United Rail Passenger Alliance

Volume 3 Number 10

1. Shame on them for not knowing better. Shame on them for not being more creative. And, it’s true in Washington, if you want a friend, get a dog.What they (Amtrak staff management) should have known better about is that the hapless Diner Lite program is not going to work, based on past history; they should have had the institutional memory to figure it out. What they should have been more creative about is a way to work within the context of the Congressional micro-managing mandate to improve dining car and sleeping car financial results without resorting to Diner Lite.And, from a friend standpoint in Washington, look at what one Washington insider had to say about departing United States Department of Transportation Inspector General Kenneth Mead:
   

   “… in Washington … a few days ago [said] he was surprised that Ken Mead’s report advising that dining-car services be reduced failed to mention that the same thing was tried in 1979 and 1983 and had to be dropped when the passengers left in droves. … Mead knows perfectly well the doomed history of Amtrak’s dining-car cost-reduction efforts and that his failure to reference the earlier failures amounted to a ‘lapse of integrity.’ A lapse of this kind is especially hard to fathom because of the time when it occurred. Mead was already planning to leave DOT when he issued it. He has since announced his departure for the private sector (and may already have left). The Amtrak dining-car report had to be one of the last documents he issued over his signature at DOT. Since he was leaving he could have told it like it is without fear of an harrumphing from the administration. Instead, he acted as if Amtrak had never experimented with cheaper food or service formats, leaving Congress with the impression that Amtrak is clueless and inert about its food-service costs and that only a finger-wagging and tsk-tsking from DOT could brace Amtrak’s indolent managers to their duties.”

   So, IG Mead, who appeared to be a great pal to the theories of departed Amtrak President and CEO David Gunn that so much favored a transit orientation at Amtrak, seems to have deliberately shot the Amtrak food service and sleeping car parts of the railroad in the back. Why did he do this? We know that Amtrak has continually throughout its corporate life been naughty when it comes to financial matters, and has never done a good job of financial reporting. Was Mr. Mead, in concert with Mr. Gunn, determined to help Mr. Gunn get rid of those pesky long distance trains and focus on transit-like corridors? Was this just another example of an airlines-favoring guy, ignorant of the facts of passenger railroads, trying to make a passenger railroad more like a poorly run airline?

   We know the result of Mr. Mead’s handiwork was the micro-managing by Congress of the FY 06 Amtrak free federal monies appropriation, denying Amtrak the use of any subsidies monies for the alleged deficits in food service and sleeping car operations. How intentional was this? Was Congress duped by someone they mistakenly trusted?

2. Here’s an issue dear to the hearts of those interested in Amtrak’s only true and legitimate mission, long distance trains. Is Amtrak senior staff management interested in the long distance trains, or Wondertrain Acela on the Northeast Corridor? This is a reprint of an article from the February edition of Amtrak Ink, the railroad’s monthly employee magazine.
   

   “Acela First Class Service Improvements Launched

   “Several improvements to Acela Express First class service were added last month, including a menu of hot entrees, better wine selection and the addition of a second attendant when warranted by high load factors. The changes, in addition to refresher service training, were made to ensure that the service met passenger expectations aboard Amtrak’s premier service.

   “Meeting the expectations of First class passengers aboard Acela Express is crucial, as the ticket revenue is sizeable. If First class were a service by itself, it would out-earn all 15 long-distance trains and 26 corridor services trailing only the Regionals and Acela Express Business class in ticket revenue.

   “Last fall, Amtrak instituted a different service model for First class service as part of its focus on reducing food and beverage and First class service costs. For Acela, this included the elimination of hot entrees and downsizing of the crew to one from a maximum of three.

   “But, according to Customer Service Vice President Emmett Fremaux, ‘We analyzed the numbers and solicited feed-back from our passengers and crews that confirmed that we were losing customers because of the change in service.’

   “Based on what Amtrak was seeing, it estimated that the losses might add up to $1.6 million or more on an annual basis if the trend was allowed to continue.

