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.
URPA Newsletter
- Thread starter MrFSS
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George Harris
Engineer
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
Telephone 904-636-6760, Electronic Mail [email protected]
http://www.unitedrail.org
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
[email protected]
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
[email protected]
J. Bruce Richardson
President
United Rail Passenger Alliance, Inc.
1526 University Boulevard, West, PMB 203
Jacksonville, Florida 32217-2006 USA
Telephone 904-636-6760
[email protected]
http://www.unitedrail.org
mailto:[email protected]
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 [email protected]
http://www.unitedrail.org
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
[email protected]
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
[email protected]; 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
[email protected]
J. Bruce Richardson
President
United Rail Passenger Alliance, Inc.
1526 University Boulevard, West, PMB 203
Jacksonville, Florida 32217-2006 USA
Telephone 904-636-6760
[email protected]
http://www.unitedrail.org
mailto:[email protected]
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 [email protected]
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
[email protected]
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
[email protected]; 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
[email protected]
J. Bruce Richardson
President
United Rail Passenger Alliance, Inc.
1526 University Boulevard, West, PMB 203
Jacksonville, Florida 32217-2006 USA
Telephone 904-636-6760
[email protected]
http://www.unitedrail.orgmailto:[email protected]
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 [email protected]
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
[email protected]
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
[email protected]; 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
[email protected]
J. Bruce Richardson
President
United Rail Passenger Alliance, Inc.
1526 University Boulevard, West, PMB 203
Jacksonville, Florida 32217-2006 USA
Telephone 904-636-6760
[email protected]
http://www.unitedrail.orgmailto:[email protected]
frj1983
OBS Chief
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?
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?
Last edited by a moderator:
haolerider
Conductor
- Joined
- Apr 21, 2004
- Messages
- 1,436
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.
Last edited by a moderator:
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 [email protected]
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
[email protected]
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
[email protected]; 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
[email protected]
J. Bruce Richardson
President
United Rail Passenger Alliance, Inc.
1526 University Boulevard, West, PMB 203
Jacksonville, Florida 32217-2006 USA
Telephone 904-636-6760
[email protected]
http://www.unitedrail.org
mailto:[email protected]
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 [email protected]
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?
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mailto:[email protected]
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 [email protected]
http://www.unitedrail.org
Volume 4, Number 3
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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 [email protected]
[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
[email protected]
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
[email protected]; 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
[email protected]
J. Bruce Richardson
President
United Rail Passenger Alliance, Inc.
1526 University Boulevard, West, PMB 203
Jacksonville, Florida 32217-2006 USA
Telephone 904-636-6760
[email protected]
http://www.unitedrail.orgmailto:[email protected]
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 [email protected]
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 [email protected]
[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
[email protected]
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
[email protected]; 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
[email protected]
J. Bruce Richardson
President
United Rail Passenger Alliance, Inc.
1526 University Boulevard, West, PMB 203
Jacksonville, Florida 32217-2006 USA
Telephone 904-636-6760
[email protected]
http://www.unitedrail.orgmailto:[email protected]
George Harris
Engineer
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
Last edited by a moderator:
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.
frj1983
OBS Chief
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!!
Last edited by a moderator:
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 [email protected]
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.
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A weekly digest of events, opinions, and forecasts from
United Rail Passenger Alliance, Inc.
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Telephone 904-636-6760, Electronic Mail [email protected]
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,
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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
[email protected]
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 [email protected]
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.
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
[email protected]
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
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than the distribution of This Week at Amtrak or related URPA materials.
All other correspondence should be addressed to
[email protected]
J. Bruce Richardson
President
United Rail Passenger Alliance, Inc.
1526 University Boulevard, West, PMB 203
Jacksonville, Florida 32217-2006 USA
Telephone 904-636-6760
[email protected]
http://www.unitedrail.org
mailto:[email protected]
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 [email protected]
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.
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
[email protected]
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
[email protected]; 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
[email protected]
J. Bruce Richardson
President
United Rail Passenger Alliance, Inc.
1526 University Boulevard, West, PMB 203
Jacksonville, Florida 32217-2006 USA
Telephone 904-636-6760
[email protected]
http://www.unitedrail.org
mailto:[email protected]
Anyone actually reading the article would already question whether the answer to that question is yes. The fact is, the statement (about Amtrak not looking at long-distance trains) is not put in quotes, meaning that the reporter is not directly quoting the Amtrak official, but rather paraphrasing what was said. Without the full quote and context of the statement, there's no way we could really know what he was talking about. He could have been just referencing that particular proposed service (to the Quad Cities), which would likely be run as a corridor rather than a long-distance train.
Then again, it's not like I expect anything from Bruce Richardson.
haolerider
Conductor
- Joined
- Apr 21, 2004
- Messages
- 1,436
Just a quick comment about Bruce Richardson's comments regarding Amtrak and the Super Bowl. Amtrak has been a sponsor of the Mondy Night Games on Westwood One radio network for almost 7 years and have made this presentation every year at the Super Bowl. It is not televised, but is certainly part of the radio broadcast, so this is not something new.
Bruce is like most people. Unless you hear or see something directly, most people assume there is no advertising and/or promotions - while the opposite is true. Amtrak does market and advertise, but not in all markets and not on the TV or radio station each of us may use. Different market segments call for different tactics.
This Week at Amtrak; February 16, 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 [email protected]
http://www.unitedrail.org
Volume 4, Number 6
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) Thanks to all those who inquired about the missing editions of TWA
these last two weeks. Due to a pressing need to complete some large
projects, it was not possible to produce TWA and meet other deadlines. We
hope this has not caused any inconvenience.
2) According to the National Association of Railroad Passengers and other
groups and some media, the sky is yet again falling, and the Earth
continues to rush up to meet it.
Yes, it's that time of year when the reigning administration submits an
annual budget to Congress, and, of course, there is never enough money
suggested to please those who think government money grows on trees.
The Bush administration has suggested a small budget for Amtrak for
Fiscal Year 2008 of $900 million. Horrors. Just $100 million shy of a
billion dollars in free federal monies, and the fatalists think all of
the nation's passenger trains will grind to a screeching halt any minute,
now.
When cooler heads look at the budget picture, we know a couple of things
to be true, versus the dogmatic rhetoric that comes from all of the usual
suspects.
While $900 million is less than previously allotted by Congress in the
final budget figures (the only ones that really matter, by the way),
Amtrak usually gets $1.2 billion or more each year, lately. For FY 2006
and FY 2007, Amtrak got $1.3 billion each year.
Keep in mind all national operations and NEC operations together, plus
continuous upgrades to the Northeast Corridor can be accomplished with
this small budget request. So, even if this budget suggestion was
ultimately turned into law, Amtrak would not be shut down, nor would
passenger trains operations be curtailed.
Now, let's look at the crux of the problem of budgeting free federal
monies for Amtrak every year. Here is what the United States Department
of Transportation said regarding the FY 2008 Amtrak budget request.
[begin quote}
Focusing Amtrak's Spending Priorities
The Administration believes that scarce taxpayer dollars must be spent
wisely, including the funds provided to Amtrak. Led by its Board of
Directors, Amtrak made some progress in 2006 to strengthen its finances
by increasing revenues and controlling costs. While Amtrak's recent
performance is encouraging, it continues to under perform overall.
Amtrak's system-wide on-time performance again dropped in 2006 to 68
percent, and it required $490 million in operating subsidies, mostly for
its money-losing long distance trains. When last measured for 2002, the
net Federal subsidy per thousand passenger miles traveled was $199.90 for
rail, $5.87 for commercial aviation, and -$.95 for highway users
according to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics. While Amtrak
carried 24 million passengers in 2006, domestic air carriers that year
flew 656 million passengers.
Historically, Amtrak has been hampered by a lack of accountability, poor
design, and mismanagement. The latest critical review of Amtrak comes
from the Government Accountability Office, which concluded, among several
findings, that Amtrak's long-distance trains "show limited public
benefits for dollars expended," and that "these routes account for 15
percent of riders but 80 percent of financial losses." To turn the
enterprise around, the Administration has urged basic reforms that would
empower local communities and ultimately customers to determine the most
efficient way to run trains. The Administration expects the Board's
newly-installed management to make significant changes required to enable
the company to succeed without Federal operating subsidies. The
Department plans to administer Amtrak's subsidy with this goal in mind.
The 2008 Budget proposes a subsidy that would require that Amtrak make
hard choices about its services and commit to running the railroad more
like a business. The request is part of a multi-year program to reduce
and then eliminate Amtrak's reliance on Federal operating assistance as
required by the Amtrak Reform and Accountability Act of 1997 (49 USC
24101). For 2008, the Budget recommends $900 million for intercity
passenger rail, but only $800 million for Amtrak directly. This amount
includes $300 million for operating costs, compared to the $490 million
Amtrak received in 2006, beginning the phasing out of operating
subsidies. The Budget continues to fund Amtrak's infrastructure needs
with a capital request of $500 million, which is equal to the 2006
enacted level. This level should underwrite Amtrak's ongoing efforts to
rehabilitate the Northeast Corridor between Washington, D.C. and Boston,
which is by far its most heavily used and important route. In addition,
the President's Budget requests $100 million for capital matching grants
to States for intercity passenger rail projects. This new program would
give local communities resources to direct investment in facilities that
reflect their top rail transportation priorities. The Administration
believes the Federal Government should help States fund capital projects
where there is strong demand for rail service, and help foster managed
competition among rail operators to encourage innovation and cost
control.
[End quote]
Look at some of the same, often useless and incorrect phrases used in the
budget request: "mostly for its money-losing long distance trains. When
last measured for 2002, the net Federal subsidy per thousand passenger
miles traveled was $199.90 for rail, $5.87 for commercial aviation, and
-$.95 for highway users according to the Bureau of Transportation
Statistics ... latest critical review of Amtrak comes from the Government
Accountability Office, which concluded, among several findings, that
Amtrak's long-distance trains "show limited public benefits for dollars
expended,' and that "these routes account for 15 percent of riders but 80
percent of financial losses.' ... should underwrite Amtrak's ongoing
efforts to rehabilitate the Northeast Corridor between Washington, D.C.
and Boston, which is by far its most heavily used and important route
..."
We know the long distance trains are not money losers, too many studies
have shown that above the rail, the long distance trains at the minimum
break even, and most even throw off extra cash to fund other parts of the
company and operations.
The most incredible statement comes abstractly from the Government
Accountability Office, saying Amtrak's long distance trains show limited
public benefit for dollars spent and that routes account of 15% of
riders, but 80 percent of financial losses. To Amtrak's credit, in the
original GAO report (GAO-07-15) of November 13, 2006, the company
responded by reminding the GAO that actually, the long distance trains
account for 47% of passenger miles generated system-wide.
The last incredible statement is that the NEC is by far Amtrak's most
heavily used and important route. While it may carry the most passenger
bodies, it does not generate the most passenger miles, and the importance
of the NEC would be debatable to anyone living outside of the NEC area
served, particularly if you live in one of the rural areas of America
where Amtrak is the only common carrier available for use.
What this boils down to is that the Bush administration is operating from
flawed data, simply because that is what it has been fed to use. We know
the GAO report is deeply flawed, because it has used bad data supplied by
... Amtrak. We know Amtrak's data is flawed, because its books are still
a financial quagmire that is taking months to just begin to untangle.
Also, in the past, Amtrak has always incorrectly highlighted the
importance of the NEC and its version of high speed rail at the expense
of the rest of the national system. Looking at Amtrak past marketing and
public relations exercises shows a distinct disdain for anything other
than the NEC, and these defective efforts are coming back to haunt Amtrak
as it tries to look at itself seriously as a national common carrier.
Most importantly, Amtrak itself has continuously, mostly for the benefit
of the NEC, used passenger body counts instead of the transportation
industry gold standard of revenue passenger miles to measure success. By
sheer body counts, the long distance trains do carry less passengers,
which is a meaningless statistic. By revenue passenger miles, the long
distance trains generate 47% of the system wide passenger miles, a huge
amount.
In summary, what we are seeing every year from the White House is a
budget decision based on flawed data, that ultimately was generated by
Amtrak. Until Amtrak can convince budget decision makers about the real
numbers and needs, bad budget requests will continue to flow into the
national debate.
The oddest, and funniest news story to come so far from this year's
budget discussions? New Mexico Business Weekly, on Tuesday, February 6,
2007 ran a headline saying, "Proposed Bush budget would banish NM's
Amtrak service." The story went on to say, in a declaratory fashion with
no attribution, "The president's 2008 budget proposal would cut Amtrak's
funding from $1.3 billion to $900 million and eliminate the Southwest
Chief and Sunset Limited passenger lines."
You can't make this stuff up. Where does such nonsense come from, in what
is supposed to be a respected business publication?
2) In good news, Amtrak seems to be putting together a new advertising
push. The bad news is that the advertising seems to be just for Acela
trains on the NEC, and not the whole system.
On February 9th, Adweek, a well-respected industry magazine of the
advertising and marketing biz, reported that Amtrak is making a
multimedia push for the winter and spring travel season. The campaign is
based on research that shows travelers are taking less vacation time and
are therefore more concerned with the comfort and quality of their
leisure-time activities.
Adweek says the campaign seems to mostly be aimed towards NEC Acela
trains. There is no mention of the much more important national system
trains which generate greater amounts of revenue passenger miles and cash
for the system.
Here's the distressing part: Amtrak spent slightly less than $20 million
on ads last year, down 66 percent from the previous year. Why such a
drop? Was this due to the Acela trains being out of commission last year,
so Amtrak didn't think it was important to advertise the rest of the
system?
In terms of advertising spending, $20 million, for a company the size of
Amtrak, is, at best, trivial spending for something like advertising.
Now, here's an interesting twist to the whole advertising scenario.
On February 7th, Amtrak announced it has contracted with a multi-cultural
marketing communications firm to launch a multi-cultural advertising
campaign for both Acela trains and the long distance system. The firm,
based in Atlanta, Georgia, will help Amtrak develop promotions, special
events, and public relations. These are all things Amtrak desperately
needs, and undoubtedly will help Amtrak gain new riders.
A "Welcome On Board" ad will encourage audiences to consider Amtrak long
distance trains when planning trips, especially family vacations. An
Acela campaign will target business travelers.
Hey, this sounds great. Promoting the long distance system, getting some
good public relations going, and special events.
But, the ads will only target multi-cultural audiences via print, online
and radio advertising in New York City, Chicago, Los Angeles, Washington,
and Miami. Both campaigns will be aired only through African American and
Hispanic media outlets.
What about the rest of us? Is Amtrak saying that no one other than
minorities ride long distance trains? What about the other thousands of
media markets outside of the major centers listed above? Don't people in
the other 40+ states want to ride passenger trains, too? Or, will they
just have to figure out things the best way they can and discover Amtrak
on their own?
These two campaigns are a bare minimum start, but nothing more than that.
3) In the last issue of TWA, we read about a meeting held in Illinois
regarding expansion of Amtrak service in that state. The following quote
appeared:
[begin 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.
