Volume II Version 13 - This Was The Week That Was - An Amtrak Saga

February 15, 2002

It’s the day after the first Amtrak Reform Council hearing in the United States House of Representatives, and the Republic is still standing.

Much to the surprise of many who have constantly, shamelessly, and incorrectly tried to bash the ARC, it’s members, and the important work they have performed on behalf of our nation, many feel the ARC recommendations on the restructuring of Amtrak are reasonable and well worth consideration. Only those who want to maintain a status quo of three decades of wanton failure are not joining in the national debate initiated by the ARC.

1. Yesterday’s (Thursday’s) ARC hearings did produce some interesting and memorable quotes, as reported by Associated Press Washington reporter Laurence Arnold, one of the very, very few Capitol Hill reporters that is reporting the Amtrak story from a neutral corner.

   Mr. Arnold wrote Thursday, “Gilbert Carmichael, the reform council’s chairman, told the subcommittee that Congress should resist spending new money on rail until Amtrak is restructured. ‘Amtrak does not have any effective oversight of its business plans, its funding requests or its financial and operational performance,’ he said. ‘Nor are its many business operations flexible, innovative or responsive to customer needs.’”

   Mr. Arnold further wrote, “Rep. Rob Simmons, R-Conn., said he believes rail service has a strong future in America, but ‘I don’t believe in (Amtrak’s) current organization, and I don’t believe in the current management’.”

   Mr. Arnold also reported, “Rep. Nick Rahall, D-W.Va., said trains like the ‘Cardinal,’ which serves his state, provide an important public service to people who have few other transportation options.”

   And, to borrow from Mr. Arnold’s work one last time, “Some Republicans on the subcommittee signaled they are open to major change. ‘Your report proves again that we have a disaster on our hands,’ said Rep. John Mica, R-Fla., an Amtrak critic who has proposed spinning off two profitable routes.”

   What is notable is that NO ONE has openly supported the wholesale end of passenger trains around the country. Instead, various ideas have been proposed for Congress to choose from to create a New Amtrak.

   The way the current ideological split seems to be occurring, is the Democrats say spend more money on the current Amtrak model without major changes in the way the company does business, and the Republicans say spend more money on a New Amtrak that fixes some age old problems and make a better company.

   Any way you look at it, THE ONLY group calling for the discontinuance of the national system is the current Amtrak senior management and its board of directors, who, as a group, have said they will discontinue the entire national long distance system if the Bush administration and the Congress don’t roll over and give them the $1.2 billion they are trying to extort to mostly upgrade the Northeast Corridor.

   So, what’s the score? The Democrats want more trains. The Republicans want more trains. The current Amtrak senior management and its board of directors who are clinging to a failed business plan want less trains. Does this seem odd to you, too?

2. An interesting fact: Of all of the railroads in the Unites States, including CSX, Norfolk Southern, Union Pacific, Burlington Northern Santa Fe, Illinois Central/Canadian National, Canadian Pacific, Kansas City Southern, Guilford, Florida East Coast, and Amtrak, there is only ONE railroad that has a larger civil engineering department than Amtrak.

   That railroad is BNSF. In comparison, BNSF operates a system of 33,500 route miles that it owns the right of way (track and associated structure). Amtrak owns (other than a very short piece of track in Michigan) and operates a 401 mile right of way on the NEC.

   And, don’t forget that Amtrak brags that it has 11,000 employees to operate the NEC, from the new Downeaster service in Maine all the way down to Newport News, Virginia. It might be noted that if the freight railroads had the number of employees in relationship to the number of employees Amtrak has to maintain and operate trains, the freights would be bankrupt.

   Here’s a fun fact to know and tell: CSX dispatches 1,700 trains A DAY over its 23,000 route miles and 42,700 miles of track it owns and operates. To accomplish that, CSX has 34,500 employees.

   Amtrak, in the NEC, dispatches 147 trains a day (about 9% of what CSX dispatches), maintains just 401 route miles (but, don’t forget that much of that track is double and triple, even four tracks wide at some points, to be fair), and brags it takes 11,000 employees (about 32% of the same number of employees) to do this. Who says Amtrak isn’t a high class federal jobs program? Efficiency and accountability? What’s that?

3. Now, are you wondering what all of those 11,000 employees do? Here’s another fascinating tidbit: On Acela Express trains (the trains using the new Acela trainsets), there are three onboard service personnel in every first class car.

