This Was The Week That Was, Vol. I No. 28, 2001-11-16
Version XXVIII - This Was The Week That Was - An Amtrak Saga
November 16, 2001
It’s been a week of pouting for Amtrak senior management, vowing they won’t give up the already sunken ship. Looks like they’re going to make it difficult for the next group. In the meantime, there are a lot of other things to consider along the way to creating Amtrak, Jr.
- The poor, forever stalled, but finally ready Downeaster service, between Boston and Maine will still have its inaugural December 15th. You have to admire the folks in New England who have stuck with creating this new service through thick and thin, and Guilford, too.
Guilford management did everything it could think of to stall and/or discourage this service, but lost at every turn. While it’s not hard to cheer for the rights of free enterprise, it’s tough to get misty eyed about this group of hard nosed businessmen, who, if they don’t get their way, tries to make sure no one gets to play. Hmmm, where else have we heard this recently?
But, the service begins, along with the extension of the Kentucky Cardinal across the river from Jeffersonville, Indiana to downtown Louisville, Kentucky.
These will be the last two service expansions of Amtrak, but, on a more positive note, can be considered the first two service expansions of Amtrak, Jr.
A ray of sunshine is brightly glowing, even at the end of November.
- Some rough, “back of the envelope” (to use one of the late Dr. Adrian Herzog’s favorite phrases when he was doing complicated math in his head) calculations have come to light regarding Amtrak’s post-September 11th performance.
The data is an approximation and is not exact to a fine degree, but it is instructive.
Acela Express and Metroliners: up 10%, about a 3,000 person per day increase Intercity (long distance) trains: up 35%, about a 4,800 person per day increase
Using published system average trip lengths and prices, incremental revenue can be extracted:
Acela Express and Metroliners: $260,000 Intercity trains: $405,000
Which part of Amtrak would you call more successful and worth expanding? (Thanks to Andrew Selden for this information.)
- Austin Coates, the former President and now Chairman of United Rail Passenger Alliance (URPA), have proved to be something of a prophet. Now closing in on 70, Mr. Coates has semiretired from the day to day routine of riding herd on Amtrak. But, during the last week he’s been on top of things as they have quickly been developing in Washington after the ARC finding.
For years, Mr. Coates said, referring to all Amtrak trains, “Pull ‘em over and park ‘em. That’s the only way to get the attention of the American people and Congress.” Mr. Coates took a lot of heat from many during those years, thinking his solution for beginning an honest public debate was far too extreme.
Yesterday (Thursday), esteemed ARC Executive Director Tom Till had to hold forth before a session of the Washington press corps to assure them and the public that trains weren’t going to be pulled over and parked as a result of the ARC decision finding Amtrak incapable of meetings its Congressional mandate of self-sufficiency next year.
Austin Coates was right.
Threaten American’s trains and you suddenly have the riveted attention of the public.
The same thing happened over 10 years ago in Canada when the Mulroney federal government slashed funding for VIA Rail Canada. Canadians who had not had a thought in years about riding a train suddenly felt themselves endangered if their trains went away.
So, the debate in the United States has begun in earnest. What will be the shape of America’s rail passenger system in the future?
Will it be a full, viable network of a combination of long distance trains and corridor services? Or, will it just be disjointed corridors with no real connectivity, hub opportunities, or reason for existence in the master plan of our domestic transportation network?
- Many reactionaries to the new debate keep arguing about an effect of the real problem, not the reality of the real problem that faces Amtrak in the future.
There is endless whining about poor, under funded Amtrak. “Those uncaring and mean people in Congress that only understand how to pour concrete and give money to evil airplanes are the root cause of all of Amtrak’s problems.”
How unfortunate to have such a vast misunderstanding of the real causes of Amtrak’s problems. Even more unfortunate is that several organizations propagate such poppycock information.
The real causes have stemmed from two major issues: lack of vision by Amtrak’s leadership, and lack of good management by Amtrak’s leadership.
