Version XXV – This Was The Week That Was – An Amtrak Saga

October 29, 2001

Just a week short of half of a year of publication, TWTWTW notes that history often repeats itself. This week is no different.

1. One of the original reasons that caused TWTWTW to be written was the summertime dining car debacle that many felt was close at hand. Six months ago, Intercity senior management, under the tutelage of Amtrak senior management (nee transit operators), wanted to discontinue dining cars on some routes.

   A hue and cry was raised, and the problem went away.

   Well, almost.

   Those intrepid managers are trying again. To prove the point that Amtrak has an almost zero amount of institutional memory, the next great battle is going to be over precooked food on three of the long distance dining cars.

   Here’s the drill: Among the trains included are the Texas Eagle and Empire Builder, plus one other. The dining cars will remain, but only serve food that is precooked. Normal staff levels will be slashed more than in half, with just one food preparer in the kitchen, one table server, and one lead service attendant to handle the money. That’s it. The plan eliminates dishwashers and chef’s assistants, and most servers.

   Apparently, Intercity management is expecting a low turnout in the dining car if they are expecting two people can handle 64 patrons at once in a Superliner diner.

   What they don’t realize is that this horrid experiment was tried once before, about 20 years ago. It failed then. People experimented once in those bygone diners, and then stayed away from train travel in droves.

   What is it going to take to make these senior managers understand that a dining car is an integral part of train travel?

   Look at the reality of dining cars: Diners on overnight trains each are a multimillion dollar a year business or each route. Who’s minding the store? No one that knows the restaurant business. The dining cars are run by Assistant General Mangers, most of whom are former locomotive engineers. While some service managers and AGMs came from different ranks and have a dining car background, most do not.

   So, we have people who are very good at getting a train over the road running a restaurant business. Pricing is wrong. Food choices in many instances are wrong. Service levels are wrong.

   While there are some outstanding dining cars in Intercity because of good business group and train level management, notably the City of New Orleans, Crescent, and Sunset diners, most diners are mediocre at best. Now, they will get worse with precooked food.

   More reasons for travelers to not take Amtrak. Just when you think things could not get worse …

2. The evidence is becoming overwhelming that Amtrak senior management is practicing a scorched Earth policy when it comes to long distance trains. The plan seems to be that if it doesn’t benefit the NEC, then it’s not worth thinking about.

   Here is what some have called a near-criminal move by Amtrak senior management: Nearly all of the remaining Heritage fleet of equipment that has been held in storage is now up for bid.

   Your humble correspondent in the last few days received the sale offer from Amtrak; the bid closing date is November 28, 2001.

   Here is what is on the block:

   • 5 Heritage baggage dorm cars
   • 4 Heritage slumber sleeping cars
   • 13 Heritage 10/6 sleeping cars
   • 6 Heritage lounges
   • 1 Heritage table car
   • 1 Heritage buffet grill car
   • 1 Cab car
   • 1 Cab car coach
   • 32 Santa Fe High Level dorm coaches (transition cars from high level to low level)
   • 14 Santa Fe High Level coaches
   • 1 Santa Fe High Level lounge
   • 6 Santa Fe High Level diners
   • 4 Heritage coaches (which appear to be in various states of complete disrepair and missing parts)
   • 19 Non-passenger ballast hopper cars (which completes the offering list)

   What this does, is makes sure that any state, such as Oklahoma did, that comes along with some cash and wants to put together a service in a hurry, that it can’t be done. If it wasn’t for these same Santa Fe high level coaches that were renovated for Oklahoma service, the Heartland Flyer never would have gotten off the ground because no other Superliner equipment exists due to all of the Superliners in the wreck line at Beech Grove.

   These cars listed above represent a reasonable way for new management to get some capacity on the road in a relatively short period of time after modestly priced (based against new car construction costs) upgrades such as retention toilets, air conditioning system, and other modifications.

   The loss of this equipment will be a crippling blow to anyone who seeks to expand the Amtrak system without waiting for up to three years for new equipment to be built.

   Note, much of this equipment is NEWER than the equipment VIA Rail Canada has successfully upgraded and is running coast to coast in Canada on a daily basis. In fact, Amtrak’s junk yard sales such as this have been providing VIA with a ready pool of equipment for expansion. If VIA can make this equipment work, why can’t Amtrak?

   When will SOMEONE, ANYONE with some sort of vision for the future be at the helm of Amtrak? When will Official Washington wake up to what is happening to Amtrak outside of the NEC and realize that there is fast becoming NOTHING LEFT TO SAVE OR BUILD ON for the next group of Amtrak senior managers?

   For all of us paying taxes everywhere west of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, and south of Washington, D.C., when will it be our turn to have reasonable rail service? When will we see some sort of return on our investment through federalism?

   When will this evil and destructive policy of ignoring the bulk of the country come to an end?

   Who will step up and become the hero of the American train passenger?

3. Bloomberg financial news reports during the past week carried a story about Amtrak ridership being down overall by 6% for the month of September.

   Andy Selden made the following comments in a private post about the drop in ridership, but agreed to share them with all. His comments are:
   

   “There is a smelly musk ox that has crept into the corner of the living room, which nobody in Washington seems to want to talk about.