   Yes, you read that right: three onboard services employees for one car (averaging about 50 passengers per car, if the car is full).

   How far do those trains travel? Not very far. They run from Washington to Philadelphia to New York, and on to Boston. If you go end to end, it’s a trip covering only six hours and 33 minutes, over a distance of 457 miles. The average length of trip on the NEC is less than half that, because few passengers ride the entire length of the run.

   So, then you look at those money-losing national system long distance trains (according to The Big Lie as constantly proclaimed by Amtrak senior management that all long distance trains are a drain on the company).

   At the end of March, Amtrak will start assigning one train attendant for every four coaches (about 250 passengers, if the train is full), on trains that travel two, three, four, five, and often six times the distance of the Acela Express trains. On some long distance trains, the average length of trip for coach passengers is over 700 miles, but it often averages about 500 miles. These trains travel slower than Acela. It’s not uncommon for passengers to be on these trains 12 to 18 hours per trip.

   Naturally, it makes perfect since in the world of Amtrak senior management and its board of directors to get rid of onboard services employees on these allegedly money losing long distance trains where passengers need the most help, and concentrate three employees ON ONE CAR for a clientele that often travels with little or no luggage, and rides only a short distance for a relatively short period of time.

   Here’s what it boils down to: If you’re a grandmother traveling to see your grandchildren in a distant city or town, or a family on vacation, or just any other American enjoying the experience of travel, you’re not even worth one train attendant in your car. If you’re a businessman in the Northeast, you’re going to have allegedly attentive service and your many whims catered to the whole trip.

   Back on the long distance trains, if a restroom is dirty or out of basic necessity supplies, a detraining passenger leaves behind a mess in their seat, or you need help with your luggage, you’re out of luck. No money to pay attendants to help you. Make do and be happy you have a train at all.

   Will somebody - anybody that thinks in a rational manner - please tell your humble correspondent why this is being allowed to happen? Why do these inequities exist without remedy? Why is the current board of directors still clinging to office and why is George Warrington still the President and CEO of Amtrak?

4. Railway Age magazine, one of the last remaining non-hobbyist, railroad industry magazines, has been raising interesting questions in the past few months about the restoration of passenger service as provided by the existing freight railroads. Much rational discussion has been sparked by these questions. The magazine’s editor, William C. Vantuono, who has been leading the discussion, has reported some of the feedback he’s been receiving about this topic.

   Here is one sample that was passed along by a confederate of this space (as quoted in Railway Age magazine): “I’m glad you didn’t say that Amtrak was making money in the Northeast Corridor. It isn’t. If it was, the NEC would be in a state of good repair instead of $12 billion behind the curve. The biggest service you could perform, in my view, is to say that the Emperor is indeed nude, and furthermore, he never did have clothes on. No amount of Acela Express trains are going to generate the kind of capital that needs to be spent on developing high speed corridors anywhere in this country. California is the new paradigm. Learn from what it’s doing. Easterners are either ignoring California or are ignorant of its accomplishments. - A senior Class I officer, in an off-the-record conversation.”

   No further comment is necessary. If this is what the boys at the freight railroads are saying (and they are the ones in the business and who are responsible to stockholders as well as government regulators), then it’s worth repeating.

5. Famous quotes from famous people and organizations to remember:

   “Everyone knows that any one Southern Gentleman can whip a dozen Yankee rabble single handedly.” - The Gentlemen’s afternoon conversation at John Wilkes’ party in Georgia in 1860, in “Gone With The Wind,” commenting on the bright prospects of the South winning the soon to be fought Late War of Northern Aggression.

   “There will be peace in our time.” - Neville Chamberlain, British Prime Minister (1937-1940), after just returning from “negotiating” with Nazi Germany during his term of office.

   “Your president is not a crook.” - President Richard Nixon, during the Watergate investigation in the early 1970s.

   “Amtrak is on the glide path to self-sufficiency.” - Numerous Amtrak press releases and repeated in speeches and news stories, up until the summer of 2001 when Amtrak had to borrow $300 million through a mortgage on New York City’s Penn Station just to make payroll for the remaining 90 days of the fiscal year.

   “The ARC and people who agree with them are ‘wackos’.” - Amtrak Acting Chairman of the Board and former Governor Michael Dukakis, February 2002, in Santa Ana, California.

On that note, that’s it for this week. Let’s try it again next Wednesday for the Midweek Update.

Still proud to be a wacko,