[End quote]
This has a happy ending. Ray Lang was apparently misquoted, as often
happens in the press. A sharp-eyed TWA reader, Eliot A. Keller of Iowa
City, Iowa sent the following e-mail to TWA:
"He was misquoted.
"I was there in Rock Island.
"He said the biggest growth in ridership was expected in the future on
trains serving those routes." [Meaning corridors, and not long distance
routes; that the company is still looking at long distance routes.]
That is a great improvement over what was reported in the Quad-City
Times. Thank you, Mr. Keller for helping clarify that issue. That puts a
much more positive spin on things.
4) Two very different weather and train operation reports and statements
were made February 13th and February 14th as harsh winter weather rolled
across North America.
Amtrak issued an internal System Operations Flash Report on February
14th, warning of the coming weather, and made plans to cancel or
terminate early 50 trains in the Midwest and Northeast.
VIA Rail Canada, on the other hand, on February 13th, warming to the
conditions of the same storm, issued this public announcement:
[begin quote]
VIA Rail Canada is preparing for major winter storm
Montreal - In light of the major storm that is expected to hit Central
Canada and the Maritimes over the next couple of days, VIA would like to
remind its passengers that is has taken all the necessary steps to offer
safe and reliable travel to those using its intercity and longer distance
trains in Ontario, Quebec and the Maritimes. While heavy snow and severe
weather can shut down highways and airports, trains are typically not
affected to the same degree.
As weather predictions worsen, VIA normally faces increased demand. VIA
will add cars to accommodate the demand but urges customers to call ahead
to be certain of available space. To book, customers can call 1-888-VIA
Rail, (842-7245), TTY 1-800 268-9503 (hearing impaired). Tickets are also
available at kiosks in major Corridor stations, online at www.viarail.ca,
or through travel agents.
VIA offers a stress-free, safe and comfortable winter travel alternative.
For a complete listing of train departures, station and on-board services
as well as fare plans, visit VIA's Web site at www.viarail.ca (
http://www.viarail.ca/en_index.html )
[End quote]
Our tough Canadian cousins seem to relish winter, not be afraid of it.
Come on Amtrak, get with the plan.
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
[email protected]
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
[email protected]; 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
[email protected]
J. Bruce Richardson
President
United Rail Passenger Alliance, Inc.
1526 University Boulevard, West, PMB 203
Jacksonville, Florida 32217-2006 USA
Telephone 904-636-6760
[email protected]
http://www.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 [email protected]
http://www.unitedrail.org
Volume 4, Number 6
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) Thanks to all those who inquired about the missing editions of TWA
these last two weeks. Due to a pressing need to complete some large
projects, it was not possible to produce TWA and meet other deadlines. We
hope this has not caused any inconvenience.
2) According to the National Association of Railroad Passengers and other
groups and some media, the sky is yet again falling, and the Earth
continues to rush up to meet it.
Yes, it's that time of year when the reigning administration submits an
annual budget to Congress, and, of course, there is never enough money
suggested to please those who think government money grows on trees.
The Bush administration has suggested a small budget for Amtrak for
Fiscal Year 2008 of $900 million. Horrors. Just $100 million shy of a
billion dollars in free federal monies, and the fatalists think all of
the nation's passenger trains will grind to a screeching halt any minute,
now.
When cooler heads look at the budget picture, we know a couple of things
to be true, versus the dogmatic rhetoric that comes from all of the usual
suspects.
While $900 million is less than previously allotted by Congress in the
final budget figures (the only ones that really matter, by the way),
Amtrak usually gets $1.2 billion or more each year, lately. For FY 2006
and FY 2007, Amtrak got $1.3 billion each year.
Keep in mind all national operations and NEC operations together, plus
continuous upgrades to the Northeast Corridor can be accomplished with
this small budget request. So, even if this budget suggestion was
ultimately turned into law, Amtrak would not be shut down, nor would
passenger trains operations be curtailed.
Now, let's look at the crux of the problem of budgeting free federal
monies for Amtrak every year. Here is what the United States Department
of Transportation said regarding the FY 2008 Amtrak budget request.
[begin quote}
Focusing Amtrak's Spending Priorities
The Administration believes that scarce taxpayer dollars must be spent
wisely, including the funds provided to Amtrak. Led by its Board of
Directors, Amtrak made some progress in 2006 to strengthen its finances
by increasing revenues and controlling costs. While Amtrak's recent
performance is encouraging, it continues to under perform overall.
Amtrak's system-wide on-time performance again dropped in 2006 to 68
percent, and it required $490 million in operating subsidies, mostly for
its money-losing long distance trains. When last measured for 2002, the
net Federal subsidy per thousand passenger miles traveled was $199.90 for
rail, $5.87 for commercial aviation, and -$.95 for highway users
according to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics. While Amtrak
carried 24 million passengers in 2006, domestic air carriers that year
flew 656 million passengers.
Historically, Amtrak has been hampered by a lack of accountability, poor
design, and mismanagement. The latest critical review of Amtrak comes
from the Government Accountability Office, which concluded, among several
findings, that Amtrak's long-distance trains "show limited public
benefits for dollars expended," and that "these routes account for 15
percent of riders but 80 percent of financial losses." To turn the
enterprise around, the Administration has urged basic reforms that would
empower local communities and ultimately customers to determine the most
efficient way to run trains. The Administration expects the Board's
newly-installed management to make significant changes required to enable
the company to succeed without Federal operating subsidies. The
Department plans to administer Amtrak's subsidy with this goal in mind.
The 2008 Budget proposes a subsidy that would require that Amtrak make
hard choices about its services and commit to running the railroad more
like a business. The request is part of a multi-year program to reduce
and then eliminate Amtrak's reliance on Federal operating assistance as
required by the Amtrak Reform and Accountability Act of 1997 (49 USC
24101). For 2008, the Budget recommends $900 million for intercity
passenger rail, but only $800 million for Amtrak directly. This amount
includes $300 million for operating costs, compared to the $490 million
Amtrak received in 2006, beginning the phasing out of operating
subsidies. The Budget continues to fund Amtrak's infrastructure needs
with a capital request of $500 million, which is equal to the 2006
enacted level. This level should underwrite Amtrak's ongoing efforts to
rehabilitate the Northeast Corridor between Washington, D.C. and Boston,
which is by far its most heavily used and important route. In addition,
the President's Budget requests $100 million for capital matching grants
to States for intercity passenger rail projects. This new program would
give local communities resources to direct investment in facilities that
reflect their top rail transportation priorities. The Administration
believes the Federal Government should help States fund capital projects
where there is strong demand for rail service, and help foster managed
competition among rail operators to encourage innovation and cost
control.
[End quote]
Look at some of the same, often useless and incorrect phrases used in the
budget request: "mostly for its money-losing long distance trains. When
last measured for 2002, the net Federal subsidy per thousand passenger
miles traveled was $199.90 for rail, $5.87 for commercial aviation, and
-$.95 for highway users according to the Bureau of Transportation
Statistics ... latest critical review of Amtrak comes from the Government
Accountability Office, which concluded, among several findings, that
Amtrak's long-distance trains "show limited public benefits for dollars
expended,' and that "these routes account for 15 percent of riders but 80
percent of financial losses.' ... should underwrite Amtrak's ongoing
efforts to rehabilitate the Northeast Corridor between Washington, D.C.
and Boston, which is by far its most heavily used and important route
..."
We know the long distance trains are not money losers, too many studies
have shown that above the rail, the long distance trains at the minimum
break even, and most even throw off extra cash to fund other parts of the
company and operations.
The most incredible statement comes abstractly from the Government
Accountability Office, saying Amtrak's long distance trains show limited
public benefit for dollars spent and that routes account of 15% of
riders, but 80 percent of financial losses. To Amtrak's credit, in the
original GAO report (GAO-07-15) of November 13, 2006, the company
responded by reminding the GAO that actually, the long distance trains
account for 47% of passenger miles generated system-wide.
The last incredible statement is that the NEC is by far Amtrak's most
heavily used and important route. While it may carry the most passenger
bodies, it does not generate the most passenger miles, and the importance
of the NEC would be debatable to anyone living outside of the NEC area
served, particularly if you live in one of the rural areas of America
where Amtrak is the only common carrier available for use.
What this boils down to is that the Bush administration is operating from
flawed data, simply because that is what it has been fed to use. We know
the GAO report is deeply flawed, because it has used bad data supplied by
... Amtrak. We know Amtrak's data is flawed, because its books are still
a financial quagmire that is taking months to just begin to untangle.
Also, in the past, Amtrak has always incorrectly highlighted the
importance of the NEC and its version of high speed rail at the expense
of the rest of the national system. Looking at Amtrak past marketing and
public relations exercises shows a distinct disdain for anything other
than the NEC, and these defective efforts are coming back to haunt Amtrak
as it tries to look at itself seriously as a national common carrier.
Most importantly, Amtrak itself has continuously, mostly for the benefit
of the NEC, used passenger body counts instead of the transportation
industry gold standard of revenue passenger miles to measure success. By
sheer body counts, the long distance trains do carry less passengers,
which is a meaningless statistic. By revenue passenger miles, the long
distance trains generate 47% of the system wide passenger miles, a huge
amount.
In summary, what we are seeing every year from the White House is a
budget decision based on flawed data, that ultimately was generated by
Amtrak. Until Amtrak can convince budget decision makers about the real
numbers and needs, bad budget requests will continue to flow into the
national debate.
The oddest, and funniest news story to come so far from this year's
budget discussions? New Mexico Business Weekly, on Tuesday, February 6,
2007 ran a headline saying, "Proposed Bush budget would banish NM's
Amtrak service." The story went on to say, in a declaratory fashion with
no attribution, "The president's 2008 budget proposal would cut Amtrak's
funding from $1.3 billion to $900 million and eliminate the Southwest
Chief and Sunset Limited passenger lines."
You can't make this stuff up. Where does such nonsense come from, in what
is supposed to be a respected business publication?
2) In good news, Amtrak seems to be putting together a new advertising
push. The bad news is that the advertising seems to be just for Acela
trains on the NEC, and not the whole system.
On February 9th, Adweek, a well-respected industry magazine of the
advertising and marketing biz, reported that Amtrak is making a
multimedia push for the winter and spring travel season. The campaign is
based on research that shows travelers are taking less vacation time and
are therefore more concerned with the comfort and quality of their
leisure-time activities.
Adweek says the campaign seems to mostly be aimed towards NEC Acela
trains. There is no mention of the much more important national system
trains which generate greater amounts of revenue passenger miles and cash
for the system.
Here's the distressing part: Amtrak spent slightly less than $20 million
on ads last year, down 66 percent from the previous year. Why such a
drop? Was this due to the Acela trains being out of commission last year,
so Amtrak didn't think it was important to advertise the rest of the
system?
In terms of advertising spending, $20 million, for a company the size of
Amtrak, is, at best, trivial spending for something like advertising.
Now, here's an interesting twist to the whole advertising scenario.
On February 7th, Amtrak announced it has contracted with a multi-cultural
marketing communications firm to launch a multi-cultural advertising
campaign for both Acela trains and the long distance system. The firm,
based in Atlanta, Georgia, will help Amtrak develop promotions, special
events, and public relations. These are all things Amtrak desperately
needs, and undoubtedly will help Amtrak gain new riders.
A "Welcome On Board" ad will encourage audiences to consider Amtrak long
distance trains when planning trips, especially family vacations. An
Acela campaign will target business travelers.
Hey, this sounds great. Promoting the long distance system, getting some
good public relations going, and special events.
But, the ads will only target multi-cultural audiences via print, online
and radio advertising in New York City, Chicago, Los Angeles, Washington,
and Miami. Both campaigns will be aired only through African American and
Hispanic media outlets.
What about the rest of us? Is Amtrak saying that no one other than
minorities ride long distance trains? What about the other thousands of
media markets outside of the major centers listed above? Don't people in
the other 40+ states want to ride passenger trains, too? Or, will they
just have to figure out things the best way they can and discover Amtrak
on their own?
These two campaigns are a bare minimum start, but nothing more than that.
3) In the last issue of TWA, we read about a meeting held in Illinois
regarding expansion of Amtrak service in that state. The following quote
appeared:
[begin 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.
[End quote]
This has a happy ending. Ray Lang was apparently misquoted, as often
happens in the press. A sharp-eyed TWA reader, Eliot A. Keller of Iowa
City, Iowa sent the following e-mail to TWA:
"He was misquoted.
"I was there in Rock Island.
"He said the biggest growth in ridership was expected in the future on
trains serving those routes." [Meaning corridors, and not long distance
routes; that the company is still looking at long distance routes.]
That is a great improvement over what was reported in the Quad-City
Times. Thank you, Mr. Keller for helping clarify that issue. That puts a
much more positive spin on things.
4) Two very different weather and train operation reports and statements
were made February 13th and February 14th as harsh winter weather rolled
across North America.
Amtrak issued an internal System Operations Flash Report on February
14th, warning of the coming weather, and made plans to cancel or
terminate early 50 trains in the Midwest and Northeast.
VIA Rail Canada, on the other hand, on February 13th, warming to the
conditions of the same storm, issued this public announcement:
[begin quote]
VIA Rail Canada is preparing for major winter storm
Montreal - In light of the major storm that is expected to hit Central
Canada and the Maritimes over the next couple of days, VIA would like to
remind its passengers that is has taken all the necessary steps to offer
safe and reliable travel to those using its intercity and longer distance
trains in Ontario, Quebec and the Maritimes. While heavy snow and severe
weather can shut down highways and airports, trains are typically not
affected to the same degree.
As weather predictions worsen, VIA normally faces increased demand. VIA
will add cars to accommodate the demand but urges customers to call ahead
to be certain of available space. To book, customers can call 1-888-VIA
Rail, (842-7245), TTY 1-800 268-9503 (hearing impaired). Tickets are also
available at kiosks in major Corridor stations, online at www.viarail.ca,
or through travel agents.
VIA offers a stress-free, safe and comfortable winter travel alternative.
For a complete listing of train departures, station and on-board services
as well as fare plans, visit VIA's Web site at www.viarail.ca (
http://www.viarail.ca/en_index.html )
[End quote]
Our tough Canadian cousins seem to relish winter, not be afraid of it.
Come on Amtrak, get with the plan.
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
[email protected]
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
[email protected]; 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
[email protected]
J. Bruce Richardson
President
United Rail Passenger Alliance, Inc.
1526 University Boulevard, West, PMB 203
Jacksonville, Florida 32217-2006 USA
Telephone 904-636-6760
[email protected]
http://www.unitedrail.org
haolerider
Conductor
- Joined
- Apr 21, 2004
- Messages
- 1,436
Sometimes a little information is a dangerous thing!
Amtrak has a long distance train advertising campaign, as well as an Acela (NEC) campaign for the spring, so there should be no fear that the long distance trains are being forgotten.
As far as the Multicultural/Diversity agency running ads in large market areas, this is no different than what has been done in the past. There has always been a portion of their budget set aside for diverse market segments and those ads are funded from the national budget. Other cities/regions will use the same ads and place them in the smaller market cities.
No fears Bruce - Amtrak will market to everyone - even URPA followers.
I can only guess that he used selective reading when browsing Amtrak's press releases. :blink: After all here it is clear as day, a full description of the ads for the long distance service.
