Superintendent, Transportation.

Mr. Christie was responsible for 16,500 cars and 105 locomotives as the
Chief Maintenance Office of the Pittsburgh & Lake Erie Railroad Company,
with equipment capital expenditures of $75 million being processed in
certain years.

Mr. Christie's service to the Rock Island included duties as the
Assistant Chief Mechanical Officer - Locomotive and Assistant Chief
Mechanical Officer - Car. The two positions yielded combined
responsibility for 30,000 cars and 605 locomotive units. He also served
as the General Superintendent of the Car Department and Manager of
Engineering and Research Services.

Professional memberships include the American Society, Mechanical
Engineers; American Railway Engineering Society; Car Department
Officers' Association; and Locomotive Maintenance Officers' Association.
He is also a member of MENSA and the Union League Club of Chicago.

Industry related activities include AAR Mechanical Division General
Committee, AAR Special Equipment Committee, AAR Car Construction
Committee, various AAR ad hoc committees, and guest lecturer at the
Illinois Institute of Technology.

Mr. Christie co-authored various papers for the Pittsburgh Air Brake
Club and Central Air Brake Club of Chicago, and his writing has appeared
in Progressive Railroading magazine.

[End quote]

Not mentioned in the bio was his 1994 visit to the White House to
discuss the privatization of Amtrak. Henry Christie was a kind, generous
man who loved his work and his friends and family. He loved to sing
(hearing him sing opera was an inspiring experience), and most
mechanical things in the world fascinated him. Among his friends he was
also a famous cook.

Henry Christie will be missed by all of us who were privileged to know
him, and will be greatly missed by the industry he served and advanced
so well.

4) The New York Sun newspaper last week ran an editorial about it, and
the Boston Globe filed a news report about the financial relationship
between the National Association of Railroad Passengers (NARP) and
Amtrak, and NARP's ability to think and react independently of Amtrak
management. As reported in this space earlier this year, NARP for a
number of years has been receiving annual financial payments in the tens
of thousands of dollars from Amtrak to operate Amtrak's customer
advisory committee. This occurred at the same time NARP, as a third
party, was lobbying Congress and others for higher federal subsidies,
without publicly disclosing the contractual arrangement with Amtrak.

URPA Vice President Bill Lindley writes, "According to The Sun's recent
editorial, 'NARP`s executive director, Ross Capon, says ... the
relationship has never come up in board meetings when members decided
whether or not to criticize Amtrak ...'

"Please be mindful of that carefully placed qualifier; NARP's official
criticisms of Amtrak seem to appear about as frequently as snowfall here
in Phoenix. The issue has certainly arisen before the NARP Board; as an
alternate at their Santa Fe meeting in 1997, during the discussion of
their budget, I questioned the $16,000 annual contract from Amtrak for
the Customer Advisory Council and how it imperiled the impartiality of
NARP. I explained it seemed to be in conflict with the assertion that
NARP has 'no association with Amtrak or the railroads.' (quote from NARP
brochure, 1974.) Mr. Capon was present during the brief but heated
discussion that ensued. The motion to exercise the escape clause in CAC
contract was tabled, and presumably never again revived."

5) President Bush has nominated Mary Peters as the new Secretary of
Transportation. Secretary-Designate Peters is from Arizona, and Mr.
Lindley, as mentioned above, a resident of Arizona, files this report.

"Through the Arizona Rail Passenger Association, I have worked on
numerous occasions with Mary Peters, whom President Bush has nominated
for Secretary of Transportation. I particularly remember her 1998
address to the Arizona Association of Railroad Passengers; she described
her mission as 'taking the department into the next century' through an
emphasis on multi-modalism; she noted that although the Department of
Highways changed its name to the Department of Transportation in 1974,
it had taken too many years for the agency to embrace ideas other than
highways; and she brought rounds of applause by explaining, 'we should
not widen highway corridors to 8, 10, and 12 lanes. We need to look at a
maximum highway configuration of 6 lanes ... Highways [alone] are not
going to meet our transportation needs in the future.'

"In 2000, as president of ARPA, I worked with her to bring a TALGO train
for display at Phoenix and a demonstration round-trip between Phoenix
and Tucson. Photos at http://azrail.org/ar...ts/phoenix/2000
include a view of Ms. Peters with the TALGO on the platform at Coolidge.

"Arizona now is seeing the benefits of her leadership then. ADOT
undertook the hard job of implementing her vision; through the new
Public Transit Division, ADOT is supporting light rail in metro Phoenix
as it moves toward completion, and commuter rail as it begins to move
beyond the study phase toward implementation.

"Ms. Peters started as an office secretary at the Arizona Department of
Transportation and moved upward through transportation planning to
become director of that agency 16 years later. As Federal Highway
Administrator for several years starting in 2001, she gained experience
working within the Washington framework; most recently she was with HDR
Engineering as a transportation policy consultant.

"In the White House announcement last week, Ms. Peters said she wants to
tackle roadway congestion by modernizing transportation systems, such as
expanding the use of toll roads - just one example of how the DOT is
likely to change from business-as-usual under her guidance.

"Ms. Peters understands what highways can do, and what they can't; she
has been a supporter of passenger trains and multi-modalism; and she
knows how to set a direction and make things happen. She will make an
excellent Secretary of Transportation."

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

freetwa@unitedrail.org

You MUST include your name, preferred e-mail address, and city and state
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All other correspondence should be addressed to
brucerichardson@unitedrail.org

J. Bruce Richardson
President
United Rail Passenger Alliance, Inc.
1526 University Boulevard, West, PMB 203
Jacksonville, Florida 32217-2006 USA
Telephone 904-636-6760
brucerichardson@unitedrail.org
http://www.unitedrail.org

This Week at Amtrak
Volume 3 Number 38 — September 22, 2006

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A weekly digest of events, opinions, and forecasts from
United Rail Passenger Alliance, Inc.
1526 University Boulevard, West, PMB 203
Jacksonville, Florida 32217-2006
Telephone 904-636-6760
Email info@unitedrail.org
www.unitedrail.org

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

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

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Cooperation for a common goal is considered to be a good idea. The common goal of this exercise is for the freight railroads to run Amtrak trains in a timely manner. Chip Jones, the very good transportation reporter for the Richmond (Virginia) Times-Dispatch wrote last week that CSX is working with Amtrak to improve on time performance.
The crux of the matter is this: CSX has a contractual obligation, agreed upon when Amtrak began operating in 1971, to operate all passenger trains on a priority basis, with clearances over freight trains. This is the deal the freight railroads made with the devil to be relieved of regulatory requirements to run their own passenger trains and turn over all operations to Amtrak.

Thirty-five years later, the railroad industry is in a much different stance than it was in 1971. Instead of being in a survival/shrinkage mode, America's railroads today are bursting at the seams with business of every type and description, including a refreshing clamoring for new commuter rail projects in and around cities of every size.

The railroads that did everything that could be done to get unused or lightly used trackage off of the tax rolls now suddenly find some of those then-redundant main and secondary main lines would be very profitable and useful in today's railroad world. In the 1960s and 70s, railroads were looking at a bleak future; today, our society has advanced enough to recognize each form of transportation in our domestic transportation matrix as an important part of the mix, and that includes both freight and passenger railroads.

The scenario today is that most Class I railroads, such as CSX, Norfolk Southern, CN, BNSF, CP, and Union Pacific have as much freight business as they can handle with their present infrastructure. And, most economists agree the railroad industry is poised for continued growth.

Therefore, adding passenger trains, or accommodating current passenger trains is a low priority on the railroad totem pole. But, the law says the railroads have to accommodate Amtrak.

Which brings us to what reasonable people usually do ... they sit down and come to a compromise that helps each party. In this instance, CSX is requesting longer transit times for Amtrak trains, such as the Auto Train, and the Florida service trains.

Amtrak apologists may harrumph about such a thing; today's schedules are generally hours longer than historic passenger train schedules over the same or similar routes. And, it is not improper to wonder how railroads in World War II managed to handle all of the wartime freight movements along with the wartime passenger train movements, plus the extra troop trains, all without the benefit of computerized signaling and using paper dispatching.

The best answer to that? That was then, and this is now. Before the wave of mergers began after World War II, there was far more main line track in this country, operated by dozens of railroads, not just seven Class I railroads and a number of smaller, regional railroads. At the beginning of WW II, much more track was double tracked on the main lines, instantly providing much more capacity. Very few cities had one dominant carrier; as an example, goods from the West Coast to Chicago could originate on the Union Pacific, Southern Pacific, Great Northern, Northern Pacific, or Santa Fe, instead of now just UP or BNSF.

Reviewing the long range plans of all of the major railroads clarifies the infrastructure improvement plans of each railroad, some of which are already in progress, and others in final planning stages. The purpose of the freight railroads is to make money for shareholders, and the only way to do that is haul more freight. The only way to haul more freight is to have more capacity. Along with that increased capacity will be opportunities for new passenger rail service for both long distance and regional trains.

As all of this capacity is being built, the short term answer is for Amtrak and its host freight railroads is address the realities of today, and figure out how to run trains in a timely manner, which may include some schedule changes and longer trip times. When passengers know what schedule to expect, they accept the proposed trip time. When passengers are constantly abused by late trains, they become unforgiving and grumpy. Longer schedules for months or a few years is a small price to pay for passenger satisfaction and the ability of Amtrak to advertise itself as reliable domestic transportation.

In mid-August, a comment was made about West Coast socialist rail advocacy groups which support Amtrak. Now that all of the information is in, it is apparent that comment was in error. Tony Trifiletti, the president of All Aboard Washington explains.
When I saw Bruce Richardson's characterization of certain West Coast rail advocacy groups as "socialistic," I bridled a bit. You can call me a lot of things, but I get really angry if you call me a socialist. Them's fightin' words.

While most rail advocacy groups support Amtrak unconditionally, we at All Aboard Washington (formerly the Washington Association of Rail Passengers) support Amtrak but with a jaundiced eye. We understand Amtrak is the only game in town, so there is a certain degree of reflexive support. But many of us understand Amtrak has done a less than stellar job over the past 35 years, and not all of that is connected to a lack of federal funding. Amtrak is a government bureaucracy, and bureaucrats as a rule can't think like entrepreneurs. In fact it's not fair to ask them to, for they lack the training and the mind set to function outside the world of government.

Like most rail advocacy organizations, half our members are nostalgia buffs, members of the Greatest Generation, who tend to be New Dealers. Another large group are railfans, who tend to have strong ties to organized labor. A few of us are transportation professionals - veteran, retired and undiscovered - who try to think outside the box and often pound our heads bloody on the walls of that box.

Our journey to an out-of-the-box solution to America's passenger rail problems began at an annual regional meeting of Pacific Northwest rail advocacy organizations held in Portland in February 2000. Our chairman, Chuck Mott, had spent over a decade with the Northern Pacific and Burlington Northern railroads and had been an incorporator of Burlington Northern Air Freight, now BAX Global. Chuck knew the package business inside and out, and upon viewing Amtrak's presentation on revenue projections for the mail-and-express initiative, he saw immediately the Amtrak people were dreamers and lacking in good sense with no understanding of how difficult it would be to develop the level of business they projected, let alone figure out its profitability or lack thereof.

Then we heard a presentation on Amtrak's "glidepath to solvency," and at that point I attempted to introduce reality into the discussion, an attempt remembered today as "Tony's temper tantrum." I meant no animus toward the people at Amtrak, but it was patently obvious their glidepaths and initiatives were doomed to failure because they couldn't get beyond their bureaucratic mind sets. I made a terrible prediction as to what would happen, and it was with no small amount of horror I watched my prediction unfold over the ensuing years.

In April 2000, a group of us met at the Pizza Bank restaurant in Kirkland, Washington to discuss the possible demise of Amtrak and how we could preserve our Cascades Service trains in the event of its dissolution. We were officers and directors, yet we knew our sentiments were not reflected by a majority of our membership. Present were myself, Chuck Mott, J. Craig Thorpe and Dr. Hal Cooper. Craig Thorpe is America's leading railroad artist, and Hal Cooper, an engineering consultant, is the father of the Trans-Texas Corridors - but in their original configuration as a rail project.

At the Pizza Bank we agreed something needed to be done, and we thought getting all the West Coast rail advocacy organizations in one room would be a good start. We needed to hold a conference.

That conference was set for San Carlos, California on September 12, 2001 - and everyone remembers what happened the day before. Only those of us who came to the Bay Area by Amtrak's Coast Starlight got there. With most of our Oregon counterparts stuck on the ground and our California counterparts at their emergency stations, the conference was postponed. Fortunately, those of us who came by train left by train, and the trains were running despite a national emergency. That incident alone pointed to the criticality of a national rail system.

The conference was finally held in July 2002 in Sacramento. Unfortunately, what I encountered was a sea of denial. Despite the Amtrak Reform Council report, only the few of us from All Aboard Washington grasped the possibility that Amtrak could be in real danger. For most of the attendees from Oregon and California, it was as simple as the Democratic Party riding to the rescue or the backing of the invincible AARP. Some accused me of disloyalty to Amtrak, arguing that the only purpose of the conference should be to redouble our support of the beleaguered railroad. Others accused me of being unnecessarily alarmist. I left that meeting both dismayed and depressed.

In the summer of 2004, Chuck Mott came up with an idea for a pilot project that would hand the Southwest Chief back to the BNSF for a five year experiment. At about this time, Tom Till, who had been Executive Director of the Amtrak Reform Council, was working in Seattle for the Discovery Institute as manager of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation grant. Tom was holding a series of conferences at the Rayburn House Building in DC to discuss various privatization alternatives to Amtrak, and Tom thought enough of Chuck's concept to permit me to present it at his September 2005 conference. Tom Rader of Colorado Railcar eviscerated the concept with one pithy statement, but it was a valid comment - and it sent me back to the drawing board.

The critical idea I took away from Tom Till's conference was the "virtual" railroad companies of the UK privatization, who lease their trains, outsource their employees and run a railroad out of a small room with a few people, a computer and a bank account. Based on this concept and aiming for a grand design, Chuck, Craig and I wrote "A Privatization Paradigm for Returning Intercity Passenger Trains to the Class I Railroads". We have vetted this document through two passenger rail organizations, and initial reactions have been positive. (For those who would like to read the document and join our discussion, just request a copy via e-mail at tonytrif@msn.com.)

All Aboard Washington today is in the process of restructuring its board by bringing in outside directors, and we are searching for grant money to fulfill our mission in Washington state. We will soon be reaching beyond our current 500 members in a massive recruitment drive. We have taken the first steps in a long path, and we're eager to see where it leads.

Tony Trifiletti President, All Aboard Washington

Have you noticed the Sunset Limited is still not operating east of New Orleans? Various reports keep floating into the URPA nerve center here in Jacksonville, but still no sign of a train coming down the track. Presumably, Amtrak is still saying the dog ate Amtrak's homework, so it can't run the train.
Alex Kummant has now officially been in his new office as President and CEO of Amtrak for 11 days. Yet, all of this time, nothing has changed. After all, it has been 11 whole days. What's taking so long?
Here's a little secret: it's going to take a while before anything happens. Some are impatient, saying the "Bush management team" hasn't accomplished much, or has even gone backwards.

Take a chill pill.

Ending literally decades of corporate abuse and hanky-panky takes time, and it can't be accomplished over night. Most business professionals measure changes in corporate culture in terms of months and years, not in days and weeks.

Until the arrival of Mr. Kummant, there has been no "Bush management team" at Amtrak, but merely a board of directors appointed by Mr. Bush which has had to contend with an enormous, entrenched corporate bureaucracy that is unaccustomed to emitting any positive reaction to anything offered by the board of directors. The mercifully departed David Gunn was hired by the board of directors appointed by President Clinton, not President Bush. And, Mr. Gunn surrounded himself (as many high level executives commonly do) with people he felt he could trust from past working relationships. The management team inherited by the Amtrak board and now Mr. Kummant is a team not of their making.

The Amtrak Board of Directors has been doing plenty, considering what they inherited, and the management team they had to contend with under David Gunn. The also now-departed David Hughes, as acting president kept the company going until Mr. Kummant could arrive. So, while there may be some cosmetic changes, and hopefully soon some upper level personnel changes, don't expect anything to happen over night. A thoughtful steward of the company, there for the long haul (and, hopefully, the long haul trains), will first take a corporate temperature, and work with senior planners and numbers crunchers before major overhauls take place. No reasonable person should expect instant results. Those who do are always disappointed.

Former Amtrak spokesman, author, shill for high speed rail, and book huckster Joe Vranich has been browbeating the passenger rail countryside again, seemingly hoping to get enough people to listen to him so his latest book will rise higher in popularity on the Amazon.com ratings list. This gentleman, who has made a career about being visible enough to sell his own books, has been urging Congress to dump Amtrak and start fresh with his interpretation of how passenger rail should be in America. It's always interesting to see how many places Mr. Vranich pops up with the same song, but to a slightly different tune.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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Bruce Richardson
President
United Rail Passenger Alliance, Inc.
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Jacksonville, Florida 32217-2555
Telephone 904-636-6760
Email brichardson.org
www.unitedrail.org

MrFSS, on Sat, Sep 23, 2006, 05:14 AM, said:

I love it. "made a career about being visible enough to sell his own books."
Can anyone think of anything this man has produced other than books and papers that find fault with those that are trying to do something?

My $0.02: if you see Vranich popping up somewhere, be sure to write a quick note to the responsible editors, pointing out the limits in his analyses.

Editors don't like looking underinformed. Trust me on this one.

Mr Vranich

seems to have developed a "book-publishing" cottage industry on slamming Amtrak. Does anyone really listen to him? I keep thinking of the old saying "methinks ye protest too much!"

Maybe we should encourage him to take his patented look at the airline industry and ask the question: when will the airlines begin paying back the hefty loans the government gave them after 9/11? Does "never" sound like the correct answer here?

Go Joe go, write about this or something else, it would be a breathe of fresh air...all sarcasm intended. Sorry, I'll turn my rant off now!

This Week at Amtrak; September 29, 2006

A weekly digest of events, opinions, and forecasts from
United Rail Passenger Alliance, Inc.
1526 University Boulevard, West, PMB 203
Jacksonville, Florida 32217-2006 USA
Telephone 904-636-6760, Electronic Mail info@unitedrail.org
http://www.unitedrail.org

Volume 3, Number 39

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

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

1) The end of the federal government’s and Amtrak’s fiscal year is just
hours away. Looks like Amtrak survived another year to live and provide
passenger rail service for another day. Fiscal Year 06 will be
remembered as the year that fortunately for Amtrak, former President and
CEO David Gunn was shown the door, and a new chief steward of Amtrak
appeared on the scene less than a month before the end of the fiscal year.

Most notable for FY 06 was the complete absence of the Sunset Limited
operating east of New Orleans. Amtrak told its unions the train was not
discontinued, but was unable to operate due to a lack of station
infrastructure and right of way. CSX solved the right of way problem by
releasing the track east of New Orleans to Jacksonville on April 1st for
use by Amtrak. The station facilities smokescreen is just that - smoke
and mirrors. If Amtrak has the internal will to operate this train,
which the State of Florida contributed $7.5 million to in 1992/93 to
upgrade infrastructure and build station facilities in Florida’s
panhandle, the train will be running. So far, the public or other
interested parties have not heard any reasonable excuses, beyond the dog
eating Amtrak’s homework, for the train not to be running.

2) New Amtrak President and CEO Alex Kummant continues to strike a
positive note as he communicates with his employees. Here is what he had
to say in the internal employee newsletter, "Amtrak This Week" on Monday:

[Begin quote]

September 25, 2006

Dear Co-workers,

Just wanted to share with you some news on a couple of fronts. We're
closing the fiscal year in a solid financial position — we will have
exceeded our ridership and revenue targets, having carried 24.4 million
passengers and earned over $1.3 billion in ticket revenue.

As for the new fiscal year that starts Oct. 1, the board of directors
approved our budget for FY ’07 last week. Because Congress has not yet
voted on our FY ’07 appropriation, we will likely move forward based on
what they call a Continuing Resolution until an appropriation is
approved by both houses, just as we did last year.

I've already met with some members of Congress and my
relationship-building with Capitol Hill continues on Thursday, when I'll
be testifying before the House Railroads Subcommittee.

I want Congress to know that I am committed to advancing passenger rail
and Amtrak’s future. And I want to share with them what I've learned
about the progress Amtrak has made in the last couple of years toward
rehabilitating our Northeast Corridor infrastructure. I'll make sure
that what I tell them is posted in the Intranet so that you can read it.

On the on-time performance front, thanks to our efforts with CSX, we're
seeing some significant improvements in the OTP of the Auto Train and
Silver Meteor (versus this time last year) and we'll be asking CSX to
direct their attention to doing the same with the Carolinian, the Silver
Star and the Palmetto.

One other note about OTP — I want to congratulate everyone
associatedwith the OTP record Acela Express has had lately. We've
recently hadseveral 100% days, and as of yesterday maintained 91.4% OTP
this month.It’s a great example of what we can accomplish when we all
pull together.

Sincerely,
Alex Kummant
President and CEO

[End quote]

3) One sad but interesting note in the same edition of Amtrak This Week
is the announcement of new upper-level galley and dumb waiters being
installed in the first of the 13 Superliner I dining cars being
converted to new diner/lounge configuration at Amtrak’s Beech Grove
heavy repair and maintenance facility in Indiana.

While initially Amtrak may have found some economic relief from the
Diner Lite program, history teaches us the program is not going to last,
based on previous versions of this program in decades past, and the
still morally admirable food served on the Empire Builder and Auto Train
which have full diner kitchens, wait staffs, and complete menus.

Those of us, such as this writer, who have been paid by Amtrak to
perform dining car studies, know every Amtrak dining car has the
potential to break even, or even make money with the right formulas for
operation, including the 24 hour dining car concept.

Here’s a prediction: Diner Lite will probably last through the busy
summer season of 2007, but by the end of this new fiscal year, better
accounting numbers will demonstrate the re-introduction of full dining
car services which will help Amtrak operate more profitable trains in
the long distance system.

On the bright side, the Superliner I equipment is now older than the
Heritage Fleet equipment inherited from the private railroads when
Amtrak began in 1971. This equipment was due for a good make over.
Having a pool of diner/lounge cars could prove profitable when used in
conjunction with a full dining car on larger consist long distance
trains, offering a quick meal service versus the full sit-down service
of a regular dining car. It will be up to Amtrak’s new management to see
how profitable this concept can be.

4) Here’s a message found today in URPA’s e-mail. It speaks for itself.

[Begin quote]

This morning I received an e-mail from the "Class Agent" of my high
school class, and he is trying to organize our 45th reunion for next
June 22nd through 24. I went to high school near Pittsfield, MA, so, out
of curiosity, I got on the Amtrak website to check out fares, round trip
from Galesburg, IL to Pittsfield, MA. for one adult (senior!). Depart
GBB on 6/21/07, return departing PIT 6/24/07.

The coach only fare was $160.65, but I'm not one to sit up all night, so
I priced a Viewliner Roomette on the Lakeshore between CHI and ALB, each
way, with the rest being just coach.

The total fare was $748.65!!!! Eastbound on No. 48, the accommodation
charge was $245. Westbound on No. 49, the accommodation charge was $343.
And this is pricing 9 months in advance. These people are nuts.

If they are selling out sleeping car space at these prices, they ought to
be building more sleepers as fast as possible. If they are NOT selling,
then they are just driving away business because they don't care.

As a reminder, Graham Claytor said at a NARP meeting years ago that the
long distance trains were operating in the black (above the rails) and
that the sleeping cars were covering ALL their costs. I was there, and I
heard him say it.

[End quote]

5) Yesterday (Thursday), as mentioned above, was Alex Kummant’s first
Congressional testimony experience. He had a message for everyone;
anyone who claims he was brought in by an Evil Republican board of
directors to dismantle Amtrak must not be paying attention to what he is
saying in sworn testimony:

[Begin quote]

Statement of Alex Kummant, President and Chief Executive Officer,
Amtrak, before the Subcommittee on Railroads of the House Transportation
and Infrastructure Committee

September 28, 2006

Good morning, my name is Alex Kummant, and I have been Amtrak's
President and Chief Executive Officer since September 12. I appreciate
the opportunity to appear before the Subcommittee today.

I intend to keep my statement short to allow you as much time as
possible to ask me questions. But, let me start by telling you a little
bit about myself. I was born in Ohio and was raised both there and in
western Pennsylvania because my father worked as an engineer and later
an engineering manager for U.S. Steel. My Dad's work in the steel mills
wasone of the reasons why I chose engineering as a vocation and why most
of my professional life has been spent in industrial settings or in the
manufacturing of equipment to support heavy industry.

From 1999 to 2003, I worked for the Union Pacific Railroad (UP) and at
the time of my departure was Regional Vice President of the Central
Division overseeing 6,000 transportation, engineering, construction
mechanical and other employees supporting an 8,000 mile-rail network. I
was responsible for customer service, on-time delivery, and the overall
financial and operational performance of the region. My time at the UP
left an indelible and abiding interest in the railroad industry. Even
today, I believe that the operations of a railroad represents some of
the most engrossing and challenging opportunities in terms of a
professional career. Therefore, the opportunity to join Amtrak is more
than just another job to me; it is a chance to get back into an industry
that has kept its hold on me and to advance something I believe in,
passenger railroading.

Amtrak is both a business and public enterprise. Amtrak was created by
Congress, it relies on funding from Congress, and in many ways you are
the company's primary shareholders. In my view, there are very few large
and complex operations that are so challenging both from a business
point of view, as well as a public or political point of view.

Also, I believe we are at a pivotal point in the history of rail
passenger service. I am committed to operating a national system of
trains. I believe long-distance trains are an important part of the
nation's transportation network, and I believe it is our challenge to
run them in the most efficient and effective way. That said, I
understand how important these trains are as a form of basic
transportation to many small communities across the nation. My
challenge, and that of our management team, will be to find the most
efficient and effective way to run them.

I also know that the fastest growing service we have is in rail
corridors. Those states that have the vision to develop their state rail
systems are beginning to see the benefits of that service. In the past
few years, the only new services that Amtrak has added are those that
are supported by the states. Developing these corridors, and by that I
mean providing regular and reliable service between city pairs of
300-500 miles, is going to be a major part and the driving force of our
future. I hope that in my time at Amtrak we will continue to see more
corridorgrowth and the realization of a federal and state funding
partnership for these corridors.

I am just beginning to understand how much work Amtrak has done in the
last few years in bringing the Northeast Corridor (NEC) and some of its
branch lines to a much higher level of utility. The NEC still requires a
significant amount of investment including large projects such as bridge
and tunnel replacement, but in terms of basic investment (tracks, ties,
signals) the company has used the capital money you have appropriated to
them wisely and strategically to update the NEC. In the coming years, I
think we will have to do a better job of explaining the importance of
these capital investments to you because this valuable work has
durability and demonstrable benefit. In fact, the work we have done has
allowed us to reduce slightly the Acela service travel time between New
York and Washington by 5 minutes in our new timetables.

To me, having been on the outside, I have always wondered why the Amtrak
debate is so emotional and at times acrimonious. It really needn't be,
especially now. At a time of high oil prices, growing highway and
airport congestion and record rail freight volumes, problems which beset
and constrain our transportation system, we should be embracing rail and
developing it as quickly and as responsibly as we can. We should get
beyond the debate of a few hundred million dollars of operating costs
and begin to realize the potential rail passenger service has to offer
with the right level of investment and a clearly defined federal policy.

I know many of you travel back to your district every weekend because
you feel it is the most effective way to keep in touch with the views of
the people you have been elected to represent. Just like you, I intend
to roam about the system. I will be on the trains, in the shops, on the
platforms and at the stations. I find the best ideas, often times, are
the ones given to you by those that are out there doing their jobs every
day. This is something my Dad learned when he worked large engineering
projects in steel mills and something he instilled in me.

In closing, let me assure you that I believe in rail passenger service,
and believe in Amtrak. I have a lot to learn, but I learn quickly. In
the coming weeks, I intend to shape and hone my immediate and near-term
goals and objectives, as well as get around and meet with many of you
personally, and I encourage you to offer me your counsel and advice. In
that vein, it is my hope that today begins a long and constructive
relationship.

[End quote]

What a refreshing and positive change from the normal "the sky is
falling" style of communication from the Amtrak Executive Suite.

6) For those of us who relish a touch of the bizarre, read this letter
from the United States Department of Transportation’s Inspector
General’s office to the Amtrak Board of Directors:

[Begin quote]

Office of the Secretary of Transportation

Office of Inspector General

September 26, 2006

The Honorable David Laney
Chairman
Amtrak Board of Directors
60 Massachusetts Ave, NE
Washington, DC 20002

Dear Mr. Chairman:

On October 25, 2005, House of Representatives Transportation and
Infrastructure Committee Chairman Don Young asked Congressman Richard
Baker to lead a working group to evaluate information from the
Government Accountability Office (GAO), the Amtrak Inspector General,
and the Department of Transportation Inspector General regarding
Amtrak's management and performance. This request was prompted, in part,
by issues raised in the October 2005 GAO report, Amtrak Management:
Systemic Problems Require Actions to Improve Efficiency, Effectiveness,
and Accountability.

In March 2006, the Majority Members and the Democratic Members of the
Amtrak Working Group issued separate reports summarizing their findings.
The Democratic Members of the Amtrak Working Group included among the
recommendations in its report the following, "Our investigation
indicates that some of the deficiencies cited in the GAO report
represent a failure of Amtrak's Board of Directors. Accordingly, we
intend to request that the DOT IG conduct an investigation of whether
the Board of Directors is adequately carrying out its legal and
fiduciary responsibilities."

On April 25, 2006, the Democratic Members of the Amtrak Working Group
formally requested that our office undertake this investigation. They
cited concerns that Amtrak's Board of Directors has not exercised
sufficient oversight of the corporation or held management accountable
for results and whether the Amtrak Board's expenses are appropriate.

As a result, our office plans to conduct a review of how Amtrak's Board
of Directors carries out its responsibilities. In addition, we plan to
review the Board's expenses from Fiscal Year 2002 to the present as
requested. The objectives of this review are to determine (1) the rules,
procedures and authorities under which the Board operates, (2) whether
the Board has followed established processes and procedures, (3) whether
the Board has set long-term goals and performance objectives for Amtrak,
(4) whether the processes and procedures that the Board follows are
sufficient for ensuring oversight of, and requiring accountability from,
Amtrak management, and (5) whether the Board members' expenses comply
with corporate guidelines and whether those guidelines are sufficient to
ensure prudent use of corporate resources. The results of our review
will aid in identifying whether potential reforms to improve the Board's
performance are needed.

The work will be carried out in Washington, DC. The Program Director for
this review is Mitchell Behm, and Debra Mayer is the Project Manager. If
you have any questions or need additional information, please call me at
...

