Version IV - This Was The Week That Was

June 1, 2001

Here we are, the first day of June, the beginning of Hurricane Season for those of us in the middle of the four year old drought in the Southeast, and Amtrak is still running. A very auspicious beginning to the summer.

Other than the usual on-goings at Amtrak, only two noteworthy situations have occurred this week. As reported on the All Aboard list and elsewhere, two of Amtrak Intercity’s senior officials have submitted their resignations. This is part of a parallel process, of employees regularly “moving on” in their professional careers, but it also eliminates two “Pre-Warrington” officials and places their work under newly hired officials loyal to the current administration which hired them.

Other resignations have been hinted at, and are expected.

The other notable event of the week is the on-going national advertising campaign by Amtrak in major newspapers around the country.

Again, today, in Jacksonville’s morning newspaper, the Florida Times-Union, a half of a page ad appeared heralding Amtrak’s 30% fare discount offering.

Of course, the ad is designed with Amtrak’s new, unfamiliar logo, which is so small you can miss it, there are no illustrations whatsoever to distinguish the ad from yet another discount department store ad, and the ad makes no mention of where Amtrak goes or when it goes from anyone’s hometown. The ad does, however, follow the Warrington Administration’s rebranding and brand identification policy of completely hiding the fact that Amtrak is a passenger railroad that welcomes passengers on a daily basis.

With this type of “aggressive” advertising, Amtrak will be sure to fulfill its self-fulfilling prophesy of running out of cash before the end of the fiscal year.

Bruce Richardson
Jacksonville, Florida