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 [email protected]
http://www.unitedrail.org
Volume 4, Number 7
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) What is your world view of Amtrak? Do you consider it an essential
public/social service? Do you consider it mostly a regional commuter
service? Do you consider it a provider of long distance transportation
as part of our national transportation matrix? Do you consider Amtrak a
fascinating part of your hobby world that you hope the federal
government will continue to fund endlessly for your enjoyment?
People who are interesting in Amtrak make up disparate parts of the
national population. While many are indifferent to the fate of Amtrak,
others are passionate about its existence. Many who are passionate about
Amtrak are also mostly ignorant about the realities of Amtrak, and what
it takes to run a passenger railroad.
From the outside, an easy answer to almost all of Amtrak's problems is
to throw more money at the company. Just give it more money and
everything will be fine. Well, no, that is probably the worst possible
scenario for Amtrak because more money only enables bad corporate
behavior and provide no incentive for improvement.
On the money front, the current Amtrak board of directors and
administration has quickly learned how to play the ongoing Washington
game of requesting free federal monies, and getting most of what they
want. It's the Amtrak apologists and mostly politically naive "Amtrak at
all costs, right or wrong" supporters who don't seem to want to
understand the process.
During the past two federal budget cycles, we have seen Amtrak, with all
due respect accorded to its money managers on Capitol Hill, create a
budget request process that has been done professionally and with
forethought. This year, the Bush administration requested $900 million
for Amtrak through its annual budget process. Keep in mind the term
"process." A Republican administration has made a request of a Democrat
congress. That means at best, the Republican request is a faint
blueprint for what Congress will actually enact in final legislation.
Amtrak has made for FY 2008 a direct request to Congress of $1.53
billion, up from the FY 06 and FY 07 budget of $1.3 billion.
Now, here the comes the part most people don't seem to want to grasp or
understand, and which no one outside of the budget writers at Amtrak
will every know the real answer to: How much of Amtrak's budget request
is "blue sky, best case scenario"? Anyone savvy in the ways of
negotiation - and Amtrak's annual Congressional free federal monies are
always a product of negotiation - knows that you always start high, and
settle for less than you requested. That's simply the way the process works.
Most people would be hard pressed to name any federal agency which
receives 100% of its requested annual budget. Some people in Congress
are always likely to say, "Well, we can do X if we cut 1 or 2 % from
everyone else's budget." That is simply the way things get done in a
civilized society.
Those individuals and organizations like the National Association of
Railroad Passengers who want to hold their collective breaths until they
turn blue because in their view Amtrak isn't getting every red cent it's
requesting simply aren't living in the real world.
An amusing aside to the budget debate this year has been NARP's public
disappointment in the new Democrat controlled congress. Apparently,
there has been too much wishful thinking that once "our people" were in
control, all of Amtrak's problems would be solved because Democrats
would be much more sympathetic to every one of Amtrak's needs. Whoops!
The reality is, those who are in power and show some personal
responsibility, do what is best for the commonweal, not always what is
best for perceived favorites.
For those of us intimately familiar with politics, we know that once in
power, everyone who joined our side to get us into power usually did so
for a specific agenda, and then demand their agenda be followed. That's
just not possible. When you are an elected leader, you do what is right
either from a moral or ethical basis (hopefully, both) and follow the
law. If personal agendas interfere, then you were not the right person
to be elected. While Amtrak supporters and apologists may think they are
right, they are probably not taking a global vision of everything in the
transportation field that must be considered in a budget process. An
Amtrak apologist's "emergency" is not an airline foamer's "emergency."
It's up to the budget writers on Capitol Hill to figure out the real
emergencies and allocate monies accordingly.
2) We continue to hear the same drivel that no passenger railroad system
in the world can exist without public monies. Why is this considered a
basis for Amtrak funding? We note in the latest Amtrak budget request to
Congress the company has announced that despite an increase in operating
expenses, it plans to hold the line on its request for an operating
subsidy at the same as previous years, $485 million for the entire
system. In other words, Amtrak is saying it would rather first help
itself, either through internal savings, an improvement in the way it
does business, or (gasp!) improved ridership and revenue, than simply
ask the federal government for more money.
Finally, we have arrived at Valhalla. Amtrak has said, "No, thank you, I
can help myself." This is a red letter year for Amtrak.
Real businesspeople, looking at passenger rail from a real business
standpoint instead of through the rose colored glasses and soft bigotry
of lower expectations, know that passenger rail in a truly competitive
environment can not only be self-sufficient in many areas, but it can be
profitable, too, in the context of traditional passenger rail, such as
long distance trains.
Looking at Amtrak as it currently is shaped, the company will never be
able to charge enough for tickets on corridor trains as demonstrated on
the Northeast Corridor to fully support the cost of those trains and the
infrastructure required to operate them. But, in a more mature long
distance system, the numbers show those trains throwing off large
amounts of excess cash (called "profits" in the real world, which by the
way is not an obscene term), and those trains can be more than
self-sufficient.
3) How do you strike a balance between these two systems? In pre-Amtrak
days, many of the private railroads, such as the Pennsylvania, Southern
Pacific, Illinois Central, Milwaukee Road, Chicago Northwestern, and
others operated commuter businesses in addition to fleets of long
distance trains. Some digging through musty archives shows that the
commuter operations, which we operated by government direction, the same
as public utilities, rarely made money. It was the long distance fleets
that covered many of the expenses of the commuter trains.
In today's Amworld, those economics have been nearly reversed. More
emphasis has been placed on high cost, low revenue commuter operations
as public utilities, and little interest has been paid to low cost, high
revenue long distance trains. To make matters worse, anyone from those
days of yesteryear that understood the true economics of pre-Amtrak
passenger trains are either 25 years into retirement, living in a
nursing home, or simply dead.
Amtrak has become - as often happens when a private industry passes into
public hands - a social tool rather than a fully functioning passenger
railroad. Politicians and Amtrak apologists have succeeded in turning
Amtrak away from its original mission of providing a robust, national
passenger rail system into a series of competing-for-budget-dollars
disparate corridors loosely linked by scarce long distance trains.
4) We are seeing an emphasis by Amtrak on the development of 100 to 500
mile corridors, hopefully paid for by individual states which have an
interest in these trains. To no one's surprise, in Illinois, which has a
whole host of new corridor trains this year, ridership has soared. We
have no real reported figures on the success of these trains, because we
only know ridership, which is just a count of warm bodies. We don't know
revenue passenger miles, which show real results. But, we do know that
ridership has soared.
Two other areas are looking at expanded service, both which will be
important additions to Amtrak's national system, but will most likely be
supported by state monies. The first is reintroducing the Coast Daylight
in California, between the San Francisco Bay area and Southern
California. This is about a 500 mile run, and it will nicely connect all
of the Southern California corridor services with all of the Northern
California corridor services, creating a huge opportunity destination
matrix for connecting passengers. Best of all, the train will mostly
duplicate the route of the Coast Starlight, which should not only free
up a lot of revenue space on the Starlight for passengers traveling
outside of California on that high revenue train, but it will also
spread out station and other infrastructure costs to two trains, instead
of all costs being heaped on the Starlight.
In other words, this will be a low cost train to implement, an extra
frequency should drive up demand and create greater revenue passenger
miles, and more space will be available on the Coast Starlight for
passengers traveling long distances and connecting to other trains,
which, in turn, will generate even more revenue. There is no downside to
the creation of this train.
The next good opportunity is coming from residents in Oklahoma and
Kansas who want an extension of the state supported Heartland Flyer,
which currently runs between Fort Worth, Texas and Oklahoma City. This
spunky little train, which currently connects with the Texas Eagle in
Forth Worth, has huge potential if it is expanded to its natural
endpoints in Kansas City (or, better yet, Chicago) and San Antonio.
A renewed Heartland Flyer running San Antonio; Fort Worth; Oklahoma
City; Newton, Kansas (picking up the current route of the Southwest
Chief at that junction); Kansas City, or even on to Chicago would be
another powerhouse train that would be cheap to operate, have a route
over the friendly BNSF Railroad versus the difficult Union Pacific
Railroad, and become an important passenger corridor.
Advantages include twice daily service between San Antonio and Fort
Worth in a vibrant part of Texas, and twice daily service on the
Southwest Chief route between Newton, Kansas and Kansas City. Again, you
have the same advantages as found in California, with a sharing of costs
between two trains instead of all costs heaped on one train, and the
connection matrix possibilities go through the roof, providing huge new
opportunities for passenger demand and revenue passenger miles.
5) This demonstrates the tricky shoals which must be navigated between a
policy of only developing relatively short corridors, or looking
globally at what can be accomplished to benefit the entire Amtrak system
by being just slightly more creative in thinking in terms of
connectivity and passengers who may wish to travel further than what one
state may be willing to pay for each budget year.
Think something like this won't work? It already does, in the case of
the Carolinian in North Carolina, which runs between Charlotte, North
Carolina and New York City. The State of North Carolina, one of the
leaders in promoting responsible passenger rail service, shares the cost
of the Carolinian with Amtrak, even though the train travels far beyond
the borders of North Carolina.
This same type of thinking needs to be applied to an expansion of the
Heartland Flyer beyond Texas and Oklahoma. As a stand-alone train, the
Heartland Flyer is mildly successful, but expensive to operate. As an
expanded train between to natural endpoints instead of artificially
created endpoints, it has much greater potential to earn more revenue,
serve more passengers, and, with proper accounting (not necessarily
accounting as we have historically experienced at Amtrak), can cost less
and less in state subsidy to operate because it has more and more
revenue from a greater pool of sources.
How many other examples like this can be found, just waiting to be
exploited?
6) There are more signs of an improved and enlightened Amtrak
management. In the February 20th edition of the employee newsletter
Amtrak This Week, the first item says, "Note: We appreciate the hard
work put in by all of the employees - from the train crews to those who
kept the railroad open and moving - who did their best despite the very
tough winter weather conditions we experienced last week. Thank you for
your dedication and commitment."
And, the next item speaks volumes, and hopefully will have a huge
impact,"Mechanical: Distribution of seatback cards with information
about the new Trip Ratings program (passenger survey) is being completed
on Acela, Regional, Keystone, Vermonter, and all long-distance trains."
Now, let's hope somebody reads these survey cards and reacts
appropriately. This should be a tremendous tool for improvement.
7) During the past year, much has been said and done about Amtrak
onboard food service. Extreme measures have been taken to allegedly save
money, while overall downgrading the level of dining car service and
cutting important employees.
There is one area which has been overlooked. Many of the progressive
chains of fast food restaurants have found new profits and more loyal
customers through longer hours of being open. Many quick service
restaurants, which previously closed at 10 P.M. or earlier, have
extended their hours to 1 A.M. or later, and some have gone to offering
24 hour service.
Amtrak briefly experimented with this on the Sunset Limited in 1999 and
2000 with the 24 hour dining car concept, which was well received by
both passengers and onboard employees.
Best of all "the numbers" worked, and the participating union thought
enough of the idea to allow the successful experiments to take place
while temporarily waiving union rules for when onboard crews are
supposed to have guaranteed hours of when to sleep (This had nothing to
do with the number of hours available for sleep, but rather when those
hours would occur.).
Since Amtrak is already running food service cars, no extra
infrastructure is required; just one or two more employees, the cost of
which are quickly covered by the increased utilization of the dining car.
Amtrak has partially moved to this concept by beginning to offer "all
day dining," from early morning to midnight. This helps tremendously,
but still leaves a large gap during nocturnal hours, which many
passenger are entraining and detraining, and would like some sustenance.
Amtrak already has the completed studies on this (Of which this writer
was paid to do, as well as conducting the onboard test runs), and has
the proof positive that this idea is not only a good idea, but a
financially rewarding idea, as well.
8) The ongoing saga of the missing Sunset Limited east of New Orleans,
now missing for 18 months, is getting some strong goosing from the
Florida Coalition of Rail Passengers under the leadership of its
president, Jackson McQuigg, and several dogged members who have a strong
interest in the return of the train.
Working professionally, the group has begun to put pressure on members
of Florida's congressional delegation, including both Corrine Brown and
Ander Crenshaw of Jacksonville. Congresswoman Brown plays an important
role on the House Transportation committee and is keeping this issue
alive. Pressure is also being brought to the office of Senator Mel
Martinez, Florida's junior senator. The Sunset also serves the district
of Representative John Mica, who has also played important roles on the
transportation committee.
The best wisdom available is that Amtrak is trying to hold out for the
affected states to cough up money to operate this long distance train
that has been a part of the long distance system since 1993 east of New
Orleans. It will be interesting to see how this continues to play out
with new Congressional pressure being brought to bear on Amtrak.
The Florida Coalition of Rail Passengers has been doing important work
for the restoration of the Sunset. In combination with other pressures
being brought to bear on the subject, success can't be far away.
9) The Rail Passenger Association of California & Nevada and NARP are
holding a joint membership meeting and conference March 17 in Los
Angeles. The keynote speaker for the event will be Amtrak President and
CEO Alex Kummant. A number of other speakers will be present, notably
URPA Vice President of Law and Policy Andrew Selden. He will participate
in a panel discussion regarding "Amtrak and the Future" along with some
lesser participants. Further details can be found at www.railpac.org.
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
[email protected]
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
[email protected]; 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
[email protected]
J. Bruce Richardson
President
United Rail Passenger Alliance, Inc.
1526 University Boulevard, West, PMB 203
Jacksonville, Florida 32217-2006 USA
Telephone 904-636-6760
[email protected]
http://www.unitedrail.org
United Rail Passenger Alliance, Inc.
1526 University Boulevard, West, PMB 203
Jacksonville, Florida 32217-2006 USA
Telephone 904-636-6760, Electronic Mail [email protected]
http://www.unitedrail.org
Volume 4, Number 7
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) What is your world view of Amtrak? Do you consider it an essential
public/social service? Do you consider it mostly a regional commuter
service? Do you consider it a provider of long distance transportation
as part of our national transportation matrix? Do you consider Amtrak a
fascinating part of your hobby world that you hope the federal
government will continue to fund endlessly for your enjoyment?
People who are interesting in Amtrak make up disparate parts of the
national population. While many are indifferent to the fate of Amtrak,
others are passionate about its existence. Many who are passionate about
Amtrak are also mostly ignorant about the realities of Amtrak, and what
it takes to run a passenger railroad.
From the outside, an easy answer to almost all of Amtrak's problems is
to throw more money at the company. Just give it more money and
everything will be fine. Well, no, that is probably the worst possible
scenario for Amtrak because more money only enables bad corporate
behavior and provide no incentive for improvement.
On the money front, the current Amtrak board of directors and
administration has quickly learned how to play the ongoing Washington
game of requesting free federal monies, and getting most of what they
want. It's the Amtrak apologists and mostly politically naive "Amtrak at
all costs, right or wrong" supporters who don't seem to want to
understand the process.
During the past two federal budget cycles, we have seen Amtrak, with all
due respect accorded to its money managers on Capitol Hill, create a
budget request process that has been done professionally and with
forethought. This year, the Bush administration requested $900 million
for Amtrak through its annual budget process. Keep in mind the term
"process." A Republican administration has made a request of a Democrat
congress. That means at best, the Republican request is a faint
blueprint for what Congress will actually enact in final legislation.
