Volume II Number 15 - This Was The Week That Was - An Amtrak Saga
How mad do you want to be? How helpless do you want to feel? And, what are you going to do about it?
All of us are watching our national passenger railroad system, which has been part of this magnificence of this country since before 1850, disintegrate right before our very eyes.
There are some evil people behind this, and, so far, they are getting away with it. An unelected group of hired help bureaucrats, under the direction of a board of directors appointed by a past president of the United States, is making radical changes in national transportation policy. They’re being clever enough to do it right before our collective eyes.
In the past two weeks, a confederate of your humble correspondent wanted to use the term, “Butcher of Mass. Avenue” to refer to the leader of Amtrak senior management. Your humble correspondent politely demurred, feeling the term was too strong.
If you were to ask any of the nearly 1,000 Amtrak employees that are in the process of being let go, they would think the “Butcher” term more than adequate. And, as of now, so does your humble correspondent.
- Let’s recite the facts, first. Here is what Amtrak said in its employee advisory, dated today, February 22nd. While today is the actual birthday of George Washington, who is famous for saying he could never tell a lie, it’s an entirely different case when telling lies is tied to Amtrak senior management.
From the advisory:
“Reducing operating expenses … requires the company to reduce its … workforce by about 1,000 positions - 10 percent of management employees and 3 percent of agreement-covered employees. These actions are already under way and include:
- About 100 management positions … eliminated Feb. 1, … another 200 …. cut soon.
- More than 175 agreement-covered positions at the Beech Grove shop in Indiana.
- Approximately 200 agreement-covered positions at stations throughout the system.
The company is continuing to press hard on its request for a federal appropriation of $1.2 billion for FY03 to ensure that today’s system will continue to operate next year. … …. the company also continues its contingency planning, including the legally required notification by March 29 of any route suspensions to occur after Oct. 1.”
- And, here’s where things become questionable (as so very much is when it comes to Amtrak senior management). In a Q&A section of the employee advisory they say:
“Q: If revenue is growing, and more people are riding the trains than ever before, why are these actions necessary?
A: Three reasons: The recession is costing the company $120 million in projected revenue this year; the ARC finding resulted in a loss of $52 million in financing; and we’ve had more than $16 million in unanticipated security costs since Sept. 11.”
Gee, they forgot to say the dog ate their homework and maybe - just maybe - all of these losses were a direct result of their failed business plan? Numberpe. Not according to these folks. Everything is everyone else’s fault but theirs. Let’s not mix facts with fiction; it confuses the arguments.
There’s more:
“Q: How did Amtrak determine the stations for reduced services and personnel?
A: Virtually all the reductions were made at station where we had the least amount of service - two trains a day. Overall, this has meant reducing station hours and/or some services at about 85 stations in 36 states. However, these stations represent only about 4 percent of our total boardings. The remaining approximately 425 stations, serving 96% of our guests, will be unaffected by this change. ….
Q: How much of the reduction in the agreement-covered positions is a result of deferring $175 million in capital projects?
A: Systemwide, … 700 agreement-covered jobs are being eliminated. The jobs in Beech Grove, Wilmington and Bear are being cut because discretionary programs such as wreck repair, interior refurbishment and component overhauls are being reduced.
Additionally, another 100 positions will be eliminated from maintenance-of-way programs, back office support and other functions. However, none of these reductions affect mandatory maintenance, safety or environmental programs.”
That last line is probably true. Maintenance, safety and the environment are probably safe. It’s just the passengers who are now being put at a high risk.
- The above quotes make perfect sense from a sterile business argument standpoint. If the business doesn’t rely on convenience, affordability, comfort, and ease of use, you’re home free. However, we’re talking about passenger rail transportation, where all of those factors matter.
What is being done is that the long distance national network trains are being cut off from their source of passengers. The stations that are staying open are doing so at odd and inconvenient hours, times when passengers most likely don’t want to venture to a questionable part of town to go to the train station to buy a ticket. Don’t forget that travel agents were cut out of the Amtrak picture months and months ago. Fewer and fewer agencies now sell Amtrak tickets because commissions and support services have been cut.
