Version XXII – This Was The Week That Was

October 5, 2001
Week 22, and Amtrak has safely made it to Fiscal Year 2002 – just one more year until the Congressional self-sufficiency mandate kicks in. Will Amtrak make it? Inquiring minds want to know. In the meantime, lots of things are going on at Amtrak this week.

• If you are an Amtrak manager from the middle ranks downs, this was a nervous week. Wednesday was the big day for most senior managers, when, to the best of our collective knowledge, no senior managers were told they would be out of a job. Thursday and today, however, was “letter” day for the lower ranks of managers. Instead of face to face meetings, letters were handed out telling managers whether or not they were let go or would have to reapply for their jobs. Examples are the financial managers in the Intercity business groups, which were told they had to reapply for their jobs.

  The magic number is 500 for the number of positions “redefined” or eliminated. Some of the names heard that are no longer with the company are stalwarts that have kept the company going for many years, but were not considered “team” players by the current group of senior managers. As far as can be determined, only one Downs-era very senior vice president in Washington is gone in this purge; the rest were the real working managers that kept the trains running everyday.

  All of this comes on the heels of the botched voluntary separation retirement program, where 350 managers were told they were eligible to retire, but, at the last minute told that if they did, it would be at thousands of dollars less a month than originally offered. To no one’s surprise, few, if any took the final offer (Including a couple of vice presidents). So, as a consequence, 500 managers, some of whom were eligible for the retirement package, were terminated or had their jobs redefined.

  Perhaps, with all of the other bailouts in Washington this week from the federal government for various needy groups and industries, Amtrak’s handling of the voluntary separation and retirement packages and these subsequent terminations should be called the Amtrak Attorney’s Relief Act of 2001. Amtrak’s handling of these programs guarantees lots of work for lots of attorneys for months to come. Amtrak, by the way, is already scheduled for the United States Supreme Court this session regarding previous legal issues.

  One last note; more and more stories are coming to the surface of employees transferring from craft jobs to lowest level management jobs are missing pay and/or insurance benefits because of bungled scheduling and paperwork handling.

• In the Me, Too! Department, Amtrak and the usual suspect group of Capitol Hill politicians are trying to take advantage of the September 11th terrorist attacks to get more money for Amtrak. This has become so pervasive that it has drawn the notice of a number of Washington think tank institutes and publications.

  As reported in this space before, Amtrak wants $3.1 billion to upgrade NEC tracks, tunnels, bridges, centenary, and other infrastructure, add new rolling stock, and, oh, yes, repair a few long distance passenger cars.

  President and CEO George Warrington testified before the Senate Commerce Committee this week, and revealed some facts that startled many Amwatchers. Mr. Warrington reported that as of the day he testified, Amtrak Intercity was short 27 sleeping cars a day to meet market demand.

  After various Amwatchers picked themselves up off the floor over this figure coming from the NEC’s most notable and staunchest supporter, they continued to watch as Amtrak Heroine Defender Senator Kay Bailey Hutchinson of Texas mercilessly grilled Mr. Warrington about the needs of the rest of the system outside of the NEC. She also bluntly put the company on notice that if they expected her and other Senators to support Amtrak, that the $3.1 billion request would have to be reworked and include bigger bucks for the national system.

  Just 24 hours later, reports began to circulate (although nothing in writing has come from any credible source) that Amtrak was changing it’s request, and including new Superliner and Viewliner sleeping cars, and new single level diners as part of the $3.1 billion request. Additionally, up to half of the cars earmarked for repair and restoration would go to the long distance fleet, instead of the bulk of cars going to the NEC. That would translate to about 150 cars being repaired or rehabbed.

  While this makes a substantial difference to the picture, is it enough? Back of the envelope calculations (As the late Dr. Adrian Herzog used to say) indicate that perhaps as much as $500 million or more could go into the long distance fleet. That would equal about one-sixth of what the request would be for Intercity (plus some components of the security request), out of the $3.1 billion total.

  Is one sixth enough to be excited about? Has Amtrak trained the rail advocate community so well that it is joyous and happy to have just one sixth of an emergency request funding, and allow the rest (vast majority) to still go to the NEC? Equity may be very slowing approaching, but it’s not yet in sight.

