Amtrak management threw my stickers away

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When I took my first Amtrak trip in LNK back in March 2006, there were flyers there with someone's elderly handwriting on how poorly funded Amtrak was and how the apples to oranges comparison on transportation spending was so messed up. It was a very crude (as in ugly) flyer made from someone who was passionate about rail travel but had no means to "spiff" it up by computer graphics and stuff. I don't know if the person passed away or what, but you can't find those flyers down there anymore. Personally, I liked the "homemade" look of the flyer instead of the marketing oriented flyers we can all crank out on computers now with the slick graphics etc.
 
PRR 60 said:
Amtrak First Amendment Policy
Amtrak has the right to determine where to spend the limited resources they receive. They have determined that the market east of New Orleans no longer supports the cost of an overnight Superliner train funded 100% by Amtrak. They have asked for state support and have gotten no response. Without state help, Amtrak has determined that the money it would cost to run the Sunset east of New Orleans would be better spent elsewhere. That is management's right.

You can disagree with that, but if you wish the Sunset to be restored, and there is no additional funding from the Federal or state levels to fund the service, exactly what other service or services do you want Amtrak to cut to pay for the Sunset? There is no free lunch here. Lets say it would cost Amtrak about $3 million a year to re-establish the Sunset east of New Orleans (and that's in the ballpark), exactly where do they get that $3 million? Run the Lake Shore every other day? Cut the Cardinal? Drop the Portland section of the Empire Builder? Name your choice, because the money is not there to do it all.
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I'm asking for education purposes only:

So do you support the view-" Get Used To It "?
 
George, are you referring to CSX spending money as a whole or specifically on the New Orleans to Jacksonville segment? What specific improvements have been made?
 
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I guess if you are going to take this position, you should at least spell his name correctly - and I don't think he has ruined Amtrak in the least.
 
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Well, I can't speak for others on this forum, but I don't hate Mr. Kummant, think he is ruining Amtrak, or think that the lack of the Sunset East is a litmus test for whether Amtrak is being ruined or not. I do think the Sunset East situation is despicable and deplorable, but I think Mr. Kummant has done--on the whole--a pretty good job of running Amtrak given the resources and support he has had to work with. The Sunset East is a black mark on his presidency, don't get me wrong, but considering the whole picture, do you really think he's ruining Amtrak (or that Amtrak is being ruined at all, as opposed to, I don't know, say, stifled and severely limited)?
 
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Well for starters he doesn't reply to his mail. Any decent exec would at least have a clerk send out a form letter. Sotra reminds me of a slick politician~ "Catch me if you can."
 
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Some comments made by a member have been deleted as they were personal and derogatory. Several other members replied and I have left the replies but removed the original quote.

Lets all play nice!
 
Just for the record, the decision not to immediately restore the Sunset Limited east of NOL was made 6 months before Mr. Kummant was made President of Amtrak.

Granted he hasn't reversed the decision, but he didn't make that decision not to restart the service.
 
beating_a_dead_horse.jpg
 
This sounds like politics at its best. Maybe when people actually start voting out politicians who do not support what we the people elect them for, things will change. Politicians keep getting "their way" due to the low voter turn out and lack of people who contact the people who do get voted in. I am sick to death of our political nightmare in this country and I will always do my part to get my voice heard. Money talks. The people who give the most to support politicians are the ones getting their way. Welcome to U.S.A. Maybe it's time for AmTrack to sell to a foreign competitor so we can have a train system here in the U.S. that is worthy of this wonderful country. We are behind the times. If this country won't do something to help fix what is not working with our rail system then maybe another country would be willing to.
 
AlanB said:
Just for the record, the decision not to immediately restore the Sunset Limited east of NOL was made 6 months before Mr. Kummant was made President of Amtrak.
Granted he hasn't reversed the decision, but he didn't make that decision not to restart the service.
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Alan;

He still made the comment and it was obviously directed at all Amtrak passengers and potential pax. He CAN do a train off at anytime he pleases and it would please me, and quite a few others, if he would do SOMETHING besides beefing up the NEC. (Sure wish someone would get on the Sunset and give it a once over in El Paso. Just compare the mileage covered by NEC and LD and there's no comparison.)