Sincerely,
David Tornquist
Assistant Inspector General
for Competition and Economic Analysis

[End quote]

Well, we know Amtrak continues to be a political football, but it’s
tough to figure out the motives behind this request by the minority
Democrat members of the Amtrak Working Group in Congress. Are they
trying to harass the current Amtrak board because they had the good
sense to fire David Gunn? Are they mad and jealous someone else is
playing with what they consider their oversized Lionel train set? Are
these the same Democrats who are members of the party which, in the
Senate, torpedoed the nominations of two highly prominent and even more
important, highly qualified Democrats to serve on the Amtrak board?

Interestingly, the majority of the time the Amtrak board will be audited
will be the time when the board was under the control of the departing
members which were nominated by the Democrat Clinton Administration. Can
anyone figure this one out?

If you are reading someone else’s copy of This Week at Amtrak, you can
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materials.

All other correspondence should be addressed to
brucerichardson@unitedrail.org

J. Bruce Richardson
President
United Rail Passenger Alliance, Inc.
1526 University Boulevard, West, PMB 203
Jacksonville, Florida 32217-2006 USA
Telephone 904-636-6760
brucerichardson@unitedrail.org
http://www.unitedrai...@unitedrail.org

This Week at Amtrak; October 6, 2006

A weekly digest of events, opinions, and forecasts from
United Rail Passenger Alliance, Inc.
1526 University Boulevard, West, PMB 203
Jacksonville, Florida 32217-2006 USA
Telephone 904-636-6760, Electronic Mail info@unitedrail.org
http://www.unitedrail.org

Volume 3, Number 40

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

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

1) Another week, this time the first week of the new fiscal year, and
another week when the Sunset Limited is not running east of New Orleans.
Has anybody seen the Sunset Limited?

2) For all of the things Amtrak is doing, it's what Amtrak is not doing
that is making a negative difference.

For too long, Amtrak has considered marketing and related activities
beyond the Northeast Corridor (or, here in bow and arrow country, which
means anywhere west of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, and south of Washington,
D.C.) as unimportant. At best, Amtrak has paid lip service to marketing
the national system, but the bulk of the marketing and advertising
dollars have gone into trying to bolster the sagging NEC.

Some Amtrak apologists will quickly point out that 54% of fare box
revenues come from the NEC. (Yawn) Big deal. It takes more than 54% of
the expenses to keep running the NEC, so it doesn't matter how much
revenue comes from there as long as it takes even more money to run the
services.

There was once a shining moment in Amtrak marketing in 1999 and 2000 in
the old Gulf Coast Business Group, which at the time controlled the
Sunset Limited, City of New Orleans, and Crescent.

At the same time, the Amtrak marketing department was undergoing some
upheaval and changes, so two independent entities were formed with
outside contractors, the Crescent Promotional Office and the Sunset
Limited and City of New Orleans Promotional Office.

Both of these ventures were successful in zeroing in on specific trains
and routes and drawing local business to those trains.

The budgets were small by marketing standards, because a lot of guerilla
marketing took place that produced results.

As an example, in the Sunset and City office, we (this writer) used a lot
of barter and public relations techniques. We would go to a radio station
in a city such as Daytona Beach, and create a program where a station DJ
would host a trip on the Sunset Limited from Daytona to New Orleans.

We gave the station free trips for the DJ host, the station manager, and
several pairs of tickets to give away as prizes. In exchange, the station
heavily promoted the trip, and listeners were allowed to purchase trips
in the group in order to travel with their favorite DJ and have a group
trip to New Orleans.

The bottom line? Lots of air time advertising Amtrak and the Sunset
Limited, new passengers who paid to travel with the group, and much of
the external cost for the specific project included giving away coach and
sleeping car space on the train which would have run empty anyway, so it
was turned into a valuable commodity for barter.

3) Other similar programs were put together for group travel for what are
known as affinity groups (people traveling together who have something in
common) such as credit union members, church members, and any other type
of organization. Other programs included working with television stations
on the same basis as radio stations (travel with your favorite
weatherman), and also working with local governments to jointly promote
Amtrak and local tourism.

The possibilities were, and are, endless. It takes a fertile mind that is
willing to think outside the standard marketing box, not be afraid to
advance ideas, and be able to do some horse trading.

Amtrak has a longtime policy of using empty seats and sleeping car space
for promotions, and the use of this space is not charged to anyone's
budget. Therefore, a lot can be accomplished without yet another budget
item to fight over at the end of the fiscal year.

4) For too long, Amtrak has been America's best kept secret. For those of
you outside Washington and the NEC reading this space, conduct your own
field test. Talk to 20 of your friends, co-workers, or neighbors who
don't know you have an interest in rail. Ask them if they know Amtrak
serves your town or city. Ask them if they have ever ridden on a
passenger train. Ask them if they have any idea of how to contact Amtrak
if the thought did strike them to want to ride a train. The results
shouldn't be shocking. Anyone who is a road warrior for business knows
every good hotel has a services directory in each room. In almost every
instance, there are telephone numbers for all of the local airlines, but
not a single number for Amtrak. Many hotels provide a shuttle service to
local airports, often miles away. Ask if you can get a shuttle ride to
the local Amtrak station. "Where? What? No, we don't go there." "But,
it's on the way to the airport!" "Sorry, we don't go there."

5) These are the types of problems that are best solved with an
aggressive promotional office program. These are the details that often
get left behind by marketing people who are usually thinking more
globally than on a local level. These are the "in fill" jobs that don't
cost much to do, but over a period of time can make a huge difference in
visibility and on an institutional scale, so that when marketing dollars
are spent in traditional venues, those dollars will have a greater
impact.

6) The art public relations means many different things to many people.
It can be a combination of damage control, warm and fuzzy creations,
factual presentations, and image building. All of it is something Amtrak
has failed to do on any regular basis. Amtrak spends less than $100
million a year on marketing and advertising, a small amount. A good
promotional office and educational program could be had for probably less
than five percent of that figure, a small investment which has proven to
bring big results.

7) One resource that Amtrak often ignores is the excitement and
willingness of its own people to speak and make presentations of the
company's behalf. From conductors to ticket agents to office clerks,
there are thousands of Amtrak employees who are comfortable speaking in
front of groups and like promoting the work of their employer. Another
similar area is an Amtrak speakers bureau. Most large corporations have
corporate spokespersons who are available as professional speakers for
gatherings of all sizes and interests. This is another relatively small
budget area that provides large amounts of goodwill for the company.

8) Amtrak, as it moves forward under the board of directors and new
president and chief executive officer, needs to strongly examine its
options to stop being the best kept secret in America.

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

freetwa@unitedrail.org

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
brucerichardson@unitedrail.org; we are unable to go through any
individual approvals processes for individuals. This mailing list is kept
strictly confidential and is not shared or used for any purposes other
than the distribution of This Week at Amtrak or related URPA materials.

All other correspondence should be addressed to
brucerichardson@unitedrail.org

J. Bruce Richardson
President
United Rail Passenger Alliance, Inc.
1526 University Boulevard, West, PMB 203
Jacksonville, Florida 32217-2006 USA
Telephone 904-636-6760
brucerichardson@unitedrail.org
http://www.unitedrai...@unitedrail.org

MrFSS, on Sat, Oct 7, 2006, 08:12 AM, said:

Wow. Cousin Bruce has apparently read some of my posts concerning Amtrak's marketing (or lack thereof). I'm duly impressed.

No, he's looking for a consulting job. All the mentions he makes of the former Gulf Coast group being so successful, is because they had hired him to do some consulting and he made a ton of money from them. All he did was become the "master of the obvious" and recommend actions that the Gulf Coast had already planned or suggested. I wouldn't read any more into his comments than that.

haolerider, on Mon, Oct 9, 2006, 06:38 AM, said:

Now, now. That's not all he's after. Prior to Alex Kummant's hiring, many of his posts were somehow written under the delusion that his "Guiding Light" Andrew Selden would become president of Amtrak.

Anyone who is a road warrior for business knows
every good hotel has a services directory in each room. In almost every
instance, there are telephone numbers for all of the local airlines, but
not a single number for Amtrak. Many hotels provide a shuttle service to
local airports, often miles away. Ask if you can get a shuttle ride to
the local Amtrak station. "Where? What? No, we don't go there." "But,
it's on the way to the airport!" "Sorry, we don't go there."
______________________________________________________________

By my own reckoning, I would point out that J. Bruce Richardson is wrong, as the last 3 times I
have checked the Hotel directories(in places where I have stayed), each have had Amtraks 800 number in them and the address of the local train station. And since his opinion is a large part of this newsletter, I tend to take the whole thing "with a grain of salt."

frj1983, on Mon, Oct 9, 2006, 08:38 AM, said:

When I stayed at the Courtyard in Portland last, they picked me up at the Amtrak station and would have taken me back if I had needed to go. Some hotels provide the service, but you're right, not many!

MrFSS, on Mon, Oct 9, 2006, 11:52 AM, said:

Aloha

Your right, and it hasn't changed. Think it was 81 or 82 and the Miami Fountainblue insisted there was NO rail service, would not even call the number on the ticket, which is what I did, Amtrak sent a station van to the hotel to pick me up, No Charge no less.

Wish I could Get a train here in Las Vegas, I can see the tracks from my Hotel room and nary a passenger train on them

This Week at Amtrak; October 12, 2006

A weekly digest of events, opinions, and forecasts from
United Rail Passenger Alliance, Inc.
1526 University Boulevard, West, PMB 203
Jacksonville, Florida 32217-2006 USA
Telephone 904-636-6760, Electronic Mail info@unitedrail.org
http://www.unitedrail.org

Volume 3, Number 41

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

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

1) When you think of Amtrak, in what context do you think of Amtrak? To
you, is Amtrak your local commuter carrier in the Northeast or in
California? Is Amtrak your provider of long distance train service when
you go to visit your grandchildren? Is Amtrak your substitute for an
interstate highway for a short business trip?

Amtrak is many things to many people. One common thread is that Amtrak
often does not live up to people’s expectations.

Those of us who are old (and perhaps wise, too) enough to remember
private passenger rail service, depending on the era we remember, recall
trains full of well-dressed travelers, Pullman dining cars with gleaming
silver and china, and full meals freshly prepared.

Those of us who have traveled abroad, know of other state-run passenger
railroads; some, such as VIA Rail Canada, which provide a morally
admirable level of consistent service, and others, such as in Europe that
provide something between routine and exceptional service, but almost
always punctual, with clean and well maintained equipment.

Because private railroads in the United States lost a war for passengers
in the mid 20th Century with Detroit and interstate highways, Amtrak was
euphemistically formed as a replacement. A mindset was erroneously formed
by many that because of this, passenger railroads MUST be a child of
government. These same well-intentioned but ill-informed people point
their collective fingers at Europe and Japan and say "Aha! Their
passenger railroads are government owned, too, so that must be the
correct model to follow."

The United States was the only major industrialized nation in the world
to emerge from World War II with its internal infrastructure unscathed.
Private enterprise was the basis of this country’s wealth and power, and
government assistance wasn't needed to help rebuild war torn railroad
infrastructure as in most of the rest of the world. The reality is, it
was American foreign aid which rebuilt the railroads of the world after
WW II. Here at home, a number of factors were coming into play which made
for a fascinating time to be a railroader.

Physical plants were being rebuilt and upgraded after the rigors of war
time traffic. New equipment was being developed to carry larger and
longer loads. Necessary highways and roads were being built that made
expensive and lightly used railroad branch lines unnecessary. American
railroads after WW II began the long and correct journey from serving
every small town and burg to becoming streamlined trunk railroads which
concentrate on what railroads do best: hauling heavy traffic over long
distances efficiently and cheaply. Since the early days of steam and
wagons placed on steel wheels, nothing has come along that has
accomplished what the railroad can do as efficiently and for less cost.

All of this brings us to the 21st Century. Dozens of American main line
railroads have been consolidated into seven Class I railroads, two of
which are Canadian owned. Corporate fist fights between competing
railroads have evolved into occasional snits which are mostly resolved
either in courts or by regulatory bodies.

For the most part, government has mercifully gotten out of the railroad
regulation business (as compared to the first three quarters of the 20th
Century). Railroad unions, once the titans of the organized labor world,
are shadows of themselves, as are the ranks of unionized employees.

Progress has been made everywhere in the North American railroad world
... except at Amtrak.

Amtrak, in 2006, is still a Washington political football, and a highly
monitored child of government. It can't even fire a misbehaving CEO
without someone calling Congressional hearings.

While all of the private freight railroads, and most of the government
controlled regional commuter railroads continue to grow and prosper,
Amtrak is able to do nothing to add to its route structure and service
levels without a state government coughing up funds to pay for localized
trains.

Even something as mundane and necessary as restoring the Sunset Limited
east of New Orleans can't seem to happen until some politico probably
lights a fire under Amtrak.

Amtrak has a new president and chief executive officer, who, as of today,
has been working for a month and a day. Already, some impatient people on
the Left Coast are wondering why he hasn't said anything new and exciting
and is continuing to spout the company line.

What can a new CEO do in just a month? Has his staff even finished
gathering all of the information he has probably requested so he can
start making decisions? Has he even had a chance to fully evaluate his
staff so he knows who he is going to keep, and who is shown the door?

Amtrak is woefully behind the times in terms of passenger railroads of
the world, and freight railroads in North America. Amtrak’s under-sized
board of directors (the Senate still has not acted on the new nominees,
lo these many weeks since their nominations) has taken a greater interest
in the well-being of a national system than any other previous board.

There is a chief steward of Amtrak who owes nothing to the Northeast
Corridor, and gratefully knows little about transit and commuter
operations.

Patience is the order of the day. There is a lot to do. Everyone knows
Amtrak cannot continue as it is today, and has been for the past 35
years.

Amtrak has great potential, and is full of assets. Someone has to have
the will to catalog those assets and determine how best to use them,
without constantly relying on someone from Congress or the United States
Department of Transportation telling them how to allegedly run a
successful passenger railroad.

We're all waiting, some of us more patiently than others.

2) Wondering what new Amtrak President Alex Kummant is facing as he
enters his second month of service? Here’s a narrative that points out so
very many wrong things about the way Amtrak does business.

[Begin quote]

This goes back to last Saturday [October 7th], but it's taken this long
to ferret out some details.

At around 6:00 P.M. on October 7th, Amtrak Wolverine Train 352 (7),
originating in Chicago, with NPCU AMTK 90222 and AMTK 128 [locomotives]
struck a trespasser three miles west of Jackson Michigan. Track speed is
75 mph and the train was operating at 70-75 mph. The trespasser was on
the right-of-way outside of a grade crossing and was dead at the scene.

Train 352 was held at the location 2 hours and 53 minutes for
investigation of the incident.



Train 355, coming in the opposite direction and headed for Chicago, was
held at Jackson, then released and held short of the location for open
track. But its final arrival into Chicago was over six hours late. What
happened?

The Chicago engineer on Train 352 usually works to Battle Creek,
Michigan, then works back home on Train 355. But (1) the coroner was
going to hold Train 352 for the investigation anyway, and (2) the
engineer on Train 352 requested relief [as is often the correct choice
when a fatality occurs]; so there was no engineer to take over 355, and
even if the engineer hadn't requested relief, the delay to both trains
would mean that even had the swap been made right there, he would run out
on Hours of Service before reaching Chicago (the normal run is 10 hours
and this wasn't exactly a "normal" day).

Amtrak's crew caller in far-off Wilmington, Delaware apparently thought
otherwise, estimating that after all was done, Train 355 would just
barely squeak into Chicago before the engineer's time ran out. Then
somebody changed his mind for him, and a frantic call went out for a
relief engineer.

All MIGHT have gone well, but the crew van which is supposed to take the
engineer to the train couldn't be located, and the engineer has to try
and bum a ride from a manager instead. That doesn't work and the van
finally shows up just as Train 355 stops and is held at Porter; its power
had cab signals not in a STATE OF GOOD REPAIR so it wasn't allowed to run
at normal speed. With 355 running so late, its engineer's hours would
have run out prior to reaching Hammond, Indiana, leaving the train
blocking a main track on Norfolk Southern's busy line; so NS did not
allow it onto their property.

Meanwhile the crew van finally gets underway. The van driver claims he
has no money and the van doesn't have EZ-Pass, and thus can't use the
toll road, so he goes by the Dan Ryan Expressway, which on weekend nights
has only one lane open, with the resulting multi-mile traffic jam. It
took 1 hour and 37 minutes for the relief engineer to get to the train.

OOPS! The crew caller forgot: the conductor, who came on at Pontiac,
Michigan, now has 15 minutes less time to go on his Hours of Service than
the trip to Chicago will take, even under the best circumstances. The
train gets underway anyway and reaches Hammond with some further delays
due to heavy freight traffic. When the train reaches Hammond, there is
still no relief conductor.

Train 355's crew contacts Amtrak and advises that the conductor will run
out on Hours before reaching Chicago Union Station ... in fact, before
leaving Norfolk Southern territory. Amtrak tells them to proceed; when
the conductor's time runs out, the engineer is to continue by himself on
the authority of Amtrak management.

What's wrong here? IT'S NOT AMTRAK'S RAILROAD! When Norfolk Southern
hears this, their dispatcher makes no bones about it: "NOT ON MY WATCH,
NOT ON MY RAILROAD!" The signals stay red and Train 355 sits and waits
most of another hour, until a yard conductor was sent out to the train to
take over. Train 355 (7) finally arrived in Chicago at approximately 4:00
A.M. on October 8th. It was due in Chicago at 9:54 P.M.

[End quote]

And, that’s what happens when a major railroad, such as Amtrak, tries to
save a few bucks of the budget by not having enough extra board employees
to cover contingency situations.

Does everyone reading this know, or have known, someone who always seems
on the verge of crisis? Someone who the least little incident causes a
major disruption in their lives because they live from paycheck to
paycheck, with never any savings, an old car, and no ability to get
ahead?

That is the situation Amtrak has placed itself because of a host of poor
business decisions through the years, and the disastrous policies
instituted by the Transit Trio of bad chief executive officers of Tom
Downs, George Warrington, and David Gunn.

When Amtrak stopped under the Transit Trio’s tenure behaving like a
responsible railroad, and started acting like a transit organization that
only focused on short corridors, is when Amtrak got into deep hot water.

Time and again, it has been proven that Amtrak’s future is in
money-making long distance trains which are cheap to run and have the
highest earning potential versus short corridor trains. (For further
details, see the URPA website at http://www.unitedrail.org.)

When Amtrak realizes what resources are important to invest in (such as
adequate crews), and what is required for good passenger satisfaction,
then horror stories like the one above will stop.

Until then, Amtrak is going to be like the poor soul we all know that
just can't seem to get ahead and every little incident is a crisis.

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

freetwa@unitedrail.org

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
brucerichardson@unitedrail.org; we are unable to go through any
individual approvals processes for individuals. This mailing list is kept
strictly confidential and is not shared or used for any purposes other
than the distribution of This Week at Amtrak or related URPA materials.

All other correspondence should be addressed to
brucerichardson@unitedrail.org

J. Bruce Richardson
President
United Rail Passenger Alliance, Inc.
1526 University Boulevard, West, PMB 203
Jacksonville, Florida 32217-2006 USA
Telephone 904-636-6760
brucerichardson@unitedrail.org
http://www.unitedrai...@unitedrail.org

MrFSS, on Fri, Oct 13, 2006, 09:56 PM, said:

I read all of URPA's newsletters posted here with interest, as there often are some interesting things to learn even though I don't always agree with all of Bruce's conclusions and opinions. In particular I don't agree with his conclusions about David Gunn, even though I do agree with his assesment of Warrington.

However in this case Bruce really didn't do his homework here. He wrote the above piece criticizing Amtrak for concentrating it's resources under "Transit Trio" on short corridor resources instead of in his words "the profitable long distance trains. According to him, it's because Amtrak has concentrated on short corridor trains that lead to the delays of train #355, yet train #355 is a short corridor train. So if he is correct, that Amtrak has concentrated on short corridor trains, then the delays should not have occured. It would seem that he is claiming that 355 is a long distance train, which is why it met with the fate that it did. But it is not a long distance train, train #355 is a short corridor train

Something just doesn't add up here and it would appear that Bruce didn't think this one out very carefully.

This Week at Amtrak; October 20, 2006

A weekly digest of events, opinions, and forecasts from
United Rail Passenger Alliance, Inc.
1526 University Boulevard, West, PMB 203
Jacksonville, Florida 32217-2006 USA
Telephone 904-636-6760, Electronic Mail info@unitedrail.org
http://www.unitedrail.org

Volume 3, Number 42

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

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

1) As those of us living east of New Orleans are still helplessly peering
down the tracks hoping to see an oncoming Sunset Limited, it seems things
are not well in the Sunset’s onboard crew base in Los Angeles.

Chefs and Lead Service Attendants for dining and lounge cars are
deserting the Amtrak ship at a fast rate. There are dozens of LSA
vacancies just in Los Angeles alone, thanks to Diner Lite, or what is
otherwise known as Amtrak’s Simplified Dining Service. Since the great
majority of crew members for all areas of dining cars - both the kitchen
and service staff - have been laid off allegedly because they are not
needed with the new menu, those remaining are working much harder than
before, and are simply wearing out faster. The bottom line is that for
these onboard employees, the pay and benefits are just not enough to
justify the level of work that is required to keep the dining cars
running without adequate staff.

2) On October 17th, Progressive Railroading magazine reported in a daily
news digest on its web site:

[Begin quote]

National intercity passenger railroad registers FY06 ridership, revenue
gains

Amtrak's streak of record-breaking years now stands at four. In FY2006,
the national intercity passenger railroad's ridership and ticket revenue
exceeded FY2005's figures and FY2006 projections, according to the
October issue of employee newsletter "Amtrak Ink."

During the fiscal year ending Sept. 30, Amtrak carried 24.3 million
passengers, up 1.3 percent compared with FY2005's adjusted figure of 24
million and 3 percent compared with the FY2006 projection. Amtrak
adjusted FY2005 ridership from a record 25.4 million to reflect an
October 2005 agreement to transfer operations of its "Clocker" service to
New Jersey Transit.

"We wanted to compare apples to apples," says Amtrak spokesperson Karina
Romero.

Also in FY2006, the railroad posted its highest-ever ticket revenue at
$1.37 billion - $132 million more than FY2005 and $28 million higher than
Amtrak's projection.

Short-corridor and state-supported routes increased ridership 6 percent
and boosted ticket revenue 8 percent compared with budgeted figures.
However, ridership on long-distance routes was 2 percent lower than
projected. The Silver Star, California Zephyr, Coast Starlight and Sunset
Limited posted ridership and revenue losses compared with budgeted
figures, while the Empire Builder and Lake Shore Limited exceeded
projections.

In the Northeast Corridor, ridership and revenue on regional trains rose
3 percent and 9 percent, respectively, compared with projections. The
Acela Express carried 2 percent more passengers than expected, but ticket
revenue dropped 6 percent.

- Angela Cotey/progressiverailroading.com



3) Frederick K. Plous of Chicago, who often provides interesting analysis
of passenger rail issues, added his thoughts about the above story:

[Begin quote]

Note that long-distance trains that lost ridership are the ones that
encounter substantial timekeeping problems on CSX or UP.



The popularity of the Lake Shore is one of the great wonders of the age.
When we rode it from Albany to Chicago August 26th and 27th we found it
bulging with passengers, including three sold-out sleeping cars and four
sold-out coaches. I thought this was simply the end-of-summer-vacation
peak, but at the Passenger Trains on Freight Railroads conference Monday
and Tuesday [in Washington], three different speakers mentioned they had
been on the Lake Shore during September or October and it is still
running with three full sleepers. One wonders how many sleepers it would
be carrying if Amtrak had more. Unfortunately, Amtrak does not release
train-by-train or day-by-day figures for numbers of passenger turned away
for lack of space, so we have no idea what level of demand is out there.



The night we traveled we got a beautiful, freshly restored Heritage
dining car in which a really good staff served excellent food. However, I
understand that there are not enough of these diners to go around and
that on many nights an unrestored diner is operated and the competence
and attitude of the service staff is pretty much the luck of the draw.
The Amfleet lounge car was a slime pit - aging plastic surfaces from
which the color had actually faded, unimaginative seating space, weary
plumbing, noisy and generally unappealing either as a place from which to
sightsee or in which to socialize. The Amfleet II coaches were okay, but
no more. They'd seen a lot of hard riding.


One has to wonder how many passengers the Lake Shore would be carrying
if: a) Amtrak had a big enough fleet to meet demand; B ) all rolling stock
was new or rebuilt and were designed for an actual overnight assignment
rather than simply re-assigned, as the lounge car was, from daytime
corridor service; c) the train ran on time; d) all the stations were
attractive, accessible and functional, and the larger ones manned and
able to support checked-baggage service; and, d) Amtrak had a budget for
promotion that could actually draw people to this service.



Item "c," of course, cannot be accomplished unless federal funds are made
available to restore at least one of the two main tracks that were
removed from the 4-track Water Level Route during the 50s and 60s when
the New York Central was eliminating its passenger trains and the New
York, Ohio and Indiana toll roads were stealing its highest-rated freight
traffic. Now that the railroad is full of fast freight trains again, it
needs at least one of those tracks back.


My sense is that if these amenities were in place the Lake Shore not only
would run with 5 or six sleepers and six or seven coaches every night,
but that it actually could be split into two or more separate frequencies
so that cities from Toledo to Buffalo could receive service at a more
convenient hour. If you look at the map now you find that about one third
of the population along the Water Level Route simply has no inducement to
use the Lake Shore, now matter how fast the trains go or how pretty they
are.

[End quote]

4) The comments of Mr. Plous provoked these thoughts from one Heartland
wag:

[Begin quote]

Interesting report by Fritz [Mr. Plous].



The overflowing Lake Shore sends the same message that Amtrak has been
ignoring for 30+ years – there is a large, untapped market for long
distance rail passenger service.

Amtrak has chosen to invest the vast majority of its resources in the
NEC; therefore:

a) The long distance trains run with mostly rundown equipment,

B ) And there is not enough equipment to meet demand,

c) Which depresses ridership,

d) Which holds down revenue,

e) Which creates the false impression that long distance trains are huge
money losers,

f) Which justifies pouring more money into the NEC,

g) Which starts the cycle all over again.

[End quote]

5) Further discussion about the Progressive Railroading story ensued,
including much of the usual rhetoric and modal envy about the alleged
unfairness of it all and how some people believe airlines and trucks and
cars have a "free ride."

[Begin quote]

NEC costs consist of two parts. First, the cost of maintaining/upgrading
the infrastructure. Second, the cost of running and maintaining the
trains.

... a firm believer that the NEC trains themselves make money. It’s the
infrastructure cost, which for the most part the long distance trains
don't bear, that drive the NEC numbers so far into the red. If Amtrak
were an airline, the Federal, state and local governments would be
providing the entire infrastructure to Amtrak (and commuter rail
agencies) for a fraction of the true cost of maintaining/upgrading it ...

... Some folks claim the NEC trains themselves lose money. However, they
determine this assertion using Amtrak's accounting numbers.
Unfortunately, Amtrak includes as part of the trains' cost, some costs
that others in other modes of transportation would consider
infrastructure or non-operating costs. (For example, the airlines receive
air traffic control for free from the federal government, and nowhere
does the cost of all of the radars, computers, facilities show up on
airline balance sheets. ... The railroad equivalent of air traffic
control is called "dispatching." Amtrak funds its own dispatching and
allocates these costs to train operations.) This is not a ding on Amtrak
since from what I have heard, they use standard railroad accounting
rules. However, I do know that railroad accounting rules differ from
those of other modes of transportation, thus making it impossible to
properly compare the cost of operating a train to that of operating say,
a plane. So if one were to apply airline accounting rules to NEC trains
(eliminating those non-operating costs that Amtrak attributes to train
operation), I strongly believe these trains would be money makers.

... The freight railroads maintain their own track - upon which the long
distance trains make the majority of their trips. The freight railroads
do maintain their tracks (albeit to varying standards) allowing Amtrak to
physically run on them, so other than track access fees, Amtrak has no
need to spend additional money on these routes. However, it is Amtrak
that owns the NEC. If Amtrak does not maintain it, its trains can't run
on it. Since the majority of Amtrak passengers ride the NEC, Amtrak must
maintain it. Seeing losses in the NEC simply shows how expensive
maintaining infrastructure is compared to simply running a train. By
extension, this should be an indicator to the public of how large a
subsidy the government provides to the airlines, maritime and highway
users who shoulder little of the cost of maintaining their
infrastructure.

... The long distance trains supposedly ... lose money. But note that
each long distance route hosts at best one train in each direction per
day. These two daily trains shoulder all of the fixed costs of that
route. Tying in what [Mr. Plous] mentions ... about the popularity of
long distance trains, and applying economies of scale, if Amtrak were to
increase long distance frequencies, carry more passengers and distribute
these overhead costs to more trains, its per train losses would decrease.

[End quote]

6) And, a final word on the Progressive Railroading story and the subject
of finances on the Northeast Corridor from Andrew Selden, URPA Vice
President of Law and Policy:

[Begin quote]

The great charade goes on.

The classification of costs by Amtrak as "capital" and "operating" is
arbitrary, inconstant among reporting periods, inconsistent among
divisions, and highly manipulable by management.

The passenger service is the incremental user on 99% of the route system,
and should pay towards leased infrastructure on that basis: 100% of
documented and traced incremental costs, plus a fair share of other
costs, measured by SFGTM formulas for facilities, and documented costs of
people and systems for other functions (What is the documented, traced,
actual "additional" dispatching or signals maintenance cost to the UP or
CSX CAUSED BY Amtrak trains on any given district?).

On 1% of the route system, Amtrak is the base user. The infrastructure
exists solely or predominantly for its use and benefit. Upkeep of the
infrastructure is (1) necessary to produce the revenue stream, (2) solely
associated with and caused by the activities (i.e., train-miles, or
SFGTMs) that generate the revenue stream, and (3) regularly recurring on
a daily or monthly basis. Replacing a bridge is different from regular
maintenance of way in the NEC, but that doesn't mean that the trains'
performance shouldn't be charged with an amortization of the
non-recurring capital item.

I challenge ANYONE to point out one penny of depreciation of any new or
improved bridge or substation that is being charged against Acela
revenues on any external Amtrak report of Acela financial results of
operations. I am dubious that even the routine, recurring maintenance of
way and other "infrastructure" costs are being charged against Acela
revenues on its own income statements, or that if they are they are being
allocated on the basis of SPEED-FACTORED gross ton miles.

If anyone thinks otherwise, produce the Amtrak or NEC or Acela income
statement that shows it, plus a statement from Amtrak’s CPA or its CFO
attesting that depreciation of ALL such assets, and allocations of ALL
such recurring costs based on SFGTM or other appropriate algorithms,
consistently applied, have been reflected. Otherwise, I assert that the
NEC is deep under water ON TRAIN OPERATIONS on a monthly and annual
basis, to the tune of tens if not hundreds of millions of dollars a year,
as well on a fully-allocated basis, to the tune of about three-quarters
of a billion dollars a year.

