Version XXIV - This Was The Week That Was - An Amtrak Saga
October 19, 2001
Outside of Capitol Hill, it’s been a business-as-usual week for many at Amtrak. There are a few notable exceptions.
- Your humble correspondent has begun to hear very disturbing reports from confidants inside of Amtrak about the health issues of some Amtrak managers. To date, more than one instance has been reported of alleged job stress related heart attacks being experienced by otherwise healthy managers.
It’s no wonder. Insider after insider constantly comments about how very difficult it is to work at Amtrak right now. The management ranks are in shambles, and very little clear direction is coming from above (that would divert time away from wooing free money from Congress, but more on that in a moment).
See if you like these odds: 700 current managers have been designated to apply for 500 newly defined positions. It’s a VERY serious game of musical chairs that has far reaching consequences for many people, their careers, and families.
As a result of all of this, many feel that Amtrak is operating on “automatic.” The trains are running, but in many cases, just barely. Timekeeping continues to be a serious problem, and many rolling stock maintenance issues seem to be a permanent fixture of life at Amtrak.
Since Version I of TWTWTW almost six months ago, and, notably, many months before that, Amtrak has had a steady downward spiral. Management has been distracted at every turn, has made horrendous, flawed decisions about management voluntary separation and retirement programs that have hurt many people, and can’t seem to maintain any focus on the future. Amtrak Intercity is operating under an Acting President (after his predecessor made many expensive blunders by trying to mold the national system into a model of the NEC), and other managers are leaving under a variety of circumstances. One of the most qualified and very best managers on the West Coast decided to bail out anyway, even with a flawed retirement offer. The loss of this superb manager will have a tremendous ripple effect all across the country. For the moment, many who are clueless will not understand what they have lost until he is gone. Then it will be too late.
It continues to be a nasty picture. As has been heard from many plaintive voices, even when the current Amtrak senior management is replaced, will there be anything left to save? Many wags who have said that Amtrak senior management is killing the company are coming chillingly far too close to the truth when it comes to the reported heart attacks of managers. This could become far too personal for many families.
- Part of Amtrak has had a good week on Capitol Hill. As reported here before, there is a gaggle of bills before both houses of Congress, most of which are trying to give free federal money to Amtrak through one slight of hand or another. The exception to that is the steadfast RIDE-21 bill introduced by House Transportation and Infrastructure committee chairman Don Young of Alaska. Chairman Young realizes the importance of a standalone debate on Amtrak, and his bill reflects that.
As one quotable historian from Central Florida has observed time and again, Amtrak senior management’s main focus is the collection of free money from Congress to prop up the company and keep things operating. He notes that the senior management’s primary daily focus is not on running trains, but on willing Congress to give more and more money to Amtrak for various and sundry purposes.
The good news this week (and much to the relief of Amtrak senior management) is the unanimous passage by the Senate Commerce Committee of the Rail Security Act of 2001, which will award Amtrak almost $1.8 billion for the Northeast Corridor.
Highlights of the bill include monies for safety issues for tunnel upgrades in New York and other areas of the NEC, catenary and other NEC infrastructure needs including bridge replacement, and around $515 million for security upgrades, 50% of which is mandated to be spent outside of the NEC.
Finally, there is a bill that blatantly says it’s for the NEC. No back doors, no secretive slush funds for Amtrak, no gimmicks.
Just money for the NEC, plain and simple (The $260 million for security outside of the NEC is so inconsequential, it’s not worth talking about, this is an NEC bill).
Senators were able to debate and vote on a bill that had no hidden surprises concerning Amtrak.
This is most refreshing. We can all hope that in the future, things will be as well labeled and intentions will be known. Everybody will know what it’s for, and why it’s there. This is a great improvement over the $3.2 billion free money grab made in the past few weeks. That bill mixed monies for the national system and the NEC, with no clear picture of how things would be spent. Not so here. The Rail Security Act of 2001 is plain, and simple.
There is one other important note about this bill, that is your humble correspondent’s favorite part. Senators have gotten smarter when handing money to Amtrak. They now demand accountability from a spender of federal money that practically invented the endless black hole of federal spending.
So, the $1.8 billion is not going directly to Amtrak. It’s going to the Secretary of Transportation as the caretaker of the monies. Only after Amtrak has convinced him it has a solid plan and schedule to spend the money (and this time, no gray areas like the lost $2.3 billion TRA monies), will the law allow the Secretary to cause a check to be written for the spending plan.
In other words, the DOT secretary will be acting in a remarkably similar capacity as a bankruptcy trustee overseeing a naughty, broke company that can’t be trusted anymore.
It’s a good first step to realizing that there are a lot of other things that Amtrak senior management can’t be trusted to do in the best interests of the company, the American traveling public, nor the American taxpayers.
We can only hope for what may be next.
- Amtrak has made more announcements this week about the uptick in ridership on Acela trains, citing figures like a 35% increase in ridership.
Oops, Amtrak is doing it again. Just providing half of the story. Yes, the 35% figure is true, and, in all seriousness, Amtrak is to be congratulated for achieving ridership increases.
There’s just the issue of what there is a 35% increase of …
Don’t forget that the upswing in ridership is based on historically LOW figures to start with. So, a 35% increase, based on close to nothing, is still nothing, plus 35% of nearly nothing. That may be a bit strong, because many Acela trains are running with good load factors, but you have to look at the entire picture of the service and the number of available revenue seat miles versus the number of sold revenue seat miles. When you look at it that way, there are still plenty of seats available on trains.
Acelas are improving, but are not taking the gigantic steps Amtrak wants you to believe.
So, the story continues to go, if you can’t trust them on this issue, how many other issues can you not trust these senior managers when they make an announcement?
- There is a rumor that the new Maine Downeaster service will start on Friday, December 14th, in time for holiday travel. It must be so, the governor of Maine said so, as did a lot of Amtrak managers, and others.
We can only hope that this time it’s true, since this project has been on the boards since sometime around 1993.
Will the boys at Guilford, the host railroad, hold true to their word? Will they find yet another way to stall this project? Only time will tell. This time, we’re all cheering for Amtrak and the beginning of service. Here’s hoping for happy holiday travel for folks in New England.
That’s it for another week. Your humble correspondent is planning to board an Amtrak train later today (Friday) for a brief trip South from
Jacksonville to attend a brother’s birthday party. Looking over the past 24 weeks of This Was The Week That Was, your humble correspondent is looking forward to a trip on Amtrak, and a chance to see things up close and personal for a short time.
As always, it should be interesting.