Volume II Number 30 – This Was The Week That Was – An Amtrak Saga

May 24, 2002

It’s Friday, May 24th, the beginning of Memorial Day Weekend and the unofficial beginning of summer for many. Don’t forget, it’s also only seven months from today until Christmas Eve!

This is also the day the federal government issued an advisory warning there may be terrorist plots against transit systems and railroads. Life is so very different, now.

1. There’s more to New Orleans than Mardi Gras: Amtrak Intercity’s Gulf Coast Business Group, home of the Crescent and City of New Orleans trains, and also Intercity’s best run and most creative business group, has completed a deal which over the long run will save Amtrak millions of dollars and give passengers a revitalized entrance to The Big Easy.

   The New Orleans Times-Picayune reported recently that Amtrak and the remaining five freight railroads which still owned New Orleans Union Passenger Terminal reached an agreement with the city government of New Orleans to turn the station and all of its adjoining property over to the city. Both Amtrak and Greyhound will remain tenants, but Amtrak will be relieved of huge amounts of operating costs and ownership responsibilities. The city plans to begin renovations to the building, which was built in 1954, and otherwise improve the overall condition of the property. The Gulf Coast Business Group is currently headquartered on the second floor of the terminal, and the crew base is in an adjoining building.

   NOUPT was one of the last big downtown union stations built that still serves more than one train. The design of the building reflects the mid-1950s, but still has many grand aspects of large, downtown terminal buildings. Through the years, many attempts to “modernize” or “improve” the building have only added to the building’s plight. One such attempt, painting over huge clear glass windows on the front of the building with white paint, has added to the present dreariness of the facility. The city says it’s going to fix a lot of things like that.

   NOUPT is a busy place. The Crescent and City arrive and depart daily, and the Sunset Limited stops three times a week in each direction. Greyhound busses constantly come and go throughout the day and evening.

   This deal was in the making for almost a decade, but, thanks to the tenacity and foresight of the Gulf Coast Business Group senior management and counterparts in the New Orleans city government, the deal finally got done. Everyone came out a winner in this deal.

2. Oh, the horror, and the humanity of it all: A frequent critic of this space recently responded to the notation here of the huge federal jobs program that is Amtrak in the Northeast Corridor with 11,000 employees. The critic noted that, indeed, cuts have also come to the NEC as well as the national system, and, as a result, some NEC passengers are having to stand in line longer to purchase tickets and have less Redcap service.

   Horrors. Here’s hoping no one is terribly inconvenienced in the NEC. After all, the thought of standing in line for more than five minutes or so to buy a ticket must be terribly inconvenient for some.

   Now, fast forward to a Houston Chronicle article this week about the Sunset Limited’s Houston Amtrak station. It’s going to be closed during the entire Memorial Day Weekend because both of the remaining two station agents are taking holiday time off. Before the merciless slashing of national system employees in the past few months, the station had a staff of seven.

   Further investigation has shown that the building itself will be open, but the ticket office will be closed. So, for those passengers who often endure 10 hour long waits for late trains on this route, things will be somewhat lonely in Houston.

   The scary part is that someone in a Southwest Business Group management position actually approved both of these people taking vacation at the same time, knowing no replacements are available. This is yet another example of what can happen when operating people are put in charge of customer service functions.

   Now, let’s review. People in the NEC are having to wait a few extra minutes in line to buy tickets, or wait for Redcap service or have no Redcap service to carry their bags. People in Houston won’t even be able to buy a ticket or ask a question of an employee.

   How much longer is this silliness going to continue?

3. Unconfirmed, but heard from two reliable sources: New President David Gunn is receiving credit for getting the derailed Silver Meteor back on track as quickly as possible.

   Many will recall in the past couple of weeks that the Southbound Meteor hit an errant log truck in South Carolina. As the story goes, Amtrak’s mechanical folks had planned to send the equipment as a hospital train to Beech Grove in Indiana for repair, but they were over ruled by Mr. Gunn. Both sources say he had the train set taken to the nearest CSX yard facility, where a private contractor was brought in to inspect and evaluate the equipment and replace any trucks and/or wheel sets that were bad ordered.

   As a result, the train set returned to Miami in just a matter of a couple of days, and was immediately put back into revenue service.

   It’s nice to be hearing positive things like this.

4. But, for every good deed done … : Many will recall just three weeks or so ago that a South Florida confederate of your humble correspondent had purchased one of the great bargain Florida rail passes and was putting it to immediate use.

   He reports his first trip using the pass went well. However, he also reported that the Meteor is still operated for the convenience of the onboard employees, not the passengers. On his Southbound trip, coming out of Winter Haven, the dining car lead service attendant made the last – and final – call for dinner at 6:10 P.M. The train was running about a half hour late, so it had not yet arrived at Sebring, and still had another four hours of scheduled running time to its terminal in Miami, that included station stops in Sebring, Okeechobee, West Palm Beach, Delray Beach, Deerfield Beach, Fort Lauderdale, Hollywood, and Miami.

   In addition to that, the lounge car closed at West Palm Beach, still a full two hours out of Miami. In addition to closing the car, all of the passengers were shooed out of the car and not even allowed to sit in the lounge.

   Perhaps, if Amtrak is ever able to get away from the cigar boxes it uses for cash registers (there are no electronic or mechanical cash registers on Amtrak Intercity trains of any description), and ever got into a modern inventory system, some of this passenger abuse would go away. It’s tough to ride a full service train and not have most of the services available for long periods of time.

5. And now, this important commercial announcement: This is totally out of the ordinary for this space, but one of the world’s most wonderful people and a dear friend has asked for some help.

   The venerable patriarch of a prominent Wisconsin family has a continuous 45 year collection of Model Railroader Magazine, and he hopes to find a new home for the collection. This gentleman and his family are avid book and periodical readers, and highly value their various collections. So, these magazines are in good condition, and the family is willing to give them to anyone who is interested in the collection, free of charge. They will even pay to have them shipped to a new home. The conditions: whoever takes them must promise to love and cherish them as much as the current owner and make sure they do not end up in a trash pile. If you know of a library, museum, or research facility which may be interested, or if you are a private collector or dealer, please contact your humble correspondent for details.

That’s it for this week. Here’s hope everyone has a safe and happy Memorial Day Weekend. As we’re enjoying this time at the beginning of summer, let us all reflect on the purpose of this weekend – to honor those who gave their lives in defense of our nation.