[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

freetwa@unitedrail.org

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
brucerichardson@unitedrail.org; we are unable to go through any
individual approvals processes for individuals. This mailing list is kept
strictly confidential and is not shared or used for any purposes other
than the distribution of This Week at Amtrak or related URPA materials.

All other correspondence should be addressed to
brucerichardson@unitedrail.org

J. Bruce Richardson
President
United Rail Passenger Alliance, Inc.
1526 University Boulevard, West, PMB 203
Jacksonville, Florida 32217-2006 USA
Telephone 904-636-6760
brucerichardson@unitedrail.org
http://www.unitedrail.org
mailto:freetwa@unitedrail.org

If Number 1 above, is correct, that sounds very disheartening to me and probably to those who work the trains. Does anyone have any way of knowing if this is really happening? Sorry I can't just accept one person's word for it.

frj1983, on Tue, Oct 24, 2006, 08:50 AM, said:

Well I can't speak to the validity of workers in the LA crew base quiting, but the rest of the paragraph is true. The reduction in staff has definately increased the pressure on the remaining crew members to work harder to serve everyone. Even with the greatly reduced amount of passengers now being served in the diner, it is still much harder to deal with.

This is especially true when you have a meal that is rushed because it's close to a final destination or it's right after departure. For example on the Lake Shore out of Chicago, there is simply no way to use the 15 minute interval seating plan. If everything works perfectly, the sleeping car passengers board the train between 7:00 PM and 7:15 PM. In order to get everyone in the sleepers who wants a meal, and they are entitled to a meal, they have to fill up the dining car to it's capacity right away. That means that 40 people could potentially be seated all at once.

40 people for 1 cook, 2 waiters, and 1 LSA! That easily overwhelms the staff, but especially the cook.

The other area where problems occur, and quite possibly the reason that so many LSA's are quitting (assuming that's true), is that the LSA's are now in effect being asked to be waiters. They are now working harder than before and having to do a job that they were never originally hired to do. On my recent round the country trip, I did meet one LSA who basically refused to be a waiter. He by and large did his original job and left the SA's to deal with the customers.

Now all that said, I'm not suggesting that it's always true that the crew is working hard. There are times when the load is light and of course there are some crews that simply don't wish to put their best foot forward for their customers. I also am a firm believer that they need to get over this craft line issue where one craft can't do the duties of another craft. The Auto Train doesn't have those rules and things tend to run much more smoothly and I find that far more employees there seem to put their best foot forward when dealing with the passengers.

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


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

frj1983, on Tue, Oct 24, 2006, 04:50 AM, said:

Guest, on Tue, Oct 24, 2006, 05:46 PM, said:

Guest,

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

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


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

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

AmtrakFan, on Wed, Oct 25, 2006, 10:09 PM, said:

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

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

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

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

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

haolerider, on Thu, Oct 26, 2006, 02:44 PM, said:

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

Amtrak OBS Employee, on Fri, Oct 27, 2006, 01:43 AM, said:

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

Rick

Amtrak OBS Employee, on Fri, Oct 27, 2006, 01:43 AM, said:

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

haolerider, on Fri, Oct 27, 2006, 07:27 AM, said:

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

This Week at Amtrak; October 27, 2006

A weekly digest of events, opinions, and forecasts from
United Rail Passenger Alliance, Inc.
1526 University Boulevard, West, PMB 203
Jacksonville, Florida 32217-2006 USA
Telephone 904-636-6760, Electronic Mail info@unitedrail.org
http://www.unitedrail.org

Volume 3, Number 43

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

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

1) The new Amtrak Fall 2006/Winter 2007 timetables are out. Here is what
one wag had to say:

[Begin quote]

Have you seen the new system timetable? This company plainly is beyond
irony: the cover photo shows what appears to be a Philadelphia -
Harrisburg local in the Amish farm country of Pennsylvania, no doubt to
celebrate completion of the INVESTMENT (NOT "subsidy") of $140,000,000 of
your money to turn this 104-mile model corridor into the wave of the
future.

This is hilarious for at least a couple of reasons: the train depicted is
being pulled, under the [catenary] wire, by a Genesis diesel
[locomotive], and the train consists of three 30-year old Amfleet cars,
all coaches, from the look of them. Granted that this may have been a
photo-special, not a revenue train, but it is still perfectly
illustrative of everything that is wrong with Amtrak's business strategy.
At least it is sized correctly, more or less, for the actual volume of
traffic in this market. But no three-car train will ever be economic at
Amtrak's fare and cost levels, even at an unprecedented load factor.

[End quote]

Another note of interest in the new timetable is the lack of the renowned
Pacific Parlor Car for sleeping car passengers on the Coast Starlight
between Los Angeles and Seattle, Washington. This signature service,
which has been operated using magnificently refurbished Santa Fe Hi Level
lounge cars that are more than 50 years old, has been a staple on the
Starlight for over a decade. One of the reasons for losing the service is
the lack of lounge car attendants in the Los Angeles Crew Base which
staffs the cars. Many LSA jobs (the classification for the lounge car
attendants, who handle passenger money) have become vacant recently by
employees either leaving the company or moving to other jobs.

2) Whither the Sunset Limited, yet/still/again? Still no Sunset Limited
operating east of New Orleans in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and
Florida. The new timetable (see above) has this note, as provided by a
This Week at Amtrak reader:

[Begin quote]

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

"The Sunset Limited normally operates three days weekly between Orlando
and Los Angeles. Due to severe infrastructure damage from Hurricane
Katrina, Train 1 and 2 will originate and terminate in New Orleans, LA
until a date to be announced. No alternate transportation is available
between New Orleans and Orlando.

I guess in official Amtrak legalize that means that Amtrak still plans to
restore the train sometime in the 21st century.

[End quote]

Okay, it’s time to get creative about this situation. Perhaps, until
Union Pacific Railroad can get serious about dispatching Amtrak trains,
and until Union Pacific can expand the fabled former Southern Pacific
Sunset Limited Route between Los Angeles and New Orleans via Arizona, New
Mexico, and Texas, then the Sunset Limited may not be the best choice to
use for restored service between New Orleans and Florida. However, other
choices abound, with just a little creative thinking.

Choice One: Institute a daily daytime train between New Orleans and
Jacksonville. Limited hubbing choices would be available at either
terminus, with the Sunset, City of New Orleans, Crescent, Silver Meteor
and Silver Star. If the Palmetto was extended back to Jacksonville where
it belongs (and, has a much better chance of financial success than
terminating in Savannah, Georgia just for the advantage of train and
engine crew turns), that would provide another hubbing opportunity for a
Sunset Limited replacement east of New Orleans.

Choice Two: Extend the City of New Orleans, making it a
Chicago-Memphis-New Orleans-Mobile-Jacksonville-Orlando (or Tampa or
Miami) train. This has been studied several times by URPA over the past
20 years, and this very viable option, operating the train on its present
schedule between Chicago and New Orleans, would provide daylight service
between New Orleans and much of the Gulf Coast, while still maintaining a
rail lifeline for Florida’s panhandle between Pensacola, Tallahassee, and
Jacksonville.

In the years before the Sunset Limited was extended east of New Orleans
in 1993, an internal Amtrak study obtained by URPA showed that Amtrak
estimated there were over 75,000 calls a year to its reservation centers
looking for passenger train service between New Orleans and Florida.

While the Sunset Limited, at an undesirable and horribly expensive three
frequencies a week service helped fill that gap, until full daily service
is instituted, the entire route of the Sunset will take financial hits
simply because of lack of daily service while maintaining all of the
station and other infrastructure costs of daily trains. The same
situation holds true for the Cardinal route between Washington and
Chicago. This route of spectacular scenery, a natural magnet for leisure
travelers, will always perform poorly for revenues and expenses simply
because of a lack of daily service.

3) Those who know North American passenger rail history, know that in the
late 1980s, the Canadian federal government of Prime Minister Brian
Mulroney became tired of constantly being "submarined" by VIA Rail
Canada’s management. Too many times VIA’s management cried "wolf" at the
door of the Prime Minister’s government, saying one thing when another
thing was true. As with some former Amtrak chief stewards, VIA’s
management at the time felt that money from the Canadian government was
plentiful and abundant, and it wasn't necessary to "play nice" with VIA’s
government patrons.

The result? VIA’s annual free federal monies were drastically slashed,
and VIA lost about half of its route system, including the original
Canadian Pacific transcontinental routing of the historic Canadian train,
the former CN Super Continental (which was renamed the Canadian), the
Rocky Mountaineer was privatized (and is doing spectacularly and growing
constantly under private ownership and operation), and a number of other
trains that were daily became less than daily operations. In short, VIA
was gutted down to a skeleton of its former self.

Are we seeing a Washington version of this scenario? For years, under
Amtrak’s previous management of former boards of directors and presidents
of the company that have tried every social engineering and transit
concept they could think of instead of running a healthy passenger
railroad, Amtrak always thumbed its corporate nose at Washington
oversight and pretty well "submarined" anyone who tried to change
Amtrak’s wicked ways.

A news release came from Capitol Hill this week, from the U.S. House of
Representatives Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure:

[Begin quote]

To: National Desk/Transportation Reporter

October 26, 2006

Top Legal Expert Critical Of Amtrak Legal Department’s Relationships With
Outside Law Firms; "Instead Of Being The Aggressive Protector Of Amtrak’s
Interests, Many In The Law Department ... View Themselves As The
Advocates For Outside Counsel" - John W. Toothman, Esq.

Washington, D.C. - An expert forensic legal fee analyst hired by the
federal government to investigate Amtrak’s extensive legal expenses with
private law firms has found numerous questionable management practices
and lax oversight over tens of millions of legal expenses billed to
Amtrak each year.

"Amtrak’s Law Department is not fulfilling its role," John W. Toothman,
Esq., wrote in his 102-page report. "Instead of being the aggressive
protector of Amtrak’s interests, many in the Law Department, including
upper management, seem to view themselves as the advocates for outside
counsel."

Toothman was hired for his expertise in analyzing legal billings to
assist in a federal investigation of Amtrak’s Legal Department by the
National Railroad Passenger Corporation (Amtrak) Office of the Inspector
General and the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Inspector General.
The investigation was requested by U.S. Rep. John Mica (R-Fla.), a senior
Member of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, and U.S.
Rep. Don Young (R-Alaska), the Chairman of the Transportation and
Infrastructure Committee.

A copy of the redacted Toothman report can be accessed on the
Transportation Committee’s website at: www.house.gov/transportation

On Wednesday, the Transportation Committee released the report by Amtrak
Inspector General and DOT Inspector General which outlined numerous
examples of mismanagement and lack of oversight for more than $100
million in taxpayer-financed legal fees paid by Amtrak during a
three-year period (2002-2005). This report is also on the Transportation
Committee’s website.

Summary Of Toothman’s Findings

Toothman was selected to assist the Amtrak and DOT Inspector General
investigation as one of the top U.S. experts in the field. He is a former
Department of Justice attorney, an experienced litigator, and a Harvard
Law graduate who has published extensively on the subject of legal fees
billing.

He is regularly retained by public entities and large private clients who
feel the performance of their legal counsel is in question. He is
regarded as an expert in managing outside counsel and litigation in
general.

Some of the major findings in his report include:

Questionable Process For Selecting Outside Legal Firms

"Amtrak’s in-house lawyers appear to have been co-opted by their outside
firms, they rarely select new outside firms, they are making no apparent
effort to engage in a thorough law firm selection process, and the firms
they use are among the largest and most expensive in the country."

Questionable Billings & Expenses By Outside Legal Firms Are Rarely
Challenged

Instead of challenging many of the fees and expenses billed by the
outside legal firms, Toothman wrote: "Amtrak’s Law Department acts as
though its job is to defend outside counsel, not manage them. The
attitude exhibited by Amtrak’s Law Department when their handling of
outside lawyers was questioned was to defend the lawyers and provide
excuses for not reviewing them more aggressively.

"This is a bad sign, indicating that the Law Department has lost sight of
its primary job: To protect the interests of Amtrak."

Other Legal Firms Could Provide Less Expensive Service

"Amtrak’s Law Department has not investigated its firms properly and not
considered alternative law firms that would be cheaper and provide
equivalent, if not better, services," Toothman wrote in his report.
"There are thousands of firms with expertise handling most of the work
done for Amtrak - most of Amtrak’s work is routine, both in subject
matter and complexity."

Toothman said using smaller firms outside "expensive metropolitan areas,
would save Amtrak millions a year in legal fees."

Lack Of Oversight & Enforcement Of Legal Bills

Toothman said after examining a sample of bills from six law firms
billing Amtrak the largest amounts, "I noted pervasive, obvious
violations of the Billing Guidelines and general billing standards. There
was almost no indication that anyone from the Law Department is reviewing
the content of the bills, let alone enforcing the guidelines."

For additional information, access the Transportation & Infrastructure
Committee website at: www.house.gov/transportation

[End quote]

It is fascinating to note the period in question, 2002 to 2005, the exact
same period of time the mercifully departed former Amtrak President and
CEO David Gunn held the top job at Amtrak. This is the same David Gunn,
who, when he was invited to hastily leave by the Amtrak Board of
Directors, so many in Congress rallied around to try and save his job.

In an earlier press release this week from the same Congressional
committee, some of the other areas of Amtrak which have been under
investigation showed these troubling results:

[Begin quote]

To: National Desk/Transportation Reporter

October 25, 2006

* Media Advisory *

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

1) Massive Financial Losses In Amtrak’s Food & Beverage Operations [This
was the impetus for Diner Lite]

The Amtrak Inspector General audited the performance under the contact
and found that:

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

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

In addition, the GAO found that:

- Amtrak management exercised very little oversight of the Gate Gourmet
contract;

Amtrak did not enforce the contractual requirement that annual reports be
filed.

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

The Amtrak IG’s Mechanical Report found that:

- Amtrak’s Mechanical Department (AMD) did not maintain adequate
information to allow the company to properly keep track of its
maintenance costs;

- AMD did not prioritize its maintenance expenditures based on ensuring
the greatest reliability of its fleet;

- AMD had virtually no quality control management system;

- Cost data was so inaccurate, misleading, and inefficient that it lead
to waste, fraud and abuse in the course of Amtrak procuring goods and
services.

3) Theft By Amtrak Personnel

More than 200 employees have been removed because of financial
irregularities and theft against Amtrak. In the period from January 1,
2005 to September 2005, the Amtrak IG’s office referred 22 cases for
civil or criminal prosecution.

[End quote]

What does all of this demonstrate? A company that has been out of
control, and off the leash. For those who have been impatient with the
current Board of Directors and new president, imagine being from the
private sector and walking into this mess and having to clean it up while
at the same time keep the trains running. Also imagine that several major
executives in the company who have been responsible for much of this, are
still employed by Amtrak; why, is any rational person’s guess.

David Laney, Amtrak’s Chairman of the Board has said there is much that
needs to be addressed in the corporate cleaning up of Amtrak, and that
much has been accomplished. Many accomplishments, such as weeding out
those who have stolen from the company, have been invisible to the public
and Amtrak’s passengers.

Most likely many other things, beyond Amtrak’s Law Department, are going
to be found that need to be fixed immediately. Fixing Amtrak is not going
to be an overnight process, but it must be an ongoing process with great
transparency and oversight to bring Amtrak into the good graces of
corporate decorum.

4) The other big Amtrak headline of the week is the strange behavior of
Canadian National, owner of the former Illinois Central Railroad, which
hosts several Amtrak daily trains, and will be host to new Illinois state
service allegedly beginning operations on Monday, October 30th.

So the story goes, Amtrak and CN came to a contractual agreement to host
the new Illinois-funded daily trains in and out of Chicago. Inaugural
runs were held to great fanfare, with CN dispatching the trains over its
tracks.

Now, the week before service is scheduled to begin, CN is suddenly saying
it may not allow Amtrak to operate the new daily trains over its tracks.
Huh? What? Inaugural trains were run, there have been literally dozens of
stories in the news media about these new trains, reservations have been
taken, tickets have been sold, train crews have been hired, and cars and
locomotives have been spiffed up for Monday’s start of service.

What’s going on, here? Nobody seems to know. CN, North America’s largest
railroad, is usually pretty good at keeping its corporate word and
honoring contracts. Amtrak, for all of its sins, is not about to
advertising and inaugurate new train service without a valid contract.
What has happened?

Whispers abound, everything from Amtrak jumping the contractual gun, to
CN getting a better offer for use of its infrastructure by another party
to carry freight. Nobody knows for sure, but we have been assured
negotiations between Amtrak and CN are continuing, plus Amtrak has
threatened to go to court to force CN to honor the contract for the new
train service. The Chicago Tribune reported October 25th that a low-level
CN executive, without authorization to sign a new contract with Amtrak,
signed the contract anyway, and when the finished deal reached CN
headquarters in Montreal, higher level executives claimed the contract
was void because the original CN signature on the contract was
unauthorized to consummate the deal with Amtrak.

For whoever has created this mess, this will probably go down in
passenger railroad history as one of the most hair raising beginnings of
new passenger service in modern railroad history.

5) One final note for this week. Our Canadian cousins, operating VIA Rail
Canada’s greatly reduced system, is celebrating an anniversary of
Canadian passenger railroading. Here is a current press release from VIA
Rail Canada:

[Begin quote]

Montreal, October 26, 2006 - Tomorrow marks a major milestone in the
history of passenger rail in Canada - the 150th anniversary of what is
now known as VIA Rail's "Quebec City-Windsor Corridor". On October 27,
1856, at 7:00 AM, the first passenger train left Toronto and travelled to
Montreal in 14 hours. That same day, the first train left Montreal at
7:30 AM and travelled to Toronto in the same amount of time. This was the
first stretch of track linking the two largest cities in Canada.

The Grand Trunk Railway Company of Canada was formed in 1852 as a
consolidation of several railways, some under construction, others only
projected. It became one large system stretching from Levis, Quebec
(already connected to Montreal) all the way to Sarnia, Ontario (later
extending to Windsor). Just three years after the amalgamation of the
railway, the line from Montreal to Toronto was complete and open for
service. The Kingston Advertiser, on October 28, 1856, wrote that "the
Grand Trunk Railroad will henceforth be the great commercial artery of
Canada". Grand Trunk Railroad was eventually fully merged into Canadian
National, which later spun off passenger rail with the creation of VIA
Rail Canada in 1978.

Today, the 1150-km Quebec City-Windsor Corridor in central Canada is a
spine travelling through the most densely populated and heavily
industrialized area of the country. This region contains over half of
Canada's population - 16 million - and some of its largest cities.

VIA's busiest route


The corridor is VIA's busiest route, running more than 400 of Canada's
intercity passenger trains on tracks throughout the corridor every week,
using CN's former Grand Trunk Railway network. Traffic in the corridor
represents close to 90% of VIA's volume or more than 3.5 million trips,
which means that VIA derives the majority of its revenues from this
route.

Earlier this year, VIA was the first passenger rail operator in North
America to provide wireless access to Internet on board trains travelling
in the corridor. This allows passengers, many of whom are business people
and students who commute frequently, to make more productive use of their
busy time.

"Passenger rail in the corridor is still going strong after 150 years.
The long-lasting popularity of this service illustrates the on-going need
for passenger rail in Canada. Last year alone, VIA carried a record 4
million passengers," said Paul Côté, President and Chief Executive
Officer. "It is clear that more and more people are turning to passenger
rail as a safe and environment-friendly travel alternative, something we
at VIA are very proud of."

How it started

In 1852 the Canadian government officially announced its plan to build a
railway between Montreal and Toronto. The following year it purchased
existing railway companies in Quebec and Ontario, and the Grand Trunk
Railway Company began the construction of the proposed railway.

A major commercial link

On July 22, 1854, the first stone was laid in building the Victoria
Bridge, by far the biggest construction project of the entire Grand Trunk
network. It took 5 years to build the bridge, named in honour of Queen
Victoria. When completed, it was the longest bridge in the world, and
remains a major contributor to Montreal's role as a continental hub in
the North American rail system. The bridge was inaugurated by the Prince
of Wales on August 25, 1860. This was the first visit of a royal prince
to a British colony in Canada.

Some important milestones

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

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

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

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

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

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

1920 - Grand Trunk Railway fully merged into Canadian National Railways

1978 - VIA Rail set up as independent Crown Corporation to operate
passenger rail in Canada, taking over from CN.

About VIA

As Canada's national passenger rail service, VIA Rail Canada's mandate is
to provide efficient, environmentally responsible and cost effective
passenger transport services, both in Canada's business corridor and in
remote and rural regions of the country. Serving more than 450
communities with a network of inter-city, transcontinental and regional
trains, demand for rail services continues to grow as more Canadians turn
to train travel as a safe and convenient travel choice.

[End quote]

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All other correspondence should be addressed to
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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
brucerichardson@unitedrail.org
http://www.unitedrail.org
mailto:freetwa@unitedrail.org

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

Submitted for the board's comments:

This Week at Amtrak; November 8, 2006


A weekly digest of events, opinions, and forecasts from
United Rail Passenger Alliance, Inc.
1526 University Boulevard, West, PMB 203
Jacksonville, Florida 32217-2006 USA
Telephone 904-636-6760, Electronic Mail info@unitedrail.org
http://www.unitedrail.org


Volume 3, Number 45


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


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


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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

[Begin quote]

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

[End quote]

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

[Begin quote]

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

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

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

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

The airlines serve two travel markets, east and westbound only, and the long distance rail
routes serve 2,550 city pairs between NYC and Los Angeles.

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

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

[End quote]

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

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

[Begin quote]

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

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

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

Railroad - $186.35
Transit - $118.26
Air - $7.26
Bus- $3.52
Autos, Pickups and Vans- $3.52 PAID BACK (does not include social costs)
Highway - $1.91 PAID BACK (does not include social costs)

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

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

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

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

http://www.bts.gov/p...n.html#_ftnref5

[End quote]

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

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

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

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

[Begin quote]

By Andrew Selden

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

[End quote]

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


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


freetwa@unitedrail.org


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 brucerichardson@unitedrail.org; we are unable to go through any individual approvals processes for individuals. This mailing list is kept strictly confidential and is not shared or used for any purposes other than the distribution of This Week at Amtrak or related URPA materials.


All other correspondence should be addressed to brucerichardson@unitedrail.org


J. Bruce Richardson
President
United Rail Passenger Alliance, Inc.
1526 University Boulevard, West, PMB 203
Jacksonville, Florida 32217-2006 USA
Telephone 904-636-6760
brucerichardson@unitedrail.org
http://www.unitedrail.org

haolerider, on Fri, Oct 27, 2006, 08:19 AM, said:

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

Rick

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

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

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

What do ya'll think??

This Week at Amtrak; November 17, 2006

A weekly digest of events, opinions, and forecasts from
United Rail Passenger Alliance, Inc.
1526 University Boulevard, West, PMB 203
Jacksonville, Florida 32217-2006 USA
Telephone 904-636-6760, Electronic Mail info@unitedrail.org
http://www.unitedrail.org

Volume 3, Number 46

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

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

SPECIAL NOTE: Unless breaking news events warrant coverage, there will
be no TWA next week during Thanksgiving Week. TWA will return the week
of November 27th. Happy Thanksgiving to all, and a warm "thank you" to
all Amtrak employees who will be working during the Thanksgiving holiday
so many passengers will be able to be with their family and friends
during this important holiday.

1) The word on the grapevine is Amtrak is tinkering with the onboard
service levels on long distance trains, including trains based on the
Left Coast. The highlights (lowlights, in some instances) allegedly include:

- On the Coast Starlight, which runs between Los Angeles, California and
Seattle, Washington, the much used Parlour Cars for sleeping car
passengers will remain, but unstaffed. Morning pastries and wine will
remain, provided by the dining car crew.

The Starlight will also be returned to its former premier service
status. Two of the newly refurbished diner/lounges may be in the
consist, one offering traditional dining car service as is now available
on the Empire Builder and Auto Train, and the second diner/lounge could
be an upgraded lounge and food service which would offer a broader
choice of meals than now available in lounge cars.

Amtrak is currently assigning new service managers to the Starlight on a
daily basis to improve existing service and monitor the Parlour cars.

- There will be a lower level of service called red, white, and blue
service. This is still in the developmental stage, but it will be very
basic. For those familiar with the old slumber coach service, which
offered a private room for sleeping, but no amenities or food service in
the price of the accommodation, this should be comparable. One of the
things being considered is selling some roomettes in the crew dormitory
cars at a discount with no service, just a sleeping room. Food service
will be take out or cart going through the train.

- "Rightsizing" is the term being used to describe what the consist of
the trains will become soon. There will only be two sleeping cars on all
(perhaps most) trains. No more third sleeper on the Coast Starlight, or
the Florida trains, even during the holidays. The third sleeper
currently running on the Coast Starlight will come off soon and will not
come back.

This shortsighted development, if it holds to be true, is another
glaring example of no institutional memory at Amtrak, and disastrous
history repeating itself. Sleeping cars create and provide lots of cash
flow for long distance trains, particularly for dining cars. Without
adequate sleepers on trains, dining car revenues will decline, and
therefore another "crisis" will come about, because diners will be
losing revenue while not shedding costs.

Superliner and Viewliner sleeping cars have adequate capacity (even the
old Heritage 10 roomette, six bedroom sleepers had adequate capacity) to
generate more revenue than costs to operate the cars. Despite Amtrak's
best transit-oriented managers and planners (who hopefully will be out
of favor as soon as possible), sleeping cars are solid hits
amongpassengers, who have often been willing to pay over-the-top fares
for mediocre service levels in cars that desperately need to be shopped
for heavy maintenance.

One of the unique benefits of long distance train travel is the
availability of sleeping car accommodations and dining car service. It
continues to be incomprehensible why Amtrak's management bureaucracy
cannot grasp this simple, revenue generating concept.

- All of the Horizon coaches are supposed to be retired. It's doubtful
anyone will shed a tear over the loss of these basic cars, which, while
doing yeoman service, have never offered more than a warm seat on a cold
day.


2) A letter to the editor from Gilbert Carmichael, FRA Administrator
during the first Bush presidency, and Chairman of the Amtrak Reform Council.

[Begin quote]

November 13, 2006

Dear Editor,

I wanted to take the opportunity to respond to Senator Trent Lott's
column published on October 9, Lanes, Trains, Planes and Ports. His
legislation supporting the 25% tax credit for the rail industry to
upgrade the national rail system is right on the money. The nation's
railroad right-of-ways have a huge untapped capacity because back in the
70's and 80's the railroads downsized and single tracked their main
lines. They didn't have the foresight then to see the intermodal
container business coming or $60 a barrel oil coming. They also didn't
realize the truck lines would become one of their biggest customers for
hauling trailers and containers long distances.

Senate Bill 3742, the Freight Rail Infrastructure Capacity and Expansion
Act, will stimulate the rapid reconstruction of the double and triple
tracking across this country. This could very easily solve a lot of the
congestion the highways have now. The key to all of this is the fact the
railroad train can move a ton of freight nine times further on a gallon
of fuel than a truck can. The higher fuel efficiency alone makes rail
look to be a more cost effective shipping method doesn't it?

Sincerely,

Gil Carmichael
Senior Chairman
Intermodal Transportation Institute

[End quote]

See item five, below, by noted author Al Runte, for some real-life
examples of why Mr. Carmichael's message is so important.

3) While past and potential riders of the Sunset Limited east of New
Orleans look in vain down an empty track waiting, and hoping, that one
day, the Sunset will return (still no word from anyone what's keeping
Amtrak from running this important part of its national system), one
icon which has returned to the passenger rail universe is Passenger
Train Journal magazine. The inaugural issue of the reborn magazine hit
the news stands the past few days, and it's a winner.

Magnificently editor by Mike Schafer, who was also editor of the
original PTJ, this magazine is mandatory reading for anyone who wishes
to have a full understanding of passenger trains, both past and present.
The original PTJ was a beacon of information about passenger rail in the
pre-Internet days before instant communications. The reincarnation of
Passenger Train Journal promises to pick up where it left off a decade
ago when it was discontinued. Too many pieces of the passenger train
puzzle are brought to light through this publication for it not to be
read and absorbed.

The magazine is available in many book and hobby stores, plus you may
call 660-695-4433 for subscription information.

4) Our Canadian cousins at VIA Rail Canada are taking advantage of their
terrain and weather. Here is VIA's latest press release.

[Begin quote]

The best way to enjoy the magic of winter

EDMONTON - VIA Rail Canada in partnership with Marmot Basin and Jasper,
Alberta is proud to announce a new seasonal departure from Edmonton to
Jasper featuring VIA's Panorama (fully-domed) observation cars. For 15
weeks, from January 12th, 2007 to April 22nd, 2007, skiers, snowboarders
and outdoor enthusiasts can ignore the weatherman's stormy predictions;
leave the winter driving up to VIA and travel care-free from Jasper to
Edmonton in comfort and safety.

Travellers can make the best of both worlds combining a trip on VIA's
Snow Train Express with the award-winning Snow Train, (The Canadian)
National Champion 2000 Best Winter Product (Win with Winter in Canada)
as voted by the Canadian Tourism Commission. The schedule is designed
for a weekend getaway to unwind after the bustling tempo of the holiday
season.

"VIA is pleased to partner with Marmot Basin and Jasper to bring our
customers, skiers and snow lovers a travelling experience they'll never
forget," said Joe Volk, VIA's Senior Director, International Sales.
"This new service is the perfect travel companion for enjoying the best
of winter without the stress or worry about driving conditions or
fatigue following a full day of activities in the great outdoors. And
travelling in VIA's Panorama dome cars on the Snow Train Express you're
free to participate in aprPs-ski socializing with family and friends,
while enjoying a winter wonderland outside your window."

One-way, meal-inclusive fares for VIA's Snow Train Express (
http://www.viarail.ca/snowtrain/ ) is $123.00 (CDN) for adults, with
discounts for seniors (60+), students (12-17 or 18+ with ISIC) and
children (2-11), excluding taxes.

"Jasper has so much to offer as a winter destination and now with our
partnership with VIA, it's easier than ever to get here. All indications
are for an excellent ski season, and the staff at Marmot Basin is eager
to share our mountain with its 84 runs and 3,000 vertical feet," said
Dave Gibson, President Marmot Basin.

Don't ski - no worry - the magical winter town of Jasper offers visitors
a multitude of activities to choose from. Stroll down Jasper's quaint
downtown area, sip hot chocolate as you sit nestled in the carriage of a
horse-drawn sleigh, take a winter ice-walk in the Maligne Canyon, enjoy
the view of Mount Edith Cavell as you skate on Lac Beauvert nestled in
the heart of Jasper Park Lodge, or just enjoy the heart of Canada's
Rockies in picturesque Jasper. VIA's Snow Train Express and Snow Train
makes all this and more possible.

