Version XII – This Was The Week That Was

July 27, 2001

How many weeks are left for how many Amtrak managers – and Amtrak trains?

For planning and financial purposes, the summer travel season is over, and how is Amtrak senior management reacting to the rest of the fiscal year, which ends on September 30th? They are ready to bloody the cutting axe, and look for blood by the gallon.

1. Today, Friday, July 27th, Amtrak President and CEO George Warrington announced that the company plans to cuts the 2,900 person management staff through early retirement and incentives. While not saying now how many managers the company hopes to shed, the AP report by Laurence Arnold says that details will be announced next week.

   How well will Amtrak managers be sleeping this weekend? How many were planning to buy a new car or boat this weekend, but will wait, instead? Look for bleary eyes across the country. Some will be glad to be leaving the Amtrak battleground, others will wonder what their future will hold.

   At the same time today, reports are that most of Amtrak’s senior managers are gathered in Wilmington, Delaware with new chief operating officer Stan Bagley, plotting the future of Amtrak’s entire system. The same announcement by Mr. Warrington announcing the buyouts also said that ALL Amtrak operations, including Amtrak Intercity, Amtrak West, the NEC and Mail and Express will now come under the complete control of Mr. Bagley, a 27-year veteran operating employee. Up until now, Mr. Bagley has been president of the NEC, replacing George Warrington when he took over as president of the whole company three years ago. The Acela program has primarily been under Mr. Bagley’s direction as president of the NEC.

   There are plenty of rumors about what is going on at Wilmington, including train offs, reductions in frequencies, reductions in consists and service, and just about any other story on any other areas that railroaders could talk about.

   Whatever the outcome in Wilmington, it’s clear that they days of local control will soon be gone, with all power and decisions flowing back to Washington. And, with all of our positive experiences with the Federal Government, we all know how well that concept works.

2. The House Transportation railroad subcommittee met earlier this week, beginning the process of working on re authorization for Amtrak next year. Many subcommittee members spoke, almost unanimously in favor of passenger rail transportation in some form, but with dissent among the ranks on whether or not Amtrak is the right corporate vehicle for the future.

   Amtrak Reform Council Chairman Gil Carmichael made a recommendation to Congress from the ARC to split Amtrak into three parts, with the first part being a passenger transportation company mimicking airlines (Mr. Carmichael made the comparison of a new Amtrak to an airline: owning no substantial real estate such as stations, owning no track, and just paying for what services it needs on a consumption basis, such as track fees for dispatching and haulage), the second part being a station and infrastructure ownership company, and the third part being a government controlled oversight entity which would coordinate between the other two entities and have oversight functions.

   More congressional hearings are expected before any final decisions are made. DOT Inspector General Ken Meade reported that Amtrak has again failed to meet its financial goals, and is another $21 million behind their revenue projections for the first part of this fiscal year.

3. Amtrak apparently never got over discount fever for the summer. The company has lengthened the availability of the 30th anniversary 30% discount on most fares into the fall months. Amtrak’s ads, which appeared again today in The Florida Times-Union here in Jacksonville, Florida, continue to look more like ads for a shoe store than a passenger railroad.
4. Amtrak Board of Directors member Mayor John Robert Smith of Meridian, Mississippi has taken on new responsibilities. He is now Chairman of the Board of the National Corridors Initiative, Inc., based in New England.

   Inquiring minds want to know, if these two intertwined organizations ever have a vote by either board of directors that has a direct negative impact on the other organization, which way will Mayor Smith vote?

5. Just as a side note, the United States Senate approved the nomination of Texas transportation policy official Allan Rutter as the next head of the Federal Railroad Administration.

   Mr. Rutter previously worked as a transportation policy director in the governor’s office in Austin, Texas, and he was also deputy director of the Texas high speed rail authority, as well as a state budget analyst.

   One must presume that FRA chief Rutter knows his way around a bureaucracy and will be able to navigate the treacherous ways of Washington politics.

That’s a short overview of another week in Amtrak’s 30+ year existence. No telling what will happen next.

Bruce Richardson
Jacksonville, Florida