   “The attached report [the Bloomberg News story noting the 6% drop in ridership], which still lacks hard data, nevertheless strongly supports the anecdotal and inferential evidence that even in the total absence of DC/NYC air shuttle service for three weeks after the attacks in September, air travelers did NOT flock to Acela Express, Metroliner, or any other rail alternative.

   “They appear either to have stayed home, or used I-95 instead. If this proves to be the case, it will provide a second conclusive proof (the first was the failure in the spring of the nonstop train 2180) that there is NO cross-elasticity of demand between air and rail, even in 221 mile high density markets, regardless of the velocity of the rail vehicle (135 or 125 or even 90 MPH is infinitely faster than zero, and the frequent flyers STILL stayed away).

   “This has very significant implications for future advocacy of HSR: it dooms GW’s Acela-based strategy in the NEC and elsewhere; it suggests that doing more capital investment into HSR in the NEC is throwing good money after bad; it proves that Joe Vranich, et al., are WRONG; and it suggests that Byron Nordberg, Merril Travis, and URPA were and are on the right track with a program of incremental development of 110 MPH corridors that will run the socks off the interstates (at a much more affordable capital cost) and not try to compete against air.” – Andy Selden

   It’s hard to quibble with Mr. Selden’s thinking on this one; his argument is not for the abandonment of corridors, but, rather, for choosing the right target market and the right enemy to slay. The enemy is not the airplane, the enemy is the automobile. That is where the rich vein of future train travelers lurks, not those hurtling themselves through the sky.

4. Your humble correspondent took a round trip on Amtrak last week, and was both amused, delighted, and surprised at what he found.

   Being a last minute type of traveler, your humble correspondent waited until the last minute to make his travel plans. Therefore, on Thursday (October 18th), the day before travel was to commence, he telephoned his favorite travel agent in Fullerton, California to book his travel, from
   Jacksonville, Florida to Tampa, Florida, and return. Doesn’t everyone call a travel agent a mere 2,700 miles from home to make reservations?

   The next day, Friday, the day of travel, your humble correspondent presented himself at the ticket window at the Amtrak station approximately 45 minutes prior to departure. The Silver Meteor had already arrived in the station (it was on time and remained on time the entire journey).

   Your humble correspondent gave the ticket clerk (who was a stranger) his reservation number, and the corresponding PNR popped into the computer. A few questions about the fare and where travel commenced were asked, and the ticket printed. On the counter next to the computer was a photocopy of the FBI’s wanted list of terrorists. It was unmolested during the transaction.

   Cash was handed over for the ticket (no bags were checked).

   Your humble correspondent then proceeded across the station to the conductor, who took the ticket, and boarded the train.

   During the trip, there were eight interactions with Amtrak ticket clerks, baggage clerks, conductors, car attendants, and Thruway motor coach drivers. Never once was identification asked for, even at the time of the ticket purchase.

   Review the facts of the ticket purchase: A passenger in Jacksonville, Florida presents himself at train time with a reservation made in California, pays in cash, and boards the train without challenge. Now, granted, when you look up the definition of WASP in your dictionary, you see a photo of your humble correspondent as the definition of WASP, but one would have thought SOMEONE somewhere along the line would have like to have known it was really who belonged to the name on the ticket.

   The equipment on the train mostly worked well, was clean, and suitable. The luncheon in the dining car brought a new awareness, however.

   The dining car was one of the nicely refurbished ones, with 10 tables and four counter stools. One of the features was the placement of the tables and seating. Regrettably, when in water, the displacement of your humble correspondent is closer to the RMS Queen Mary rather than the Sloop John B. Therefore, any extra space in booth seating is always appreciated, as this was the case.

   The menu was the usual Amtrak menu, with one notable improvement. Someone found steak fries that could be handled on the train in the oven instead of deep frying. The lack of cooked potatoes at lunch has long been a missing link in Amtrak menus. That missing link has been found, and in a most delicious way. The serving of steak fries was both ample and fabulous. A wonderful addition to the meal.

   But, the overall meal was ordinary. A cheeseburger, steak fries, and a pickle spear, along with a glass of iced tea (this is the South, of course). The tab for this modest repast? $9.25, plus tip. Yes, your read that right. Seventy-five cents short of $10 for a cheeseburger, fries, and iced tea. As one sage observer and road warrior noted, “these are hotel prices.”

   Looking over the dinner menu, a family of four could easily cross over the $100 line for dinner in the diner at the end of the day.

   But, another surprise was waiting. Instead of dessert, a decision was made to buy a candy bar in the lounge car. Amtrak ALWAYS has M&Ms, what could be better? They even had a choice of plain or peanut. Rapture! However, the asking price was more than a bit steep for a bag of candy – $1.75.

   Let’s do some luncheon math: Lunch – $9.25; tip – $2.00; M&Ms – $1.75; lounge car attendant tip – $.25. That adds up to $13.25 for a meal at 79 mph.

   While it is clear Amtrak has to do something to get its dining car program working right, a lunch that costs $13.25 for a coach passenger is a bit pricey. There must be other solutions.

That’s it for another week at Amtrak. The question is, how many more weeks will there be? How much is there left to sell off? And, does anyone, anywhere care? Let’s hope somebody in Official Washington cares soon. If they don’t, the show is over.