Trains from Edmonton to Jasper
No 7 : 16:00 - 22:00 (Friday)
No 1 : 08:55 - 11:48 (Thurs/Sat/Mon)

Trains from Jasper to Edmonton
No 8 : 17:30 - 23:30 (Sunday)
No 2 : 12:20 - 17:30 (Wed/Sat/Mon)

VIA developed this new service in partnership with Marmot Basin and
Jasper to help them build on important winter tourism products in key
markets.

Now there are two ways to get to snowy Jasper!

Customers can visit VIA's secure Web site at http://www.viarail.ca to
book a trip anywhere in the VIA system. Train tickets are also available
at VIA stations across Canada, including self-service ticketing kiosks
located at major stations in central Canada. Passengers can also book
their tickets by calling 1-888-VIA-RAIL (1-888-842-7245) or through
their travel agent.

About VIA Rail Canada

As Canada's national passenger rail service, VIA Rail connects the
entire world to the West's vibrant tourism industry. With more than 700
employees in Western Canada, VIA is dedicated to improving the quality
of passenger service. From Northern Manitoba, across the prairies, to
British Columbia's Pacific Rim, VIA serves more than 100 stations. VIA
continues to develop, market and deliver services to meet the needs of
Western Canadians, in partnership with the people, communities and
businesses served by passenger rail.

[End quote]

5) Author Al Runte provides his usual interesting commentary from
Seattle, originally published in The Seattle Times last week.

[Begin quote]

In Washington state, what is it about transportation policy that always
seems to bring out our worst? Name your poison -- the Alaskan Way
Viaduct versus the waterfront tunnel, the failed Seattle monorail or the
crumbling Highway 520 bridge. And now, the so-called deal of the
century: Boeing Field to the Port of Seattle in exchange for replacing
the Eastside rail line with a trail.

When will we get serious and face the facts? Puget Sound is urban, not
rural Vermont. We have fallen terribly behind in public transportation,
always hoping to appease every interest.

For once, the public interest needs to be served. Called the railroad
equivalent of Interstate 405, the Eastside rail line fortuitously
complements our area of fastest growth. Along those 47 miles of track
between Renton and Snohomish, population will double over the next 10 years.

How will all those people get to work? And ship their products back and
forth? Hardly by using a trail. Recreation is not the crying need here;
transportation is.

Pure expedience explains losing this railroad. Led by the Washington
State Department of Transportation, the region has bet everything on
widening I-405.

In Bellevue, the I-405 tunnel under the railroad would need to be
modified to save the tracks. Conveniently, WSDOT plans to save $30
million -- and sever the "competing" railroad -- by not undertaking the
retrofit.

Its owner, Burlington Northern Santa Fe, also considers the line
redundant. More expedience. North to Canada and east over Stevens Pass,
Puget Sound has just one other track.

Normally, when bureaucracies are behaving selfishly, public opinion
reins them in. Why does that rarely happen here?

Because we, just like our leaders, substitute process for acting
decisively. Among all American cities, we are the least committed to
urban rail. We need a czar of transportation; instead, we elect
bickering Cossacks who make deals.

Above all, a czar would remind us we live in earthquake country.
Depending anywhere on a single railroad, we risk losing service for
weeks or months. Even now, the Seattle-to-Everett main line suffers from
winter mudslides that shut down all freight, commuter and passenger trains.

There is also the aging Seattle tunnel between King Street Station and
the waterfront. Should that tunnel collapse in an earthquake, the line
might be down for years.

Such is the Brave New World of railroads -- monopolies that cannot think
past 90 days. Fine, but our public officials are serving us. BNSF's
decision to abandon the Eastside rail line should indeed be challenged here.

As for WSDOT severing the tracks to save its budget $30 million, no
savings is more illusory. Widening I-405 will cost a fortune; currently
$1.6 billion has been authorized. Light rail between downtown Seattle
and Sea-Tac airport is costing as much as $450 million per mile. Imagine
bringing the Eastside rail line back into service.

In 1983, BNSF closed its line over Stampede Pass and, more, wanted to
abandon that line entirely. Fortunately, led by Sen. Irv Newhouse from
Yakima County, rail defenders threw a fit. They were right. With
container trains clogging the line over Stevens Pass, BNSF has spent
hundreds of millions to bring Stampede back.

The point is not to count on monopolies to see the future, including
highway lobbyists in Olympia. Rather, if we lose the Eastside rail line,
we can be sure its equivalent will cost us billions.

As for the future of I-405, the research is definitive: As soon as a
highway is widened, it quickly refills to capacity.

Even Los Angeles, the capital of the automobile, holds its public
officials accountable to these facts. Consequently, L.A.'s railroads are
being rehabilitated -- not abandoned. In a burgeoning urban environment,
every mode of transportation is needed to share the load.

It is no wonder that cities known to copy Europe threaten to leave Puget
Sound in their economic dust. Indeed, why come all the way from Bellevue
into King Street Station? In Europe, the Eastside rail corridor would
already be a main line, too, allowing people there to board a train with
equal ease.

Here, we protest loudly the need for choices while remaining road
warriors to a fault. Likewise, rather than improving the rails we have,
we opt for "new" ones that drive us broke.

Regardless, more road warriors are constantly joining us, making the
problem even worse. If Los Angeles can see the solution -- balance -- it
is time we saw it, too. For once, let us dare hold our elected leaders
accountable. Save the Eastside rail line, and we don't mean please.

[End quote]

Alfred Runte of Seattle is director of special affairs for All Aboard
Washington, a rail-advocacy organization, and the author of "Allies of
the Earth: Railroads and the Soul of Preservation" (Truman State
University Press).

Copyright © 2006 The Seattle Times Company


6) This Week at Amtrak (not to be confused with the Johnny-Come-Lately
Amtrak This Week published by Amtrak) has subscribers all over the
world. Plus, many subscribers living here in the United States roam all
over the world, too, and send along their comments to TWA.

[Begin quote]

I've been reading the comments on long distance train operations with
interest. Last September I spent several weeks in Norway and Sweden.
While exact comparisons with the U.S. would be difficult, for example
the gasoline prices are much, much higher, there are some resemblances.
Population density in most of Sweden is much less than "down on the
Continent." North Sweden and Norway are lightly populated, much like a
lot of the Empire Builder's route. In the North much of it is actually a
lot like interior Alaska in appearance.

I traveled on a train running from Stockholm to Gällivare, an overnight
run of about 800 miles. GDllivare is a relatively small town of 20,000
north of the Arctic Circle. It is a center of the mining industry, and
also attracts many tourists, especially in winter for skiing. My train
left Stockholm at exactly 5 P.M., as scheduled, and arrived the next day
at precisely 9:29. I don't know the speeds at which it ran, but for much
of the evening the countryside was passing by at a noticeably faster
pace than 79 mph.

This train was electric powered as are nearly all the main lines in
Sweden. Most of the cars were sleeping cars of various types including
couchettes, single, double and triple bunk compartment cars of the
European type, a few second class coaches, and a food service car. The
sleeping cars were heavily occupied, only a few people on the coaches.
I'd estimate a total of 10 cars from my glance down the platform while
boarding. A large group of people were awaiting the train in Stockholm,
again I can only estimate, but probably well over a hundred people. Part
of the train went all the way to Narvik, Norway, and another part
separated at Boden station to go to LuleD, a port city on the Gulf of
Bothnia. The parting of the cars was managed quickly and with little
fuss, unlike similar events in the U.S.

Reading the onboard magazine, (in Swedish, so I may have missed some of
the meaning), it seems that these trains are operated by a private
railoperator, Connex under a state subsidy. The tracks are maintained by
a separate company known as Baneverken. Other freight and passenger
operators also use the tracks including SJ, the Swedish State Railways.
Connex has a good web site at www.connex.se .There you can read more
about their trains, and in English, as they let you pick the language
you want to read.

While I can't provide a lot of details on these Nordic train operations,
it does seem evident that there are other ways other than those of
Amtrak to organize a successful passenger train service.

Regards and c., R. van Wormer

[End quote]

7) A lot of the year may be cold in the state of Maine, but Governor
John Ellias Baldacci is hot for more passenger trains.

Here is an Executive Order, issued by Governor Baldacci.

[Begin quote]

OFFICE OF THE GOVERNOR

September 1, 2006

AN ORDER TO STRENGTHEN THE COMMUNITY AND ECONOMIC IMPACT OF AMTRAK'S
DOWNEASTER SERVICE, AND TO ADVANCE PLANS FOR PASSENGER RAIL SERVICE
NORTH OF PORTLAND

WHEREAS, the 115th Maine State Legislature enacted the Passenger Rail
Service Act directing the Maine Department of Transportation to
establish regularly scheduled rail service within and beyond the State
of Maine; and,

WHEREAS, the 122nd Maine State Legislature established the policy that
passenger rail service must be supported by the State, and directed the
Commissioner of Transportation to present implementing legislation to
the 123rd Legislature by and through Public Laws of 2005, Chapter 519,
Part YY, consistent with Executive Order 11, FY06/07; and, WHEREAS, the
Northern New England Passenger Rail Authority was formed in 1995 to
assist the implementation of the Passenger Rail Service Act; and,

WHEREAS, the Sensible Transportation Policy Act of 1991 requires the
State of Maine to incorporate transportation alternatives to highway
construction and meet the diverse transportation needs of rural and
urban populations, the elderly and the disabled; and,

WHEREAS, the Federal Clean Air Act Amendments require state action to
mitigate any increased air emissions from highway projects; and,

WHEREAS, by 2013, it is anticipated that congestion on 1-95 between Exit
44 and Exit 48 and 1-295 between South Portland and Falmouth will reach
unacceptable levels; and,

WHEREAS, rail lines exist in the State of Maine that may be used for
purposes of passenger rail transportation that could connect the
municipalities of Lewiston, Auburn, Brunswick, Portland and other
municipalities to each other and points south; and,

WHEREAS, the passenger rail system benefits freight services, supports
economic development in service center communities and improves access
to Boston and other major markets; and,

WHEREAS, passenger rail services address Maine's changing demographics,
shifting population and coastal development patterns; and,

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

WHEREAS, since 2001 the Downeaster has transported more than 1.2 million
passengers, and has the highest customer satisfaction, on-time
performance and ridership growth in the Amtrak system:

NOW THEREFORE, I, John E. Baldacci, Governor of the State of Maine, in
consideration of all of the above, do hereby order:

1. Economic development. The State Planning Office shall form a working
group to facilitate community and economic development near existing and
planned train stations. Participation in the working group shall include
representatives from the Maine State Housing Authority, the Department
of Economic and Community Development, the Maine Department of
Transportation, the Northern New England Passenger Rail Authority, real
estate development organizations, regional planning organizations, and
host municipalities. The State Planning Office shall facilitate at least
two forums for dialog on best practices, and shall submit to the
Governor a status report on activities, progress, and further
recommendations, by March 1, 2007.

2. Economic Impact. The State Planning Office shall coordinate with the
Maine Department of Transportation, the Northern New England Passenger
Rail Authority, and the Department of Economic and Community Development
to assess the economic significance of existing and planned passenger
rail service to local, state, and regional economies, and assess the
role that passenger rail service plays in supporting economic growth.

3. Planning new corridors and service. The Northern New England
Passenger Rail Authority, in coordination with the Maine Department of
Transportation, shall review matters relating to the development of
passenger rail service north of Portland to Brunswick and Auburn, and
shall report findings to the Governor by December 1, 2006. The review
shall include outreach to interested parties including but not limited
to freight rail advocates, passenger rail advocates, operators of
existing and planned passenger feeder services, and involved
municipalities. The report shall include, but not be limited to, review of:

- Rail alignment options for use in the short term and the long term to
extend passenger rail service north of Portland;

- Types of services - intercity, excursion, commuter, or other - for the
short term and the long term north of Portland;

- Types of equipment - Conventional equipment, Rail Diesel Cars (RDC),
Light Rail or other.

- Reasonably foreseeable capital funding options;

- Compatibility of rail alignment options with existing and planned
alignments for local transit or local light rail services, including
expansions of the Maine Narrow Gauge Railroad service in Portland;

Effective Date

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

[End quote]

8) Hyatt Hotels & Resorts has added Amtrak to its list of travel
partners. Members of Amtrak Guest Rewards, the rail company's frequent
traveler program, can now earn up to 500 points for eligible Hyatt stays
around the world.

In a press release from Hyatt, Amy Weyman, vice president of marketing
for Hyatt Corporation said, "We're thrilled to partner with Amtrak, the
nation's hospitality leader in rail travel." Hmm ... perhaps it can be
said that Amtrak is the nation's ONLY hospitality leader in rail travel,
unless you want to ride a transit system. Oh, well, public relations
hyperbole lives on unabated.

This is an excellent partnership for Amtrak, which will help the
railroad to stop being America's best kept secret. The type of
hospitality clientele that is likely to use Hyatt hotel products, which
include Hyatt, Hyatt Regency, Grand Hyatt, Park Hyatt, Hyatt Vacation
Club, AmeriSuites hotels, Hyatt Place and Summerfield Suites hotels
brands are good candidates for long distance trains featuring high
revenue sleeping cars.


SPECIAL NOTE: Unless breaking news events warrant coverage, there will
be no TWA next week during Thanksgiving Week. TWA will return the week
of November 27th. Happy Thanksgiving to all, and a warm "thank you" to
all Amtrak employees who will be working during the Thanksgiving holiday
so many passengers will be able to be with their family and friends
during this important holiday.

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

freetwa@unitedrail.org

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
brucerichardson@unitedrail.org; we are unable to go through any
individual approvals processes for individuals. This mailing list is
kept strictly confidential and is not shared or used for any purposes
other than the distribution of This Week at Amtrak or related URPA
materials.

All other correspondence should be addressed to
brucerichardson@unitedrail.org

J. Bruce Richardson
President
United Rail Passenger Alliance, Inc.
1526 University Boulevard, West, PMB 203
Jacksonville, Florida 32217-2006 USA
Telephone 904-636-6760
brucerichardson@unitedrail.org
http://www.unitedrai...@unitedrail.org

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

I wonder if just the choir sees it?

frj1983, on Sun, Nov 19, 2006, 04:14 PM, said:

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

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

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

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

Again, Fron The United Rail Passenger Alliance:

This Week at Amtrak; November 28, 2006

A weekly digest of events, opinions, and forecasts from
United Rail Passenger Alliance, Inc.
1526 University Boulevard, West, PMB 203
Jacksonville, Florida 32217-2006 USA
Telephone 904-636-6760, Electronic Mail info@unitedrail.org
http://www.unitedrail.org

Volume 3, Number 47


1) Memo To: Alex Kummant, Amtrak President and CEO
Subject: Please take a ride on your Sunset Limited

Mr. Kummant, we've all heard how pleased you were to ride the Coast
Starlight, and how there is a possibility the Starlight will regain its
rightful place as one of Amtrak's premier long distance trains. The
results of the Starlight come from the hard work of many dedicated Amtrak
employees, both onboard and in management and support positions, who have
worked many years to make sure this train represents everything a long
distance passenger train in America can represent.

There is another train, also based in Los Angeles, that needs your
attention and blessing. The Sunset Limited, which operates from the same
crew base and maintenance base as the Starlight, has long been Amtrak's
best/worst train. Those of us, including this writer, who worked long and
hard to make the Sunset the best train in Amtrak's long distance system
(including conceiving the groundbreaking 24 hour dining car concept and
trial runs, plus the Coast to Coast Adventure plan to address chronic
train delays due to host railroad congestion, and running a Sunset
version of the Pacific Parlour Car on occasion when a tour company paid
for the car and made it available to all sleeping car passengers).

The Sunset and its employees deserve your attention in a number of areas.
Foremost, the Sunset needs to return to its tracks east of New Orleans,
and come home to Florida. The gaping hole in Amtrak's national route
system is costing the company hundreds of thousands of dollars a year in
lost revenue not only from the Sunset itself, but connecting train
opportunities, as well.

As America's oldest, continuously operating named long distance train,
the Sunset serves important markets all long its route, including the
fringes of Phoenix, Tucson, El Paso, San Antonio, Houston, and New
Orleans, plus the Gulf Coast including Mobile and Pensacola, as well as
Florida' capital, Tallahassee. The Sunset is an important part of
Florida's tourism program, feeding passengers into Orlando, the world's
largest family vacation destination.

For too long, the Sunset has been burdened with most of the costs of
daily train operations, but it only provides tri-weekly service. As I am
sure you are personally aware, tri-weekly operation is the most expensive
way of operating a passenger train while providing some of the fewest
benefits for passengers and online cities and towns. When the Sunset runs
its full route between Los Angeles and Orlando, it takes seven train sets
to run daily service since it takes three nights travel time in each
direction and one night for a layover. We know it will require more
equipment, which you already have in storage in Beech Grove. The cost of
making this equipment roadworthy again is far less than the revenue it
will immediately begin to generate, plus with daily service, station,
management and infrastructure costs will decrease per passenger because
of more opportunities for more passenger to ride, and generate new
revenues.

History tells us that prior to the Sunset's extension to Florida in 1993,
Amtrak reservation centers received over 75,000 requests a year for train
service along the now-suspended Sunset route east of New Orleans. One can
only speculate now what those numbers are with the increased interest in
train travel.

Mr. Kummant, please take a ride on the Sunset Limited and see how
marvelous this train is as part of Amtrak's national system. The unique
scenery in the Southwest is mesmerizing, the onboard service is good, and
the route is impressive. An onboard survey done at the end of the 1990s
showed the upscale clientele which rode the Sunset, including on any
given day several passengers with doctorates, and a number of American
Express Gold Card members. These are people who are willing to take the
time to enjoy a pleasant rail journey, and are willing to spend the money
to book sleeping car space. As on many trains, the bedrooms on the Sunset
always sell out before the roomettes. Passengers are willing to pay the
fare for a first class train journey. You need to accommodate them with a
reinvigorated Sunset Limited.

Regarding the chronic tardiness of the Sunset, it's about par with the
Coast Starlight, perhaps a little less. A combination of telling
passenger in advance what to expect (as we did with the Coast to Coast
Adventure program), and providing dedicated good service onboard can turn
a tardy journey into an extended pleasant journey.

Please, sir, take a serious look at your Sunset Limited. You can make the
difference for this most worthy train. Here is a chart of information,
with information provided by the Amtrak Controller's Department on
October 7, 2004 (the last full year the Sunset Limited operated
normally).

Daily trains make 730 terminal departures a year (once a day, each
direction). Tri-weekly trains make 312 departures a year. When comparing
the tri-weekly Sunset Limited and Cardinal with the daily other long
distance fleet trains, on an apples-to-apples comparison, the trains
perform remarkably well financially. If these two trains were converted
to daily operation, providing more departure opportunities for
passengers, the Sunset Limited and Cardinal would perform at least as
well as other trains such as the Empire Builder, Southwest Chief,
California Zephyr, or Coast Starlight.

All figures are for FY 2004

Sunset Limited
Revenue Passenger Miles - 110,842,000
Passenger Miles per Train Mile - 131.1
Ridership - 96,400
Annual Farebox Revenue - $11,108,600
Passenger Mile Yield (cents per mile) - 10.02 cents
Load Factor - 59.0%
Average Length of Trip - 1,149 miles per passenger
Length of Route - 2,770 miles
Average Ridership per One Way Trip - 309
Extrapolated, if this were a daily train (estimated)
Revenue Passenger Miles - 259,341,850 (estimated)
Ridership - 225,551 (estimated)
Annual Farebox Revenue - $25,989,871 (estimated)

Cardinal
Revenue Passenger Miles - 37,442,000
Passenger Miles per Train Mile - 105.6
Ridership - 88,900
Annual Farebox Revenue - $4,410,900
Passenger Mile Yield (cents per mile) - 11.78 cents
Load Factor - 51.5%
Average Length of Trip - 421 miles per passenger
Length of Route - 1,147 miles
Average Ridership per One Way Trip - 285
Extrapolated, if this were a daily train (estimated)
Revenue Passenger Miles - 87,604,679 (estimated)
Ridership - 208,003 (estimated)
Annual Farebox Revenue - $10,320,375 (estimated)

Crescent
Revenue Passenger Miles - 145,466,000
Passenger Miles per Train Mile - 145.5
Ridership - 256,600
Annual Farebox Revenue - $22,255,800
Passenger Mile Yield (cents per mile) - 15.30 cents
Load Factor - 52.6%
Average Length of Trip - 567 miles per passenger
Average Ridership per One Way Trip - 352
Length of Route - 1,377 miles

Empire Builder
Revenue Passenger Miles - 337,836,000
Passenger Miles per Train Mile - 179.5
Ridership - 437,200
Annual Farebox Revenue - $39,130,700
Passenger Mile Yield (cents per mile) - 11.58 cents
Load Factor - 55.2%
Average Length of Trip - 773 miles per passenger
Average Ridership per One Way Trip - 599
Length of Route - 2,206 miles (Chicago to Seattle); 2,257 miles (Chicago
to Portland)

California Zephyr
Revenue Passenger Miles - 280,552,000
Passenger Miles per Train Mile - 157.5
Ridership - 335,800
Annual Farebox Revenue - $31,387,100
Passenger Mile Yield (cents per mile) - 11.19 cents
Load Factor - 54.3%
Average Length of Trip - 835 miles per passenger
Average Ridership per One Way Trip - 460
Length of Route - 2,438 miles

Southwest Chief
Revenue Passenger Miles - 312,645,000
Passenger Miles per Train Mile - 189.6
Ridership - 290,000
Annual Farebox Revenue - $31,736,300
Passenger Mile Yield (cents per mile) - 10.15 cents
Load Factor - 63.2%
Average Length of Trip - 1,078 miles per passenger
Average Ridership per One Way Trip - 397
Length of Route - 2,256 miles

Coast Starlight
Revenue Passenger Miles - 232,749,000
Passenger Miles per Train Mile - 228.8
Ridership - 415,600
Annual Farebox Revenue - $28,903,500
Passenger Mile Yield (cents per mile) - 12.42 cents
Load Factor - 61.5%
Average Length of Trip - 560 miles per passenger
Average Ridership per One Way Trip - 569
Length of Route - 1,389 miles

Note: Most common carriers consider a 65% load factor to be a full load;
at this point probably no endpoint-to-endpoint seats or accommodations
are available due to sell-out conditions. Seats would be available for
intermediate point travel on a random basis.

For comparison purposes, to determine the best investment of available
capital from the federal government, take the selected long distance
trains above, and compare them with the selected regional and short
distance trains, below. Make your own conclusions, based on how a select
few long distance trains generate revenue passenger miles, ridership per
trip, and average length of trips, versus the combined performance of NEC
and other regional services.

Acela NEC Service (All trains combined)
Revenue Passenger Miles - 458,129,000
Passenger Miles per Train Mile - 149.8
Ridership - 2,568,900
Annual Farebox Revenue - $294,654,400
Passenger Mile Yield (cents per mile) - 64.32 cents
Load Factor - 49%
Average Length of Trip - 178.3 miles per passenger
Length of Route - 457 miles

Metroliner (All trains combined)
Revenue Passenger Miles - 61,713,000
Passenger Miles per Train Mile - 112.3
Ridership - 397,600
Annual Farebox Revenue - $41,123,900
Passenger Mile Yield (cents per mile) - 66.64 cents
Load Factor - 36%
Average Length of Trip - 155.2 miles per passenger
Length of Route - 226 miles

NEC Regional (All trains combined)
Revenue Passenger Miles - 995,476,000
Passenger Miles per Train Mile - 180.9
Ridership - 6,405,100
Annual Farebox Revenue - $319,994,300
Passenger Mile Yield (cents per mile) - 32.14 cents
Load Factor - 44%
Average Length of Trip - 155.4 miles per passenger
Length of Route - 644 miles

Pacific Surfliner (All trains combined)
Revenue Passenger Miles - 194,932,000
Passenger Miles per Train Mile - 129.6
Ridership - 2,334,700
Annual Farebox Revenue - $33,834,100
Passenger Mile Yield (cents per mile) - 17.36 cents
Load Factor - 31%
Average Length of Trip - 83.1 miles per passenger
Length of Route - 351 miles

2) Amtrak makes the point itself about the importance of the Sunset
Limited running its full route from Los Angeles to Orlando. The following
information came from Amtrak's web site, this week.

[Begin quote]

Importance of the Long-Distance Trains
The route through the Northern part of the country, the Empire Builder,
which carried over 437,000 passengers last year, is the only public
transportation service in many communities in North Dakota, Montana and
Northeastern Washington. For most of the states along the Empire Builder,
tourism serves as a major economic engine. A recent study identifying the
economic contributions of the Empire Builder demonstrated nearly $14
million in annual economic benefits to the state of Montana alone.

Long-distance trains also provide transportation during periods of severe
weather conditions or emergencies that stall other modes of
transportation. This was demonstrated after the September 11 terrorist
attacks that grounded air travel. Additionally, these trains provide a
strong economic benefit for the states and communities that they serve.
The majority of passengers on the long-distance trains do not travel
between the endpoints, but rather to any combination of city pairs. For
example, the Southwest Chief, which travels from Chicago to Los Angeles
via Kansas City, has 33 stops, creating 528 possible trip combinations.
Measuring Financial Performance of Long-Distance Trains
Most of Amtrak's expenditures are due to the immense capital needs of its
infrastructure, particularly the Northeast Corridor, not the operating
costs of the long-distance trains. These operating cost figures should be
cited with caution. Critics often refer to the "loss per passenger" of
the long-distance trains. However, each long-distance train passenger is
the equivalent of five short distance train passengers because of the
greater distances traveled. More importantly, these "loss per passenger"
figures often include not only the "avoidable" costs of operating
individual long-distance trains (such as the cost of diesel fuel) but all
of the shared costs that Amtrak incurs for the benefit of both
long-distance and corridor trains (such as the cost of mechanical
facilities, Amtrak's computer systems, and stations like Los Angeles
Union Station). Including shared costs produces inflated and misleading
"loss" figures, since these costs will not go away if long-distance
trains are eliminated.
Eliminating all long-distance trains would produce negligible cost
savings in the first few years because Amtrak must pay labor protection
to impacted employees. When these payments end after five years, the
savings would still be minimal - around $300 million annually, or about a
quarter of Amtrak's annual appropriation in 2004 and 2005. Eliminating
individual trains produces even fewer savings - most of the shared costs
of Amtrak's long-distance network, such as the costs of maintenance
facilities that serve multiple long-distance trains, would remain.
Additionally, Amtrak continues to make changes to its long-distance
trains that will improve revenue and finances for the system. Amtrak
exited from the mail and express business in 2004, resulting in shorter
and more convenient schedules, with reduced labor costs. The repair of
wreck-damaged equipment continues and will allow Amtrak to increase
capacity, and therefore revenues, on long-distance trains, which often
sell out. These changes should help further reduce the losses of
long-distance trains.
[End quote]

3) Word arrived at URPA about a good Amtrak travel experience at the
beginning of the Thanksgiving holiday last week.

[Begin quote]

I arrived yesterday (Sunday, November 19th) in Jacksonville on No. 97
[The Silver Meteor]. I boarded in Trenton [New Jersey] where sleeping car
attendant "Naim'' pleasantly greeted me and welcomed me on board.
Contrary to the negative comments I've read about "Diner Light," it
turned out to be "Diner Medium-Heavy." The food was surprisingly good,
with a nice, well cooked pork chop, potato and broccoli. Ice cream ,
unfortunately, is now just a memory and bacon is gone from the breakfast
menu. The real disappointment, however, was the cheap imitation plastic
disposable plates and cups, instead of the nice china, a victim of
"Simplified Dining." Another victim was the lone cook, obviously
over-worked, but he did something I never saw before - he came out of the
kitchen, went from table to table asking everyone how the food is, are
you enjoying it and is it cooked just right? We all looked at each other
in amazement! The three waiters provided excellent, friendly service. I
wish I had written down their names.
The CSX trackage is smooth and 97 moved like a rocket on rails. Because
of minimal freight traffic overnight and a heavily padded schedule, we
arrived 15 minutes early!
By the way, the dining car still features nice silverware carefully
wrapped in a cloth napkin, but plastic utensils are probably next, with
paper napkins! My roomette was clean and the bed comfortable, but the
lack of hot water was annoying!
I could have flown and saved about $500, but I hate the airlines and the
dehumanizing, Nazi-like treatment when you check in - you have to take
off your shoes, pull down your pants and get rid of your toothpaste and
shampoo. On civilized Amtrak, however, my shoes stay on, my pants up and
I keep my shaving razor, toothbrush and nail clippers! Such is the state
of airline travel today in post-"911" America.
... Well, I'll be here in Jacksonville until Nov. 28 and am certain I'll
have a good return trip, but I have plenty of time to return, and am
hoping there's a disabled CSX freight ahead and we detour via Waycross!!!


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


[End quote]

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

[Begin quote]

The California Zephyr, departing Chicago on Monday, November 20th, got
stuck in rural Iowa east of Osceola, behind a BNSF coal train derailment
-- for more than 10 hours. The local TV station quoted passengers as
saying that NO Amtrak crew could be found on board to give passengers any
information, all night long, and the 800 number operators were equally
clueless, or prevaricating, all night long, and then, when movement was
authorized past the wreck site, the driver and conductor had expired and
the delay was extended waiting for a relief crew.

No explanation yet why the Zephyr couldn't have advanced to the station
at Osceola for the wait. According to the local television station, at
some point, Amtrak did offer the stranded passengers complimentary food
and beverages.

Two hundred and fifty passengers were on board. Downline, 30 passengers
were bused between Denver and Grand Junction, Colorado, 72 passengers
from Salt Lake City to Sacramento, and 80 more passengers between Reno
and Sacramento.

Those numbers compare well to the pre-Thanksgiving crush load in the NEC
on Wondertrain Acela 2151 (of Wednesday, November 22nd) enroute from
Boston to Washington, DC, doing its 3 billion dollar job relieving the
gridlock on I-95 and at Logan airport by transporting all of 57
passengers, when it broke down at 9:47 A.M. near Kingston, Rhode Island
with a broken pantograph. Those 57 NEC passengers didn't have to sit in
the dark all night with no information or food, however, because they
were soon transferred to 2153, which, miraculously, had open seats to
handle all of them -- on the day before Thanksgiving, in the vital NEC.

[End quote]

5) Here's a dreary piece of news. Amtrak has launched a motion picture
marketing tie-in with the new Warner Brothers Pictures, "Unaccompanied
Minors."

Beyond the good taste factor of America's only passenger railroad doing a
joint promotion with a movie about children traveling alone at Christmas
and being stranded in an airport, it's the prizes that really show a lack
of understanding.

Grand prize for the promotion is four round-trip coach tickets to
anywhere Amtrak serves. Big whoop.

