This Week At Amtrak 2004-11-05
Vol. 1, No. 10 - November 05, 2004
- The wailing and gnashing of teeth was loud and painful. “It’s the end of the world,” wailed Michael Moore’s fellow travelers. “Even, worse, it’s the end of Amtrak,” wailed anguished rail fans and foamers.
Yes, the 2004 presidential elections are finally over, and President Bush got a four year extension on his lease of government housing at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. Additionally, the party in power, the Republicans, strengthened its hold on the House of Representatives by adding seats, and reached a near operational majority in the Senate, by also adding seats to its existing majority.
Amtrak has incorrectly and historically aligned itself with the fortunes of the Democrat party. Amtrak’s wholly owned lapdog organizations constantly send out messages exhorting its members to beseech Democrats to support this bill or that amendment in Congress, while virtually ignoring Republicans, who, incidentally, are in charge in Washington. Ever the proud owner of a political tin ear, there have even been several reports that Amtrak President and CEO David Gunn was openly supporting Senator Kerry for the presidency, saying Amtrak would get a better deal from a Kerry administration than the Bush Administration.
Let’s review for a moment. And, let’s be even sillier, and inject some common sense into the argument. When you’re constantly seeking free federal money, your only relevant stockholder is the federal government, and all of your operating authority comes from the federal government, somehow, it seems prudent to find a way to do business with who’s in charge of the federal government.
This isn’t rocket science. It’s politics and common sense. Amtrak and ubiquitous rail fans and foamers always seem to live in another world, devoid of political smarts and having the ability to realize who is in charge and who must be contended with for the next four years. It looks like it’s going to be up to Amtrak’s able and insightful board chairman David Laney to guide Amtrak down the straight and narrow path to reality. Obviously, Amtrak’s transit-laden management with its ongoing socialist bent isn’t going to look at reality and figure out who it has to do business with, whether it likes it or not.
- Speaking of the Mr. Laney and the Amtrak board, the political defeat of Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle should help restaff the Amtrak board, hopefully with Louis Thompson, one of the most qualified Americans to ever be nominated to the Amtrak board. Senator Daschle had blocked Mr. Thompson’s nomination, and now that “Senator No” is leaving government service, perhaps the White House will understand the urgency of reappointing Mr. Thompson to the board and he can be confirmed by the Senate. Two recess appointments, Mr. Sosa, and Mr. Hall, should also now be confirmed by the Senate. These two capable businessmen bring a depth to the Amtrak board that has never been seen there before in the former land of mostly political hacks. Qualified members, such as Paul Weyrich and Haley Barbour, have been few and far between. Another great American that should be immediately nominated to the Amtrak board is Gilbert Carmichael, the former head of the FRA during the Bush I administration, and later chairman of the Amtrak Reform Council. Mr. Carmichael’s years of experience and insight, as well as his vision for the future of rail passenger travel and freight railroads, make him a “must” for being included on the Amtrak board list of nominees.
- “Papers, please.” No, it’s not a cheesy line from a cheesy cold war era movie. It’s what Amtrak conductors, now turned into government watchdogs, are doing to randomly selected passengers, based on a system of ticket numbers. Beginning this month, approximately 10 percent of adult passengers will be randomly asked to produce valid photo identification. If the name of the passenger on the ticket and the passenger’s identification do not match, and a reasonable explanation is not provided (My dog ate by ID?), conductors will be required to alert Amtrak Police for further investigation.
Imagine being accused of the crime of traveling without proper identification. Remember when anonymity was considered a plus, not an offense?
- A beautiful and unique Amtrak station in Hamlet, North Carolina has a new lease on life. The station, originally built in 1900 and for over a century serving passenger trains of first the Seaboard Air Line Railroad and then Amtrak, has been magnificently restored under the guidance of the North Carolina Department of Transportation Rail Division working with the city of Hamlet, combining funds and energy from several sources. This Victorian era station, widely photographed as one of the most unique stations on the Eastern Seaboard, serves Amtrak’s Silver Star on a daily basis, and will serve as a regional crew base from Amtrak T&E crews. Hamlet, a focal point for decades on the SAL, continues to be an important hub for successor CSX. The city hosts an annual Seaboard Festival to mark the importance of the railroad in North Carolina’s economic life.
Now, here’s hoping this station withstands the usual fate of recently renovated or newly built Amtrak stations. Without any plan, but great coincidence, Amtrak has a way of discontinuing trains after local governments have spent big bucks providing desirable stations for Amtrak passengers. Just as the curse of the Red Sox was lifted this year, perhaps the curse of Amtrak stations will be lifted, too.
- Some good news for Minneapolis/St. Paul passengers using the local coach on the Empire Builder between Chicago and MSP. Someone high in the Amtrak management ranks in Chicago noticed the problem and complaints this coach was generating, noting how unacceptable it was (as reported here last week) for the coach not to be cleaned before it was sent back to Chicago on the next day’s train. Allegedly, that situation has changed, with a dedicated car attendant for the coach, who will also be in charge of cleaning, turning seats, and generally seeing the car runs smoothly. Hopefully, problem solved.
- While some problems are solved, other continue. More and more horror stories continue to be verified about the hapless Sunset Limited, Amtrak’s best and worst train. Something has to be done, beyond waiting for UP to unclog it’s railroad. Exceptionally high levels of customer service need to immediately be instituted on the Sunset to help in any way minimize the agony Sunset passengers regularly experience. As of this writing on Friday morning, the Sunset (Westbound, No. 1) is currently running 16 hours late at Deming, New Mexico. Is this any way to run a railroad?
- And, a last bit of very happy political news if you live in Florida. The High Speed Rail 2000 amendment to the Florida constitution was repealed by voters on Tuesday. High speed rail in Florida is dead. This giant boondoggle, which would have drained hundreds of millions of dollars from other state programs, needed to die a dignified death. Not every rail project is the right project, and this certainly qualified in that category. The right rail projects, with the right costs and the right chances of success are what is needed to prove passenger rail’s worth in the 21st Century. The only good point of this project is that the equipment was scheduled by the made by Bombardier, the world’s best equipment manufacturer. Bombardier took an unwarranted and unfair hit over Acela equipment, when Amtrak forced unworkable and unrealistic specifications on Bombardier. If Amtrak would have followed Bombardier’s advice, there would be few, if any problems with Acela.