Amtrak has made for FY 2008 a direct request to Congress of $1.53
billion, up from the FY 06 and FY 07 budget of $1.3 billion.
Now, here the comes the part most people don't seem to want to grasp or
understand, and which no one outside of the budget writers at Amtrak
will every know the real answer to: How much of Amtrak's budget request
is "blue sky, best case scenario"? Anyone savvy in the ways of
negotiation - and Amtrak's annual Congressional free federal monies are
always a product of negotiation - knows that you always start high, and
settle for less than you requested. That's simply the way the process works.
Most people would be hard pressed to name any federal agency which
receives 100% of its requested annual budget. Some people in Congress
are always likely to say, "Well, we can do X if we cut 1 or 2 % from
everyone else's budget." That is simply the way things get done in a
civilized society.
Those individuals and organizations like the National Association of
Railroad Passengers who want to hold their collective breaths until they
turn blue because in their view Amtrak isn't getting every red cent it's
requesting simply aren't living in the real world.
An amusing aside to the budget debate this year has been NARP's public
disappointment in the new Democrat controlled congress. Apparently,
there has been too much wishful thinking that once "our people" were in
control, all of Amtrak's problems would be solved because Democrats
would be much more sympathetic to every one of Amtrak's needs. Whoops!
The reality is, those who are in power and show some personal
responsibility, do what is best for the commonweal, not always what is
best for perceived favorites.
For those of us intimately familiar with politics, we know that once in
power, everyone who joined our side to get us into power usually did so
for a specific agenda, and then demand their agenda be followed. That's
just not possible. When you are an elected leader, you do what is right
either from a moral or ethical basis (hopefully, both) and follow the
law. If personal agendas interfere, then you were not the right person
to be elected. While Amtrak supporters and apologists may think they are
right, they are probably not taking a global vision of everything in the
transportation field that must be considered in a budget process. An
Amtrak apologist's "emergency" is not an airline foamer's "emergency."
It's up to the budget writers on Capitol Hill to figure out the real
emergencies and allocate monies accordingly.
2) We continue to hear the same drivel that no passenger railroad system
in the world can exist without public monies. Why is this considered a
basis for Amtrak funding? We note in the latest Amtrak budget request to
Congress the company has announced that despite an increase in operating
expenses, it plans to hold the line on its request for an operating
subsidy at the same as previous years, $485 million for the entire
system. In other words, Amtrak is saying it would rather first help
itself, either through internal savings, an improvement in the way it
does business, or (gasp!) improved ridership and revenue, than simply
ask the federal government for more money.
Finally, we have arrived at Valhalla. Amtrak has said, "No, thank you, I
can help myself." This is a red letter year for Amtrak.
Real businesspeople, looking at passenger rail from a real business
standpoint instead of through the rose colored glasses and soft bigotry
of lower expectations, know that passenger rail in a truly competitive
environment can not only be self-sufficient in many areas, but it can be
profitable, too, in the context of traditional passenger rail, such as
long distance trains.
Looking at Amtrak as it currently is shaped, the company will never be
able to charge enough for tickets on corridor trains as demonstrated on
the Northeast Corridor to fully support the cost of those trains and the
infrastructure required to operate them. But, in a more mature long
distance system, the numbers show those trains throwing off large
amounts of excess cash (called "profits" in the real world, which by the
way is not an obscene term), and those trains can be more than
self-sufficient.
3) How do you strike a balance between these two systems? In pre-Amtrak
days, many of the private railroads, such as the Pennsylvania, Southern
Pacific, Illinois Central, Milwaukee Road, Chicago Northwestern, and
others operated commuter businesses in addition to fleets of long
distance trains. Some digging through musty archives shows that the
commuter operations, which we operated by government direction, the same
as public utilities, rarely made money. It was the long distance fleets
that covered many of the expenses of the commuter trains.
In today's Amworld, those economics have been nearly reversed. More
emphasis has been placed on high cost, low revenue commuter operations
as public utilities, and little interest has been paid to low cost, high
revenue long distance trains. To make matters worse, anyone from those
days of yesteryear that understood the true economics of pre-Amtrak
passenger trains are either 25 years into retirement, living in a
nursing home, or simply dead.
Amtrak has become - as often happens when a private industry passes into
public hands - a social tool rather than a fully functioning passenger
railroad. Politicians and Amtrak apologists have succeeded in turning
Amtrak away from its original mission of providing a robust, national
passenger rail system into a series of competing-for-budget-dollars
disparate corridors loosely linked by scarce long distance trains.
4) We are seeing an emphasis by Amtrak on the development of 100 to 500
mile corridors, hopefully paid for by individual states which have an
interest in these trains. To no one's surprise, in Illinois, which has a
whole host of new corridor trains this year, ridership has soared. We
have no real reported figures on the success of these trains, because we
only know ridership, which is just a count of warm bodies. We don't know
revenue passenger miles, which show real results. But, we do know that
ridership has soared.
Two other areas are looking at expanded service, both which will be
important additions to Amtrak's national system, but will most likely be
supported by state monies. The first is reintroducing the Coast Daylight
in California, between the San Francisco Bay area and Southern
California. This is about a 500 mile run, and it will nicely connect all
of the Southern California corridor services with all of the Northern
California corridor services, creating a huge opportunity destination
matrix for connecting passengers. Best of all, the train will mostly
duplicate the route of the Coast Starlight, which should not only free
up a lot of revenue space on the Starlight for passengers traveling
outside of California on that high revenue train, but it will also
spread out station and other infrastructure costs to two trains, instead
of all costs being heaped on the Starlight.
In other words, this will be a low cost train to implement, an extra
frequency should drive up demand and create greater revenue passenger
miles, and more space will be available on the Coast Starlight for
passengers traveling long distances and connecting to other trains,
which, in turn, will generate even more revenue. There is no downside to
the creation of this train.
The next good opportunity is coming from residents in Oklahoma and
Kansas who want an extension of the state supported Heartland Flyer,
which currently runs between Fort Worth, Texas and Oklahoma City. This
spunky little train, which currently connects with the Texas Eagle in
Forth Worth, has huge potential if it is expanded to its natural
endpoints in Kansas City (or, better yet, Chicago) and San Antonio.
A renewed Heartland Flyer running San Antonio; Fort Worth; Oklahoma
City; Newton, Kansas (picking up the current route of the Southwest
Chief at that junction); Kansas City, or even on to Chicago would be
another powerhouse train that would be cheap to operate, have a route
over the friendly BNSF Railroad versus the difficult Union Pacific
Railroad, and become an important passenger corridor.
Advantages include twice daily service between San Antonio and Fort
Worth in a vibrant part of Texas, and twice daily service on the
Southwest Chief route between Newton, Kansas and Kansas City. Again, you
have the same advantages as found in California, with a sharing of costs
between two trains instead of all costs heaped on one train, and the
connection matrix possibilities go through the roof, providing huge new
opportunities for passenger demand and revenue passenger miles.
5) This demonstrates the tricky shoals which must be navigated between a
policy of only developing relatively short corridors, or looking
globally at what can be accomplished to benefit the entire Amtrak system
by being just slightly more creative in thinking in terms of
connectivity and passengers who may wish to travel further than what one
state may be willing to pay for each budget year.
Think something like this won't work? It already does, in the case of
the Carolinian in North Carolina, which runs between Charlotte, North
Carolina and New York City. The State of North Carolina, one of the
leaders in promoting responsible passenger rail service, shares the cost
of the Carolinian with Amtrak, even though the train travels far beyond
the borders of North Carolina.
This same type of thinking needs to be applied to an expansion of the
Heartland Flyer beyond Texas and Oklahoma. As a stand-alone train, the
Heartland Flyer is mildly successful, but expensive to operate. As an
expanded train between to natural endpoints instead of artificially
created endpoints, it has much greater potential to earn more revenue,
serve more passengers, and, with proper accounting (not necessarily
accounting as we have historically experienced at Amtrak), can cost less
and less in state subsidy to operate because it has more and more
revenue from a greater pool of sources.
How many other examples like this can be found, just waiting to be
exploited?
6) There are more signs of an improved and enlightened Amtrak
management. In the February 20th edition of the employee newsletter
Amtrak This Week, the first item says, "Note: We appreciate the hard
work put in by all of the employees - from the train crews to those who
kept the railroad open and moving - who did their best despite the very
tough winter weather conditions we experienced last week. Thank you for
your dedication and commitment."
And, the next item speaks volumes, and hopefully will have a huge
impact,"Mechanical: Distribution of seatback cards with information
about the new Trip Ratings program (passenger survey) is being completed
on Acela, Regional, Keystone, Vermonter, and all long-distance trains."
Now, let's hope somebody reads these survey cards and reacts
appropriately. This should be a tremendous tool for improvement.
7) During the past year, much has been said and done about Amtrak
onboard food service. Extreme measures have been taken to allegedly save
money, while overall downgrading the level of dining car service and
cutting important employees.
There is one area which has been overlooked. Many of the progressive
chains of fast food restaurants have found new profits and more loyal
customers through longer hours of being open. Many quick service
restaurants, which previously closed at 10 P.M. or earlier, have
extended their hours to 1 A.M. or later, and some have gone to offering
24 hour service.
Amtrak briefly experimented with this on the Sunset Limited in 1999 and
2000 with the 24 hour dining car concept, which was well received by
both passengers and onboard employees.
Best of all "the numbers" worked, and the participating union thought
enough of the idea to allow the successful experiments to take place
while temporarily waiving union rules for when onboard crews are
supposed to have guaranteed hours of when to sleep (This had nothing to
do with the number of hours available for sleep, but rather when those
hours would occur.).
Since Amtrak is already running food service cars, no extra
infrastructure is required; just one or two more employees, the cost of
which are quickly covered by the increased utilization of the dining car.
Amtrak has partially moved to this concept by beginning to offer "all
day dining," from early morning to midnight. This helps tremendously,
but still leaves a large gap during nocturnal hours, which many
passenger are entraining and detraining, and would like some sustenance.
Amtrak already has the completed studies on this (Of which this writer
was paid to do, as well as conducting the onboard test runs), and has
the proof positive that this idea is not only a good idea, but a
financially rewarding idea, as well.
8) The ongoing saga of the missing Sunset Limited east of New Orleans,
now missing for 18 months, is getting some strong goosing from the
Florida Coalition of Rail Passengers under the leadership of its
president, Jackson McQuigg, and several dogged members who have a strong
interest in the return of the train.
Working professionally, the group has begun to put pressure on members
of Florida's congressional delegation, including both Corrine Brown and
Ander Crenshaw of Jacksonville. Congresswoman Brown plays an important
role on the House Transportation committee and is keeping this issue
alive. Pressure is also being brought to the office of Senator Mel
Martinez, Florida's junior senator. The Sunset also serves the district
of Representative John Mica, who has also played important roles on the
transportation committee.
The best wisdom available is that Amtrak is trying to hold out for the
affected states to cough up money to operate this long distance train
that has been a part of the long distance system since 1993 east of New
Orleans. It will be interesting to see how this continues to play out
with new Congressional pressure being brought to bear on Amtrak.
The Florida Coalition of Rail Passengers has been doing important work
for the restoration of the Sunset. In combination with other pressures
being brought to bear on the subject, success can't be far away.
9) The Rail Passenger Association of California & Nevada and NARP are
holding a joint membership meeting and conference March 17 in Los
Angeles. The keynote speaker for the event will be Amtrak President and
CEO Alex Kummant. A number of other speakers will be present, notably
URPA Vice President of Law and Policy Andrew Selden. He will participate
in a panel discussion regarding "Amtrak and the Future" along with some
lesser participants. Further details can be found at www.railpac.org.
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
[email protected]
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
[email protected]; 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
[email protected]
J. Bruce Richardson
President
United Rail Passenger Alliance, Inc.
1526 University Boulevard, West, PMB 203
Jacksonville, Florida 32217-2006 USA
Telephone 904-636-6760
[email protected]
http://www.unitedrail.org
This Week at Amtrak; March 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 [email protected]
http://www.unitedrail.org
Volume 4, Number 8
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) Oh, my, it seems that some "amateurs" are trying to do the wrong
thing, according to National Association of Railroad Passengers Executive
Director Ross Capon.
The restoration of the Sunset Limited east of New Orleans has been high
on the passenger rail agenda for many of us here in Florida and along the
Gulf Coast. Gone since Hurricane Katrina in 2005, the absent Sunset has
created a large hole in Amtrak's national network of trains. CSX, the
Sunset's host railroad east of New Orleans, released a newly repaired
main line to Amtrak for service April 1, 2006, after damage from Katrina
was fixed. Some station damage has remained, but nothing worse than
Amtrak has routinely dealt with in other locations while still providing
passenger train service.
Most of Amtrak's excuses for not restoring the Sunset have been in the
"the dog ate my homework" category. It appears that Amtrak is holding
out, hoping a coalition of Gulf Coast states will cough up money to pay
for a restored Sunset Limited. This dangerous precedent would make any
long distance route vulnerable to discontinuance until local money was
found to run a train.
URPA has been pushing hard for this restoration, along with the excellent
and independent efforts of the Florida Coalition of Rail Passengers, and
several well-connected individuals in Florida who fully understand the
need for this service. A number of mayors from cities and towns along the
abandoned Sunset route have joined the effort, as well as distinguished
members of Congress who represent districts and states along the forlorn
route.
NARP's Mr. Capon, however, sees things differently. Here is an e-mail Mr.
Capon sent, in effect, telling everyone to cool their jets and let the
"experts" at NARP handle the matter.
[begin quote]
Sent: Wednesday, February 28, 2007 2:25 PM
Friends--
There is no possibility that Amtrak will reinstitute a train that serves
Mobile at bad times, which would be needed to produce a reliable same-day
connection from #2 to a restored New Orleans Florida service.
Making the case for any restoration is tough enough without advocates
burdening the case with specifics that most outsiders would regard as
micromanaging--including politically connected outsiders whose help we
need to press for restoration.
--Ross
[End quote]
Well. The entire future of the Sunset route depends on a small city like
Mobile, Alabama have a marketable time? Hmmmm ... let's look at some
other major cities and their "marketable" times.