Going back to basics, we know travel awarded as prizes is not charged to
anyone's budget, so the four tickets cost nothing. The winner will simply
occupy otherwise vacant space. Let's presume the prize winner lives, say,
in West Virginia, and wants to go to Los Angeles and return for the
prize. That means boarding a coach in West Virginia, and traveling all
the way to Los Angeles and back (without intermediate stopovers,
according to the rules) ... in a coach. Keep in mind all of the
connection possibilities between West Virginia and Los Angeles offer
sleeping car accommodations (which fall under the same budget cost as
coach seats - nothing). Here Amtrak ha a great opportunity to promote its
best service - it's highest revenue producing service - and it's offering
four coach seats.

Is it possible the Amtrak marketing department, as dismal as it is, is
only thinking someone living on a corridor such as the NEC or the West
Coast corridors are going to win and only want to travel in a short
distance by coach? Does anyone in the Amtrak marketing department fully
think these things through?

By all accounts, this is another gross error and missed opportunity.

6) The Wall Street Journal and other August publications are reporting an
effort by passenger jet manufacturers Airbus and Boeing, as well as the
airlines they supply with planes, to raise customer satisfaction levels
and increase returning passenger levels by (gasp!) coming up with new
first class amenities and comforts, including better in-flight food
service. These people have figured out that while a bus with wings may
serve a part of the travel market, it doesn't work for all of the travel
market, and many passengers are willing to pay for better service and
improved amenities. Amtrak, are you listening? VIA Rail Canada figured
this out nearly 20 years ago.

7) Amtrak equipment check: As of November 23rd, Thanksgiving Day, here is
what Amtrak had available.

Fleet out of service, locomotives - 11.1%
Fleet out of service, passenger cars - 8.7%

System, passenger cars
Active - 1,344
Required - 1,074
Available - 1,227

Comparison, January 22, 2003

System, passenger cars
Active - 1,546
Available - 1,318

For those keeping score, that is 202 less cars in 2006 than in 2003.
Plus, we know there are over 750 passenger cars in storage at Beech Grove
and other locations, out of service. If Amtrak put all of its out of
service passenger equipment back in the fleet, ready for service, either
train lengths (and revenue streams) would be considerably larger, or many
routes that now have minimal once a day service could be increased to
twice daily service, plus, the Sunset Limited and Cardinal could be made
daily and given the opportunity to be financial successes instead of
whipping boys for Amtrak critics.

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 info@unitedrail.org
http://www.unitedrail.org

Volume 3, Number 48

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

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

1) In years past, Amtrak in Chicago has struggled, often without success,
against the cruelties of harsh winter weather. It has often appeared that
like clockwork, Amtrak in Chicago has been caught totally unaware that
winter was coming, and preparations should have be made for the
convenience of passengers and personnel.

This year, Amtrak Chicago boss Don Saunders and his many employees appear
to have "gotten the drop" on Old Man Winter, as he blew in with a late
fall visit to the Midwest.

Here is a December 1st internal Amtrak report of the preparations made in
Chicago last week in preparation for the coming pre-Winter killer snow
and ice storm.

[Begin quote]

Winter Storm Warning, North Central US and Great Lakes Region

The first winter storm of the season is projected to bring heavy snow
from the southern Plains to the Great Lakes region, including Chicago, IL
and the surrounding areas. Forecasts from the National Weather Service
have light snow beginning mid to late afternoon on November 30, with the
heaviest snow moving into this area during the early morning hours of
December 1, 2006. Total accumulation of 10 to 12 inches is forecast for
portions of Kansas, Arkansas, Missouri, Illinois, Indiana and Michigan by
the time the storm moves out of the area on December 1, however moderate
temperatures may limit total accumulation near the Great Lakes.

Terminal Preparation: In Chicago, sleet, freezing rain and heavy snow is
forecast. Preparation for this weather event began on the afternoon of
November 30, 2006. Snow removal equipment was deployed, salt shed fully
stocked, salt applied to platform areas and walkways, switch pots were
lit, and tractors were deployed on platforms. Clean up and storage of
material including cables and air hoses was performed to minimize
tripping hazards and potential damage by plows. Extra forces from all
departments were on duty during the overnight and morning hours, and
rooms were secured at a local hotel for temporary housing for yard and
road crews, On Board Service crews as well as other forces from various
departments as required.

All trains and other rolling stock equipment were put on power and doors
were closed to prevent snow accumulation in vestibules and other weather
related damage. Equipment will be kept in the facility or under sheds to
keep trains out of the weather as much as possible during layover.

In accordance with the winter plan, salt, brooms and extra food stock was
deployed on trains for passenger safety, comfort and convenience in the
event of unexpected delay. Vendors were contacted at outlying facilities
to ensure their preparedness for the approaching storm.

Management personnel from Engineering, Transportation, Mechanical and
Passenger Services are on duty during the overnight hours when this storm
is expected to arrive.

[End quote]

And, a follow-up from the same internal Amtrak reporting source, on
December 2nd.

[Begin quote]

Winter Storm Warning, North Central US and Great Lakes Region

The first winter storm of the season in the Midwest is projected to bring
heavy snow from the southern Plains to the Great Lakes region, including
Chicago, IL and the surrounding areas. Heavy snow and ice conditions
occurred throughout the region.

In accordance with the winter plan, salt, brooms and extra food stock was
deployed on trains for passenger safety, comfort and convenience in the
event of unexpected delay. Vendors were contacted at outlying facilities
to ensure their preparedness for the approaching storm.

Train 300(01) was delayed operating between St. Louis and Alton due to
down trees and frozen switches. Train 302(01) coupled to 300(01) at Alton
and operated to Carlinville, where both trains were terminated when the
UPRR found extensive areas of downed trees between Carlinville and
Lincoln. Train 22(30) was operated to Carlinville and coupled to Trains
300(01) and 302(01). At Carlinville, the passengers were provided
alternate transportation to Chicago. A light locomotive was dispatched
from St. Louis, coupled to the three train sets and operated back to St.
Louis. At St. Louis, the equipment from Train 22(30) was turned and
serviced to represent Train 21(01), St. Louis to San Antonio. Trains
304(01) and 306(01) were cancelled, with alternate transportation
provided to Lincoln, where the passengers boarded equipment from Train
305(01).

Trains 301(01), 303(01), and 21(01) were able to operate from Chicago to
Lincoln, were they were terminated, due to the above mentioned
conditions. Alternate transportation from St. Louis was provided to the
passengers traveling between Lincoln and St. Louis. 90 passengers were
taken to the Logan County Emergency Center to await 2 additional buses
for St. Louis. Train 305(01) was also terminated at Lincoln and
passengers provided alternate transportation to St. Louis. Train 305(01)
equipment then coupled to Trains 301(01), 303(01), and 21(01) and
operated back to Chicago. Train 307(01) was operated to
Bloomington–Normal, terminated, and returned to Chicago. There were no
passengers traveling beyond Chicago.

The following service was cancelled on 12/02/06:

Trains 300/301/302/303(CHI-STL)/304(KCY-STL)/380/381/382.
Train 22(01) was canceled STL-CHI, with alternate transportation.
Delay: Bus 8304(30) Cancelled
Bus 8303(01) Cancelled
316(30) 7’00"
300(01) 1’55" STL, Equipment off 300(30)
2’00" WR-Wan
Terminated at CRV
301(01) Terminated at LCN
303(01) Terminated at LCN
304(01) Cancelled
306(01) Cancelled
307(30) 2’10"
Terminated at BNL
302(01) 41" STL, Equipment off 307(1)
2’00" WR-Wann
Terminated at CRV
22(30) Terminated at CRV
21(30) 55" Striking ice laden trees, hanging in ROW
26" PBF, repairing damaged ditch lights
21(01) Cancelled LCN-STL
380(01) 46" No transportation for crew from hotel; BNSF provided
transportation
2’22" Frozen switches, blowing & drifting snow
821(01) 45" Crew-rest off 820(30)/transportation problems from hotel

[End quote]

Plus, the follow-up from the same report for Sunday, December 3rd.

[Begin quote]

Winter Storm Warning, North Central US and Great Lakes Region

The first winter storm of the season in the Midwest is projected to bring
heavy snow from the southern Plains to the Great Lakes region, including
Chicago, IL and the surrounding areas. Heavy snow and ice conditions
occurred throughout the region.

The following service was cancelled on 12/02/06:
Trains 300/301/302/303/304/305/306/307/313/314/316/380/381/382 with no
alternate transportation.
Train 22(01) was canceled STL-CHI, with alternate transportation, and
equipment turned at STL to operate for 21(02) STL-SAS.
Train 21(02) was canceled CHI-STL, with alternate transportation to STL
and train service from STL-SAS.

The following service was cancelled on 12/03/06:
300/301/302/305/306/307/313/316/303 SPI-STL/304 STL-SPI with no alternate
transportation.
Train 22(02) was canceled STL-CHI, with alternate transportation, and
equipment turned at STL to operate for 21(02) STL-SAS.
Train 21(03) was canceled CHI-STL, with alternate transportation to STL
and train service from STL-SAS.
Train 21(01) was terminated at Ft. Worth due to late operation.
Passengers were provided alternate transportation between Ft. Worth and
San Antonio. The equipment was turned and serviced to represent Train
22(03) Ft. Worth to Chicago.

Delays: 311(02) 45" Initial terminal Delay
5’11"
21(01) 4’07" STL-PBF
Terminated at FTW
22(01) 4’13" WNR-STL

[End quote]

The storm was so severe, it’s hard to understand just numbers. Here is a
narrative provided by an anonymous Amtrak employee.

[Begin quote]

Not one of the Chicago-St. Louis or St. Louis-Chicago trains made it into
their final terminals on Friday, December 1st. Not ONE!

Lincoln Service train no. 301 made it as far as Elkhart, Illinois (just
north of Springfield), where the UP dispatcher told them there was a
"telephone pole across the tracks" ahead, and then apparently could not
be contacted for over 3 hours. Lincoln Service train no. 303 (with a
newly promoted conductor working by himself) pulled up behind them and
eventually coupled up, then dragged the whole thing back to Lincoln,
Illinois. The train crews were told busses were on the way, and had told
their passengers to prepare to board busses, but they had not showed up
yet as of 8:30 P.M. Texas Eagle train no. 21 was advancing to couple up
to the combined train nos. 301-303 train sets; final disposition to be
determined.

Account Kansas City Mule train no. 316 (of November 30th departure)
arrived St. Louis 5:30 A.M. (due in at 10:10 P.M.) and crew would not be
rested to work Kansas City Mule train no. 311 (01), a conductor (train
operated with a conductor only) was pulled off his regular assignment and
train no. 311 barely departed St. Louis on time. The train departed St.
Louis with a dozen UP relief crews, to be dropped off where UP freight
trains had been sitting since their crews' Hours of Service expired.

That lone conductor got off at Jefferson City, Missouri to work Ann
Rutledge train no. 304 back to St. Louis, and ran out on Hours of Service
at Webster Groves, Missouri after following an eastbound coal train to
Kirkwood; picking up stranded UP freight crews along the way; and sitting
for three hours waiting for UP freight trains out of St. Louis that never
showed up. Train 304 finally arrived St. Louis about seven hours late,
but most of the passengers on 304 had given up and got off at Kirkwood,
anyway.

More than an hour of that delay was caused by a frozen compressor on AMTK
34 [locomotive] that had to be thawed out; the rest was due to delays on
the railroad enroute.

On Saturday morning, December 2nd:

Two routes out of Chicago ... St. Louis and Quincy ... were in a major
state of meltdown. Amtrak Central Division Operations set up conference
calls one after another to try and figure a way out of the morass, but
problems kept cropping up. Everything was going wrong: crew shortages in
Chicago, both road and yard; and in St. Louis and Kansas City. A shortage
of operable engines in Chicago. Equipment out of position at Chicago and
St. Louis.

Just on the UP Springfield Sub there were 34 locations without power
Saturday morning, and 45 grade crossings under "stop and protect" orders.
On the ex-Missouri Pacific tracks west of St. Louis, UP freight trains
were tied down all over the place with Amtrak stuck in that mess.

And THEN:

Despite what Amtrak Central Division wanted to do, UP refused to accept
the Texas Eagle, train no. 21 (2). It was bustituted to St. Louis and the
equipment at St. Louis from northbound Texas Eagle train no. 22 was
turned to a new southbound train no. 21. The crew rotation went out the
window; patch crews are being used to run the trains.

There was an extra set of equipment in Chicago that someone suggested be
sent out to see how bad things are, and even a crew to operate it. It
even had an operable cab car, so they could turn around and go home if it
got THAT bad. That plan went on hold until it could be discussed at yet a
fourth late afternoon conference call; and was ultimately abandoned.

Meanwhile the St. Louis-Kansas City service was cancelled, with the MoPac
blocked up solid with UP trains and no more crews, as they needed the
ones they had to dogcatch [substitute for] the ones yesterday, just to
bring them in to terminals.

What else could they do? Punt?

Later Saturday, it looked like a punt:

[From the Amtrak computerized reservations system]

******* NATIONAL OPERATIONS CENTER ADVISORY ***************

ISSUED 02DEC06 WILMINGTON, DE

DUE TO EXTREME WEATHER CONDITIONS, AMTRAK HAS BEEN FORCED TO TEMPORARILY
SUSPEND SERVICE BETWEEN CHI-STL. THE RECENT STORM THAT PASSED THROUGH THE
AREA HAS LEFT PORTIONS OF THE UPRR MAINLINE WHICH WE OPERATE OVER
CURRENTLY IMPASSIBLE.

And, if that was not enough ...

Illinois Zephyr train no. 383 (1) was terminated at Mendota, Illinois due
to mechanical issues on AMTK 169 [locomotive]. No traction; head end
power remained okay so at least the passengers didn't freeze. BNSF was to
drop a freight unit to rescue, but it turned out they could not do so
because that BNSF engine had mechanical problems, also. No buses
available. Carl Sandburg train no. 382 (1) coupled to train no. 383 and
they operated combined as train no. 382 (1), back to Chicago, arriving 3
hours and 40 minutes late. Passengers off train no. 383 were put up
overnight in hotels.

[End quote]

Do you ever wonder what it costs Amtrak (and/or you, the taxpayer when
the federal government is coughing up free federal monies for Amtrak
subsidies) to pick up the inconvenience tabs for stranded or
mis-connected passengers due to late or stranded trains?

On November 30th, seven passengers arriving Chicago on the Empire Builder
missed their connecting trains. A combination of taxis, commercial bus
service, and a charter van got the passengers to their final
destinations, at a total expense of $572.00 to Amtrak.

That same day, 60 passengers arriving Chicago on the California Zephyr
missed their connecting trains. Fifty-four passengers were housed in 42
hotel rooms for a total of $4,777.50. The cost of meals was $1,639.00. A
combination of taxis, commercial bus service and a charter bus was
$2,165.00, for a total of $8,580.50 for one late train.

On December 2nd in Chicago, 29 Texas Eagle passengers missed their
connections, for a total cost of $3,641.11 for hotels, meals, and other
transportation.

That same day in Chicago, two passengers from the Southwest Chief also
missed connections, for a total cost of $199.17 for hotels, meals, and
other transportation.

It is obvious to see the incentive for any business to operate as
promised, when dealing with passengers. This is what happens when host
railroads run Amtrak trains late, or Amtrak equipment plagued with
mechanical failures due to internal problems causes train delays.

3) If you haven't bought a Christmas card to send to former Amtrak
President and CEO and now New Jersey Transit Executive Director George D.
Warrington, go out and find the largest, most lavish card you can find
and spend whatever postage is necessary for him to receive the card
before Christmas Eve.

Mr. Warrington, possibly one of the worst presidents Amtrak ever suffered
under, is helping to float the idea of a business group supporting a
compact of states and the federal government (not Amtrak) assuming
ownership of the infrastructure of Amtrak Northeast Corridor. Called the
Northeast Corridor Action Plan, Amtrak would still manage the corridor,
but not be responsible for maintenance of way or upgrades to the track
and other infrastructure.

You may recall just a short year ago, when TWA reported this idea as
coming from the Amtrak Board of Directors, there was a storm of media
criticism and unnecessary posturing by NEC politicians how the Republic
would fall if Amtrak did not own the NEC and continue to pour countless
billions of dollars into the rehabilitation of the NEC for the
convenience and comfort of commuters and travelers in the Northeast. Many
were sure this plan was the result of Evil Republicans out to
systematically destroy Amtrak and all that America stands for. Now that
Democrats will control Congress starting next month for the next two
years, a positive, guarded reception to the idea seems to be forthcoming
from everyone, except, of course, Amtrak itself.

Quoted on November 29th on NorthJersey.com (a coalition of Northern New
Jersey newspapers), Cliff Black, one of Amtrak’s most respected
spokesmen, said, "A change in ownership won't change the underlying
funding needs for the corridor or the process to obtain that funding - it
just sidesteps the issue."

Well, yes, Mr. Black, it won't change the funding needs, but it will put
the funding needs in a clear spotlight, in a defined category to be
determined by Congress and supporting states, and it will keep that
argument away from the fundamental issue of Amtrak, which is operating a
viable national system, not the NEC and a subsidiary of the NEC, known as
the Amtrak national system.

Contained in Amtrak’s November 15th progress report to Congress, for the
fiscal year ending September 30, 2006, Amtrak reported total operating
revenue of $2,502,000,000, including $139,400,000 in state support, and
$485,100,000 in federal support. Whoops! If Amtrak only received $485
million in operating support, that means for the federal monies which
flowed into Amtrak, more than another $800 million went into other areas
(that translates to mostly into the NEC infrastructure). Would not it be
better if Amtrak’s annual federal budget begfest was for around half a
billion dollars instead of the usual figure of three times that much? The
incoming Democrat chairman of the House of Representatives railroad
committee which oversees Amtrak says he wants to give more money to
Amtrak so it won't always be struggled to meet payroll and buy paper
towels for restrooms. If Amtrak is receiving around $1.3 billion a year
now, and less than $500 million of that is going to operations for all
trains (including NEC operations), does that mean he wants to give more
money to NEC states for Amtrak infrastructure there? If the NEC was taken
away from Amtrak, the needs of Amtrak on a national basis would be much
clearer. The debate would be friendlier, and more meaningful.

The scenario of NEC states in conjunction with the federal government
taking over the NEC infrastructure is perfect for Amtrak, and is probably
another step in a long process wisely began by the Amtrak Board of
Directors in 2005 to allow Amtrak to be a successful company without the
millstone of the NEC’s infrastructure costs. Many will recall this was
one of the fundamental disagreements between mercifully departed Amtrak
President and CEO David Gunn and the board.

It’s amazing how the "not invented here" disease can be quickly cured
when the same proposal comes from the NEC states instead of the Amtrak
board. Whoever has the final plan for this great idea should take a medal
out of petty cash. Everyone will win with this proposal, especially
Amtrak, so it can rightfully focus on the national system, and not almost
exclusively on the NEC.

3) CLARIFICATION: Last week, TWA reported on Amtrak’s active and inactive
fleet of passenger equipment. Some readers did not understand Amtrak owns
two fleets of equipment. The first fleet, what Amtrak calls its "Active"
fleet, are all of the cars assigned to equipment pools for the operation
of current trains, and as "protect" equipment, to be used when regularly
assigned equipment is either out of service for routine maintenance or
needed because equipment may be isolated away from a terminal and
unavailable for use due to a freight train derailment, adverse weather
conditions, or other unforeseen difficulty.

There is a second pool of equipment, consisting of Amtrak’s current
models of cars, that is not on the "Active" roster. This equipment is
considered surplus by Amtrak, and has either been wrecked and not
repaired, allowed to fall out of required inspection routines, or not
considered necessary for the normal operations of the railroad. This pool
consists of about 750 pieces of equipment (and does not include counts of
any Heritage fleet equipment that was recently disposed of by Amtrak).

The active fleet consists of 1,344 cars of all types including
Superliners, Viewliners, Amfleet, Horizon, Heritage diners and crew cars,
and other equipment.

4) It’s lonely here in Florida, looking in vain westward down the CSX
tracks, hoping, just hoping, a Sunset Limited may be coming along, since
CSX released the track to Amtrak April 1, 2006 for use by the Sunset
Limited east of New Orleans after it was repaired from damage by
Hurricane Katrina.

It’s hard to understand how Amtrak can run bus connections from
hurricane-damaged areas such as Mobile, Alabama, but can't run a train
over a spectacularly rebuilt piece of railroad track. One has to presume
that for a certain element of the population, being in the bus business
may be considered a plus. However, if you're in the train business, like
Amtrak, being in the bus business is a poor second choice for passenger
convenience and comfort.


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All other correspondence should be addressed to
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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
brucerichardson@unitedrail.org
http://www.unitedrai...@unitedrail.org

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 info@unitedrail.org
http://www.unitedrail.org

Volume 3, Number 49


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

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

1) Last week, here at This Week, we noted for the previous week how
Amtrak Chicago boss Don Saunders and his many employees appeared to have
"gotten the drop" on Old Man Winter, as he blew into the Midwest during a
late fall visit.

We noted that in years past, Amtrak in Chicago has struggled, often
without success, against the cruelties of harsh winter weather. It has
often appeared that like clockwork, Amtrak in Chicago has been caught
totally unaware that winter was coming, and preparations should have be
made for the convenience of passengers and personnel.

It can be said with some surety Mr. Saunders and his Chicago operations
employees did what they were supposed to do to be prepared for the storm.
It's too bad the folks at Amtrak's National Operations Center in
Wilmington, Delaware didn't do as well as Mr. Saunders to keep things
going for the benefit of Amtrak's passengers and crews who were battling
the elements. Mr. Saunders got the trains out of the terminals and on the
road. It's what happened then that things went far awry.

2) With the kind permission of The State Journal-Register newspaper of
Springfield, Illinois, which has been a leader in Illinois covering
Amtrak issues, we reprint two news reports of Friday, December 8, 2006.

[Begin quote]

Ordeal on the tracks
When storm hit, hundreds rued choosing Amtrak

By PETE SHERMAN
STAFF WRITER
Published Friday, December 08, 2006

Friday afternoon at Chicago's Union Station, Jason Moulton bought his
train ticket home to Springfield.

He had come a long way - from Milan, Italy. Moulton, 26, had been
working in France the past six months learning the wine trade. He was
looking forward to a relaxing trip home. Amtrak seemed like a good way
to finish the journey.

At the ticket counter, an Amtrak clerk informed Moulton that his train
to Springfield, set to leave at 5 p.m., would make its final stop in
Lincoln. From there, passengers would take buses to their destinations,
ranging from Springfield to St. Louis.

Fine, Moulton thought. He knew the weather was bad and figured there'd
be adjustments.

Roughly 15 minutes before boarding time, however, plans changed again.
An announcement was made that the train would, after all, make its way
to Springfield.

At that point, he had a feeling that "a lot of weird things are going on
with Amtrak today."

What Moulton did not know - along with, apparently, every Amtrak
officialin Chicago - was that the three trains already headed south from
Union Station were struggling. Ice-covered tree limbs and power lines
had fallen over tracks in central Illinois. Electric switches weren't
working. Conductors were stopping the trains so crews could get out and
manually switch tracks and remove debris.

None of those trains made it past Lincoln, where Amtrak failed to
provide enough buses for everyone.

But that was only one incident among many that eventually made a bad
situation an ordeal for hundreds of passengers in the four trains headed
south from Chicago.

For the first half of the trip, Moulton's train kept a modest, steady
pace. But starting at Bloomington, it slowed to a crawl.

Between 8:30 and 9 p.m., Moulton said, the conductor announced a "90
percent" chance the train would stop in Lincoln, as Moulton originally
was told.

Moulton and the other passengers also learned the three trains ahead of
them were stuck near Lincoln.

Brian and Kate Flanagan of Evanston were on the first train, which had
left Chicago at 7 a.m. - more than half a day earlier. With their two
children, Brian, 20 months, and Mary Kate, one month, the Flanagans were
on their way to a wedding in St. Louis.

About the same time Moulton and his fellow passengers were re-informed
they would be stopping in Lincoln, the Flanagan family and fellow
passengers on the first train had been stuck on the other side of town
for hours.

"We had moved from a cornfield south of Lincoln, where we had been for
seven, eight hours," Brian Flanagan said by phone Thursday. "We rolled
back to Lincoln. We sat there for - time blurs - hours."

Out his window, Flanagan could see the buses waiting. He and his wife
also were running out of baby formula for Mary Kate. Many passengers
wanted to get off the train, but Amtrak employees wouldn't let them.

"I had had it by that point," Flanagan said. "We were 14 hours into it.
I lost my patience."

But when Flanagan approached an Amtrak employee, demanding information,
"I was told they weren't on duty anymore," he said.

"Quite frankly, that wasn't the answer I was looking for."

Federal law apparently prohibits Amtrak employees from working longer
than 12-hour shifts unless OK'd by superiors. Having passed that mark,
and with no orders to keep working, several train employees called it
quits.

On Moulton's train, the delayed passengers also were growing more
frustrated.

It didn't help when, at one stopping point, the conductor came into
Moulton's car and began shouting at a woman sitting next to him, accusing
her of dialing 911 to complain, he said.

According to Logan County Emergency Management Agency officials, at
least two passengers traveling in the four trains did call 911. But this
woman wasn't one of them, Moulton said.

"The conductor began screaming at this woman - 'Why did you call 911?'"
Moulton said. "It bothered a lot of us who knew she never made the phone
call. She had a right to call 911, anyway."

Things got worse.

As Moulton's train attempted to pull closer to the Lincoln station, it
stalled. Then the power went out. And, along with it, the heat.

"It was for a good 45 minutes to an hour," Moulton said. "It started
getting cold."

Moulton said the passengers could see it wasn't a long walk to the
station, where buses were waiting.

"Then the conductor made a point of announcing that anyone leaving the
train will be arrested," Moulton said. The conductor even enlisted the
snack car cashier to report passengers going AWOL.

When that employee left her station, "mob mentality set in," Moulton
said.

"The passengers started raiding the snack car. It was getting a little
bit out of hand. We were hungry and thirsty. People took it upon
themselves to go for the bottled water, at least."

About 9 p.m., Flanagan, desperate to get baby formula for Mary Kate,
dialed 911 on his cell phone. Another passenger, calling about someone
needing insulin, also dialed 911.

Both calls made their way to Dan Fulscher, director of the Logan County
EMA.

"People were on the train for 15 hours," Fulscher recalled Wednesday.
"They needed help. I go, 'OK.'"

One of the first things Fulscher did was dial Amtrak's emergency hotline.

"I was put on hold twice, then disconnected. On the third call, in an
elevated voice, I let them know who I am. That I need to talk to who's
in charge. They put me with some guy from Philadelphia. He confirms
three trains are stopped somewhere in central Illinois."

Fulscher also called the Illinois Emergency Management Agency's
operation center in Springfield.

"(Springfield) was astonished they had not been made aware that
passengers in trains were stranded in the storm," he said.

The Amtrak official told Fulscher that, of the three stuck trains, only
one was near Lincoln.

Of course, there were four trains. All at Lincoln.

Approaching 10 p.m., Fulscher and his Logan County crew made their way
to the Lincoln depot to help passengers from the first train, the one
that had left Chicago at 7 a.m.

At roughly the same time, local law enforcement got on Moulton's train
and began arguing with the conductor.

They wanted her name. She wanted theirs. The officers asked the
conductor what authority she had to arrest anyone who wanted to leave.
The conductor said she was following Amtrak policy, that it was illegal.

Then the officers accused the conductor of kidnapping the passengers.

"At that point, the conductor 'wakes up,' " said Moulton, who tried to
record the confrontation with his video camera. "At the same time this
is happening, family members are coming up to our train and screaming
for their relatives. 'That's my daughter! Get her off this train now!'"

"Then people start jumping off the train."

Attempts to reach the conductor through Amtrak were unsuccessful.

Moulton decided to remain on the train. Eventually, the power returned
and the train gradually made it to a crossing near the depot.

Fulscher's Logan County emergency fleet still believed he and his team
were arriving to help passengers from just one train.

"I see people coming off the train, believing this is all there is," he
said. Then he saw others appearing from the darkness behind the first
train, some having walked with their luggage for blocks.

"I look at some Amtrak employees and say, 'I thought your people said
one train,'" Fulscher recalled.

"No, there's four," they told him.

The conductor from Moulton's train met with Fulscher and demanded he
help her establish a head count.

"That's something you should be telling me," Fulscher shot back.

What he said next differs slightly based on various accounts. But all
versions agree in basic form.

"You're in Logan County now," Fulscher said, in more words or less. "And
we're taking charge of these passengers."

The buses that were supposed to be waiting for Moulton and the other
passengers on his train had left by the time they made their way to the
boarding area.

"We're not only stuck there. We had no place to go," Moulton said.

Then, he spotted the emergency management team.

"Maybe 10 vehicles, an ambulance, a pickup, Ford Broncos," Moulton said.
"Lincoln had banded together to transport us in our moment of need."

Fulscher and his crew gathered the remaining dozens of passengers from
Moulton's train and took them to the county's emergency safety complex
in Lincoln. Downstairs, he let them know he'd do his best to get them
home. Moulton video-recorded Fulscher's speech. On Moulton's tape, you
can hear a man off camera calling Fulscher, "Santa Claus."

"Mainly they wanted to hear someone tell them what's going on," Fulscher
said.

About 3 a.m., as his team worked on finding transportation, Fulscher
woke up the owner of a local pizzeria, who quickly baked up a dozen or
so pizzas. Fulscher woke up a local school bus driver and commandeered a
nursing home shuttle bus.

Eventually, he got enough vehicles lined up to get people on the road
again, providing a police escort just in case. When the passengers
arrived in Springfield, the emergency crews helped scrape ice off the
cars the passengers had parked there days before.

Approaching 6 a.m., Moulton finally arrived in Springfield. Another
passenger offered him a ride. It took them 45 minutes to scrape all the
ice off the car. Moulton didn't get to bed until 7:30 a.m. - 2:30 p.m.
in Milan.

"I'm astonished between the difference in European trains and Amtrak,"
Moulton said. "I haven't taken Amtrak in years. This is most likely my
last time."

Flanagan and his family had arrived in Springfield hours earlier, but
they were too late to make the wedding. They stayed overnight in a hotel
and rented a car to drive to St. Louis on Saturday. They at least made a
post-wedding party.

Like Moulton, Flanagan said his regard for Amtrak isn't high.

"To some degree, I have an ax to grind over Amtrak," he said. "If they
look bad, I'm not concerned."

Pete Sherman can be reached at 788-1539 or pete.sherman@sj-r.com.

All Content © The State Journal-Register

[Mr. Sherman's follow-up article, the same day.]