  Again, all of the infrastructure needs of the NEC must be met, especially the public safety issues. But, let’s be honest about it. Have a debate based on need, not phony national emergency issues.

• While Amtrak is asking for more money to fix broken cars and buy new cars, some current equipment is being taken out of service. The venerable Heritage Fleet 10 roomette/6 double bedroom sleeping cars, originally built for Pullman Company service have allegedly seen their last run on Amtrak. They made the last runs this week on the Three Rivers, trains no. 40 and 41, between Chicago and New York City.

  Amtrak says these cars are no longer viable to operate, and environmentalists are against them for the sole reason that they have direct dump toilets from the cars to the railroad tracks. Congress had previously extended the life of these cars by allowing an exemption for the direct dump toilets until this month. Since Amtrak did not request an extension, these workaholic cars went out of service.

  Once the pride of the world’s sleeping car fleet, these cars, which were built like Sherman tanks, were the replacement equipment for the Pullman Company’s open section sleeping cars that helped win World War II. Once considered the height of elegance and comfort, lately Amtrak has been scrambling to get ride of as many of them as possible, including leasing and selling them to VIA Rail Canada.

  VIA hasn’t been shy about coveting Amtrak’s older equipment, which is all compatible with its former Canadian Pacific silver fleet. VIA happily takes the Amtrak castoffs and turns them into moneymaking, desirable rolling stock, complete with Canadian logos on the sides.

  Could we be experiencing a case of penny wise and pound foolishness? Or, is Amtrak senior management just anxious to be rid of cars they really don’t understand what to do with in a time of rising ridership?

  Amtrak claims this week it is carrying 20,000 more passengers a week systemwide then before September 11th. While this is not filling any trains to overflowing on a consistent basis, one has to question priorities in letting cars go that could be generating accommodation fares in addition to rail fares. If only historically there were sleeping cars on the NEC (beyond the Twilight Shoreliner), then present Amtrak senior management would understand what to do with this equipment …

• On time performance statistics are out for September, and good things are happening at the Sunset Limited. This fine train, which boasts of outstanding onboard services, a good dining car, and a scenic trip, is forever mired in last place for on time performance. Well, this month, the Sunset had an on time performance level of 29% on the East end (New Orleans – Florida) and 15% on the West end (New Orleans – Los Angeles). Taking the Sunset’s place in the on time basement is the Texas Eagle, with a ZERO percent on time performance record.

  Think of the overtime payments, no to mention passenger inconvenience.

• Amtrak wants to know who you are, some of the time. After the tragic Bourbannais wreck of the City of New Orleans in 1999, Amtrak made some changes to keep better track of who was on its trains. This effort has been going through refinements ever since, but September 11th seems to have been the most defining time for Amtrak to want to get to know you better.

  Now, if you want to ride an Amtrak train, you have to present a photo of ID of who you are, and be able to prove it. If you want to check baggage, the same drill. However, if you’re in the NEC and don’t really feel like human interaction that day, you can still just buy your ticket from any QuikTrak machine with the swipe of a valid credit card. T&E crews are still not matching tickets with IDs on the trains, nor matching tickets to manifests when collecting tickets.

  Also, as a result of this, onboard tickets sales on the NEC have been halted, too, ostensibly for the same purpose.

  So, in this fit of Me, Too! fervor of Amtrak trying to appear to have security measures, are we to assume that if you’re traveling in the NEC you’re in danger of being a bad guy if you buy a ticket on the train, but anywhere else in the Intercity or Amtrak West system where you can still buy a ticket on the train, you’re not a potential bad guy or terrorist?

  One has to surmise that Amtrak senior management is still far more concerned about train operations and passenger comfort and safety on the NEC than anywhere else in the country. After all, those pesky long distance trains and passengers just drain money away from critical projects on the NEC, don’t they?

That’s it for another week in the survival of Amtrak. The larger question, of course, is, can Amtrak survive its own senior management? After all, these are the people who giddily created Club Acela.