Columbia, South Carolina, Silver Star - 1:44 A.M., southbound; 1:12 A.M.,
northbound
Cleveland, Ohio, Capitol Limited - 2:31 A.M., westbound; 2:06 A.M.,
eastbound
Cleveland, Ohio, Lake Shore Limited - 3:27 A.M., westbound; 4:02 A.M.,
eastbound
Cincinnati, Ohio, Cardinal - 1:03 A.M., westbound; 3:02 A.M., eastbound
Carbondale, Illinois, City of New Orleans - 1:21 A.M., southbound; 3:16
A.M., northbound
Fargo, North Dakota, Empire Builder - 3:35 A.M., westbound; 2:13 A.M.,
eastbound
Spokane, Washington, Empire Builder - 1:40 A.M., westbound; 1:15 A.M.,
eastbound
Lincoln, Nebraska, California Zephyr - 12:08 A.M., westbound; 3:56 A.M.,
eastbound
Salt Lake City, Utah, California Zephyr - 11:33 P.M., westbound; 3:15
A.M., eastbound
Topeka, Kansas, Southwest Chief - 1:09 A.M., westbound; 5:20 A.M.,
eastbound
Little Rock, Arkansas, Texas Eagle - 3:10 A.M., westbound; 11:34 P.M.,
eastbound
San Antonio, Texas, Sunset Limited - 3:00 A.M., westbound; 10:25 P.M.,
eastbound
And, there are, of course, other examples. Apparently, "marketable times"
are not a factor for Amtrak service in these cities. One must realize
that any long distance train will serve some markets at good times, and
other markets at bad times. When scheduling a train like the Sunset
Limited that literally is the only train in North America to travel coast
to coast, some markets will not receive the best times.
When dealing with people - like this writer who used to have some
responsibility for the marketing of the Sunset Limited - making decisions
about which markets to emphasize and which to realize will have less than
perfect service, and adding in the needs of the host railroad, and also
adding in the operating characteristics of each train, there has to be
some hard decisions made and some "give and take" as schedules are
tweaked for optimum performance.
The easiest solution is to run at least two schedules on each route, with
a "flip" schedule, and markets served at less than perfect times of one
schedule are then afforded good service on the flip schedule. Also
helpful is to fill in some markets with short "daylight" service on
corridors where corridor and long distance trains complement each other
and share expenses and provide better travel opportunities to generate
higher revenue passenger mile counts.
Mr. Capon also seems to not understand the economics and dynamics of the
Sunset Limited. While as typical of any long distance train, the Sunset
provides lots of "local" service between numeral intermediate station
stops, much of the success of the train is because of its important place
in Amtrak's passenger matrix of delivering passengers from one passenger
junction to another. A good deal of the business of the Sunset east of
New Orleans consisted of passengers who were "bridge" traffic, moving
from points west of New Orleans to either Jacksonville, where the train
connected with Florida service trains, or to the train's ultimate
destination of Orlando, the single largest vacation destination in the
country. While Mobile, Alabama is an important small city on the route,
the operations of the Sunset east of New Orleans were not wholly
dependent on Mobile's business.
We know NARP has had a too-cozy relationship with Amtrak for a long time,
including taking payments from Amtrak for operating a customer advisory
panel. We also know NARP is Amtrak's greatest apologist, and seldom seems
willing to prod Amtrak to do anything different than what Amtrak is
willing to do on its own.
2) For those who may wish to question Mr. Capon specifically on his
choice of words and explain exactly what he meant in the above e-mail, he
will be appearing with URPA Vice President of Law and Policy Andrew
Selden in Los Angeles on Saturday, March 17 at a joint membership meeting
of NARP and the Rail Passenger Association of California & Nevada. Mr.
Capon and Mr. Selden will be featured on a panel with the topic of
"Amtrak and the Future," after the keynote speech by Amtrak President and
CEO Alex Kummant.
The meeting should provide an excellent forum for the discussion of the
topic of the Sunset Limited at length, with views from all parties. For
more information on the meeting location and time, visit the RailPac web
site at www.railpac.org
3) Dealing with some old, but fun business: A few Amtrak locomotives,
fresh from the paint shop, were sporting misspellings on their sides.
Someone in Amtrak's shops affixing decals of Amtrak's logo on the
locomotives, had a bad moment and reversed two letters of the Amtrak logo
on the engines. What was supposed to be "AMTRAK" came out "ATMRAK"
instead. The fun part is that these locomotives passed inspection by
several pairs of eyes and made it out into main line service for a period
of time before anyone noticed the problem.
At first, no one believed this, thinking photos of the engines with the
typos were merely hoaxes that had been conceived used the popular Adobe
Photoshop computer program. But, it turns out, the photos - and the typos
- were real, and the decals had to be corrected and re-affixed.
Any of us who regularly deal with words and proofing know it's far too
easy to look at something you see everyday and read the whole word the
way we imagine it to be, instead of reading letter-for-letter. Sadly,
this column is often proof enough of that concept, even though it is
rigorously edited and sent through a thorough spell checking several
times before publication. It's just hard to believe something as large as
an Amtrak locomotive got past so many eyes before the error was
discovered.
4) Chicago and the Midwest have taken the brunt of a lot of winter
weather misery this year, not to mention the failure of the Chicago Bears
to win the Super Bowl. Here's a report of what happened in the Chicago
Amtrak yards the Monday after the Super Bowl.
[begin quote]
The Chicago melt-down on Monday was pathetic. Apparently all the
mechanics and yard crews laid off for the Super Bowl. Train 301(5)
departed 43 minutes late but that was only AFTER its frozen cars were
swapped for the Superliner set that was supposed to be for 303(5); but
even that one had never been serviced after coming in on Sunday night.
Pity the passengers and crew who were on 303(5); even after additional
time to service the all-Horizon consist, it had frozen toilets in every
car and left Chicago over 3 hours late, arriving in
STL just a shade under 5 hours late.
They all KNEW that the Horizon set for 301 had frozen toilets but the
crew was told that Mechanical was working it; in reality there was not a
single mechanic to be found, either inside the train or servicing it
outside. There WAS an oil heater aimed at the toilet tank of one of the
frozen Horizon cars, but it was stone cold; not even turned on!
The mechanical foreman claimed only one pipefitter showed up and he
needed three, so nothing was going to get done.
[End quote]
One has to suppose that football beats passenger service, every time.
5) On a positive note the Amtrak Central Division News, distributed to
all employees in Chicago and elsewhere in the Midwest, featured a front
page story in its December issue with the headline "Save the service,
serve the snacks." The story exhorts onboard personnel to use "emergency"
snacks provided on all trains to appease passengers who may be angry or
distraught because of delayed trains.
[begin quote]
If you've been on a train that is delayed, you know what can happen:
Passengers begin to wonder what's happening and why. Try as you might to
inform, calm and appease them, sometimes it's all for naught. That's when
it may become necessary to introduce service recover meals. Do you know
about these?
These individually wrapped, "emergency" snack packs include bottled
water, cheese and crackers, a cookie and some trail mix. They can work
wonders on delayed long-distance or short-haul trains, according to
Cynthia Winslow, Assistance Superintendent of On-Board Services.
"They've given us an easy and effective option for service recovery,"
Winslow said. "The snacks seem to be well-received and appreciated by our
passengers, because sometimes all they're looking for is that good-faith
effort and attentiveness on our part."
Learn where these service recovery meals are on your train, and find out
from a manager or supervisor under what circumstances you are to use
them."
[End quote]
(Sigh) "Do you know about these?" That's just depressing there would be
anyone working as part of an Amtrak onboard crew that doesn't know about
these simple and good examples of making service recovery efforts. And,
apparently, they are to be used only after OBS personnel have tried to
"inform, calm, and appease" passengers. So, the snacks are only a last
resort? Not to be used except in extreme emergencies? No chance this
simple gesture could be made without OBS employees being painted into a
corner by passengers?
The story also indicates that some crews may not be making a "good-faith
effort" or providing "attentiveness" on the part of Amtrak. Why is the
concept of good passenger service so hard to grasp?
6) Old Amtrak employees may go away for a while, but eventually they seem
to return to their past haunts. Anne Witt, formerly Anne Hoey of the
George Warrington era of Amtrak has returned to the company as vice
president of Strategic Partnerships and Business Development. The newly
formed department focuses on Amtrak's growth strategy and encompasses
state corridor and commuter contracts, freight railroad relationships,
real estate and other business development opportunities.
Ms. Witt rejoins Amtrak from another high profile, customer focused
agency, the District of Columbia Department of Motor Vehicles. Her
previous positions with Amtrak included vice president in a number of
departments, such as Service Standards, Service Operations; Reservations,
Sales and Customer Relations; Customer and Corporate Communications and
Corporate Management.
Outside of Amtrak, Ms. Witt has been busy holding senior-level positions
at other large agencies, including Montgomery County Maryland's
Department of Environmental Protection, the D.C. Department of Public
Works, and the Children's National Medical Center.
One can conclude Amtrak is not through recycling lifetime government
bureaucrats that go endlessly from one government job to the next, and
back again.
7) Here is an interesting essay from Paul Weyrich, former member of the
Amtrak Board of Directors, and currently the Chairman and CEO of the Free
Congress Foundation in Washington.
[begin quote]
Free Congress Foundation Commentary
Why the Next Conservatism Should Bring Back Streetcars
By Paul M. Weyrich
January 31, 2007
Streetcars? What could conservatism have to do with streetcars? Some of
you may be wondering if I have slipped my trolley.
Maybe I have, but wanting to bring electric streetcars back to our cities
is no sign of it. In an earlier essay on the next conservatism, number
ten in this series, I argued that conservatives should want to bring our
cities back. Too many of them have become cold, hard, empty places,
devoid of life and unable to perform the important functions cities have
in any culture. Well, it turns out that if you want to bring cities back,
you also want to bring back streetcars.
A great new book, Street Smart: Streetcars and Cities in the 21st
Century, explains why. Streetcars, it seems, are one of the most powerful
tools for reviving cities. Several American cities have already brought
the streetcars back, with tremendous positive effects on re-development.
Kenosha, Wisconsin, brought streetcars back for just $6.2 million, and
the new streetcar line has already brought $150 million in development,
for a return on investment of 2,319%. Portland, Oregon, put in a downtown
streetcar loop 4.8 miles long for $55 million; it generated over three
billion dollars in new development. A 1.2 mile extension of the original
loop brought in another $1.35 billion in development.
Why do streetcars bring new development? There are several reasons.
First, middle-class people with significant disposable income like riding
streetcars. That is not true of buses. Second, streetcars are "pedestrian
facilitators." People who ride through a city on a streetcar tend to get
off and on, walking for a while, then riding some more. While they are
walking, they go in stores, stop in restaurants for something to eat,
maybe see a movie or get tickets for a show. In other words, they spend
money downtown. Middle-class pedestrians are the life blood of a city,
and streetcars make it easy for them to get around.
Third, from a developer's perspective, a streetcar line is a guarantee of
high-quality public transportation that will be there for decades. That
is not true of buses; a bus line can be here today, gone tomorrow. The
investment in track and overhead wire streetcars require means their
routes don't get up and move. Not surprisingly, bus service does little
or nothing for development.
Beyond their positive effects on re-development, there is another reason
the next conservatism should want to bring back streetcars, and passenger
trains for that matter. Thanks to trains, streetcars, and interurbans
(which were big, fast streetcars that ran from cities far out into the
countryside), travel in America used to be a lot more enjoyable than it
is now.
Today, we don't really travel. Instead, we are just packaged and shipped.
That is true of air travel, which has become an ordeal, and also of much
driving. One interstate highway is much like another and driving in or
around cities often means getting caught in traffic congestion, which
everybody hates.
The next conservatism's theme of Retroculture wants to bring back good
things from the past that we have lost. Pleasure in travel, in the
journey itself, should be one of those good things. Life is too short to
make travel into misery, when it can be fun.
Yes, riding streetcars is fun. Our grandparents used to enjoy riding the
streetcars. They have a feel to them that is completely different from a
bus. You can take my word for it. I have ridden streetcars all over the
world. Better, the next time you are in a city that has streetcars, or
Light Rail, take a ride. You will see the city in a whole different way.
And I think you will enjoy the experience.
A few years ago, I was in Denver with a friend, a United States Senator,
who was a strong opponent of rail transit. Denver has a Light Rail
system. I asked him if he would take a ride on it with me, and he agreed.
About half way through our ride, he turned to me and said, "This is
nice."
Our cities, if they are to be living cities, need streetcars. The next
conservatism should work to bring the streetcars back, as one of many
nice presents the past can offer the future. Resurrecting good things
from the past is what conservatism should be about.
[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
[email protected]
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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[email protected]; we are unable to go through any
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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, including requests to unsubscribe, should be
addressed to [email protected]
J. Bruce Richardson
President
United Rail Passenger Alliance, Inc.
1526 University Boulevard, West, PMB 203
Jacksonville, Florida 32217-2006 USA
Telephone 904-636-6760
[email protected]
http://www.unitedrail.org
_______________________________________________
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http://lists.unitedrail.org/mailman/listinfo/twa
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 [email protected]
http://www.unitedrail.org
Volume 4, Number 8
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) Oh, my, it seems that some "amateurs" are trying to do the wrong
thing, according to National Association of Railroad Passengers Executive
Director Ross Capon.
The restoration of the Sunset Limited east of New Orleans has been high
on the passenger rail agenda for many of us here in Florida and along the
Gulf Coast. Gone since Hurricane Katrina in 2005, the absent Sunset has
created a large hole in Amtrak's national network of trains. CSX, the
Sunset's host railroad east of New Orleans, released a newly repaired
main line to Amtrak for service April 1, 2006, after damage from Katrina
was fixed. Some station damage has remained, but nothing worse than
Amtrak has routinely dealt with in other locations while still providing
passenger train service.
Most of Amtrak's excuses for not restoring the Sunset have been in the
"the dog ate my homework" category. It appears that Amtrak is holding
out, hoping a coalition of Gulf Coast states will cough up money to pay
for a restored Sunset Limited. This dangerous precedent would make any
long distance route vulnerable to discontinuance until local money was
found to run a train.
URPA has been pushing hard for this restoration, along with the excellent
and independent efforts of the Florida Coalition of Rail Passengers, and
several well-connected individuals in Florida who fully understand the
need for this service. A number of mayors from cities and towns along the
abandoned Sunset route have joined the effort, as well as distinguished
members of Congress who represent districts and states along the forlorn
route.
NARP's Mr. Capon, however, sees things differently. Here is an e-mail Mr.
Capon sent, in effect, telling everyone to cool their jets and let the
"experts" at NARP handle the matter.
[begin quote]
Sent: Wednesday, February 28, 2007 2:25 PM
Friends--
There is no possibility that Amtrak will reinstitute a train that serves
Mobile at bad times, which would be needed to produce a reliable same-day
connection from #2 to a restored New Orleans Florida service.
Making the case for any restoration is tough enough without advocates
burdening the case with specifics that most outsiders would regard as
micromanaging--including politically connected outsiders whose help we
need to press for restoration.
--Ross
[End quote]
Well. The entire future of the Sunset route depends on a small city like
Mobile, Alabama have a marketable time? Hmmmm ... let's look at some
other major cities and their "marketable" times.