Amtrak responds

By PETE SHERMAN
STAFF WRITER
Published Friday, December 08, 2006

Amtrak officials say they're trying to figure out what caused a massive
breakdown in communication during the snow and ice storm that stranded
four trains with hundreds of passengers for roughly 14 hours near
Lincoln last Friday.

Passengers were uninformed about the delays, and some were told they'd
be arrested if they tried to leave the train once it had stalled. After
12 hours in the train, some staff claimed they were off duty and
couldn't help. At least two passengers dialed 911 from inside their
train cars.

At one point, a set of passengers, noticing their snack car had been
abandoned, began to raid it.

By the time all the passengers had disembarked at Lincoln, dozens were
left stranded because Amtrak provided too few buses to finish the trek.
Eventually, a squad from Logan County's Emergency Management Agency took
away Amtrak's control of passengers.

"We want to make it clear to passengers that we're greatly concerned
about what they experienced that night," said Amtrak spokesman Marc
Magliari. "We're planning a series of debriefings to come up with
lessons learned from this experience."

"We also very much appreciate Logan County emergency services and law
enforcement," he said. "It was not a situation we could have
anticipated."

Amtrak employees are trained to follow specific safety policies,
Magliari said.

"We don't want people getting off of a train when it's not safe to," he
said. "It's a pretty big step from some of these cars to the ground,
especially in a snowstorm. Some of these tracks are near steep
embankments. It's not a safe place to get off."

Still, Magliari acknowledges that Amtrak has much to improve upon.

"We need to improve communication. We do want to know which employees
preformed well and which ones didn't," he said.

Magliari said there also are plans to assess Amtrak's training for
emergencies.

"Later this month, we'll be meeting with the Illinois Emergency
Management Agency and the Illinois Department of Transportation to find
out better what the communication and sheltering resources are, should
something like this occur again," he said.

Anyone with concerns about Amtrak service, in general or on Friday in
particular, can call its public relations office at (800) 872-7245, or
(800) USA-RAIL. The automated operator can be bypassed simply by saying
"agent."

Pete Sherman can be reached at 788-1539 or pete.sherman@sj-r.com.

All Content © The State Journal-Register

[End quote]

3) The above is pretty awful stuff. Three Amtrak presidents ago (It's
hard to keep track of all of them), in the 1990s, Amtrak's long and
short distance trains were broken up into business groups, versus
today's divisions. The change to divisions was "supposed" to make Amtrak
more like a railroad, but that line of reasoning escapes everyone who
knows anything about passenger service or basic customer service.

Under today's system of divisions, managers of each division are
responsible for all Amtrak trains in their territory. They are
responsible for only those trains in their territory. Once the train
enters another division, their responsibility for that train disappears.
CNOC (Amtrak's central national ops center in Wilmington, Delaware) is
supposed to be the central coordinating authority for all trains, crews,
and passenger needs. They are the ones who are supposed to contract for
busses, handle emergency situations, and make sure things go smoothly.
If something happens on the Northeast Corridor where CNOC is located,
the problem is often solved quickly. If something happens in what CNOC
considers bow and arrow country, which is defined as west of Harrisburg,
Pennsylvania, and south of Washington, D.C., Amtrak crews are often left
up to their own devices to solve problems beyond the minimal help
provided by CNOC.

Under the old product line system, there were general managers of each
business group, and individual product line directors (managers) who
were responsible for a single long distance train (or groups of short
distance trains) every minute each train was rolling over the road. The
product line directors had service managers at each terminal, plus at
critical points along the way who kept constant watch on crews and train
progress. When a situation like what above happened, it was up to a
product line director, and when necessary, the help of a general
manager, to make sure all passengers were taken care of, and problems
were resolved.

Clearly, two things are evident. One, the current system doesn't work,
based on the number of reports this year in TWA which have highlighted
so many service failures by CNOC. Second, somebody needs to go back to
"owning" these trains, and be responsible for them all of the time.
Today, no one is held accountable for failures. Product line directors
and general managers were accountable, and it showed. Personal
responsibility is a good thing. Amtrak needs more personal
responsibility among its managers.


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The situation described in those news and eyewitness reports borders on criminal negligence as I see it. The dispatchers on the host railroad undoubtedly knew where those trains were, and that they were basically stranded, with passengers on board, and they were abundantly aware of the prevailing environmental (weather) conditions. When and what was the communication (if any) between those dispatchers and Amtrak NOC? If there WAS communication between those two entities that established the location of those trains and the fact that they were stranded with passengers, where and what (if any) was the communication from NOC to deal with it? If anything, Amtrak should have been the ones in contact with the local emergency agencies. Somebody, or several somebodies, need to be looking for new employment after that fiasco, and NOC and the Board need to send up prayers of gratitude that their incompetence didn't result in anyone's death.
Just out of curiosity, just what exactly does the Hours of Service law say about situations where the safety of life and property is in direct jeopardy but time has run out? The pilot in command of an aircraft, small plane or airliner, in an emergency, has the authority to basically throw out any and all FAA regulations regarding the operation of that aircraft that the pilot determines is necessary under the circumstances, in order to save lives. Is there a corollary to that in the rail Hours of Service law?

This is very disturbing with how CNOC and Amtrak handled it. The Conductor who wanted to arrest the Passengers for leaving needs to be shown the door. Stories like these make me question my support of Amtrak, I believe it is a good thing that these stories get out to the press for the fact that Amtrak NEEDS to learn from these apperntly they haven't.

AmtrakFan, on Wed, Dec 13, 2006, 07:07 PM, said:

Disturbing to say the least,

If Amtrak was already having problems with previous trains, why did it send out more??
Why did UP allow more trains out on it's tracks if others were having problems?? I will probably be taken to task for this, but I'm sorry, EVEN trains are not all weather conveyance...they too can be pole-axed by the weather...the story makes my point.

These trains should have been canceled and the passengers had their money refunded....they would have understood at this point. At least they could have remained in Chicago, warm, dry, and fed. I also agree with AmtrakWPK, once the situtation becomes critical, the hours of service law should automatically be suspended. And by the way, who was going to be doing the arresting? the foolish conductor and her crew of "it's not my problem?" Do you think the police would have arrested anyone in this situation?

The sad thing about this, is that each of the people who had a bad experience will tell others and the bad experience will mushroom into lack of passengers and lack of support from the public. I am saddened and angry by this story and I hope that Andrew Kummant will be kicking some butt, preferably starting with this train crew.

Not too much different than what the Freights have done on a daily basis. I remember sitting outside of Little Rock for 6 hours, because of "congestion." We sat 5 miles outside of San Jose for "track repair," for nearly 4 hours.

After reading this it makes me wonder if frontal lobotomy is a requirement for employment at Amtrak and Union Pacific. I would not even try to discest the overwhelming lack of sense displayed by all involved. - that is except the local people in Logan County.

This Week at Amtrak; December 21, 2006

A weekly digest of events, opinions, and forecasts from
United Rail Passenger Alliance, Inc.
1526 University Boulevard, West, PMB 203
Jacksonville, Florida 32217-2006 USA
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Volume 3, Number 50


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

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

SPECIAL NOTE: This is the 50th and final TWA for 2006, unless breaking
news warrants publication between now and the first week in January,
2007. Thank you for reading and contributing to TWA in 2006.

1) For the last two weeks here at This Week at Amtrak, not to be confused
with Amtrak This Week, which is published by Amtrak for its employees
each week, we have been taking a weekly look at how Amtrak in Chicago
handled the early winter storm that blew through the Midwest in recent
weeks.

We have noted how this year, Amtrak Chicago has been well prepared for
the first winter storm from a mechanical standpoint. Unlike years past,
mechanical issues were not the problem when things got below freezing in
the Midwest.

We have also noted the fallacies of Amtrak's centralized national
operations control center in Wilmington, Delaware, and, as is so often
the case, for any stranded trains and passengers in what CNOC considers
"bow and arrow country" (defined as anything west of Harrisburg,
Pennsylvania, and south of Washington, D.C.), the cavalry is pretty slow
to come to the rescue.

The statement about CNOC stands, but it should be noted some Amtrak
managers have pointed out in the particular situation regarding the
Midwest storm, two other factors came into play.

First, Union Pacific Railroad, once upon a time, a long time ago, one of
the premier passenger railroad in the country, and today, often Amtrak's
worst nightmare (in recent years, a company spokesperson for Union
Pacific labeled passenger trains "novelty transportation"), kept telling
Amtrak during the storm the railroad, while temporarily blocked by
falling trees and other problems, would be open soon.

As far as we know, Union Pacific Railroad never told Amtrak not to
dispatch trains from Chicago to various points in the Midwest while the
storm was howling through the countryside.

Second, some of the Amtrak Central Division trains, headquartered in
Chicago, are dispatched by Amtrak personnel in Chicago. While the Chicago
dispatchers knew the trains sent out early in the day were stranded along
the way, they kept sending trains out while they were under the
impression that Union Pacific Railroad was, indeed, going to clear the
railroad and keep things fluid.

So, there is enough sin here to go around for everyone. CNOC didn't keep
tight enough reins on things and make sure employees on the trains had
proper coverage and replacements when necessary, along with enough busses
for stranded passengers. It was up to non-Amtrak local emergency
personnel to yet, again, bail Amtrak passengers out of a dangerous
situation.

Union Pacific Railroad kept an optimistic eye on things, but didn't
perform in clearing tracks, even when they said the tracks would be
cleared. In the face of such a strong storm, that is no surprise, but
someone should have said, "it's doubtful the railroad will be open"
instead of saying the tracks would be cleared under probably impossible
conditions.

Amtrak Chicago dispatchers should have used a few more grains of salt in
their decision making sending out later trains, even though UP said the
railroad would be open. If the early trains were not getting through,
chances are the later trains would not, either.

2) Perhaps some of the changes needed to solve problems like those noted
above are in the works. New Amtrak President and CEO Alex Kummant has
given the nation an early and worthy Christmas present with a long
overdue housecleaning at the upper levels of Amtrak management.

While it is always sad when someone loses their job, particularly at this
time of year, sometimes for the good of all, it must happen.

Notably gone are former head of marketing Barbara Richardson, and former
head of corporate communications William Schulz. With the exit of these
two executives, Mr. Kummant will be able to put a new, positive face on
Amtrak's message to the public, its passengers, and the news media. Two
executives closely intertwined with the Northeast Corridor are gone, and
replacing them is the hope a new message will be crafted that Amtrak's is
America's passenger railroad, not the Northeast - and then America's -
passenger railroad.

In the past, Amtrak's sales and marketing budget has been about $75
million dollars a year, roughly half of what it should be for the
revenues Amtrak generates before state and federal free monies are
included in revenue figures. The result of this, along with unfathomably
bad marketing strategies, has been that Amtrak is America's best kept
secret. Hopefully, a new head of marketing for Amtrak will be able to
quickly prove that a prudent investment in national marketing will erase
Amtrak's secret status, and the true demand for passenger train travel by
Americans and visitors to America will quickly come to the surface.

From a corporate communications (or public relations, as it also entails)
standpoint, Amtrak regularly misses huge opportunities to be innovative
in the news media from a feature story standpoint, and seems content to
only focus on damage control that has been caused by its previously
annual begfest for public monies. Corporate communications/public
relations is an art that can prove to be not only fruitful in results
when applied correctly, but can often be as, or perhaps more, powerful as
paid marketing campaigns.

Also gone is Amtrak's chief financial officer, with no permanent
replacement named. Again, this is a key position which must be open to
innovation as Amtrak moves to improve its financial reporting system. It
is much more critical to have someone who will not say "but, we've always
done it that way!" versus someone who wants to maintain the status quo.

Replaced is the head of Amtrak's legal department. The departing chief is
staying for 90 days to assist in the transition, and Eleanor Acheson, a
former assistant attorney general in the Clinton administration will be
the new legal boss.

Al Broadbent, the chief risk officer is gone, and replaced by James
McDonnell.

In an interesting move, the vice president of planning, Paul Nissenbaum,
has been replaced by Roy Johansen, a management consultant, and the
former VP is finishing some projects and later moving to another
executive position in Amtrak. This will be the first time in a long time
someone from outside the company - presumably without an agenda or
previous alliance other than that directed by the board of directors and
Mr. Kummant - has been in charge of shaping Amtrak's future.

Also gone is Tom Schmidt, the top transportation officer, who just joined
Amtrak earlier this year from CSX. This is surprising, considering his
short tenure, but comments have been made that since he was brought in by
Amtrak's recently departed acting president, he did not have much of a
constituency at Amtrak.

The chief customer service officer, Emmett Fremaux, will now report
directly to Mr. Kummant, and will now also have marketing and sales
reporting to him. Perhaps a notable change in Amtrak's corporate culture
and presentation to the traveling public would be to get rid of the
annoying phrase and title "customer service," and replace it with
"passenger service." Amtrak doesn't have customers, it has passengers.
The only customers Amtrak has are those who purchase services from Amtrak
(such as the commuter railroads who buy the service of Amtrak's operating
crews) and those who use what is left of Amtrak package express services.
Everyone who rides on a train is a passenger, not a customer. Thinking -
and using - the concept of "passengers" distinguishes Amtrak from all
other businesses, and focuses on its main reason for existence, the safe,
comfortable, reliable, and expedient carriage of passengers.

Everyone who is a close Amtrak watcher knows these first and important
changes should be only the tip of the proverbial iceberg. We all wait in
breathless anticipation of the many more needed changes to occur, on
behalf of the American taxpayer and Amtrak passengers.

3) Amtrak This Week, Amtrak's in-house employee publication for December
18, 2006, notes that an agreement has been reached with the TCU (union)
and Amtrak about new call center employees.

Amtrak had been studying the idea of outsourcing call center
(reservations center) work to save money. This new agreement solves that
problem, and keeps all call center activities in-house. Existing call
center employees will continue at their current wage and benefit levels,
and part-time employees may continue their employment at Amtrak in their
current status. However, new call center employees, hired after January
1, 2007, will be hired at a reduced wage rate to align that cost with the
rest of the domestic call center industry.

Amtrak has agreed not to outsource the call center operations for five
years, unless at least six months' notice is provided before or after the
end of the five year period, if the company chooses to outsource.

This agreement is a wonderful example of a company and one of its unions
working together to meet the needs of everyone. Current employees lose no
ground, new employees come in at a more reasonable rate for the company,
and everyone meets their goals. It's a win-win.

4) Amtrak is ending calendar year 2006 with the largest board of
directors it has had in years. There are six members, Chairman David
Laney, and R. Hunter Biden, Floyd Hall, Donna McLean, Mary Peters who is
the new Secretary of Transportation, and Enrique Sosa. Joining the board
ex-officio and non-voting is President and Chief Executive Officer Alex
Kummant.

5) The December edition of Amtrak Ink, the multi-page, monthly Amtrak
employee newsletter, features a front page story that shows why the head
of Amtrak's corporate communications department is mercifully departed.
The story is about a new effort to seek partnerships to rehabilitate many
of Amtrak's passenger stations. Considering the importance of this effort
about Amtrak station rehabilitation from a standpoint of the company
financially, how it will have a very positive impact on passengers
(again, the reason for Amtrak's existence), and how it will help promote
new business, one has to wonder why this has not been picked up by the
news media. But, if Amtrak hasn't told anyone, then it's no surprise this
is an unnecessary secret. Here's the story.

[Begin quote]

Web Site to Generate Investment in Station Rehabilitation

Leading the effort to bring together public officials and business
communities across the country to revitalize train stations, Amtrak
launched its Great American Stations Web site this month.

Acting as a central point for a range of station-related information, the
site provides information and resources associated with station
ownership, links to information about the Americans with Disabilities
Act, background about potential funding sources for rehabilitation and
upgrades, and advice on how to get started on renovations.

According to the site's editor, Suzi Andiman, the site is designed to
foster partnerships with local communities to make investments in
stations.

"Many stations are in need of renovations that could greatly benefit not
only the local community and traveling public, but also serve as an
economic development engine in the heart of a city or town," said
Andiman.

In addition to the site serving as a resource in and of itself, Amtrak's
own know-how is being made available to communities who want to learn
more about reinvigorating their stations. To that end, jurisdictions may
direct their station renovation-related questions to Government Affairs
department field directors. While Amtrak actually owns a relatively small
number of stations around the country, its employees have a great deal of
experience and knowledge to offer localities.

While the site was launched featuring the stations along the Empire
Builder route, it will ultimately feature all of the stations Amtrak
serves.

"As we build the site on a route-by-route basis, we have the opportunity
to really tailor it to the needs of its end-users," said Senior Director,
E-Commerce Kathleen Gordon. The site will be continually updated with new
routes; the California Zephyr is next.

The site also has the potential to become a great tool for the company's
departments, as it provides useful station information in one central
location. The site is found at www.greatamericanstations.com

The core members of the team that developed the Great American Stations
Web site reflect the multi-department collaborative effort behind the
endeavor. Accomplished mostly in-house, the project required
contributions from the E-Commerce, Amtrak Technologies, Government
Affairs, Customer Service and Corporate Communications departments.

[End quote]

6) A traveling URPA member who is a hardcore airline road warrior had an
opportunity to take a round-trip ride on Wondertrain Acela earlier in
December. Here is his report.

[Begin quote]

I got to use Acela trains on a recent business trip. I arrived at Penn
Station New York at 5:25 for 6:00 P.M. Acela 2119 to Washington. I stood
in the ticket line behind 20+ passengers, with just two agents at peak
Tuesday rush hour. They were in no hurry – the line is glacial. I boarded
with five minutes to spare, find the "quiet car," and get settled.

Train leaves on time, moves three car lengths, stops, then lurches
through the track ladder to the Hudson tunnel. The train is 80% full. The
conductors enforce the Quiet Car rule: no cell phones, no loud talking.

Through Secaucus Junction on rough track at 55 MPH. Trucks are very
noisy. Quiet Car rules don't seem to apply to the conductor's radio. Trip
to Newark very ordinary: rough, and not very fast.

Leave Newark down :02 after 90 second stop, and car fills up. Beyond,
track is much smoother and very fast, but still very rough by European
standards and not at all like a Superliner at 75 MPH on welded rail on
BNSF. Way too rough to write on fold-down table. Hard even to read.

Meets with northbound trains produce loud jolts.

Arrive Philadelphia at 19:05, many passengers off, few on, leave on time
at 19:07.

Time for dinner. I walk one car to the snack car. Typical Amfleet-like
environment, but NO LINE. No one on this train is buying food and drink!
The only seating is at awkward bar seats for about seven passengers.
Space is mostly taken, but by laptop brigade, not diners. For $13.25 plus
$2.00 tip, I buy a tasteless turkey hoagie (no lettuce or veggies), chips
and a miniature white wine, all served up in the usual brown paper box.
Design of service area requires lots of wasted back-and-forth motion by
the attendant. The wine is okay. The food would be better at Subway at
$4.00. No space at the sterile bar area, so I bounce back to coach. This
is not the diner on the Congressional Limited! 19:25 arrive Wilmington,
60 second stop. Several off, nobody on. Car now 60% full. Leave on time
at 19:26. Track is back to being too rough to write. Lots more curves
here. Bathroom doors are hard to lock, hard to unlock. Interiors are
weirdly designed (is that Bombardier's doing? Or, Amtrak's?) In the
coach, you can't take trash to the bin without making the automatic car
doors open. At least the overhead bins are big which is a good thing
because the car-end luggage racks are tiny.

20:05 arrive Baltimore. Several more off, nobody on. 20:07, leave
Baltimore two mins early. 20:10 arrive BWI: another half dozen off,
nobody on. 20:20 leave BWI one minute early. Quiet car now 25% full.

20:40 arrive Washington five minutes early. As a corridor train, this was
okay, but no big deal. Speed was not apparent, and below Philadelphia,
train was very lightly loaded. But the "normal" hassles of flying were
missing: Snarly TSA snoops, cramped, dirty, dry airplanes, multiple
lines, cramped center seating, long, expensive taxi ride to/from airport,
airline peanuts and $5.00 beers, abusive airline ticketing policies, air
traffic control delays.

The next day I rode Acela 2166, the 1:00 P.M. train from Washington to
Providence, in first class.

First class has the same seats, but wider spacing. Two attendants work
the car, which is half full; it was never full except New York to New
Haven. Very polite, attentive service, like good airline domestic first
class. Lunch menu offers choice of turkey hoagie or shrimp Caesar salad,
wine included. Like good airline first class in quality. Dinner choice of
meatloaf, chicken gumbo, veggie lasagna, with free wine and cocktails.
Cell phone talkers show why the Business Class Quiet Car is nice idea.
Employee - customer ratio here is much higher than on a Superliner train,
even in the sleepers.

Just as rough as last night. Daylight reveals that parts of the NEC look
better at night.

First class is a real step up, but worth the price?

My impression from observing loads and turnover: passengers view Acela
NOT as "very fast" (who knows? Cars don't have speedometers) but merely
as a limited-stop "express service."

[End quote]

7) Again, this Christmas, we thank and honor all of the Amtrak employees
who will be working and away from their families this busy Christmas
season. While many of Amtrak's host freight railroads will have freight
operations shut down for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, Amtrak will
still be running, "having the railroad" to itself without freight train
interference. On those trains will be many employees making sure their
passengers are having a safe and pleasant Christmas journey. In addition,
there will also be operations employees, dispatching, commissary,
ticketing, reservations center, station, and many other areas where, on
December 25th it will "just be another work day." Thank you to each one
of those employees who will be working so the trains will continue
running and taking holiday travelers to their destinations.

8) And, finally, to the 84% of Americans who are Christian, "Merry
Christmas!" To the two percent of Americans who are Jewish, "Happy
Hanukkah!" To the other 14% of Americans who are of other religions, or
no religion, Happy Holidays!"

The will end the year for This Week at Amtrak. See you again the first
week of January, 2007. Thank you for reading and commenting on TWA in
2006.


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

freetwa@unitedrail.org

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
brucerichardson@unitedrail.org; we are unable to go through any
individual approvals processes for individuals. This mailing list is kept
strictly confidential and is not shared or used for any purposes other
than the distribution of This Week at Amtrak or related URPA materials.

All other correspondence should be addressed to
brucerichardson@unitedrail.org

J. Bruce Richardson
President
United Rail Passenger Alliance, Inc.
1526 University Boulevard, West, PMB 203
Jacksonville, Florida 32217-2006 USA
Telephone 904-636-6760
brucerichardson@unitedrail.org
http://www.unitedrail.org
mailto:freetwa@unitedrail.org

This Week at Amtrak; January 9, 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 info@unitedrail.org
http://www.unitedrail.org

Volume 4, Number 1


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

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

1) Welcome to another year of This Week at Amtrak. We hope this will be a
positive and eventful year for all parties concerned.

2) Harrumph. Amtrak finally ... finally ... got a major puff piece out of
the national news media on ABC World News Sunday night (January 7, 2007)
and the people who don't understand Amtrak and the realities of passenger
rail travel are acting like the Republic is about to fall.

In his popular Reporter's Notebook series, ABC correspondent Bill Redeker
actually did some homework and, even more astounding, actually took a
ride on two Amtrak long distance trains to find out what is going on in
the dining cars with simplified dining car service.

Mr. Redeker, unlike most of the national media, actually seems to
understand something about long distance train travel. To add to the
positives, Brian Rosenwald, the man who invented the modern Coast
Starlight, and is currently Amtrak's senior director of customer service
(who, in reality, for all of those of us who know and respect Mr.
Rosenwald and his work, should really be the Vice President of Customer
Service instead of in his present job, and, just to make the point again,
the job should be titled Vice President of Passenger Service, since
Amtrak has passengers, not customers) went along for the ride and did a
good job of explaining things to ABC's Redeker.

Ignorant critics are crying foul, because the story focuses on the
ongoing saga of the disappearing dining car instead of how much free
federal money Amtrak receives every year.

What these ignorant critics don't understand - it's impossible to believe
this learning curve is so hard to comprehend - is the uniqueness of
passenger train travel, and beyond competing in some commuter markets
like Washington, D.C. to New York City, there is NONE, ABSOLUTELY ZERO
competition or cross elasticity between jet airplanes and long distance
passenger trains. The only similarity between the two modes consists of
the fact that both are commercial common carriers, and both have
departure and arrival terminals. Beyond that, you are talking about two
unique forms of transportation with unique markets and unique benefits.
That's it. Any comparison beyond that is invalid and unworthy of
intelligent conversation.

As an example, on the subject of compensation for lounge car attendants,
the critic tried to compare the salaries of lead service attendants in
Amtrak lounge cars with flight attendants, noting that the average LSA
makes about $7,000 a year more than the average flight attendant.

So? What's your point?

Flight attendants have one set of job requirements, and lounge car
attendants have another. Flight attendants spend every night in a hotel
or motel room when on the road working their flight schedules, and LSAs
spend work nights in a crew dorm, and have to make their own beds. By the
way, that $7,000 a year differential works out to a difference of $135 a
week, which isn't much money. As far as the invalid comparisons between
Amtrak dining car employees and typical restaurant workers, that
comparison is even more frivolous. Restaurant workers seldom work all
three meals a day as every Amtrak dining car employees does, and, again,
they go home at night, where dining car employees retire to a small
cubicle only the size of a small bed, with no in-room plumbing.

Yes, Amtrak pays its onboard employees more than supposedly comparable
jobs off the train. But, in most cases, those land-based employees don't
have the level of skill and safety training that Amtrak employees have,
and the chefs and cooks aren't working in a moving, rocking kitchen where
even a minor derailment can mean a scalding death or disfigurement.
Think, too, about the just past holidays. If an Amtrak employee doesn't
have much seniority, they are going to be away from home and family and
children for most holidays, instead of at least waking up in the same
house as their families.

Mr. Redeker's story was noteworthy. Even though it had the usual lines
about Amtrak losing money, at least it didn't make viewers believe Amtrak
was headed for oblivion and wouldn't be running the next time someone
wanted to ride a train. Small steps are important steps.

3) It's notable for the record that last month, during the first heavy
Denver snowstorm, Amtrak's California Zephyr - the only Amtrak train
serving northern Colorado - kept on running while Denver's famed airport
was completely shut down, and highways became impassable for automobiles
and trucks. Yes, the California Zephyr ran 10 hours late, but it kept on
running. The Zephyr operates over BNSF tracks between Chicago and Denver,
and Union Pacific tracks between Denver and Emeryville, California (the
San Francisco Bay area).

4) We are all awaiting the naming of a new Amtrak vice president for
marketing, and a new head of corporate communications. Together, they
will craft Amtrak's public and marketing image, and hopefully, start to
tell the Amtrak story as it should be told, versus the constant-crisis
viewpoint which has been incorrectly presented in the past.

When you have about half of the marketing money to work with that a
normal company the size of Amtrak has, you have to be clever, and use all
available resources to their maximum potential (not to mention the
occasional raiding of someone else's budget for a good cause).

In the past, when promoted properly (that translates to outside efforts
by public relations professionals instead of Amtrak's usually dismal
inhouse efforts), equipment displays have been huge public draws in large
and small Amtrak cities and towns.

Here are the requirements: a house track at an Amtrak station (so as to
not foul the host railroad's main line), a locomotive, and "one each" of
whatever type of rolling stock is to be on display, such as a diner,
lounge, coach, and sleeping car. Add a few onboard crew members acting as
tour guides, and some folks in the diner whipping up some inexpensive
free food, and you produce a crowd of people highly curious about the
state of train travel in America.

A number of years ago, this type of equipment display was done in
Orlando, Florida. The result? A reported 10,000 people walked through the
train. In Memphis, Tennessee in 1999, another 10,000 people walked
through a Superliner trainset on a sunny Saturday. In February 1999, in
small Charlottesville, Virginia, in less than three hours, over 1,000
people toured a Superliner trainset.

What is important to this is that potential passengers actually get to
visit and experience passenger train equipment, and understand the
facilities and amenities. A first hand look often means a sale, and every
time these types of events are held, ticket sales increase.

For an ambitious marketer, every station in the Amtrak system with a
house track is a potential equipment display site. It's cheap marketing
(especially if you can steal some funding from the operations department
to pay for OBS salaries and train miles), and it's highly effective
marketing. It's the type of plan Amtrak needs so it can reintroduce
itself to America.

Here's an idea which will make the bean counters and lawyers cringe. Make
it widely known in the advertising world and movie and television
production worlds that Amtrak is changing its long standing policy of an
automatic "no" to any request to use Amtrak trains and equipment in
movies or television shows or advertisement, and make a trade: use of the
equipment for prominent, realistic. and truthful display of the company
name and logo as part of the movie, television, or advertising
production. Charge a small fee to cover some out of pocket expenses for
Amtrak, but make the hallmark of the deal the use of the equipment, name,
and Amtrak logo. This instantly becomes free advertising for Amtrak,
piggybacking on someone else's corporate advertising budget, or someone
else's movie or television production budget.

More importantly, it keeps Amtrak from remaining America's best kept
secret. Amtrak could double it's marketing and advertising budget (a good
idea, but probably not realistic at the moment), or it can be clever and
find ways to use its current assets for future promotions.

It's time for Amtrak brass to stop thinking about all of the
inconvenience of sharing its goodies with the public, and think about all
of the benefits to be accrued for just following simple public relations
strategies.

5) Back in the halcyon days of the Sunset Limited and City of New Orleans
Promotional Office, when Amtrak corporate communications and marketing
was described as grim and grimmer, we did something very unusual. We
actually contacted local and national publications (and broadcast media)
and pitched story ideas to them. We didn't believe Amtrak should be
America's best kept secret, so we plunged wildly ahead and threw out
story ideas for consumer and professional travel publications, bridal
magazines (take part of your honeymoon on Amtrak; some were interested in
this as a new and novel idea), and regional magazines such as Southern
Living for stories on regional trains like the Crescent, which served
regional food in the dining car.

What most people don't realize is that media editors are always open to
any new and good idea. Those millions of pages don't get filled up by
themselves, someone has to actually plan what is found on those pages.

Amtrak has huge opportunities for self promotion to the national media.
It just has to get over its corporate shyness and bad attitude that the
only stories written about Amtrak are crisis stories.

6) Two last ideas. This idea was used successfully in both Memphis and
San Antonio in 1999. When having a static equipment display, either the
night before or the evening of the display, after the public has gone
home, host an invitation-only reception in the lounge car with a dinner
in the dining car. Invite local city and county officials, along with
convention and visitor bureau officials, local hoteliers and others
prominent in the local tourism industry and - wait for it - local media
food critics to sample and rate Amtrak dining car food the same as they
would a local restaurant (this was successful before Dining Car Lite, but
is still a workable idea if the presentation is good). For a cheap price,
this creates huge amounts of local goodwill (be sure and include the
local Amtrak station agent in the crowd since they remain the local
contact for many), raises visibility, and establishes new Amtrak
credentials in the local tourism market.