Jay
 
VentureForth said:
had8ley said:
Just compare the mileage covered by NEC and LD and there's no comparison.
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Just compare the number of passengers covered by the NEC and LD and there's no comparison. :(
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Agreed; how many NEC pax are confined to the same train for three days or more? My point was the message Amtrak's president put out, and the arrogant way he did it, about the demise of the Sunset.
 
VentureForth said:
Might want to check up with Matthew Kodi. He's a BNSF driver who is the director of the Save Our Trains Michigan website and about a dozen or so other forums related to Michigan passenger rail. He is an avid poster in other forums and is known for being passionate about saving Amtrak routes.
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His name is Matt Marderosian, and he used to post here quite frequently. Not sure where he has been for the past few months. :huh:
 
"Alabama and Mississippi"

Correct me if wrong, but I think the area of the tracks is through the black belt. These are specific areas of southern Alabama and southern Mississippi, not these states as a whole, that don't have a lot of political power... still heavily agricultural. It may be hard for residents in this area to take on this fight when so many other problems from Katrina are still present. Perhaps NativeSon needs to get a Civil Rights legend to run interference.
 
"I completely agree and Support Chatter"

GML, you're not personally affected by it.
 
had8ley said:
VentureForth said:
had8ley said:
Just compare the mileage covered by NEC and LD and there's no comparison.
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Just compare the number of passengers covered by the NEC and LD and there's no comparison. :(
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Agreed; how many NEC pax are confined to the same train for three days or more? My point was the message Amtrak's president put out, and the arrogant way he did it, about the demise of the Sunset.
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I should stay out of this, but, are we talking apples & oranges here???
 
Guest said:
"I completely agree and Support Chatter"
GML, you're not personally affected by it.
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First, as others know, I generally support Amtraks stance on the Sunset, because I think the resources can be used more effectively elsewhere. But that is not what I was referring to.

If someone came on here and asked about the Sunset, or added new opinion, dimension, or other perspective- SOMETHING new, I'd be interested in reading it. I'm tired of any thread whatsoever mentioning the Sunset Limited in passing becoming a 50-post diatribe of how much people hate how Amtrak handles this, how Kummant is an arrogant jerk (and I'll admit the way he put it made him sound that way) and so forth. We all know each others positions on this. We have 10 thousand different ideas on how Amtrak can restore it, or not restore it and use the resources elsewhere. We each know each others positions completely.

Now, can we put this topic on the backburner until such time that someone comes up with something other than a total rehash of what has come before?
 
Everyone IS entitled to their own opinion, yes, even Alex Kummant.

I sometimes wonder if his comment was a "quick," "off-the-cuff" comment on a bad day, or perhaps he had been hit with that question often enough that he got irritated. Who of us have NEVER spouted off a jerk-like comment and probably later regretted it?

I think Alex has a "no-win" job and I sometimes wonder about the sanity of anyone who would want that position...Congress and the Amtrak Board constantly looking over your shoulder and hammering you on every decision made. I wonder what it would be like to stand in his shoes...and when I do so, I shudder at all the problems that stare me in the face.

So I return to an earlier question I posed: "the SSL is NOT coming back, what can be done to help foster support to bring "a train" back on this route?" Maybe it's time for us to give NARP a shove!!!!! :eek:
 
Might want to check up with Matthew Kodi. He's a BNSF driver who is the director of the Save Our Trains Michigan website and about a dozen or so other forums related to Michigan passenger rail. He is an avid poster in other forums and is known for being passionate about saving Amtrak routes.
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His name is Matt Marderosian, and he used to post here quite frequently. Not sure where he has been for the past few months. :huh:
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Oh, no--pairing one character with another... :unsure:
 
had8ley said:
Go for the gold. Just remember Kummant's reply in Passenger Train Journal concerning the east end of the Sunset; "They'll just have to get over it." There are also a few on this site that think he walks on water. I tend to agree~ but it's not the same kind of water.
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Kummant does not walk on any kind of water. He is standing in quicksand and knows that the only way he can keep

from sinking is to toe the party line, which right now says "no Sunset extension". I have time and again told folks in

as unpolitical way as I can, that the solution is in the ballot box this fall. Not so much the selection of president as it

is the selection of who goes into the House and Senate.

J. H. Sullivan
 
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