Columbia, South Carolina, Silver Star - 1:44 A.M., southbound; 1:12 A.M.,
northbound
Cleveland, Ohio, Capitol Limited - 2:31 A.M., westbound; 2:06 A.M.,
eastbound
Cleveland, Ohio, Lake Shore Limited - 3:27 A.M., westbound; 4:02 A.M.,
eastbound
Cincinnati, Ohio, Cardinal - 1:03 A.M., westbound; 3:02 A.M., eastbound
Carbondale, Illinois, City of New Orleans - 1:21 A.M., southbound; 3:16
A.M., northbound
Fargo, North Dakota, Empire Builder - 3:35 A.M., westbound; 2:13 A.M.,
eastbound
Spokane, Washington, Empire Builder - 1:40 A.M., westbound; 1:15 A.M.,
eastbound
Lincoln, Nebraska, California Zephyr - 12:08 A.M., westbound; 3:56 A.M.,
eastbound
Salt Lake City, Utah, California Zephyr - 11:33 P.M., westbound; 3:15
A.M., eastbound
Topeka, Kansas, Southwest Chief - 1:09 A.M., westbound; 5:20 A.M.,
eastbound
Little Rock, Arkansas, Texas Eagle - 3:10 A.M., westbound; 11:34 P.M.,
eastbound
San Antonio, Texas, Sunset Limited - 3:00 A.M., westbound; 10:25 P.M.,
eastbound
And, there are, of course, other examples. Apparently, "marketable times"
are not a factor for Amtrak service in these cities. One must realize
that any long distance train will serve some markets at good times, and
other markets at bad times. When scheduling a train like the Sunset
Limited that literally is the only train in North America to travel coast
to coast, some markets will not receive the best times.
When dealing with people - like this writer who used to have some
responsibility for the marketing of the Sunset Limited - making decisions
about which markets to emphasize and which to realize will have less than
perfect service, and adding in the needs of the host railroad, and also
adding in the operating characteristics of each train, there has to be
some hard decisions made and some "give and take" as schedules are
tweaked for optimum performance.
The easiest solution is to run at least two schedules on each route, with
a "flip" schedule, and markets served at less than perfect times of one
schedule are then afforded good service on the flip schedule. Also
helpful is to fill in some markets with short "daylight" service on
corridors where corridor and long distance trains complement each other
and share expenses and provide better travel opportunities to generate
higher revenue passenger mile counts.
Mr. Capon also seems to not understand the economics and dynamics of the
Sunset Limited. While as typical of any long distance train, the Sunset
provides lots of "local" service between numeral intermediate station
stops, much of the success of the train is because of its important place
in Amtrak's passenger matrix of delivering passengers from one passenger
junction to another. A good deal of the business of the Sunset east of
New Orleans consisted of passengers who were "bridge" traffic, moving
from points west of New Orleans to either Jacksonville, where the train
connected with Florida service trains, or to the train's ultimate
destination of Orlando, the single largest vacation destination in the
country. While Mobile, Alabama is an important small city on the route,
the operations of the Sunset east of New Orleans were not wholly
dependent on Mobile's business.
We know NARP has had a too-cozy relationship with Amtrak for a long time,
including taking payments from Amtrak for operating a customer advisory
panel. We also know NARP is Amtrak's greatest apologist, and seldom seems
willing to prod Amtrak to do anything different than what Amtrak is
willing to do on its own.
2) For those who may wish to question Mr. Capon specifically on his
choice of words and explain exactly what he meant in the above e-mail, he
will be appearing with URPA Vice President of Law and Policy Andrew
Selden in Los Angeles on Saturday, March 17 at a joint membership meeting
of NARP and the Rail Passenger Association of California & Nevada. Mr.
Capon and Mr. Selden will be featured on a panel with the topic of
"Amtrak and the Future," after the keynote speech by Amtrak President and
CEO Alex Kummant.
The meeting should provide an excellent forum for the discussion of the
topic of the Sunset Limited at length, with views from all parties. For
more information on the meeting location and time, visit the RailPac web
site at www.railpac.org
3) Dealing with some old, but fun business: A few Amtrak locomotives,
fresh from the paint shop, were sporting misspellings on their sides.
Someone in Amtrak's shops affixing decals of Amtrak's logo on the
locomotives, had a bad moment and reversed two letters of the Amtrak logo
on the engines. What was supposed to be "AMTRAK" came out "ATMRAK"
instead. The fun part is that these locomotives passed inspection by
several pairs of eyes and made it out into main line service for a period
of time before anyone noticed the problem.
At first, no one believed this, thinking photos of the engines with the
typos were merely hoaxes that had been conceived used the popular Adobe
Photoshop computer program. But, it turns out, the photos - and the typos
- were real, and the decals had to be corrected and re-affixed.
Any of us who regularly deal with words and proofing know it's far too
easy to look at something you see everyday and read the whole word the
way we imagine it to be, instead of reading letter-for-letter. Sadly,
this column is often proof enough of that concept, even though it is
rigorously edited and sent through a thorough spell checking several
times before publication. It's just hard to believe something as large as
an Amtrak locomotive got past so many eyes before the error was
discovered.
4) Chicago and the Midwest have taken the brunt of a lot of winter
weather misery this year, not to mention the failure of the Chicago Bears
to win the Super Bowl. Here's a report of what happened in the Chicago
Amtrak yards the Monday after the Super Bowl.
[begin quote]
The Chicago melt-down on Monday was pathetic. Apparently all the
mechanics and yard crews laid off for the Super Bowl. Train 301(5)
departed 43 minutes late but that was only AFTER its frozen cars were
swapped for the Superliner set that was supposed to be for 303(5); but
even that one had never been serviced after coming in on Sunday night.
Pity the passengers and crew who were on 303(5); even after additional
time to service the all-Horizon consist, it had frozen toilets in every
car and left Chicago over 3 hours late, arriving in
STL just a shade under 5 hours late.
They all KNEW that the Horizon set for 301 had frozen toilets but the
crew was told that Mechanical was working it; in reality there was not a
single mechanic to be found, either inside the train or servicing it
outside. There WAS an oil heater aimed at the toilet tank of one of the
frozen Horizon cars, but it was stone cold; not even turned on!
The mechanical foreman claimed only one pipefitter showed up and he
needed three, so nothing was going to get done.
[End quote]
One has to suppose that football beats passenger service, every time.
5) On a positive note the Amtrak Central Division News, distributed to
all employees in Chicago and elsewhere in the Midwest, featured a front
page story in its December issue with the headline "Save the service,
serve the snacks." The story exhorts onboard personnel to use "emergency"
snacks provided on all trains to appease passengers who may be angry or
distraught because of delayed trains.
[begin quote]
If you've been on a train that is delayed, you know what can happen:
Passengers begin to wonder what's happening and why. Try as you might to
inform, calm and appease them, sometimes it's all for naught. That's when
it may become necessary to introduce service recover meals. Do you know
about these?
These individually wrapped, "emergency" snack packs include bottled
water, cheese and crackers, a cookie and some trail mix. They can work
wonders on delayed long-distance or short-haul trains, according to
Cynthia Winslow, Assistance Superintendent of On-Board Services.
"They've given us an easy and effective option for service recovery,"
Winslow said. "The snacks seem to be well-received and appreciated by our
passengers, because sometimes all they're looking for is that good-faith
effort and attentiveness on our part."
Learn where these service recovery meals are on your train, and find out
from a manager or supervisor under what circumstances you are to use
them."
[End quote]
(Sigh) "Do you know about these?" That's just depressing there would be
anyone working as part of an Amtrak onboard crew that doesn't know about
these simple and good examples of making service recovery efforts. And,
apparently, they are to be used only after OBS personnel have tried to
"inform, calm, and appease" passengers. So, the snacks are only a last
resort? Not to be used except in extreme emergencies? No chance this
simple gesture could be made without OBS employees being painted into a
corner by passengers?
The story also indicates that some crews may not be making a "good-faith
effort" or providing "attentiveness" on the part of Amtrak. Why is the
concept of good passenger service so hard to grasp?
6) Old Amtrak employees may go away for a while, but eventually they seem
to return to their past haunts. Anne Witt, formerly Anne Hoey of the
George Warrington era of Amtrak has returned to the company as vice
president of Strategic Partnerships and Business Development. The newly
formed department focuses on Amtrak's growth strategy and encompasses
state corridor and commuter contracts, freight railroad relationships,
real estate and other business development opportunities.
Ms. Witt rejoins Amtrak from another high profile, customer focused
agency, the District of Columbia Department of Motor Vehicles. Her
previous positions with Amtrak included vice president in a number of
departments, such as Service Standards, Service Operations; Reservations,
Sales and Customer Relations; Customer and Corporate Communications and
Corporate Management.
Outside of Amtrak, Ms. Witt has been busy holding senior-level positions
at other large agencies, including Montgomery County Maryland's
Department of Environmental Protection, the D.C. Department of Public
Works, and the Children's National Medical Center.
One can conclude Amtrak is not through recycling lifetime government
bureaucrats that go endlessly from one government job to the next, and
back again.
7) Here is an interesting essay from Paul Weyrich, former member of the
Amtrak Board of Directors, and currently the Chairman and CEO of the Free
Congress Foundation in Washington.
[begin quote]
Free Congress Foundation Commentary
Why the Next Conservatism Should Bring Back Streetcars
By Paul M. Weyrich
January 31, 2007
Streetcars? What could conservatism have to do with streetcars? Some of
you may be wondering if I have slipped my trolley.
Maybe I have, but wanting to bring electric streetcars back to our cities
is no sign of it. In an earlier essay on the next conservatism, number
ten in this series, I argued that conservatives should want to bring our
cities back. Too many of them have become cold, hard, empty places,
devoid of life and unable to perform the important functions cities have
in any culture. Well, it turns out that if you want to bring cities back,
you also want to bring back streetcars.
A great new book, Street Smart: Streetcars and Cities in the 21st
Century, explains why. Streetcars, it seems, are one of the most powerful
tools for reviving cities. Several American cities have already brought
the streetcars back, with tremendous positive effects on re-development.
Kenosha, Wisconsin, brought streetcars back for just $6.2 million, and
the new streetcar line has already brought $150 million in development,
for a return on investment of 2,319%. Portland, Oregon, put in a downtown
streetcar loop 4.8 miles long for $55 million; it generated over three
billion dollars in new development. A 1.2 mile extension of the original
loop brought in another $1.35 billion in development.
Why do streetcars bring new development? There are several reasons.
First, middle-class people with significant disposable income like riding
streetcars. That is not true of buses. Second, streetcars are "pedestrian
facilitators." People who ride through a city on a streetcar tend to get
off and on, walking for a while, then riding some more. While they are
walking, they go in stores, stop in restaurants for something to eat,
maybe see a movie or get tickets for a show. In other words, they spend
money downtown. Middle-class pedestrians are the life blood of a city,
and streetcars make it easy for them to get around.
Third, from a developer's perspective, a streetcar line is a guarantee of
high-quality public transportation that will be there for decades. That
is not true of buses; a bus line can be here today, gone tomorrow. The
investment in track and overhead wire streetcars require means their
routes don't get up and move. Not surprisingly, bus service does little
or nothing for development.
Beyond their positive effects on re-development, there is another reason
the next conservatism should want to bring back streetcars, and passenger
trains for that matter. Thanks to trains, streetcars, and interurbans
(which were big, fast streetcars that ran from cities far out into the
countryside), travel in America used to be a lot more enjoyable than it
is now.
Today, we don't really travel. Instead, we are just packaged and shipped.
That is true of air travel, which has become an ordeal, and also of much
driving. One interstate highway is much like another and driving in or
around cities often means getting caught in traffic congestion, which
everybody hates.
The next conservatism's theme of Retroculture wants to bring back good
things from the past that we have lost. Pleasure in travel, in the
journey itself, should be one of those good things. Life is too short to
make travel into misery, when it can be fun.
Yes, riding streetcars is fun. Our grandparents used to enjoy riding the
streetcars. They have a feel to them that is completely different from a
bus. You can take my word for it. I have ridden streetcars all over the
world. Better, the next time you are in a city that has streetcars, or
Light Rail, take a ride. You will see the city in a whole different way.
And I think you will enjoy the experience.
A few years ago, I was in Denver with a friend, a United States Senator,
who was a strong opponent of rail transit. Denver has a Light Rail
system. I asked him if he would take a ride on it with me, and he agreed.
About half way through our ride, he turned to me and said, "This is
nice."
Our cities, if they are to be living cities, need streetcars. The next
conservatism should work to bring the streetcars back, as one of many
nice presents the past can offer the future. Resurrecting good things
from the past is what conservatism should be about.
[End quote]
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frj1983
OBS Chief
OK my PC froze up as I was responding to a message and seemed to just post incompletely what I was trying to say. For my own edification, is there any way to competely delete a message and start over?
Last edited by a moderator:
There is no way for you to delete a message, you would have to ask one of the moderators to do that for you. Of course you can edit your post and simply replace whatever did show up with what you really want.
frj1983
OBS Chief
This Week at Amtrak; March 8, 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 [email protected]
http://www.unitedrail.org
Volume 4, Number 9
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) Amtrak has started its winter/spring leisure travel advertising
campaign for 2007 by placing ads in 12 top markets. Target marketing, of
course, is very important, and getting the biggest bang for every
marketing buck is critical, too. However, Amtrak does serve over 500
destinations in the continental United States, plus some locations in
Canada. It's kind of tough to expect many results from just advertising
in the top 12 markets ...
2) Here's a fascinating bon mot turned up by one of URPA's numbers
crunchers, derived directly from Amtrak data: Revenue and ridership are
up, but during the last fiscal year (2006), passenger miles dropped once
again to 5,361,517,000. In FY 05 the figure was 5,419,720,000, and a
decade or more ago, it was around 6.5 billion revenue passenger miles per
year.
This means even though the false measurements of increased ridership and
revenues may be climbing, the actual number of revenue passenger miles -
the only true measurement used in the real world of common carriers - has
declined.
The most likely cause of this is an increase in short haul trains (which
are the most expensive to operate and can't cover their costs with true
accounting numbers that include all appropriate allocated expenses) and
small increases or decreases in long distance train travel, most likely
due to the alarmingly short consists of most long haul trains as compared
to a decade ago when much more of Amtrak's long distance fleet was
roadworthy.
3) A regular commuter rider on Amtrak's Empire Service in and out of New
York City provided this fascinating use of an Amtrak diesel locomotive:
[begin quote]
... (I)t was pretty interesting. That was a day last summer when one of
our favorite conductors, Artie, earned his stripes as a true hero of the
people. On our way home after some violent summer squalls had been
through, a big tree ended up right across the tracks a bit south of the
Rhinecliff station.
The southbound train had already beaten us to it and CSX had been
notified. So a couple of hours passed, with the conductors bugging CSX to
come and do something, and CSX basically just making promises without
giving any real information on where they were in the process. So after
going to the grapevine they eventually got wind of the fact that in all
that time, CSX had gotten as far as contacting the members of a road crew
that was on its way to meeting up for deployment - from Syracuse, about
200 miles away. It would have been well past midnight before the crew
even arrived.
So Artie went out and conducted a slow and delicate dance in the waning
daylight. He had his train push north while the southbound train pushed
south, and together they slowly rotated the tree so that it ended up
lying between the northbound and southbound tracks. I wonder what the CSX
ground crew thought when they arrived.
[End quote]
Good going, Conductor Artie. Nothing like taking some personal
responsibility and using some initiative to take care of your passengers
and your train. This guy should get a medal.
4) URPA stalwart Dennis Larson, Vice President of the Minnesota
Association of Railroad Passengers, shares some numbers from the cold,
Upper Midwest.
[begin quote]
March 2 - The second major snowstorm in Minnesota and Wisconsin within
the last week, along the Empire Builder route, is now wrapping up with
over a foot of snow and more, once again.