Who knows, inviting a few hotel executives may actually lead to (gasp!)
Amtrak being included in hotel guest room directories as an important
local contact for passengers traffic. Can you imagine, checking into a
hotel room outside of the Northeast, picking up your local guest room
directory in your hotel of any size, and, right there along with all of
the local airline information, seeing how to reach Amtrak? Could that
also (dare we dream?) lead to local free transportation between hotels
and the Amtrak station just like between hotels and airports?



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

freetwa@unitedrail.org

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
brucerichardson@unitedrail.org; we are unable to go through any
individual approvals processes for individuals. This mailing list is kept
strictly confidential and is not shared or used for any purposes other
than the distribution of This Week at Amtrak or related URPA materials.

All other correspondence should be addressed to
brucerichardson@unitedrail.org
J. Bruce Richardson
President
United Rail Passenger Alliance, Inc.
1526 University Boulevard, West, PMB 203
Jacksonville, Florida 32217-2006 USA
Telephone 904-636-6760
brucerichardson@unitedrail.org
http://www.unitedrai...@unitedrail.org

Here's an idea which will make the bean counters and lawyers cringe. Make
it widely known in the advertising world and movie and television
production worlds that Amtrak is changing its long standing policy of an
automatic "no" to any request to use Amtrak trains and equipment in
movies or television shows or advertisement, and make a trade: use of the
equipment for prominent, realistic. and truthful display of the company
name and logo as part of the movie, television, or advertising
production. Charge a small fee to cover some out of pocket expenses for
Amtrak, but make the hallmark of the deal the use of the equipment, name,
and Amtrak logo. This instantly becomes free advertising for Amtrak,
piggybacking on someone else's corporate advertising budget, or someone
else's movie or television production budget.
______________________________________________________________

"Prominent?" "Realistic?" "Truthful" display???????????

Oh come on, when was the last time a TV/Movie writer cared anything about making anything about Amtrak or trains realistic or truthful. It revolves around the story and who cares whether things are truthful or realistic. I think it's more realistic for Amtrak to become involved with the online travel companies like Orbitz, etc. Time to find a way to advertise with them and become prominent on their websites. Partner time?

frj1983, on Tue, Jan 9, 2007, 09:01 AM, said:

IMHO:
Bruce Richardson's comments and suggestions are a real "statement of the obvious". Of course it would be great to have equipment displays at various locations around the country! It would also be great to have enough equipment to provide regular scheduled service on a consistent basis. It would also be great to have switch engines in remote locations to move that "phantom equipment" to the dedicated track at the stations, but again, the reality is that there is no equipment in most of the Amtrak locations and there aren't enough employees to go around as it is, let alone have them work these displays.

Of course it would be great to have Amtrak equipment featured in movies and television, but the reality is that this is not a market in which you tell the producers that you have equipment when you really don't - or it is the wrong kind of equpiment - not historic or dated to fit the time frame of the movie,etc.

I enjoy reading Bruce's newsletters, if for no other reason than to get a different perspective - which can be a good thing - but there is enough pontificating on the internet without adding more.

haolerider, on Tue, Jan 9, 2007, 05:22 PM, said:

Yes, they're always fun to read. Often filled with flights of fancy, but occasionally there are good ideas or at least thought provoking comments within them. And perspective, stopping to at least take a look from a different point of view is never a bad thing. There's always more than one way to solve a problem, so watching both sides of the story is always a good thing if one really wants to succeed.

This Week at Amtrak; January 12, 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 info@unitedrail.org
http://www.unitedrail.org

Volume 4, Number 2


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

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

1) Last week's This Week at Amtrak brought some interesting comments this
week. One, from a middle-aged wag in California noted how difficult it
often is to find an Amtrak train station in any given city or town. He,
and another gentleman noted that road signs appear for almost any reason
these days along public right-of-way, announcing the smallest and most
insignificant public park, tourist trap, or commercial venture, yet,
rarely do signs appear directing the general population to the nearest
Amtrak station.

This problem was solved a number of years ago here in Jacksonville
because URPA founder Austin Coates made it his mission to badger the
Florida Department of Transportation into erecting signs along Interstate
95 and other feeder roads to the specific Jacksonville Amtrak station. In
North Carolina, a state which has a high interest in passenger rail, many
signs are present along I-95 directing drivers to the various stations in
the state. This is true elsewhere, but not everywhere.

Is this yet another worthy and inexpensive mission Amtrak has failed to
spend the salary of a junior manager on to reap hundreds of thousands of
dollars worth of free publicity by announcing to all drivers directions
to the nearest Amtrak station? Isn't this something that could become a
motivating project for a rising young star in the Amtrak firmament; a
year's worth of effort that would produce incalculable amounts of revenue
for years to come? Can someone start working on this, today?

2) Another area of consideration are official state tourism Internet
sites. Every state has one, but not every state mentions Amtrak as a way
or getting to or getting around the state. This is another case of
"Amtrak blindness," where travel planners and promoters have no idea
Amtrak exists, or, if it does, it goes anywhere someone may want to
travel. The same holds true for state department of transportation
Internet sites. Lots of things about highways and interstate highways,
but, often, not a word about passenger rail. At least, we could hope
Amtrak becomes an afterthought, instead of no thought at all.

3) If you love to go to the movies, you know it has become common
practice to screen commercials before the movies, in addition to
previews. Some of this movie theater commercials, such as the famous
Coca-Cola Christmas bears are great fun and have a huge impact. These
commercials are generally considered institutional advertising, versus a
specific type of advertising which has a call to action.

A dark movie theater with a huge screen provides the most conducive
atmosphere for absorbing visual images accompanied by high quality sound.
Imagine what an impact a wide screen movie theater commercial for Amtrak
could have on people who have never ridden a passenger train, much less
seen a train. A clever marketer could find a way in a short commercial to
introduce the high points of train travel such as accommodations,
scenery, the ability to move around, food service, and much more. All on
a huge movie screen in a slickly produced advertisement.

4) Here in Florida, tourism is big business. In fact, we rely on tourism
so much that everything we do in Florida is geared to the Yankee
tourists. We don't have rain in Florida - we have liquid sunshine, so we
don't scare the tourists away.

As a result of this we've learned a few things about reaching tourists.
One of the best way to reach tourists is through the paid brochure racks
at Florida Welcome Centers and in motel lobbies. These racks feature all
sorts of tourist attractions, discount books, and more. The racks are
found not only in Florida, but almost anywhere there are travelers. The
cost of stocking these racks is cheap, and the cost of printing in huge
bulk quantities is often much cheaper than reaching targeted demographics
in traditional publications.

If Amtrak used these racks, it's doubtful anyone already on a trip would
change their mode of travel. However, we know materials picked up from
these racks are read and absorbed (and can be tracked through coupon
codes and other ways) and acted upon. A brochure read today may not cause
an instant reaction, but a brochure read today may cause a reservation
for the next holiday trip.

5) Let's go through an exercise together as to how Amtrak can greatly
improve its financial fortunes with a relatively small cash investment.

Here are some things we know:

- Amtrak's greatest potential for growth, in terms of both revenue and
profits is in the national system, outside of short distance corridors.
The trains and routes involved, and the FY 06 load factors for each train
are the Coast Starlight, 56%; Empire Builder, 59%; California Zephyr,
50%; Southwest Chief, 63%; Sunset Limited, 44%; Texas Eagle, 49%; City of
New Orleans, 49%; Lake Shore Limited, 63%; Capitol Limited, 61%;
Cardinal, 51%; Auto Train, 53%; Silver Meteor, 57%; Silver Star, 55%;
Palmetto, 44%; and the Crescent 49%. All of these trains, with the
exception of two, are traditional long distance trains with baggage cars,
coaches, sleepers, diners, and lounges. The Palmetto has no sleepers, and
food service is limited to a lounge car. The Auto Train, has no baggage
service, but does handle the carriage of automobiles, vans, and
motorcycles along with all other long distance train amenities.

- All of the above named trains are running with relatively small
consists, with limited sleeping car and coach space.

- The average load factor on these trains for FY 06 was 53%. A long
distance train is considered "sold out" at a load factor of 65% due to
on/offs and seat/berth turnover.

- The total revenue produced by these 15 trains for FY 06 was
$382,200,000, solely from ticket revenue and food and beverage sales.

- Advertising and sales expense for these 15 trains was $18,900,000. In a
normal company, advertising and sales costs would be budgeted at roughly
10% of revenue, or $38,000,000.

- We want to increase revenue/income without dramatically increasing
expenses. Since the 15 trains are running an average load factor of 53%,
and a sold out train runs at a 65% load factor, we should be able to
raise the load factor by 10% without adding any additional equipment or
onboard employees, except in the dining car where 10% larger crowds could
be expected.

- For mathematical equation purposes, let's divide the revenue by the
advertising cost to determine that under present conditions, it costs
$1.00 in advertising and sales costs for every $20.00 in revenue
generated. Expressed another way, every percentage point of load factor
costs $356,603 to generate.

- We know this is simplistic, because like every other costs, advertising
and sales costs are not measured on a dollar-for-dollar basis. However,
for hypothetical purposes, this model is the simplest way to demonstrate
an approximate cost to increase revenue passenger miles and load factor
on Amtrak's 15 long distance trains.

- If we want to increase the long distance train load factor by 10%, by
this formula we must increase the long distance train advertising and
sales budget by $356,603 x 10, to equal an increase of $3,566,030 in
advertising cost to generate an increase of long distance train revenue
by $71,320,600, without adding any additional equipment to existing train
sets, no additional stations or route changes, and only minimal costs for
additional onboard supplies such as sheets and pillowcases, dining and
lounge car food, and additional dining car personnel. This requires no
new concessions by the host freight railroads, no new union agreements,
no experimentation in new programs, and no new management structure.

It's always prudent to be conservative when estimating costs and income.
Let's triple the amount in advertising and sales costs to generate
another 10% load factor. That will make the new figure $10,698,090, or
15% of the anticipated revenue.

So, using the conservative cost figure, this simply requires an increase
of $10,698,090 in Amtrak's long distance train advertising and sales
budget, which is .003 of Amtrak's FY 06 expenses. In other words, it's
pocket change in the overall Amtrak universe of spending, which would
generate an additional $71,320,600 in high profit revenue.

Amtrak long distance train revenue passenger miles for FY 06 were
2,430,166,000. The average revenue passenger mile generated just under 15
cents per mile. To generate $71,320,600 in additional revenue for a long
distance system increase of 10% of the load factor, 475,470,666
additional revenue passenger miles will have to be generated (about 19%
of the revenue passenger miles now generated).

Now that we have demonstrated how much passenger revenue is just waiting
to be harvested, when each of these trains consistently start reaching
about 60% load factors, start adding sleeping cars and coaches to the
consists. Again, the incremental costs of adding these cars to existing
trains with no new train miles, but an increase in seat miles, can make
more of a dramatic difference in income for Amtrak's long distance
national network. All Amtrak passenger trains, be it a single level train
with Viewliner sleeping cars, Heritage diners and Amfleet coaches, or a
Superliner train with every car configuration available, can run up to 18
cars per consist without having an impact on the hotel power head end
electrical supply from the locomotive (In Canada during the heavy summer
travel months, the Canadian, from Toronto to Vancouver, using the same
electrical system as Amtrak, regularly runs 20 and 21 car consists.). It
is rare today to see a typical Amtrak long distance train with more than
nine or 10 cars. When you double that number of cars, you double the
number of revenue opportunities, but don't double the costs because of
static train mile costs, station costs, and headquarters overhead costs.

Let's be blunt. With Amtrak's present anemic long distance system (with
the caveat of having the Sunset Limited and Cardinal run daily), it is
not unreasonable to determine that the long distance system, with better
marketing and longer consists, could generate a much higher return on
investment and positive cash flow for the railroad than any other part of
the company, including the Northeast Corridor and the obviously cooked
books of the Acela service. By doing this, Amtrak would be living up to
its original mandate and mission to operate a viable long distance train
network and provide a service to those Americans and visitors to America
who wish to choose passenger rail as their preferred mode of intercity
travel. All without continuing handouts of free federal money.

6) To augment our brief exercise above, review this article from Andrew
Selden which ran in TWA issue number 3-45 on November 8, 2006.

[Begin quote]

By Andrew Selden

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

[End quote]

7) Going back to last week's TWA and the ABC News story about the
changing Amtrak dining cars, it's tough not to consider what a 10%
increase in load factor would do for Amtrak's food and beverage business
on long distance trains.

Superliner dining cars were designed for a crew of 11 employees. The cars
were designed to be full service rolling restaurants offering full menus
of freshly prepared food. Amtrak is currently running crews of less than
half of that under the new Dining Car Lite program. Those numbers will be
decreased further by the combination of the dining and lounge cars into
one car.

The only bright spot from a passenger perspective (and, lest we forget,
providing service and transportation to passengers is Amtrak's sole
reason for existence) is the extended hours of the new cars, from early
morning to late at night. In other words, when the car is out on the
road, other than for the few hours of night time rest the crew has, the
car is making money. That is not the case with today's dining cars, which
are only open a very limited number of hours, mostly for the convenience
of the crews instead of the passengers.

Since Amtrak says it loses about $300 million a year on long distance
train operations (but the FRA says that figure is less than $100 million
a year), what would an increase of over $71 million a year in revenue
with only minimal, incremental increases in expenses, do to the Amtrak
long distance system? That extra $71,000,000 may make decision makers sit
up and take notice how important the long distance system is, and how a
minimal amount of investment in the system produces far greater return on
investment than any possible amount of money invested into short distance
corridors.

A huge potential for Amtrak is sitting right under its corporate nose.
Let's hope someone doesn't sneeze and blow it away.

8) As noted late last year in TWA, the cost of making the Sunset Limited
and Cardinal into daily trains is minimal in relation to the high cost of
continuing the trains under tri-weekly service. When you consider the
above scenario about filling existing trains to capacity, it's a natural
progression to think about all of the lost revenue, matrix connections
for passengers, and how poor tri-weekly service is in relation to daily
service on any route. It is a minimal equipment requirement to move the
Cardinal into the daily category, but a full turn of the Sunset Limited
from Los Angeles to Orlando requires one trainset for every departure
from Los Angeles. To take the train daily will require four more train
sets. Looking at Amtrak's current equipment roster, that is possible.

9) The next big question beyond that is putting the Sunset Limited, or a
substitute for the Sunset back into service between New Orleans and
Orlando (or Tampa). This continuing gaping, embarrassing hole in Amtrak's
national system only exists because Amtrak management is unwilling to
make a return of the Sunset a reality. In just another 100 days, it will
be a full year since CSX released the track between New Orleans and
Jacksonville for use by Amtrak. The old canard about stations closed due
to hurricane damage we know is a smokescreen, because so many other
Amtrak stops are a mere "wide spot in the ballast" along a railroad main
line. All of the platforms at the existing Amtrak stops are still in
place, and useable. All of the stations east of Mobile, Alabama are in
full working order. Most of the stations to the west of Mobile, such as
Bay St. Louis and Biloxi, received no damage.

Amtrak played an important role in the rehabilitation of New Orleans
after Hurricane Katrina. While the rest of America supports the Gulf
Coast, why is Amtrak snubbing this important region, and why is it
continuing to hinder a resurgence of tourism (many of the casinos are
back open) by not providing a train, such as the Sunset Limited, or a
replacement train running between New Orleans and Jacksonville or
Orlando?



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

freetwa@unitedrail.org

You MUST include your name, preferred e-mail address, and city and state
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strictly confidential and is not shared or used for any purposes other
than the distribution of This Week at Amtrak or related URPA materials.

All other correspondence should be addressed to
brucerichardson@unitedrail.org

J. Bruce Richardson
President
United Rail Passenger Alliance, Inc.
1526 University Boulevard, West, PMB 203
Jacksonville, Florida 32217-2006 USA
Telephone 904-636-6760
brucerichardson@unitedrail.org
http://www.unitedrail.org
mailto:freetwa@unitedrail.org

This Week at Amtrak; January 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 904-636-6760, Electronic Mail info@unitedrail.org
http://www.unitedrail.org

Volume 4, Number 3

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

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


1) MEMO TO: Amtrak Corporate Communications Department

SUBJECT: Stop playing defense, and go on the offense

COMMENCEMENT DATE: The sooner, the better

Ladies and Gentlemen,

You've been doing a better job lately telling the Amtrak story, but,
please, make at least one more giant leap forward. Too many reporters who
should know better are misconstruing facts about Amtrak?s long distance
train national network.

With the reintroduction this week of the Lott-Lautenberg senate bill (S.
294, renamed the Passenger Rail Investment and Improvement Act of 2007)
reauthorizing Amtrak, and the resultant press coverage, in story after
story we have seen phrases such as "money losing long distance trains,"
or "lightly used long distance trains" from sources such as the
Associated Press and Reuters, both of which should know better.

Why aren't you doing more to stop this nonsense? Your own figures from FY
06 show 2,430,166,000 revenue passenger miles were generated by the long
distance train national network, while the combination of all NEC trains,
including Wondertrain Acela was just 1,482,448,000 revenue passenger
miles, and the short distance trains, which includes state supported
trains, generated only 1,448,903,000 revenue passenger miles.

To put it another way so everyone can understand, 15 daily and tri-weekly
long distance trains in each direction generated 2.4 billion revenue
passenger miles, 40 daily NEC trains in each direction generated 1.5
billion revenue passenger miles, and 102 short distance daily trains
generated 1.4 billion revenue passenger miles.

Not to make too fine of a point, but 2.4 billion revenue passenger miles
from 15 trains (two of which aren't even daily) versus 2.9 billion
revenue passenger miles from 142 NEC and short distance trains hardly
seems like "lightly used long distance trains." [You may wish to point
out another figure, that 3,731,200 passengers rode those "lightly used
long distance trains." Now, please be careful using this number, because
it is only a body count, and has no link to definitions of load factor,
average length of trip, or revenue passenger miles. But, it does say that
1.2% of Americans rode long distance trains last fiscal year. There is a
lot of infrastructure maintained in this country for a lot more money
every year that is used by far less than 1.2% of the population. This is
not an expression of modal envy, but an expression to allow Amtrak?s
first professional board of directors and a new president and chief
executive officer an opportunity to stop the federal money flow into a
black hole known as Amtrak and commit the same amount or less money into
a healthy and robust Amtrak that meets its original mission and function
- to create and maintain a realistic part of the domestic transportation
matrix of providing a passenger rail component that efficiently operates
passenger trains for all purposes, including leisure travel, family
travel, or business travel.]

>From a financial aspect, the 15 trains in the long distance network, on
average each generate $23,868,066 in gross revenue (before any subsidy),
and the 142 trains in the NEC and short distance networks only generate
$7,035,810 each on average in gross revenue. The total operating expense
(according to Amtrak figures) was $1.1 billion for the NEC and short
distance networks, and $841 million for the long distance train networks.

The average load factor on the 15 long distance network trains was 55.1%,
on the 102 short distance trains, 40.7%, and 45.2% on NEC trains.

As to the "money losing" aspect, that Amtrak figure is confusing and
needs to be cleared up. The FY 06 books show a positive cash flow for
Acela, without any subsidy necessary. But, the same books also show a
subsidy requirement for other NEC trains, which use the same stations,
same dispatching personnel, same tracks, and same reservation system as
the Acela trains. Please explain how one set of trains, Acelas, with
2,668,200 riders can "make money," while other NEC trains, with 6,840,200
riders, loses money.

We also know your executives have made statements that the long distance
system loses $300 million a year (and the FRA in the past has put that
figure at $100 million), but your FY 06 books show that figure at $481.6
million. Where are the books being padded? What is being charged against
the long distance system that isn't being charged against the short
distance or NEC trains?

Is the difference in the cost of maintenance of way of the NEC, which you
are charging to capital costs instead of operating costs? Are you even
charging a set track fee to Acela and other NEC trains, or are you
dumping everything into a capital costs account the "pretty up" the
operating books? If the true federal operating subsidy is a total of $584
million, and you received $1.3 billion from the federal government, where
did the rest of the money go, after Railroad Retirement mandatory
payments and debt service?

All of this can be very confusing, so you can see why the corporate
communications department needs to go on the offensive, issuing outright
challenges to reporters who are not communicating the true Amtrak story.

The public and politicians have time and again been fed wrong information
about the long distance system, and haven't bothered to do any digging on
their own. Most reporters have just regurgitated old saws about Amtrak
failures without looking at real facts. It?s the job of the corporate
communications team to clean up that mess, and get the right story out to
the public.

The Amtrak Corporate Communications Department doesn't just work for the
part of Amtrak that runs the NEC; it works for all of Amtrak, including
the part of Amtrak here in bow and arrow country, west of Harrisburg,
Pennsylvania, and south of Washington, D.C.

We all have to remember the concept that Amtrak has "lurched from crisis
to crisis" as Reuters reported this Tuesday, January 16th, was mostly the
making of its two last presidents and CEOs, George Warrington and David
Gunn, who seemed to specialize in "the sky is falling" when it came to
talking with the media and politicians. We know all of that alleged
lurching was Amtrak-made more than anything else. Now, it?s up to the
corporate communications professionals to clean up the lurching mess and
get the facts straight so the public and politicians have a real picture
of Amtrak.

2) For general purposes, beyond Amtrak corporate communications, while
we're on the subject of silly and useless figures, when can we kill and
bury the absolutely wrong and serves-no-purpose image of "losses per
passenger"? What does this mean? Some people like to quote the figure
based on passengers on the Sunset Limited, some people like to quote the
figure as an average of every passenger Amtrak carries, whether it be
someone with an average trip length of 800 miles, or an average trip
length of 27 miles. Either way, it?s meaningless. One also must realize
that when the figure is quoted, it is based on the number of passengers
that very instant; add or subtract just one passenger, or annul one train
for a day, and the entire figure changes.

3) Speaking of public relations disasters, take a look at the story,
reprinted by permission of and copyright 2007 by the Fort Worth
Star-Telegram, Fort Worth, Texas. The story originally was published
Sunday, January 14, 2007.

[Begin quote]

Women's offer to help is derailed

By Dave Lieber
Star-Telegram Staff Writer

The train trip sounded like a terrific idea. Members of area chapters of
the Red Hat Society planned a weekend trip from Fort Worth to San
Antonio. They bought round-trip tickets on Amtrak and prepared to hit the
rails.

Only the train was four hours late arriving.

But when it finally got to the Fort Worth station that day in October and
the 38 members of the social organization prepared to board, they didn't
know that the worst was yet to come.

"A comedy of errors," trip organizer Debbie Brookshire later told me.

The women who sat on the lower level of the bilevel train were told at
first that they couldn't get any dinner because the train was late. The
women persisted.

"They told us, 'We'll have somebody come down and take your order,'"
Donna Morris said. "We never saw an Amtrak employee."

One of the women called a relative who worked at a restaurant in Waco.
When the train stopped there, the relative brought food on board.

The rest of the Red Hatters sat on the upper level. When they walked to
the dining car, Brookshire said, Amtrak personnel "jumped in our faces."
The staff said that the dining car was about to close and that they had
not known the women were coming.

Brookshire told them they had bought their tickets two months ago. "It's
not my fault the train was late," she told them.

Morris, who sat downstairs, remembers going upstairs to get ice.

"The guy serving the food was on the phone," she said. "It was obviously
a personal call. He said, 'I love you, too.' He wasn't talking to his
boss. He hung up and turned around. We said, 'We need some ice.'"

She said he replied, "I got off the phone for that?"

"Isn't that your job?" Morris asked.

"You don't have a clue what my job is."

She answered, "Well, you're not driving the train, so can I have some
ice?"

You've got to admire the Red Hatters' spunk.

There were other problems. The downstairs passengers complained of being
too hot, while the upstairs passengers said their cars were too cold. And
nobody could fix it.

The train finally arrived in San Antonio around 4 a.m. Of course, the
taxis that had been arranged to take the women to their hotel were long
gone.

The weekend in San Antonio, the women told me, was terrific. But when it
came time to leave, several of them rented cars to get home rather than
ride again on what they had come to call Damntrak.

Red Hat members complained. An Amtrak representative offered the entire
group vouchers equivalent to the value of half of their round-trip
tickets. The women talked it over. At first, they thought they could use
them for a future Red Hat train trip. But many of the women vowed never
to ride the train again.

So they came up with another idea. What if they donated the vouchers to a
nonprofit organization that helps military families?

They had a group in mind: Family & Friends for Freedom Fund, based in New
Jersey, helps military families travel to meet wounded members in all
branches of service as they recuperate in military hospitals. Fund
founder Paula Sturla told me she was excited about the Red Hatters'
generous offer.

So the Red Hatters explained their plan to an Amtrak representative. But
the Amtrak official said it was not possible because it was against
Amtrak's rules. All vouchers must be used by the passengers to whom they
are assigned.

The Red Hatters were miffed. "Here we're trying to do a good deed,"
Brookshire said. "Military people don't make a lot of money. We wanted to
help them. If somebody gets wounded and gets sent back to the States to a
medical hospital and a wife is clear across the country and can't afford
to go to the hospital, they could take the voucher and say: 'Here is your
ticket. Go help your husband.'"

The Red Hatters called the office of U.S. Rep. Kay Granger, R-Fort Worth,
Morris said. A caseworker tried to persuade Amtrak officials to make an
exception and provide assistance to military families with wounded
relatives.

But Amtrak wouldn't budge.

So the women called The Watchdog.

I had several conversations with Marc Magliari, an Amtrak spokesman in
Chicago. He explained that the policy is strictly enforced because Amtrak
wants to avoid its vouchers being sold on the black market.

"They are not transferable because we don't want them abused, and we want
the people who deserve the compensation to receive it," he told me. But
he said he would see what he could do.

Days later, he called back and said the policy was rigid.

However, he told me the fund could apply for "a standing discount" that
can be used for anyone traveling under the group's auspices. He asked me
to put the group's leaders in touch with him to apply for the discount.
I'm taking care of that.

Still, I wondered whether everyone in the travel industry has a policy
prohibiting the transfer of such vouchers.

Southwest Airlines spokeswoman Brandy King told me: "Our vouchers are
transferable to anyone. Our policy is that you can't sell or barter them,
but if you'd like to transfer them, you are allowed to."

The Red Hatters, meanwhile, are not happy with Amtrak.

"They are the most rigid organization that I have ever dealt with in my
life," Morris said. Yet the offer of a standing discount for the Friends
for Freedom Fund, she said, is "better than nothing."

The Watchdog column appears Fridays and Sundays. Dave Lieber,
817-685-3830 watchdog@star-telegram.com

[End quote]


Apparently, there are, as they say, "still a few bugs in the system."
Some fact checking reveals other passengers have encountered the same
kind of service on the Texas Eagle, a train, when it was under the
direction of a product line manager, that was known for good service. The
Eagle has an OBS staff from the Chicago crew base.

This is not the first time a Chicago crew has been criticized for
rudeness and abruptness. There seems to be a strange phenomenon that some
crew bases habitually have abusive employees when it comes to passengers,
and other crew bases exemplify all of the good things about passenger
service. The only explanation for this is the state of crew base
management. Good crew base managers motivate and demand good work from
their employees, while uncaring or bad crew base managers allow employees
to run amuck with no consequences. These type of stories indicate more
housecleaning is needed at Amtrak to weed out many of the employees and
managers that never should have been hired for passenger service jobs in
the first place. It is neither fair to the employee or passenger when
someone doesn't have the emotional and professional qualifications to be
helpful and pleasant to all passengers. The result is unhappiness on
everyone?s part.

4) (Sigh) Another week, another missing Sunset Limited east of New
Orleans. Where are you, Sunset Limited? We're waiting.

5) Here?s a maddening story from December 20, 2006 in The State, the
excellent daily newspaper of Columbia, South Carolina.

CSX wanted to add a two mile passing siding in the center of a small
South Carolina town called Irmo. Near the proposed siding are 2,500 homes
and three schools.

Keep in mind a piece of the CSX main line track already goes through
Irmo. No Amtrak trains use this part of CSX.

Mayor John Gibbons and Irmo residents believe a new siding in town would
allow multiple trains to use the siding to keep the CSX main track fluid.
Irmo residents say the siding would cause noise and shake their homes.

Irmo was founded as a railroad whistle stop in the late 19th Century.
Right now, up to 20 trains run daily through the community, and Irmo sits
in the middle of a 30 mile segment of single line track without a siding.
In the real world, that?s known as a bottleneck.

Current freight train loads include coal, auto parts and grain, say CSX
officials. Somehow, town leaders have jumped to the conclusion that
because CSX wants to keep its trains moving efficiently, suddenly
chemicals and other dangerous freight cargo will be on those trains.

CSX spokespersons say the new siding, wherever it?s finally located, will
have an electronic warning system, electric switches, and other features
experts call the best safeguards against wrecks.

But, Irmo worrywarts aren't convinced. They want no part of "progress."
These are the moments when you have to wonder if all of those residents
and government officials who enjoy the many benefits of the federal,
state, and local taxes that CSX and other railroads pay would be happy to
get rid of that tax income if those pesky trains disappeared. Perhaps
they would also be happier to have all of those additional huge semi
trucks on the local and state highways, too that would appear to replace
railroads. Maybe they would like the marked increase in the cost of
everything from electricity to groceries on store shelves without the
benefit of freight moving over railroads.

The residents of Irmo and most other places need to get over themselves.
Railroads aren't any more interested in unsafe operating conditions than
trackside dwellers are who choose to have homes near railroad tracks.

This type of "not in my backyard" argument is just plain silly.

6) Oops! Those readers of TWA who are direct subscribers most likely were
puzzled last Friday when a repeat of a December TWA showed up in
e-mailboxes. You guessed it. The computer did it. No, really, it was a
combination of computer and operator error. When several readers were
kind enough to notify us of the problem, we were able to correct the
error, and send out the proper text for January 12, 2007.

Our apologies to anyone who was inconvenienced by our error.

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

freetwa@unitedrail.org

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
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individual approvals processes for individuals. This mailing list is kept
strictly confidential and is not shared or used for any purposes other
than the distribution of This Week at Amtrak or related URPA materials.

All other correspondence should be addressed to
brucerichardson@unitedrail.org

J. Bruce Richardson
President
United Rail Passenger Alliance, Inc.
1526 University Boulevard, West, PMB 203
Jacksonville, Florida 32217-2006 USA
Telephone 904-636-6760
brucerichardson@unitedrail.org
http://www.unitedrai...@unitedrail.org

MrFSS, on Fri, Jan 19, 2007, 05:28 AM, said:

Why don't people who come up with this sort of nonsense simply get laughed off the stage? The founding of the town in 1890 was because of the railroad. It was originally a fueling stop in the days of wood burners. This particular piece of the CSX was originally the Columbia Newbury and Laurens, and was no more and no less than a line connecting those three places. The large number of trains is proablaby because it it taking a goodly portion of the traffic that comes off the Clinchfield, running Spartanburg, Laurens --> CN&L --> Columbia --> ex-SAL main.

