United Rail Passenger Alliance

Vol. 1, No. 5 - September 30, 2004

1. Amtrak is a business, not a tool of social engineering. Amtrak for too long has been bedeviled by starry-eyed leaders who thought it was either a huge federal jobs program or transportation necessity. Neither is true. One academic has even suggested that it’s essential for Amtrak to provide low cost transportation to the public. Not true, either. If Amtrak is to become healthy and survive into the future, it must be both thought of as a business, and run like a business. As long as it depends on federal handouts, it will always be in danger of collapse.
2. Amtrak President and CEO David Gunn is not the savior of Amtrak, and when the history books are written, will not be regarded as Amtrak’s best president, as many now proclaim. Even though he started off with a bang and did excellent work cleaning up after his predecessor, he does not have the vision to make Amtrak a true participant in a national transportation network. Mr. Gunn has a political tin ear, likes drama too much, and is far too focused on the NEC while ignoring the national system, which early in his stewardship he declared would be maintained, but not expanded. Actually, Mr. Gunn has continually presided over cuts to the national system and services such as the loss of dining and sleeping cars, as well as routes.

   The late Graham Clayter will likely be known as Amtrak’s best leader. Even though he overstayed his welcome, his long tenure saw Amtrak operate more trains to more places than at any other time in the company’s history. He also initiated huge motive power and rolling stock equipment upgrades and purchases that Amtrak is benefiting from today.

3. The NEC desperately needs to be sold and/or turned over to a separate ownership entity. When Amtrak was created, ownership of the NEC was not included, nor desired. Only when PennCentral dissolved into a financial nightmare did the NEC go to a reluctant Amtrak. Panel after panel of distinguished Americans from every political persuasion have recommended that Amtrak, the minority user of the NEC, turn over ownership to another entity. If this happens, then the thousands of employees now needed to maintain and operate the corridor would have a new employer, one who may be more generous with its employees, instead of like Amtrak that often pays below-market rates to union members because it’s always crying poor.
4. While based on travel industry averages, Amtrak employees are paid at the high end of the scale, but, in reality Amtrak employees are paid on the low end of the scale for railroad employees. If Amtrak is going to look like a railroad, act like a railroad, and call itself a railroad, then it needs to pay its employees like a railroad. Employees should not be penalized for poor management performance or unforgivably bad stewardship by various Amtrak boards of directors.

   Along this same subject, as said before, Amtrak needs to have the courage to fire the employees it never should have hired in the first place. In a gigantic exercise in social engineering, Amtrak has often placed employees in jobs merely because of gender or race. This hurts everyone involved. It hurts the employee because they are expected to perform in an environment they may not be trained to perform in. This hurts the paying passengers because they are dealing with employees that may have no social skills. This hurts other, more qualified minority or other employees who are kept out of jobs they are qualified for because someone else who is not qualified already holds that job. Somehow, Amtrak must realign itself, keeping good employees, and helping poor performing, under qualified, or bad employees find employment elsewhere. Until it does, Amtrak will never become a premier company.

5. Amtrak must work more closely with the states, cities, and towns it serves on the national system. There are huge resources available for Amtrak to tap into, but it always seems uninterested, instead always focusing on how much free federal monies can’t be had instead of being more self reliant and broadening the company’s horizons.
6. It does not help Amtrak or the cause for passenger rail in North America to blindly accept everything Amtrak says and wants, and to never openly criticize the company. Too many of Amtrak’s various wholly owned lapdog organizations for too long have merely been an extension of Amtrak’s public relations department, always seeking favor, discounts, free transportation, and program funds instead of casting an independent, critical eye at the many ups and downs of Amtrak. Just like dealing with an alcoholic, hoping the symptoms will go away is not the answer. Only true, open-eyed analysis is what will help guarantee a future for passenger rail. The attitude of ‘Amtrak is all we’ve got, we’ve got to protect it at any cost’ is both wrong and hurtful. Amtrak has a huge resource in its public support. That support should be providing positive criticism and feedback, not fawning over the latest changes over the color of napkins in the dining car.