People were sleeping at the airport due to delayed flights and most
schools and events were closed or cancelled as were some business places.
Highway travel was discouraged and I-35 south of the Twin Cities from
Albert Lea to Ames, Iowa was closed by the highway patrol as was I-90
west of I-35 to the South Dakota border. There are railroad-type cross
arms that block the entrance ramps when these highways are closed.
But Empire Builder arrivals are not doing all that bad though considering
the poor weather conditions. The evening arrivals of the Empire Builder
from Chicago to the St. Paul Midway Station are below-
2007-03-01: Scheduled: 10:31 PM Actual: 12:04 am Delay: 93 minutes
2007-02-28: Scheduled: 10:31 PM Actual: 11:31 PM Delay: 60 minutes
2007-02-27: Scheduled: 10:31 PM Actual: 10:24 PM Delay: 0 minutes
2007-02-26: Scheduled: 10:31 PM Actual: 10:23 PM Delay: 0 minutes
The morning arrivals of the Empire Builder to the St. Paul Midway Station
from the Pacific Northwest are below-
2007-03-02: Scheduled: 7:05 am Actual: 7:01 am Delay: 0 minutes
2007-03-01: Scheduled: 7:05 am Actual: 7:02 am Delay: 0 minutes
2007-02-28: Scheduled: 7:05 am Actual: 6:46 am Delay: 0 minutes
2007-02-27: Scheduled: 7:05 am Actual: 7:15 am Delay: 10 minutes
2007-02-26: Scheduled: 7:05 am Actual: 7:01 am Delay: 0 minutes
2007-02-25: Scheduled: 7:05 am Actual: 7:19 am Delay: 14 minutes
2007-02-24: Scheduled: 7:05 am Actual: 6:29 am Delay: 0 minutes
[End quote]
5) Things haven't been quite so rosy for the Empire Builder's sister
transcontinental train, the California Zephyr, which operates between
Chicago and Emeryville (San Francisco), California.
Mr. Larson made this note from a November Zephyr report:
[begin quote]
Looking over Amtrak's California Zephyr report for November, I see it has
nearly 5 hours of make up time [automatically built into the schedule] so
they have been sitting for 11 hours [due to delays] plus another 5.
Amtrak makes big talk about dining car losses but an Amtrak train person
with overtime collects on average a bit over $27 per hour.
So Amtrak is paying out at least an extra $300 per person in wages plus
all those mis-connect charges, which amounts to thousands.
Their report of November 2006 shows the California Zephyr was standing
for 38,203 minutes, or 26 ½ days! Amtrak-caused delays amounted to over
60 hours for the month. Most of the delays attributed to the host
railroads were slow orders amounting to 10.6 days.
[End quote]
And, then there is this, also from Mr. Larson.
[begin quote]
Regarding references to on time performance of the California Zephyr
[which operates on the BNSF from Chicago to Denver, and the Union Pacific
from Denver to Emeryville, California] ...
In December of 2005 the Zephyr had an on-time record of 5% and the
average delay minutes per trip was 552 minutes. Figure in the recovery
time of 299 minutes and the train arrived on average 4 hours 13 minutes
late. In November of 2006 the train arrived on average 5 hours and 29
minutes late. At this rate of decline, the train will not only be
standing still longer than it is rolling, but every single mode of
transport including horseback and a very slow boat on the river will
operate at higher average speeds than the Zephyr in a very short time.
All this on the all-weather mode that is suppose to save America from
highway and air gridlock.
This information is buried in Amtrak's monthly report on its website.
[End quote]
6) Amtrak shares this with us via the company's employee newsletter,
"Amtrak This Week" of February 12, 2007, about what it is doing to
improve cold weather service.
[begin quote]
Overhauled Horizons Withstand Cold
Last week, some service in the Midwest was cancelled due to freeze damage
to Horizon equipment as a result of bitter cold conditions in Chicago. A
collaborative effort between the Transportation and Mechanical
departments that included redeploying preventive maintenance employees to
help thaw and prep the trains helped get the schedule back on track.
While this work required more time and manpower in the extreme cold, by
Thursday, full service from Chicago had resumed.
As part of the company's drive toward a state of good repair, a Horizon
overhaul program - the first for the 17- year-old cars - was begun in FY
'05. The four-year program includes modifying the equipment for winter
weather conditions, and of the 41 cars overhauled, only three were
affected by the extraordinarily cold temperatures last week. Why the
three were affected by the weather is being investigated, and
modifications will be made accordingly. Of the trains not yet overhauled,
root-cause analysis is currently being performed on the failures to
better target problem areas as part of the overhaul process.
The Horizon fleet is about 50 percent overhauled, with five cars
currently at Beech Grove, 8 scheduled for overhaul this fiscal year and
another 21 next year. The company's aggressive state-of-good-repair goals
over the past several years have contributed significantly to improved
reliability, and there's still more work to be done.
[End quote]
Next question: When is Amtrak's "state of good repair" mantra going to
extend to the long distance Viewliner and Superliner fleets so enough
equipment can get out on the road and start generating some high value
revenue and revenue passenger miles for Amtrak, not to mention fulfilling
Amtrak's original mission of providing America with a true nationwide
network of passenger trains?
7) Here's a reminder of the Saturday, March 17th joint meeting in Los
Angeles of the Rail Passenger Association of California & Nevada and the
National Association of Railroad Passengers. Featured speakers will be
Amtrak President and CEO Alex Kummant, and URPA Vice President of Law and
Policy Andrew Selden, along with others.
Also appearing will be Ross Capon, NARP Executive Director, on a panel
regarding the future of Amtrak.
For decades, RailPac has long been closely associated with URPA, and much
of the senior leadership of RailPac have been contributing members of
URPA. This meeting should prove to be fascinating as Mr. Selden and Mr.
Capon advance ideas on the future of Amtrak, and Mr. Kummant's keynote
address possibly may provide a glimpse of his ideas about the future of
the company he now heads.
Also up for discussion will be institutional views on the future of the
Sunset Limited east of New Orleans, which has not been in operation since
prior to Hurricane Katrina in 2005. URPA has been strongly advocating for
the return of this vital part of Amtrak's national network, and other
organizations outside of Florida and the Gulf Coast states have taken a
less vigorous approach, apparently in fear of losing favor with Amtrak
management.
If you're near Southern California and can attend this meeting, the $35
advance registration fee ($40 at the door) should be a small price to pay
for an informative day. Further information is available at
www.RailPac.org
8) Word has come of a needed second Amtrak frequency between Seattle and
Vancouver, British Columbia. Amtrak's Cascades service has been a popular
cross-border passenger train, and a second trip is being made possible by
expansion of BNSF's line between the two cities.
There is one area of dissension, however. The Vancouver Sun reports the
Surrey United Naturists Association is planning to register the group's
dismay over what it considers the imposition of a second Cascades train
along Surrey's coast line by staging a mass mooning under the banner
"BNSF Butt Out of the Beach."
The nudist group appears to want the beach alongside which the new Amtrak
train will run all to itself, and feels a new Cascades train full of
gawking passengers will interfere with the privacy of the group.
Actually, it's tough to wrap your mind around the fact this group is
worried about privacy.
BNSF officials expect to complete the track improvement by the summer of
2008, in time for the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver. The project has
been in the works for over six years.
9) A private web design in Peoria, Illinois (You remember the hackneyed
phrase, "Let's see if it will play in Peoria.") has come up with an
interesting service for those who wish to monitor Amtrak's on time
performance levels.
The company has provided a free web site which will provide a three week
accounting of Amtrak on-time history for any given train to any given
destination. The site can be found at
http://web.peoriadesignweb.com/cgi-bin/amtrak/train.cgi to keep track of
your favorite trains.
Faraz Hussain of Peoria Design Web explains how the site was developed:
[begin quote]
My motivation for developing the on-time performance calculator was so I
could schedule my squash matches with my opponents at my destinations.
Squash is similar to racquetball in that it is an indoor court sport. I
live in Peoria where there are not many squash players so I travel to
Chicago and St. Louis often from Bloomington to play better players.
So knowing the statistical delays helps me realistically plan my day when
I arrive at my destination. The program is just a program that retrieves
information from Amtrak site behind the scenes. I based it off a similar
search engine I developed, Medreport.org. Medreport.org lets you create
reports by scanning up to thirty websites and extracting content based on
your search criteria.
The program did not take more than half a night to develop as I was able
to copy/paste a code from Medreport.org . I knew this tool would benefit
many others which is why I invested more time to make it robust and easy
to use. I am now working on a 'Catch a train' script that finds where a
particular train is on its route.
[End quote]
This could easily prove to be a user-friendly tool that will benefit many
Amtrak-watchers.
10) The United Transportation Union has published a six-point plan it
feels will help improve both Amtrak and the life of its union members who
work for Amtrak.
[begin quote]
Highlights of the six-point Amtrak reform plan include:
. Congress must pass a long-term authorization bill that provides at
least $2 billion per year, to be fully funded by appropriators.
. Labor/management relations must be reformed. Amtrak must stop
withholding reasonable wage increases by blaming unpredictable federal
financing for the carrier. Most Amtrak employees are entering their
eighth year with no general wage increase.
. A new Amtrak board of directors should be created with members -
including a voice for employees - who actually believe in maintaining and
strengthening a national Amtrak system. Board members who pursue
self-destructive policies for Amtrak do not serve in the interest of the
company, its workers or the 25 million passengers who depend on Amtrak
service.
. After 30 years of under-funding, Amtrak has taken on substantial debt
that should be paid down with federal assistance.
. The way Amtrak security costs are paid must be reformed. Specific
expenses associated with the defense against terrorism should be borne by
the Department of Homeland Security.
. To ensure independent oversight, the Inspector General of Amtrak should
be separated from the company. It should not work as an extension of
Amtrak management as it does today.
March 7, 2007
[End quote]
11) Here's a nugget of information from an Amtrak daily operations report
that shows someone cares about Amtrak trains and passengers.
[begin quote]
Train 6(04) [Eastbound California Zephyr] Delayed at Omaha, NE by
Mechanical Failure
The outbound crew reported (3) blower bearing adapter bolts on coach
34001 axle #1 were missing. The contractor that waters the train was able
to obtain bolts at a local hardware store and replaced them. The
contractor also reported the plates that hold the bolts in were upside
down.
Delay: 6(04) 41"
[End quote]
Note to the Amtrak Mechanical Department: Sometimes, just a quick trip to
the corner hardware store can solve a host of problems.
12) And, this, from another Amtrak internal operations report about train
no. 91, the southbound Silver Star, preparing to leave New York City for
Florida:
[begin quote]
Train 91(06) Late Departure, New York, NY
Train 91(06) was delayed in Sunnyside Yard account [passenger cars]
C/25091 and C/25097 shopped/cut due to frozen waste lines. C/25014 and
C/25015 were substituted then C/25014 shopped/cut due to frozen waste
line, C/25082 was substituted. Also necessary to thaw frozen lines on
C/25005.
Delay: 91(06) 1'43"
[End quote]
Apparently, Amtrak's winter weather woes are not just limited to Chicago.
13) What's the latest on the restoration of the Sunset Limited east of
New Orleans, into Florida? Nobody seems to know.
A number of concepts seems to be floating around, including putting back
the short-lived late 1990s Gulf Coast Limited daily service between New
Orleans and Mobile, Alabama, and then adding a separate tri-weekly
service between New Orleans and Orlando, which would operate separately
from the Sunset Limited, and originate in New Orleans. No direct
connection from the Sunset would be available eastbound; an overnight New
Orleans stay would be required. Westbound, a same day connection would be
available.
Other reports still circulate regarding extending the City of New Orleans
from New Orleans to Orlando.
One obvious connection which would greatly extend matrix opportunities
would be to re-extend the Palmetto south from Savannah to Jacksonville,
where hubbing opportunities with a Florida Panhandle/New Orleans service
could be restored. The Florida Coalition of Railroad Passengers under the
able leadership of President Jackson McQuigg continues to take a strong
leading public role in the effort.
14) In the "What Were These Guys Thinking?" Department, comes this story
from a TWA reader from Omaha, Nebraska, who was on the California Zephyr
February 19th.
The Associated Press reports that five men forced off the Zephyr for
smoking marijuana were discovered to be carrying a simple cardboard box
holding $700,000 in U.S. savings bonds, allegedly stolen from a Nevada
home.
The men were traveling from Sacramento, California to Chicago to
illegally launder the bonds. The five men, whose ages range from 24 to 42
were smoking pot on the train. When they were asked to leave the train
because of the pot smoking at Helper, Utah, about 100 miles south of Salt
Lake City, they were met by local authorities and a drug-sniffing dog.
The dog reacted strongly to two bags. The Helper police searched the bags
and found the bonds inside the cardboard box.
All five of the men were released on bond.
The moral of this story? When you're running from the law carrying huge
amounts of stolen federal bonds, don't do something stupid like smoke
dope in public places along the way. Then, again, it doesn't take a
rocket scientist to be a bond thief, so these same non-rocket scientists
probably wouldn't think twice about smoking dope, either.
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
[email protected]
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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, including requests to unsubscribe, should be
addressed to [email protected]
J. Bruce Richardson
President
United Rail Passenger Alliance, Inc.
1526 University Boulevard, West, PMB 203
Jacksonville, Florida 32217-2006 USA
Telephone 904-636-6760
[email protected]
http://www.unitedrail.org
SPECIAL NOTE:
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is now sent through a new system, and has a Sender address of
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_______________________________________________
TWA mailing list
[email protected]
http://lists.unitedrail.org/mailman/listinfo/twa
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 [email protected]
http://www.unitedrail.org
Volume 4, Number 9
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) Amtrak has started its winter/spring leisure travel advertising
campaign for 2007 by placing ads in 12 top markets. Target marketing, of
course, is very important, and getting the biggest bang for every
marketing buck is critical, too. However, Amtrak does serve over 500
destinations in the continental United States, plus some locations in
Canada. It's kind of tough to expect many results from just advertising
in the top 12 markets ...
2) Here's a fascinating bon mot turned up by one of URPA's numbers
crunchers, derived directly from Amtrak data: Revenue and ridership are
up, but during the last fiscal year (2006), passenger miles dropped once
again to 5,361,517,000. In FY 05 the figure was 5,419,720,000, and a
decade or more ago, it was around 6.5 billion revenue passenger miles per
year.
This means even though the false measurements of increased ridership and
revenues may be climbing, the actual number of revenue passenger miles -
the only true measurement used in the real world of common carriers - has
declined.
The most likely cause of this is an increase in short haul trains (which
are the most expensive to operate and can't cover their costs with true
accounting numbers that include all appropriate allocated expenses) and
small increases or decreases in long distance train travel, most likely
due to the alarmingly short consists of most long haul trains as compared
to a decade ago when much more of Amtrak's long distance fleet was
roadworthy.
3) A regular commuter rider on Amtrak's Empire Service in and out of New
York City provided this fascinating use of an Amtrak diesel locomotive:
[begin quote]
... (I)t was pretty interesting. That was a day last summer when one of
our favorite conductors, Artie, earned his stripes as a true hero of the
people. On our way home after some violent summer squalls had been
through, a big tree ended up right across the tracks a bit south of the
Rhinecliff station.