No one at Amtrak senior management takes the time to look at so many opportunities that have been missed through the last 31 years; things like connectivity, short route extensions, and better deployment of the passenger car fleet to name just a very few items.
So many opportunities have been missed to increase revenues, bring new business into the company, and promote passenger loyalty and return.
Plus, Amtrak has got to stop operating trains for the convenience of the operating department. While trains should not be operated solely by the wishes of the marketing department, either, a healthy middle ground must be found between the two that promotes a viable and healthy passenger rail system.
The matter of vision is something that can only come naturally, not be acquired.
While many basic tenets of good management practices make a difference, only someone with a broad vision can lead a company to ultimate success.
That vision has not been present in Amtrak for so long, most have forgotten what it’s like to be associated with a company that not only has a good business plan, but a reasonable means to reach desired end results.
Money has had very little to do with the process.
Amtrak has received almost $30 billion in free federal monies in the past 31 years.
This same money, if applied with good business practices and by people of vision in the private sector, would have created a blockbuster business that would be viable for decades.
Instead of following in the successful mandate and footsteps of Conrail when it was released from its government leash, Amtrak’s money has gone down a bureaucratic rat hole, misspent and misdirected by people who don’t understand the uniqueness of the passenger railroad industry and what it takes to be ultimately successful in that arena.
First, back in the 70s, it was “let’s turn Amtrak into an airline on steel wheels.”
Then, there was the period when Amtrak was ashamed to admit it offered first class services because it was a creature of government, and government should be classless (insert your own pun here).
And finally, it was “let’s turn all operations into cookie cutter corridor operations, and make everything fit into the same size and shape of hole.”
Now, it’s a finding by the ARC that has a slim chance of leading to liquidation, and a parallel slim chance of having only corridors, and no long distance trains.
Like old age, passenger railroading is not for the feint of heart or the inexperienced. It’s an industry that requires skill, vision, and knowledge. Unlike the present management that cherishes transit industry values and goals, running streetcars and running passenger trains have very little in common except for the width of space in between the rails.
It’s time for someone with good leadership skills and a vision that has all of the values of a railroader from the last generation, but the foresight and courage to act like a 21st Century businessman.
It’s long past time for Andrew Selden to be running Amtrak.
- Byron A. Boyd, Jr., the United Transportation Union International President is a union man you can quickly come to admire.
This week he called for the immediate removal of George Warrington as President and CEO of Amtrak. Mr. Boyd, in an eloquent and visionary written statement, cited a litany of sins of Mr. Warrington’s stewardship of Amtrak, and how the company has been brought to the brink of extinction.
This is an immensely refreshing development. In the past, unions have been content to keep the Amtrak status quo, so long as jobs were protected and money continued to flow from the federal piggy bank to Amtrak’s barren cash coffers.
Your humble correspondent, in a face to face meeting in 1994 with the executive director of the now defunct association of railroad labor executives, was told that the unions preferred not to rock the Amtrak boat, and they thought Congress was doing a good job of keeping Amtrak alive. In other words, in their view, it wasn’t broken, so don’t fix it.
What a difference a few years makes.
First, we saw the ouster of Mr. Warrington’s immediate predecessor, Tom Downs, because he wouldn’t go along with union wants and needs during a Democratic presidential administration.
Now, we see his successor under heavy fire because the unions have come to realize that Amtrak is in danger of going away, with a possible associated loss of around 25,000 very good paying jobs with great benefits.
Danger and controversy make strange bedfellows. The unions have joined the moderates in wanting to find new solutions for the viability of Amtrak.
More than once in times of trouble, America’s unions have made our country proud because of their achievements.
Yesterday was no exception. It was a proud day for unions as they rightfully stood up and demanded the correct type of leadership that will not only guarantee Amtrak, Jr.’s bright future, but will bring job growth and pride back to the workplace.
That’s it for another gut wrenching week in the saga of Amtrak morphinjg into Amtrak, Jr.
Don’t touch that dial. It’s just getting fascinating.