amtrak operation - ski train

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MrEd

MrEd

Conductor
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Dec 11, 2007
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Location
Charlotte, NC
A company hoping to revive Colorado's Ski Train is suing Amtrak, which it says has made unforeseen demands jeopardizing the train's service, which is scheduled to start Sunday.

A court hearing is scheduled Wednesday.

The Denver-to-Winter Park Ski Train shut down last year, but Chicago-based Iowa Pacific Holdings was negotiating with Amtrak to provide engineers and conductors for a new service.

Amtrak said Tuesday that talks were at an impasse because of issues including staffing requirements and liability, and that it hadn't gotten notice that Iowa Pacific complied with all federal rail safety regulations.

http://cbs4denver.com/local/Company.hoping.to.2.1386215.html
 
MrEd said:
A company hoping to revive Colorado's Ski Train is suing Amtrak, which it says has made unforeseen demands jeopardizing the train's service, which is scheduled to start Sunday.
A court hearing is scheduled Wednesday.

The Denver-to-Winter Park Ski Train shut down last year, but Chicago-based Iowa Pacific Holdings was negotiating with Amtrak to provide engineers and conductors for a new service.

Amtrak said Tuesday that talks were at an impasse because of issues including staffing requirements and liability, and that it hadn't gotten notice that Iowa Pacific complied with all federal rail safety regulations.

http://cbs4denver.com/local/Company.hoping.to.2.1386215.html
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Can we just put "almost all" lawyers on a Plane to nowhere now, and get it over with? Just makes me wanna puke......... I dealt with the corporate attorney types at CSX years ago when we interchanged with them. Lower than pond scum. Don't get me wrong, good people I'm sure. But the laws they have to follow and the litigious society we live in.........Can we go back to the days of the Wild Wild West?
 
I wonder if Amtrak actually wanted this? If a court orders Amtrak to enter into a contract with Iowa Pacific, it would not be Amtrak, that would be responsible for any consequences.
 
I believe I have seen advertisements for the revived Ski Train including a fare schedule. Oddly enough, it appears that as with the previous operation, only same day round trips are possible; i.e., no one way or out one day and and return another day. I say "oddly" because offering one way or normal round trip tickets would expand the customer base for the Ski Train.

I wonder if this is the case because Amtrak would balk at the increased competition. With the previous, and apparently new scheme, Amtrak provides roughly the same service as the Ski Train, except that the latter stops at the ski resort, whereas Amtrak stops in Fraser, a couple of miles west. One would then have to use the free bus service to the resort. However, with the current scheme Amtrak has no competition for passengers who want a one way ticket or to spend more than one day Winter Park.
 
kevin said:
should-you-use-comic-sans-8542-1255877206-2.jpg
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Why would they object? It would give them some money.
 
rrdude said:
...Can we just put "almost all" lawyers on a Plane to nowhere now, and get it over with? Just makes me wanna puke......... I dealt with the corporate attorney types at CSX years ago when we interchanged with them. Lower than pond scum. Don't get me wrong, good people I'm sure. But the laws they have to follow and the litigious society we live in.........Can we go back to the days of the Wild Wild West?
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The "litigious society" is a myth.

LA Times

From Bureau of Justice Statistics.

tortperctrial.gif


Blame the media for spreading a lot of hype and headlines.
 
All you just demonstrated is more of them are settled out of court, an increasing trend since juries tend to unreasonably favor the little guy.
 
The judge refused to order Amtrak to run the train so it looks like the Ski Train won't be running anytime soon. They were going to start next week but now the earliest the case can be heard by a judge is Jan 4.

The owners are now looking to refund 13,000 tickets.

D'oh!
 
The two sides of the story:

Amtrak: There was no agreement, and IPH is not meeting liability insurance requirements and the cars are not FRA compliant.

IPH: We met the insurance requirements as originally stated by Amtrak, and the new insurance requirements and the FRA car compliance issues are last-minute red herrings raised by Amtrak to block the agreement.

The judge did not decide the merits of the argument, just that IPH did not have cause to issue a restraining order against Amtrak and require immediate operation of the train.

This is an interesting case. From painful, personal experience, I can state that Amtrak is one tough outfit to deal with. Agreements with Amtrak can be, shall we say, a bit fluid at times. Amtrak occasionally suffers from selective amnesia.

On the other hand, the old Ski Train operated for years contracted directly with the Union Pacific for staffing and operation. Amtrak was not involved except for being the owner of the standards for passenger car safety. I have to wonder why IPH did not simply go back to the UP to run the train? Could it be that the UP knew that all was not as it should be, so IPH tried to do an end-run using Amtrak?

Bottom line: no Ski Train. That's too bad, because it always sounded like a great service.
 
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PRR 60 said:
The judge did not decide the merits of the argument, just that IPH did not have cause to issue a restraining order against Amtrak and require immediate operation of the train.
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I believe the judge certainly did decide the merits of the arguments. They judge's decision to not issue a restraining order (is in any such hearing), means the judge felt that it is not overly likely the plaintive (IPH in this case) will win.
 
PetalumaLoco said:
Green Maned Lion said:
All you just demonstrated is more of them are settled out of court, an increasing trend since juries tend to unreasonably favor the little guy.
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Show me some numbers instead of an opinion.
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I may be an opinionated person, but what I stated was fact, not opinion.

Let me show you:

tortperctrial.gif


Title? Percent of tort cases concluded by trial.

What does this graph show? The percentage of tort cases concluded by trial. It doesn't show, purport to show, pretend to show, or even allow for a reasonable inference of, the number of cases of filed, proposed, or threatened litigation, be they torts or otherwise.

I could show you an impressive correlation between the number of golf courses in operation and the number of divorces. I don't think they are related.
 
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