The southbound train had already beaten us to it and CSX had been
notified. So a couple of hours passed, with the conductors bugging CSX to
come and do something, and CSX basically just making promises without
giving any real information on where they were in the process. So after
going to the grapevine they eventually got wind of the fact that in all
that time, CSX had gotten as far as contacting the members of a road crew
that was on its way to meeting up for deployment - from Syracuse, about
200 miles away. It would have been well past midnight before the crew
even arrived.
So Artie went out and conducted a slow and delicate dance in the waning
daylight. He had his train push north while the southbound train pushed
south, and together they slowly rotated the tree so that it ended up
lying between the northbound and southbound tracks. I wonder what the CSX
ground crew thought when they arrived.
[End quote]
Good going, Conductor Artie. Nothing like taking some personal
responsibility and using some initiative to take care of your passengers
and your train. This guy should get a medal.
4) URPA stalwart Dennis Larson, Vice President of the Minnesota
Association of Railroad Passengers, shares some numbers from the cold,
Upper Midwest.
[begin quote]
March 2 - The second major snowstorm in Minnesota and Wisconsin within
the last week, along the Empire Builder route, is now wrapping up with
over a foot of snow and more, once again.
People were sleeping at the airport due to delayed flights and most
schools and events were closed or cancelled as were some business places.
Highway travel was discouraged and I-35 south of the Twin Cities from
Albert Lea to Ames, Iowa was closed by the highway patrol as was I-90
west of I-35 to the South Dakota border. There are railroad-type cross
arms that block the entrance ramps when these highways are closed.
But Empire Builder arrivals are not doing all that bad though considering
the poor weather conditions. The evening arrivals of the Empire Builder
from Chicago to the St. Paul Midway Station are below-
2007-03-01: Scheduled: 10:31 PM Actual: 12:04 am Delay: 93 minutes
2007-02-28: Scheduled: 10:31 PM Actual: 11:31 PM Delay: 60 minutes
2007-02-27: Scheduled: 10:31 PM Actual: 10:24 PM Delay: 0 minutes
2007-02-26: Scheduled: 10:31 PM Actual: 10:23 PM Delay: 0 minutes
The morning arrivals of the Empire Builder to the St. Paul Midway Station
from the Pacific Northwest are below-
2007-03-02: Scheduled: 7:05 am Actual: 7:01 am Delay: 0 minutes
2007-03-01: Scheduled: 7:05 am Actual: 7:02 am Delay: 0 minutes
2007-02-28: Scheduled: 7:05 am Actual: 6:46 am Delay: 0 minutes
2007-02-27: Scheduled: 7:05 am Actual: 7:15 am Delay: 10 minutes
2007-02-26: Scheduled: 7:05 am Actual: 7:01 am Delay: 0 minutes
2007-02-25: Scheduled: 7:05 am Actual: 7:19 am Delay: 14 minutes
2007-02-24: Scheduled: 7:05 am Actual: 6:29 am Delay: 0 minutes
[End quote]
5) Things haven't been quite so rosy for the Empire Builder's sister
transcontinental train, the California Zephyr, which operates between
Chicago and Emeryville (San Francisco), California.
Mr. Larson made this note from a November Zephyr report:
[begin quote]
Looking over Amtrak's California Zephyr report for November, I see it has
nearly 5 hours of make up time [automatically built into the schedule] so
they have been sitting for 11 hours [due to delays] plus another 5.
Amtrak makes big talk about dining car losses but an Amtrak train person
with overtime collects on average a bit over $27 per hour.
So Amtrak is paying out at least an extra $300 per person in wages plus
all those mis-connect charges, which amounts to thousands.
Their report of November 2006 shows the California Zephyr was standing
for 38,203 minutes, or 26 ½ days! Amtrak-caused delays amounted to over
60 hours for the month. Most of the delays attributed to the host
railroads were slow orders amounting to 10.6 days.
[End quote]
And, then there is this, also from Mr. Larson.
[begin quote]
Regarding references to on time performance of the California Zephyr
[which operates on the BNSF from Chicago to Denver, and the Union Pacific
from Denver to Emeryville, California] ...
In December of 2005 the Zephyr had an on-time record of 5% and the
average delay minutes per trip was 552 minutes. Figure in the recovery
time of 299 minutes and the train arrived on average 4 hours 13 minutes
late. In November of 2006 the train arrived on average 5 hours and 29
minutes late. At this rate of decline, the train will not only be
standing still longer than it is rolling, but every single mode of
transport including horseback and a very slow boat on the river will
operate at higher average speeds than the Zephyr in a very short time.
All this on the all-weather mode that is suppose to save America from
highway and air gridlock.
This information is buried in Amtrak's monthly report on its website.
[End quote]
6) Amtrak shares this with us via the company's employee newsletter,
"Amtrak This Week" of February 12, 2007, about what it is doing to
improve cold weather service.
[begin quote]
Overhauled Horizons Withstand Cold
Last week, some service in the Midwest was cancelled due to freeze damage
to Horizon equipment as a result of bitter cold conditions in Chicago. A
collaborative effort between the Transportation and Mechanical
departments that included redeploying preventive maintenance employees to
help thaw and prep the trains helped get the schedule back on track.
While this work required more time and manpower in the extreme cold, by
Thursday, full service from Chicago had resumed.
As part of the company's drive toward a state of good repair, a Horizon
overhaul program - the first for the 17- year-old cars - was begun in FY
'05. The four-year program includes modifying the equipment for winter
weather conditions, and of the 41 cars overhauled, only three were
affected by the extraordinarily cold temperatures last week. Why the
three were affected by the weather is being investigated, and
modifications will be made accordingly. Of the trains not yet overhauled,
root-cause analysis is currently being performed on the failures to
better target problem areas as part of the overhaul process.
The Horizon fleet is about 50 percent overhauled, with five cars
currently at Beech Grove, 8 scheduled for overhaul this fiscal year and
another 21 next year. The company's aggressive state-of-good-repair goals
over the past several years have contributed significantly to improved
reliability, and there's still more work to be done.
[End quote]
Next question: When is Amtrak's "state of good repair" mantra going to
extend to the long distance Viewliner and Superliner fleets so enough
equipment can get out on the road and start generating some high value
revenue and revenue passenger miles for Amtrak, not to mention fulfilling
Amtrak's original mission of providing America with a true nationwide
network of passenger trains?
7) Here's a reminder of the Saturday, March 17th joint meeting in Los
Angeles of the Rail Passenger Association of California & Nevada and the
National Association of Railroad Passengers. Featured speakers will be
Amtrak President and CEO Alex Kummant, and URPA Vice President of Law and
Policy Andrew Selden, along with others.
Also appearing will be Ross Capon, NARP Executive Director, on a panel
regarding the future of Amtrak.
For decades, RailPac has long been closely associated with URPA, and much
of the senior leadership of RailPac have been contributing members of
URPA. This meeting should prove to be fascinating as Mr. Selden and Mr.
Capon advance ideas on the future of Amtrak, and Mr. Kummant's keynote
address possibly may provide a glimpse of his ideas about the future of
the company he now heads.
Also up for discussion will be institutional views on the future of the
Sunset Limited east of New Orleans, which has not been in operation since
prior to Hurricane Katrina in 2005. URPA has been strongly advocating for
the return of this vital part of Amtrak's national network, and other
organizations outside of Florida and the Gulf Coast states have taken a
less vigorous approach, apparently in fear of losing favor with Amtrak
management.
If you're near Southern California and can attend this meeting, the $35
advance registration fee ($40 at the door) should be a small price to pay
for an informative day. Further information is available at
www.RailPac.org
8) Word has come of a needed second Amtrak frequency between Seattle and
Vancouver, British Columbia. Amtrak's Cascades service has been a popular
cross-border passenger train, and a second trip is being made possible by
expansion of BNSF's line between the two cities.
There is one area of dissension, however. The Vancouver Sun reports the
Surrey United Naturists Association is planning to register the group's
dismay over what it considers the imposition of a second Cascades train
along Surrey's coast line by staging a mass mooning under the banner
"BNSF Butt Out of the Beach."
The nudist group appears to want the beach alongside which the new Amtrak
train will run all to itself, and feels a new Cascades train full of
gawking passengers will interfere with the privacy of the group.
Actually, it's tough to wrap your mind around the fact this group is
worried about privacy.
BNSF officials expect to complete the track improvement by the summer of
2008, in time for the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver. The project has
been in the works for over six years.
9) A private web design in Peoria, Illinois (You remember the hackneyed
phrase, "Let's see if it will play in Peoria.") has come up with an
interesting service for those who wish to monitor Amtrak's on time
performance levels.
The company has provided a free web site which will provide a three week
accounting of Amtrak on-time history for any given train to any given
destination. The site can be found at
http://web.peoriadesignweb.com/cgi-bin/amtrak/train.cgi to keep track of
your favorite trains.
Faraz Hussain of Peoria Design Web explains how the site was developed:
[begin quote]
My motivation for developing the on-time performance calculator was so I
could schedule my squash matches with my opponents at my destinations.
Squash is similar to racquetball in that it is an indoor court sport. I
live in Peoria where there are not many squash players so I travel to
Chicago and St. Louis often from Bloomington to play better players.
So knowing the statistical delays helps me realistically plan my day when
I arrive at my destination. The program is just a program that retrieves
information from Amtrak site behind the scenes. I based it off a similar
search engine I developed, Medreport.org. Medreport.org lets you create
reports by scanning up to thirty websites and extracting content based on
your search criteria.
The program did not take more than half a night to develop as I was able
to copy/paste a code from Medreport.org . I knew this tool would benefit
many others which is why I invested more time to make it robust and easy
to use. I am now working on a 'Catch a train' script that finds where a
particular train is on its route.
[End quote]
This could easily prove to be a user-friendly tool that will benefit many
Amtrak-watchers.
10) The United Transportation Union has published a six-point plan it
feels will help improve both Amtrak and the life of its union members who
work for Amtrak.
[begin quote]
Highlights of the six-point Amtrak reform plan include:
. Congress must pass a long-term authorization bill that provides at
least $2 billion per year, to be fully funded by appropriators.
. Labor/management relations must be reformed. Amtrak must stop
withholding reasonable wage increases by blaming unpredictable federal
financing for the carrier. Most Amtrak employees are entering their
eighth year with no general wage increase.
. A new Amtrak board of directors should be created with members -
including a voice for employees - who actually believe in maintaining and
strengthening a national Amtrak system. Board members who pursue
self-destructive policies for Amtrak do not serve in the interest of the
company, its workers or the 25 million passengers who depend on Amtrak
service.
. After 30 years of under-funding, Amtrak has taken on substantial debt
that should be paid down with federal assistance.
. The way Amtrak security costs are paid must be reformed. Specific
expenses associated with the defense against terrorism should be borne by
the Department of Homeland Security.
. To ensure independent oversight, the Inspector General of Amtrak should
be separated from the company. It should not work as an extension of
Amtrak management as it does today.
March 7, 2007
[End quote]
11) Here's a nugget of information from an Amtrak daily operations report
that shows someone cares about Amtrak trains and passengers.
[begin quote]
Train 6(04) [Eastbound California Zephyr] Delayed at Omaha, NE by
Mechanical Failure
The outbound crew reported (3) blower bearing adapter bolts on coach
34001 axle #1 were missing. The contractor that waters the train was able
to obtain bolts at a local hardware store and replaced them. The
contractor also reported the plates that hold the bolts in were upside
down.
Delay: 6(04) 41"
[End quote]
Note to the Amtrak Mechanical Department: Sometimes, just a quick trip to
the corner hardware store can solve a host of problems.
12) And, this, from another Amtrak internal operations report about train
no. 91, the southbound Silver Star, preparing to leave New York City for
Florida:
[begin quote]
Train 91(06) Late Departure, New York, NY
Train 91(06) was delayed in Sunnyside Yard account [passenger cars]
C/25091 and C/25097 shopped/cut due to frozen waste lines. C/25014 and
C/25015 were substituted then C/25014 shopped/cut due to frozen waste
line, C/25082 was substituted. Also necessary to thaw frozen lines on
C/25005.
Delay: 91(06) 1'43"
[End quote]
Apparently, Amtrak's winter weather woes are not just limited to Chicago.
13) What's the latest on the restoration of the Sunset Limited east of
New Orleans, into Florida? Nobody seems to know.
A number of concepts seems to be floating around, including putting back
the short-lived late 1990s Gulf Coast Limited daily service between New
Orleans and Mobile, Alabama, and then adding a separate tri-weekly
service between New Orleans and Orlando, which would operate separately
from the Sunset Limited, and originate in New Orleans. No direct
connection from the Sunset would be available eastbound; an overnight New
Orleans stay would be required. Westbound, a same day connection would be
available.
Other reports still circulate regarding extending the City of New Orleans
from New Orleans to Orlando.
One obvious connection which would greatly extend matrix opportunities
would be to re-extend the Palmetto south from Savannah to Jacksonville,
where hubbing opportunities with a Florida Panhandle/New Orleans service
could be restored. The Florida Coalition of Railroad Passengers under the
able leadership of President Jackson McQuigg continues to take a strong
leading public role in the effort.
14) In the "What Were These Guys Thinking?" Department, comes this story
from a TWA reader from Omaha, Nebraska, who was on the California Zephyr
February 19th.
The Associated Press reports that five men forced off the Zephyr for
smoking marijuana were discovered to be carrying a simple cardboard box
holding $700,000 in U.S. savings bonds, allegedly stolen from a Nevada
home.
The men were traveling from Sacramento, California to Chicago to
illegally launder the bonds. The five men, whose ages range from 24 to 42
were smoking pot on the train. When they were asked to leave the train
because of the pot smoking at Helper, Utah, about 100 miles south of Salt
Lake City, they were met by local authorities and a drug-sniffing dog.
The dog reacted strongly to two bags. The Helper police searched the bags
and found the bonds inside the cardboard box.
All five of the men were released on bond.
The moral of this story? When you're running from the law carrying huge
amounts of stolen federal bonds, don't do something stupid like smoke
dope in public places along the way. Then, again, it doesn't take a
rocket scientist to be a bond thief, so these same non-rocket scientists
probably wouldn't think twice about smoking dope, either.
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
[email protected]
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
[email protected]; 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, including requests to unsubscribe, should be
addressed to [email protected]
J. Bruce Richardson
President
United Rail Passenger Alliance, Inc.
1526 University Boulevard, West, PMB 203
Jacksonville, Florida 32217-2006 USA
Telephone 904-636-6760
[email protected]
http://www.unitedrail.org
SPECIAL NOTE:
TWA (for those who are direct subscribers; not recipients through a list)
is now sent through a new system, and has a Sender address of
[email protected]
If you have e-mail filters on your system, you may wish to adjust your
filters inorder to continue to receive This Week at Amtrak. If you do
miss any issues, every issue is archived at www.unitedrail.org
_______________________________________________
TWA mailing list
[email protected]
http://lists.unitedrail.org/mailman/listinfo/twa
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