Almost equally silly was a complaint I ran across the other day fram a resident of Frisco, Texas about train noise. Let's see, the town was named for the railroad, should that maybe tell you something about what runs through the center of town?

Duhh?

George

And the real estate salespeople selling homes probably know the train schedules and do their best to make sure that they show homes when there are no trains scheduled, and tell folks that those tracks are hardly ever used.

AmtrakWPK, on Mon, Jan 22, 2007, 08:33 PM, said:

Or more likely, people pay no attention to "those trains" because they're always passing through and who worries about them. Until you move into a house near the tracks. I once lived in a house right next to the tracks. Granted, it was not a main line, but many trains rumbled down the track with loaded coal cars to the power plant. Was it bothersome? for the first few weeks, and then it blended into the background. What bothers me more these days are those who have to drive their cars around with the music turned up so loud that the house rumbles. I guarantee you, those people will be deaf by their mid-thirties! Then they'll be looking for someone to sue.

In the meantime, the trains keep rolling!!

This Week at Amtrak; January 26, 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 info@unitedrail.org
http://www.unitedrail.org

Volume 4, Number 4


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


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

1) So many of us have been wondering where the Sunset Limited is, east of
New Orleans. It's been AWOL since a couple of days before Hurricane
Katrina hit in 2005. Even though CSX, the host railroad for the Sunset
east of New Orleans released its post-hurricane rebuilt track to Amtrak
for the Sunset on April 1, 2006, there's been nary a Sunset in sight.

Amtrak hasn't notified its unions of a discontinuance, and it says the
train is coming back. But, when? And, what has been the delay?

Here's a glimmer of information which may shed some light on the subject.
SunHerald.com, the online web site of The Sun Herald in Southern
Mississippi, datelined a story from Pascagoula (Senator Trent Lott's
hometown) about Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour's recent appointment
of a new member to the Southern Rapid Rail Transit Commission, which is a
governmental body consisting of members from Mississippi, Alabama, and
Louisiana that promotes passenger rail along the Gulf Coast. This is the
same group that originally created the late, but successful Gulf Coast
Limited of the 1990s, that ran daily between New Orleans and Mobile,
Alabama, over the same tracks as the Sunset Limited.

Here's a quote from the story by Sun Herald staff writer Donna Harris:

[Begin quote]

Amtrak is in talks with the Southern Rapid Rail Transit Commission about
implementing various passenger services, including the Sunset Limited.
The Sunset line once ran from Orlando to Los Angeles, making stops in
Mobile, Gulfport and New Orleans.

The transit commission penned a resolution urging Amtrak to develop a
detailed corridor investment and implementation plan. The commission has
said it will work with Amtrak to pursue federal, state and local funding
for operational and infrastructure costs.

Commissioner Elizabeth Sanders of Mobile told the Associated Press in
November that the commission is asking for just under $22 million in
federal funding to improve the tri-state rail system. The funding must be
matched by the three states.

[End quote]

So, is the real culprit for the delay of putting the missing link of the
Sunset Limited and Amtrak's national system back into place that Amtrak
is just waiting for someone else to pony up the money to do this, even
though the Sunset has always been operated as part of the national
system, and has never had any individual state funding?

Is this the beginning of some sort of plan where all long distance trains
will be carved up into state-sponsored links where Amtrak seeks state
funding instead of using its own marketing muscle to attract riders to
earn revenue to operate trains?

There is absolutely nothing wrong with Amtrak seeking state funding for
corridor trains. California has proven the theory of good local marketing
for corridor trains easily replaces high state subsidies demanded by
Amtrak, as long as Amtrak has nothing to do with the local marketing.
But, holding a national system restoration hostage in exchange for all of
the benefits to the national system through matrix opportunities, plus
Amtrak's national mission to operate a healthy rail passenger system is
just wrong.

Jesse James at least had the professionalism and courtesy to use a gun
and a mask when he was robbing someone. If Amtrak is trying to do the
same thing to the Gulf Coast states, then shame on Amtrak.

2) Last week, we discussed much about how the national news media reports
incorrect facts about Amtrak, and how that hurts the company and its
efforts to operate a national long distance system.

One startling, incorrect fact was reported on National Public Radio's
Morning Edition on Tuesday, January 23rd. Reporter Nancy Solomon of NPR,
as if she was reporting gospel, said Amtrak's Northeast Corridor props up
the rest of the long distance trains in the country by generating more
cash, and therefore subsiding the alleged money losing long distance
trains.

Aaarrrggghhhhh!

How can any reporter that is supposed to be enlightened about the subject
they are reporting on, report such nonsense?

The answer is, because Amtrak corporate communications and Amtrak
executives have allowed this to happen for far too long, without
challenge or an attempt to present the true facts.

Even the federal Government Accountability Office gets it wrong, and
things like this make it into print, and people actually believe this
nonsense.

When is all of this going to stop?

Reviewing last week's TWA, for all of those sitting in the back of the
classroom, we discover ...
[Begin quote from last week's TWA]

[Amtrak's] own figures from FY 06 show 2,430,166,000 revenue passenger
miles were generated by the long distance train national network, while
the combination of all NEC trains, including Wondertrain Acela was just
1,482,448,000 revenue passenger miles, and the short distance trains,
which includes state supported trains, generated only 1,448,903,000
revenue passenger miles.

To put it another way so everyone can understand, 15 daily and tri-weekly
long distance trains in each direction generated 2.4 billion revenue
passenger miles, 40 daily NEC trains in each direction generated 1.5
billion revenue passenger miles, and 102 short distance daily trains
generated 1.4 billion revenue passenger miles.

Not to make too fine of a point, but 2.4 billion revenue passenger miles
from 15 trains (two of which aren't even daily) versus 2.9 billion
revenue passenger miles from 142 NEC and short distance trains hardly
seems like "lightly used long distance trains." ...

From a financial aspect, the 15 trains in the long distance network, on
average each generate $23,868,066 in gross revenue (before any subsidy),
and the 142 trains in the NEC and short distance networks only generate
$7,035,810 each on average in gross revenue. The total operating expense
(according to Amtrak figures) was $1.1 billion for the NEC and short
distance networks, and $841 million for the long distance train networks.

The average load factor on the 15 long distance network trains was 55.1%,
on the 102 short distance trains, 40.7%, and 45.2% on NEC trains.

As to the "money losing" aspect, that Amtrak figure is confusing and
needs to be cleared up. The FY 06 books show a positive cash flow for
Acela, without any subsidy necessary. But, the same books also show a
subsidy requirement for other NEC trains, which use the same stations,
same dispatching personnel, same tracks, and same reservation system as
the Acela trains. Please explain how one set of trains, Acelas, with
2,668,200 riders can "make money," while other NEC trains, with 6,840,200
riders, loses money.

We also know [Amtrak] executives have made statements that the long
distance system loses $300 million a year (and the FRA in the past has
put that figure at $100 million), but your FY 06 books show that figure
at $481.6 million. Where are the books being padded? What is being
charged against the long distance system that isn't being charged against
the short distance or NEC trains?

Is the difference in the cost of maintenance of way of the NEC, which you
are charging to capital costs instead of operating costs? Are you even
charging a set track fee to Acela and other NEC trains, or are you
dumping everything into a capital costs account the "pretty up" the
operating books? If the true federal operating subsidy is a total of $584
million, and you received $1.3 billion from the federal government, where
did the rest of the money go, after Railroad Retirement mandatory
payments and debt service?

[End quote]

Along this same subject was a Washington story generated last week by the
Associated Press and distributed nationwide. It ran in a number of
newspapers, and even in such places as Business Week magazine. There was
a time when those of us who used to be in the news business knew we could
depend on the AP for accurate reporting. Those days seem to be
disappearing.

The AP story was an interview of Amtrak President and CEO Alex Kummant,
and covered a wide range of topics. The AP reporter, Sarah Karush, seems
to have done some homework in preparation for the interview, but clearly
not enough homework.

Part of the story states:

[Begin quote]

The government-owned corporation reported record ticket revenue of $1.37
billion in the fiscal year ended Sept. 30, an 11 percent increase over
fiscal 2005, with ridership ticking up 1 percent to 24.3 million
passengers. The system, created in 1970 to take over declining passenger
rail service, is heavily dependent on government funding; it received
$1.3 billion from Congress, including a $485 million operating subsidy,
for the 2006 fiscal year.

... A November report by the Government Accountability Office concluded
that long-distance routes -- such as the Sunset Limited from New Orleans
to Los Angeles and the Empire Builder from Chicago to Seattle -- account
for 15 percent of riders and 80 percent of Amtrak's losses, and provide
little public benefit.

[End quote]

The statement made by the GAO report is actually accurate, but totally
meaningless. Yes, when you look at raw ridership numbers, long distance
trains did account for 15 percent of warm bodies that stepped onto Amtrak
trains.

However, again, this statement means nothing, unless you're writing about
single-zone pricing in transit. Other than Amtrak - and this is a long
standing, self-inflicted wound by Amtrak for decades, now - no other
common carrier, whether it's an airline, bus company, or steamship
company, reports pure ridership numbers as a measure of success. These
numbers mean nothing. Revenue passenger miles are the only true
measurement, and they are the only measurement which is reported in the
national media when writing about airlines and bus lines and steamship
lines' success or failure.

So, why, when writing about Amtrak does the press continue to only write
incorrectly about ridership? How can the press continue to embarrass
itself this way? If they can't get something as simple as this correct,
what else is the press getting wrong?

Just for the sake of covering the same ground again, ridership is only a
measurement of the number of bodies carried. Ridership does not measure
how far each body is carried, nor how much is paid to the common carrier
to carry the body. Revenue passenger miles - a measurement of how much
revenue is generated by carrying each passenger one mile - tells the true
story.

Using FY 06 numbers, an average passenger traveling on the Ethan Allen
service in New England has an average length of trip of 191.1 miles, at
24.76 cents per mile of revenue. That means the average passenger
generates $47.31 per trip.

An average passenger on the Palmetto, which serves the East Coast between
New York and Georgia, has an average length of trip of 446.9 miles, at
16.55 cents per mile of revenue. That means the average passenger
generates $73.96 per trip.

Which passenger would you rather have? One that generates $47.31 per trip
on any given departure of the Ethan Allen on any given day, or one that
generates $73.96 per trip on any given departure of the Palmetto on any
given day?

Both riders count as one passenger when looking at the way the ridership
figures are incorrectly used. Yet, one passenger accounts for only 64% of
the revenue of the other passenger. This is why it is so important to
only talk in terms of revenue passenger miles.

You may wish to say "aha!," obviously what matters is the Ethan Allen
passenger generates more revenue than the Palmetto passenger, and,
therefore, the Ethan Allen is the superior business model.

Well, no, that's not true, either.

The Ethan Allen generated 21,447,884 available seat miles for FY 06, and
the Palmetto generated 147,065,912 available seat miles. At 24.76 cents
of revenue per mile, (21,447,884 total seat miles for sale multiplied by
24.76 cents per mile potential revenue), the Ethan Allen could
theoretically generate $5,310,496 in annual revenue. Using the same
formula for the Palmetto, $24,339,408 in annual revenue could
theoretically be generated. Again, which train is the best business model
to follow?

The Ethan Allen has a route length of 241 miles, and the Palmetto, 829
miles. The Ethan Allen has two exclusive stations to serve the route, and
the rest are shared with other trains. The Palmetto has no exclusive
stations; all are shared with other trains. The Ethan Allen uses the New
York City crew base, and overnights the train crews in Rutland, Vermont
at Amtrak's expense. The Palmetto uses the same crew base, and overnights
the train crews in Savannah, Georgia. Both trains have all reserved coach
seating, business class service, and lounge/café car service. The
Palmetto carries a baggage car, the Ethan Allen does not. The Ethan Allen
is primarily financed through the Vermont State Department of
Transportation, and the Palmetto receives no state financing.

Other than the baggage car, the only real difference between the two
trains is the route length and the number of cars on each train. Even if
the Ethan Allen carried an identical consist as the Palmetto, the shorter
route could still not hope to generate as much revenue as the longer
route.

The only difference in costs are fuel, train and engine crews, and train
mile costs. Most other costs remain very close. It's the great difference
in the revenue opportunities that distinguishes they two trains. This
also explains why it is so dangerous to only measure Amtrak success by
ridership, and not revenue passenger miles.

And, by the way, the Ethan Allen has a load factor of 38%, and the
Palmetto, 44%, which shows the Palmetto outperforming the Ethan Allen in
every category that matters.

In other parts of the AP narrative, the story says,

[Begin quote]

Amtrak's new president wants to upgrade the passenger railroad's image
and the tracks it shares with the nation's increasingly busy freight rail
carriers, and he expects the federal government to help.

... Alex Kummant said he found the much-maligned railroad in better shape
than he expected. But he said it could still do a better job taking
advantage of a growing appetite for rail travel fueled by high gas prices
and highway congestion.

"There is a lot of good news to talk about," Kummant told The Associated
Press in an interview in his office atop Washington's Union Station. "You
have to build the Amtrak brand for people."

Amtrak needs to work with states to expand service over medium distances
and improve the long-distance trains that account for most of its losses,
Kummant said. Government incentives to stimulate capital investment in
the nation's nearly maxed-out rail infrastructure are also key, he said.

Kummant, ... said expectations that Amtrak could be self-sufficient are
misguided. He noted passenger rail is subsidized throughout the world.

There could be room to partner with the private sector, he said, but
added: "You need to walk before you can run."

Amtrak supporters are hopeful the new Congress will pass legislation
introduced last week by Sens. Frank Lautenberg, D-N.J., and Trent Lott,
R-Miss., that would establish funding targets for Amtrak for the next six
years. It would also create a program of capital matching grants for
states that want to invest in "corridor service" -- the term Amtrak uses
to describe frequently traveled routes up to about 500 miles, such as the
northeast corridor running from Boston to Washington. Currently, 14
states pay Amtrak for service.

Kummant said the shorter routes are Amtrak's real growth opportunity.

"We can offer genuine solutions to public transportation problems with
that type of service," he said.

Rail service on such corridors can be competitive at 80 to 100 miles per
hour, without trying to provide capital-intensive high-speed service, he
said. Amtrak's fastest train, the Acela Express on the northeast
corridor, reaches 150 miles per hour, but such speeds require upgraded
electrical systems and tracks.

[End quote]

Much of this is refreshing to read. It's nice to know the company is in
better shape than expected, and Mr. Kummant wants to improve the sadly
tarnished Amtrak image, plus he is eager to expand the company to meet
the growing demand for passenger rail service. More power to him.

Here is the first glimmer of what may be questionable. Mr. Kummant says
Amtrak needs to work with various states to expand service over medium
distances and improve the long distance trains that account for most of
the losses.

Let's stop right here.

Again, here is the statement that long distance trains account for most
of the losses. Really? Is everyone sure? While Amtrak's books are being
untangled from years of Enron-style booking, are we really, really,
really sure the long distance trains account for most of the losses? How
is this so, if these trains have the highest load factors, generate huge
amounts of revenue passenger miles, and a single daily train route has
more financial muscle than a whole group of NEC or short distance trains?
Until we know for sure (and many of us are pretty sure that statement is
wrong about the long distance trains after a lot of research by some
impressive railroad professionals), can Amtrak and its executives and
spokespersons please stop using such declarative statements? Can we at
least have some modifiers on those statements that say, "we don't know
for sure, but we may suspect blah, blah, blah"?

Mr. Kummant says that 500 mile corridors can prove to be the hottest area
of growth for the company. That's well and good, depending on how those
corridors are put together. One very positive thing he says in the
article is rail service in these corridors can be competitive at 80 to
100 mph, without having the capital intensive costs of the normal
definition of high speed rail.

Somebody please give the gentleman a medal out of petty cash. Yes, yes,
yes. That is so very true. Rail can be very satisfying to the traveling
public at speeds which are easily achievable on most of today's
infrastructure, with few modifications for slightly higher speeds. Beyond
bragging rights, there is little incentive to create what is considered
true high speed rail at enormous capital costs before a mature system of
conventional speed corridors are developed at much lower investments.

Corridors averaging 500 miles in length, or even up to 700 or 800 miles
in length can easily host cheap to operate, but high passenger
satisfaction trains similar to the Palmetto of today. The Palmetto in its
various incarnations, has always been a nearly sold-out at times cash cow
for Amtrak that has been inexpensive to operate. One locomotive, a half
dozen or more cars, including a decent food service car, an upgraded
business class car, and coaches, plus a baggage car on a mostly daylight
schedule is a very attractive business model to follow. Staffing levels
are kept relatively low, there are good RPMs, and often only two train
sets are required for daily operation.

Use the route of the Crescent south of Washington, D.C. as an example of
how this type of operation can mesh well with long distance trains. There
are plenty of NEC trains between Boston and Washington without adding
another frequency. However, the trip from Washington to Atlanta, Georgia,
via Charlotte, North Carolina is about a 12 hour trip. The Crescent
travels over this segment of its route mostly at night. Add a daytime
frequency between Washington and Atlanta, a la the Palmetto. Since you're
already establishing a crew and turn maintenance base in Atlanta, add
another mostly daylight run, of, again, about 12 hours from Atlanta to
New Orleans, but off of the Crescent's current daytime portion of that
run by a few hours to provide the full benefits of a second frequency.
Suddenly, the route now has multiple frequency service with very
inexpensive operating characteristics, and the only new addition is a
small turn maintenance and crew base in Atlanta. Major cities like
Charlotte now have good daylight service on a route which was previously
only served at night.

Look at almost any other Amtrak long distance route, and working in 12 to
15 hour time frames for route lengths, see how many cheap and easy to
operate trains can be added to the Amtrak system. Then, start doing the
math. We know adding a frequency to a route more than doubles ridership
because more people have more travel opportunities at times that are
convenient for the passenger, not the Amtrak operating department.
Station and infrastructure costs go down because expenses which were
formerly the burden of one train are now spread out over two or more
trains.

Further in the AP story, the following was reported:

[Begin quote]

Kummant said he had no intention of abandoning long-distance routes,
loosely defined as those longer than 500 miles. But he said he is working
with Amtrak's board of directors, made up of appointees of President
Bush, to come up with a strategy that might include breaking some long
routes into multiple state corridors.

Amtrak is criticized for the losses in the long-distance routes, but if
those routes were eliminated, they would be very hard to re-establish,
Kummant said. Still, he predicted future growth will likely come from
corridor service, while long-distance ridership will remain flat.

[End quote]

If breaking some long distance routes into multiple state corridors means
augmenting the current long distance trains with the type of daylight
operations outlined immediately above, that is good. If this statement,
which desperately needs clarification, means ending seamless long
distance trains in favor of short distance corridor trains that would
require passenger transfers from one train to another, that is totally
unacceptable. If this statement means similar scenarios to the hijacking
of the Sunset Limited restoration for return in exchange for state funds,
that is also unacceptable.

Amtrak's mission is to operate a healthy national trains system, not a
disjointed series of corridors. As said before, that is nothing wrong is
corridors as support for a good long distance system. Corridors in place
of long distance trains goes against everything for which Amtrak was
created, and is painfully, again, transit mentality versus passenger
train mentality.

Mr. Kummant said long distance ridership will remain flat, that growth is
in corridors. Okay, why will long distance ridership remain flat? Because
in the last few years Amtrak has been systematically reducing train
consists, and, therefore having less product to sell to passengers?
Because Amtrak spends less than half on national system sales and
marketing that it spends on NEC marketing, and only slightly more than on
state supported corridor marketing? Is it possible that if Amtrak beefed
the consists back up to their original sizes of only less than a decade
ago, and actually spent a few dollars on long distance train marketing
and stopped keeping Amtrak as America's best kept secret that long
distance train ridership would not remain flat?

If long distance train ridership remain flat, that is only because Amtrak
management chooses to keep that ridership flat. Amtrak has resources to
increase the ridership, but it also must have the corporate will to do
so.


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

freetwa@unitedrail.org

This Week at Amtrak; February 1, 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 info@unitedrail.org
http://www.unitedrail.org

Volume 4, Number 5

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

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

1) (Sigh) There is Amtrak winter naughtiness again in Chicago. Many of us
had optimistically thought the Winter of '07 was going to be the winter
Amtrak got over its many bad weather operating problems in Chicago. Alas,
that doesn't seem to be the case.

Here's what Amtrak's internal daily report had to say about the Cardinal,
running from Chicago to New York City via Indianapolis, Cincinnati, and
Washington.

[Begin quote]

The report for January 31st says:

Train 50 [The Cardinal, complete with sleeping cars, dinette, and
coaches, departing Chicago on Tuesday, January 30th at 5:45 P.M., Central
Time] ... operating with locomotive 205 and 6 cars reported south at Dyer
[Indiana, 29 miles out of Chicago and one hour and 12 minutes after the
scheduled Chicago departure] that all toilets were inoperative account
frozen, except for (1) toilet in lounge car. Beech Grove mechanical
advised to meet train in Indianapolis, but advised that if they were able
to thaw toilets that there might be freeze damage and that toilets could
freeze again after departure. Due to health and sanitation issues with
one working toilet and unable to confirm repair of frozen toilets,
decision was made to arrange for busses and terminate train. (2) busses
were secured to meet train at Cincinnati where 46 passengers where
transferred to the busses to destination.

[End quote]

What the report doesn't say: The trainmaster in Chicago ordered the train
out of the initial Chicago terminal in this condition, with toilets
frozen, despite the protests of the train's conductor.

The train was terminated at Cincinnati, 319 miles out of Chicago and at
3:00 A.M. because of the unsanitary conditions.

Contrary to internal Amtrak advisories, operating employees report the
train came from the yard in this condition, and the conductor, upon
reporting the inoperative toilets, was ordered by management to depart
anyway. The crew was unable to do anything to fix the toilets and gave up
near Dyer, where they advised the Operations Center of the problem.
Mechanical personnel from Beech Grove Shops were to meet the train at
Indianapolis but said that even if they could thaw out the frozen
toilets, there could be leaks due to burst pipes, and the toilets could
freeze up again shortly afterwards.

Buses were called to meet the train at Cincinnati, where passengers were
transferred and taken to enroute destinations up to Washington, D.C.
Passengers for Northeast Corridor points north of Washington were handled
by NEC trains.

Food and beverages in the lounge/dinette car were loaded onto the buses
and provided complimentary to passengers; meal stops were made by the
buses on Wednesday.

Equipment was deadheaded from Cincinnati to New York.


Looking at this situation, one Washington wag commented, "Seems to be a
common problem. A terminal manager will push a train out of his area in
order to improve his on-time batting average and if it hits the fan later
on, well, it's someone else's problem.

"The other question is why the yard crews and management in Chicago still
can't find the 480-volt electrical service to keep the equipment warm
during layovers. [Installed and intended to avoid problems exactly like
this one.]"

At this early date, we know the Chicago Amtrak boss is a longtime
operations veteran and good railroader and will likely take action, but,
also, what does President and CEO Alex Kummant know about this
personally, and what will he do to rectify such problems?

2) Other folks in Illinois, not riding the Cardinal of January 30th, are
excited about the possibility of expanding Amtrak service in their state.
United States Senator Dick Durbin is among those pushing for expanded
service.

Reporter Thomas Geyer, writing in the Quad-City Times, on Saturday,
January 27th, which covers events in Rock Island, reported on a public
meeting about Amtrak.

[Begin quote]

"We've been going to Washington for many years in pursuit of rail service
for the Quad-Cities and we always came away empty," Rock Island City
Manager John Phillips said. "For years, the people there would just stare
at us blankly, not giving us any indication that things would ever be
different."

Now, he said, it seems as though things are different, "and with Amtrak's
success in Illinois and elsewhere, federal lawmakers are taking a fresh
look at things."

[Senator] Durbin, along with George Weber, chief of the passenger rail
division of the Illinois Department of Transportation, or DOT, and Ray
Lang, Amtrak's senior director for governmental affairs, gave their ideas
to a crowd of about 200 people during an hour-long meeting at Rock
Island's Abbey Station.

... Amtrak's goal is to double the number of riders nationwide by 2020,
he [Lang] said, adding that Amtrak is not looking at long-distance rail
service. The company's future is servicing corridors 300 to 500 miles.

He said Illinois is one of 14 states that have a rail service contract
with Amtrak.

[End quote]

Oops! What? Did the Quad-City Times reporter correctly quote Mr. Lang, a
long time Amtrak public affairs veteran and experienced spokesman, saying
"Amtrak is not looking at long-distance rail service. The company's
future is servicing corridors 300 to 500 miles."?

Putting two and two together, and hoping it doesn't add up to five, we
have last week's offering from Mr. Kummant in the Associated Press
article which was printed across the land that long distance train
ridership was expected to be flat, and reiterating the belief in state
sponsored corridors of 300 to 500 miles in length.

3) But, wait, there's more. Amtrak This Week, the company's internal
employee communication (and no relation to This Week at Amtrak),
prominently features Mr. Kummant's writings, saying:

[Begin quote]

Dear Co-workers,

Let me take a moment to bring you up to date on a couple of important
issues, one of which is the work we're doing to improve our long-distance
on-time performance. Because it's essential that we foster a productive
relationship with our freight partners at all levels, I've met with each
major host railroad CEO at least once, the most recent visits being to
BNSF and NS just this month. In addition to targeting some of our
chronically late trains, we're also identifying new ways to expand
capacity for growth and improved reliability in the future.

While I'm far from satisfied with the current state of long distance OTP,
we've seen some solid improvements on Auto Train and Silver Service
trains since we began targeting those trains with CSXT in August. Auto
Train OTP has improved 27 percentage points, Silver Meteor 38 percentage
points and Silver Star 22 percentage points (comparing Aug. 1 through
Jan. 25 to the same period last year).We still have work to do there, but
I know the crews aboard the trains have noticed the difference.

Poor OTP sets off a downward spiral that affects not only passengers'
confidence in Amtrak, but also taxes our crews and puts our equipment
cycling and servicing way out of whack.

I have another meeting with UP's CEO Jim Young next week, and I will
continue to keep you informed about what we're doing on this front.

[End quote]

Did you notice that one line neatly tucked into the statement: "In
addition to targeting some of our chronically late trains, we're also
identifying new ways to expand capacity for growth and improved
reliability in the future."?

Let's look at some of those words, again: "expand capacity for growth and
improved reliability in the future."

What type of growth are we talking about? Most likely corridor growth,
but, the majority of Mr. Kummant's writing seems to be about the long
distance network. Is it possible that Mr. Lang, who is far down the
corporate food chain from Mr. Kummant, was just continuing to spout the
company line as instructed, where Mr. Kummant may be signaling a change
in thinking about the many possibilities for growth and financial
improvement through the long distance system?

Time, of course, will tell, but this provides a possible glimmer of hope
that "someone gets it" when it comes to the many virtues of Amtrak's long
distance network of trains.

4) Another interesting note from Amtrak This Week; apparently Amtrak is
beginning a campaign to stop being America's Best Kept Secret:

[Begin quote]

Marketing and Product Management:

Amtrak Chairman David Laney and Westwood One's Jim Gray will present the
"Amtrak/Westwood One Player of the Year" award during the Amtrak Super
Bowl XLI halftime show on Westwood One Radio.

[End quote]

Well, if you're going to stop being a secret, it's nothing like making a
splash in radio during the Super Bowl. Good work, Amtrak.

5) An Amtrak/passenger rail update from here in Florida reveals that the
State of Florida, which under now retired Governor Jeb Bush in 2001 set
aside $60 million for implementation of Amtrak service over the Florida
East Coast Railroad from Jacksonville to West Palm Beach where the
service would join the existing coast service down to Miami on the old
Seaboard Air Line/CSX main line, still has the money waiting for use for
this project. Sources say Florida DOT and Amtrak are still having
discussions regarding the implementation of this service.

6) Beginning today, Jim Young of Union Pacific Railroad will become the
railroad's chairman of the board, following the retirement of Dick
Davidson, a 47 year UP veteran. Mr. Davidson was chairman of UP for 10
years.

Notable about Mr. Davidson's service to the UP was the indigestion of the
Southern Pacific Railroad takeover by the UP and the resulting and still
recurring problems with the Sunset Limited and Coast Starlight routes for
on time performance issues, plus, the comment by his former chief
spokesman labeling Amtrak passenger trains as "novelty transportation,"
as opposed to being a part of our nation's domestic transportation
network.

We wish Mr. Young, the new chairman of UP, every success in his
leadership of the company.

6) The Mobile, Alabama Press-Register reported Sunday, January 28th on
the death of the lead partner in the redevelopment of the former
L&N/CSX/Amtrak hurricane damaged station and office building on Mobile's
waterfront next to downtown.

The remaining partners in the project, which will demolish the old
building and build the 241-unit Water Street Landing, will still create
Mobile's first waterfront condominium project. The project will include
60,000 square feet of retail space, and will be built on the west side of
the existing CSX main line track. Water Street Landing will be built next
to the Mobile convention center, which is also built atop the CSX track,
creating a tunnel for all trains.

The Mobile station was the station with the worst damage from 2005's
Hurricane Katrina, and became unusable. The platforms still remain.

The lack of use of this station facility is one of the ongoing "the dog
ate my homework" excuses by Amtrak for not restoring the Sunset Limited
east of New Orleans and into Florida.

In reality, this new development should not hamper development of a new
or temporary Amtrak station while the project is being built. It is
merely an inconvenience that can be overcome by any Amtrak management
that may be interested in restoring this vital part of Amtrak's national
rail system.

7) One other notable retirement has occurred as of today, February 1st.
Capitol Hill is noting the departure of Glenn Scammel, as the Staff
Director and Senior Majority Counsel of the Rail Subcommittee of the
House Transportation & Infrastructure Committee.

Mr. Scammel was a long Republican Hill staffer, and before that, served
his country in the military in Judge Advocate General's work. Mr. Scammel
is a bona fide fan of trains and planes, and his passion showed in his
always excellent work. He has been highly active in successful efforts to
clean up Enron-style compulsions in Amtrak's daily corporate life, and
help guide the railroad on the road to ultimate success as a vibrant and
healthy company. Many of Mr. Scammel's labors haven't been seen by many
outside of Washington, but have been felt by nearly everyone.

Mr. Scammel was more than a bureaucrat, he was a visionary that demanded
compliance with the law, accountability of the people's money and
resources, and a workable plan for the future. Much of the good
legislation introduced by Republicans regarding railroads and Amtrak was
often the handiwork of Mr. Scammel and his staff.

He says that in the process of retiring from government service, he is
now "privatizing" himself, and plans to work in the private sector in
Washington. We are all fortunate this great public servant who has given
so much to his nation will continue to contribute to the public good
through new avenues of endeavor.

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brucerichardson@unitedrail.org

J. Bruce Richardson
President
United Rail Passenger Alliance, Inc.
1526 University Boulevard, West, PMB 203
Jacksonville, Florida 32217-2006 USA
Telephone 904-636-6760
brucerichardson@unitedrail.org
http://www.unitedrail.org
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