(cross-posting from On-Track On-Line:)
I attended the Region IV NARP meeting in Baltimore on March 17th.
Owing to work commitments, a full, detailed report will have to wait. Emmett Fremaux gave a presentation, despite having an illness in the family (his mother is in a nursing home, I believe it was said). His presentation gave those in attendance a bit of insight into Amtrak as a company. Even so, the communications professional in me thinks he needs to visit Presentation Zen before speaking to a more general audience. That's my opinion, anyway. Here are some headlines:
NEC: Ridership and revenue numbers are up, which helps. Acela numbers are through the roof. Fremaux attributed this to solid marketing, quality OTP, and better maintenance practices resulting in increased equipment utilization.
DINER-LOUNGES: The sightseer lounge conversions have been put back a year. In other words, this is really your last chance to ride on trains with the "classic" sightseer lounge configuration. He articulated a point which I think has gotten lost in the whole SDS discussion. Namely, what Amtrak is attempting to do in the dining car rebuilding process is gain more flexibility in assigning cars across the system. He said in so many words that on some lines (or in some seasons), full diners don't work well, but owing to car configurations, there is not much at present which can be done about it. The diner-lounge program is an effort to change this.
He also expressed his thanks to NARP for pushing Amtrak to build a prototype, and test it. As a direct result, the first diner-lounge coming out of Beech Grove (in June, I think, don't have notes handy here) will have rectangular booths which should correct a number of issues discovered as part of the test runs. He showed slides depicting the changes.
FIXED CONSISTS: This is something he wants to change. Amtrak has definitely gotten the message that fixed consists don't cut it. Unfortunately, owing to management decisions apparently made during the Thomas Downs era, it is difficult to unravel car scheduling to make flexible consists possible. He went on to explain that unraveling the Capital Limited/SW Chief run-through took six months.
LD TRAINS: Fremaux went through the changes in service since the SWC run-through has stopped. He cited improvements in a number of areas. One item: Upon arrival at the Washington, DC yard, the consist on #30 is detailed. He joked about how the one Amtrak manager liked to see the diamond-plate gleam. Passenger satisfaction is up, despite issues with CSX and NS timekeeping.
LD PROMOTION: He'd like to promote the Capital Limited "tomorrow." But OTP as it stands right now, would only give the wrong impression of Amtrak to people trying trains for the first time. Therefore, no promotion. This would change if OTP was satisfactory.
-- more later --
EDIT: It wasn't "Thomas White" who was the Amtrak CEO, it was "Thomas Downs." My bad.
I attended the Region IV NARP meeting in Baltimore on March 17th.
Owing to work commitments, a full, detailed report will have to wait. Emmett Fremaux gave a presentation, despite having an illness in the family (his mother is in a nursing home, I believe it was said). His presentation gave those in attendance a bit of insight into Amtrak as a company. Even so, the communications professional in me thinks he needs to visit Presentation Zen before speaking to a more general audience. That's my opinion, anyway. Here are some headlines:
NEC: Ridership and revenue numbers are up, which helps. Acela numbers are through the roof. Fremaux attributed this to solid marketing, quality OTP, and better maintenance practices resulting in increased equipment utilization.
DINER-LOUNGES: The sightseer lounge conversions have been put back a year. In other words, this is really your last chance to ride on trains with the "classic" sightseer lounge configuration. He articulated a point which I think has gotten lost in the whole SDS discussion. Namely, what Amtrak is attempting to do in the dining car rebuilding process is gain more flexibility in assigning cars across the system. He said in so many words that on some lines (or in some seasons), full diners don't work well, but owing to car configurations, there is not much at present which can be done about it. The diner-lounge program is an effort to change this.
He also expressed his thanks to NARP for pushing Amtrak to build a prototype, and test it. As a direct result, the first diner-lounge coming out of Beech Grove (in June, I think, don't have notes handy here) will have rectangular booths which should correct a number of issues discovered as part of the test runs. He showed slides depicting the changes.
FIXED CONSISTS: This is something he wants to change. Amtrak has definitely gotten the message that fixed consists don't cut it. Unfortunately, owing to management decisions apparently made during the Thomas Downs era, it is difficult to unravel car scheduling to make flexible consists possible. He went on to explain that unraveling the Capital Limited/SW Chief run-through took six months.
LD TRAINS: Fremaux went through the changes in service since the SWC run-through has stopped. He cited improvements in a number of areas. One item: Upon arrival at the Washington, DC yard, the consist on #30 is detailed. He joked about how the one Amtrak manager liked to see the diamond-plate gleam. Passenger satisfaction is up, despite issues with CSX and NS timekeeping.
LD PROMOTION: He'd like to promote the Capital Limited "tomorrow." But OTP as it stands right now, would only give the wrong impression of Amtrak to people trying trains for the first time. Therefore, no promotion. This would change if OTP was satisfactory.
-- more later --
EDIT: It wasn't "Thomas White" who was the Amtrak CEO, it was "Thomas Downs." My bad.
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