What the advisory did not say is also critical. It did not mention that at most of these stations, checked baggage has been eliminated.
Hmmm, let’s see. First, they eliminated the train attendants onboard the trains, so no one is available to handle your grandmother’s baggage when she gets on and off the train. Now, they have taken away the other option of checking the bags, too. Why travel by train? It will now not only be inconvenient, but difficult to do for many. Passenger services will be nonexistent. Some of the staffed stations will not be open during train arrival hours. Would you want to get on and off a train (that often is totally unpredictable for arrival times due to chronic late operating patterns) in the middle of the night in some of the neighborhoods where stations have been for a century or more? Probably not.
So, if the only reasonable source for ticketing is the Internet (How good is your grandmother using a computer?) or using an automated phone system and then waiting for your tickets by mail (Anybody checking those mandatory IDs now?), how many passengers are going to stay away in droves?
The lies about nobody wanting to ride long distance trains will become true - because Amtrak senior management made them to be true. They are manipulating enough of the system to bring down the long distance trains unless someone figures out their evil game and stops them.
- Don’t forget the matter of mail and express, Amtrak’s savior du jour a couple of years ago.
These station staffing cuts are also bringing eliminations to mail and express destinations, including San Antonio, Houston, and Minneapolis, to name just some.
An interesting fact of these cuts is that so many of them are occurring in Texas, home to Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison, formerly Amtrak’s chief cheerleader, who now says if it’s not a national system, she will not support a solely NEC Amtrak. Is some sort of message being sent here?
- While the term “systemwide” was used in the employee advisory, that is a further joke. There has been no mention of any station cuts in the Northeast, much of the Southeast, or in California.
Here’s any easy way to measure: If you’re in a city or town (Such as Milwaukee, where the station is going to start closing on the weekend; don’t forget Milwaukee is run by Mayor Norquist, a “wacko” member of the Amtrak Reform Council.) that is taking a hit in station personnel, you’re not very important to Amtrak.
- Did you notice the one really graphic statement above? “The jobs in Beech Grove, Wilmington and Bear are being cut because DISCRETIONARY [emphasis added] programs such as wreck repair, interior refurbishment and component overhauls are being reduced.”
And, why not? Those nifty new Wondertrains (read that Acela) are running up and down the railroad now; who needs those clunky old Superliners and other allegedly money-losing long distance train cars? If you were hoping this budget year would clean out some of the wrecked cars in the shops, you’re wrong. In another few months there will be fascinating patterns of rust gathering on more and more revenue generating equipment that is undesirable to the present Amtrak senior management and its board of directors.
- One other change in all of this has occurred at Amtrak. Today, the board of directors met, and, in a total surprise move, elected Meridian Mayor John Robert Smith as the new Chairman of the Board, and reelected former Governor Michael Dukakis as Vice Chairman of the Board.
This vote was totally unexpected; the White House is expected to name the final member to the board relatively soon, and conventional wisdom said the board would wait until that appointment to elect its chair. But, alas, another conventional theory shot to pieces by Amtrak.
The only comment that can be made about His Honor is that he is one of the longest serving board members. When the Amtrak Reform Board was formed after the 1997 Reauthorization act, he was one of the first appointees.
As a result, he is one of the architects of the colossal failure that was the Amtrak business plan, which has brought all of us to the present and embarrassing state of reduced circumstances.
The board made have new officers, but it doesn’t have new blood. Until new blood arrives, there is little hope for improvement.
That does it for another week. How many more of these can the American public take? How many more week like this one will occur before something is done? The only truly fascinating fact of this week is that all of these announcements and cuts were made while the president is in Asia, along with his chief of staff and other major White House figures. Amtrak always waits for these moments when everyone is out of town before it acts.
That makes sense. People who have something to be ashamed of and hide often try to do their deeds in the least populated place possible.
Still proud to be a “wacko” as defined by former Amtrak Acting Chairman Michael Dukakis when he publicly referred to the Amtrak Reform Council and all those who agree with it,