   “Part of the solution was a new menu that costs only a little more to deliver, but delivers on passengers expectations. In the mornings, passengers may pick a continental breakfast or hot entree, such as a Southwest omelet. Lunch includes hot soup and a choice of a fresh sandwich or entree-sized salad. The dinner menu offers a choice between two hot entrees or lighter fare option. The lighter fare includes bite-sized hors d’oeuvres-type items such as cheeses, salami and crackers that have become very popular with evening travelers.

   “For the cost of a First class ticket, which is 50-percent higher than the Business class fare, passengers anticipate exceptional service. ‘Passengers should feel that they are getting the value they expect from our premium service both in the quality of the food and from those who are delivering it,’ said Fremaux. So, we also initiated targeted training sessions for First class attendants to provide them the tools to enhance the service. The new training for lead service attendants began on Jan. 3. The training puts special emphasis on food preparation and customer interaction.

   “What’s at stake may be large and complex, but what it takes is small and simple: greeting the passengers at the door, assisting with luggage, addressing the passenger by name, keeping areas neat and clean, and providing hot towel service.

   “Is it paying off? Time plus passenger ridership and revenue will tell, but initial feedback has been very positive.”

   Mr. Fremaux, we need to talk openly and frankly here, something you didn’t do in that article. Let’s address the salient points that are clearly misunderstood on your part and your transit-loving comrades still embedded in Amtrak’s senior group of executives.

   First, while there may be a lot of revenue generated by Acela First Class service, it costs you lots more money to operate that service, as noted previously in TWA in articles by Andrew Selden. We now know Amtrak has been cooking the books to make Acela and Metroliner service look good, to the detriment of all other services. Please, don’t perpetuate the lies about the glories of Wondertrain Acela. Yes, you’re pulling in big bucks from the passengers, but you’re spending more than you are making, plus making very poor choices for the investment of free federal monies for capital improvements, and there is no magic to that.

   Second, the very concepts you are touting for Acela you’re downplaying for the long distance train system. Passengers are paying far higher fares for sleeping car accommodations and morally admirable food to go with those accommodations, and you are not delivering food that is much beyond short hop airline fare. What’s good for the goose is good for the gander. Or, is it true that anything south of Washington, D.C., and west of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, just isn’t important to the NEC culture of Amtrak executives at 60 Mass Avenue in Washington?

   Third, you speak of friendly and welcoming service on Acelas by the OBS crews. What about the long distance trains? Is any effort being made there to upgrade the level of employee service, or does it just not matter? Is grumpy OK in Arkansas, but not in Delaware?

   This Amtrak Ink article exposes far too much bias for the NEC and prejudice against the long distance system. All Amtrak trains operate under the same company, with the same free federal monies. Playing favorites is not allowed in employment practices, purchasing contracts, and a host of other areas. Why should it be allowed in providing train services? Americans riding a train on the national system demand the same treatment and services as those afforded on the NEC. It’s all or nothing.

3. Let’s make a quick review of the cast of characters involved with the Diner Lite morass, because it’s true you can’t tell the players without a program.
   • The Amtrak Board of Directors, under the chairmanship of David Laney. As with any well-structured board, the Amtrak board is composed of professional businessmen who understand how to manage a business, use generally accepted accounting principles, and make broad, big picture decisions. While they bring a strong business background to the conference table (something Amtrak has desperately lacked in the past), the only information they have to act upon is what they are fed by the company’s senior management and research departments. Unless they do their own independent research through paid consultants or other sources, they are wholly dependent on the information provided them by the people who work for them.
   • Amtrak Acting President and CEO David Hughes. Mr. Hughes was thrust into this job when the board deselected David Gunn last November. Mr. Hughes is a civil engineer, much more familiar with the intricacies of building and maintaining track and infrastructure than dining car menu selection. As with the board of directors, Mr. Hughes is wholly dependent on his staff to provide him with accurate information from which to make an informed decision.
   • The Amtrak senior executive corps. This is a group mostly led by executives either selected or retained by the now departed David Gunn, George Warrington and Tom Downs. Their loyalties were to them and their programs, not necessarily to the new board of directors or acting president. This is also a group mostly made up of operating people and people with transit backgrounds, not passenger railroad and passenger service backgrounds. The chief passenger services officer, Vice President of Customer Service Emmett Fremaux, is a career bureaucrat who is mostly known as the former head of the District of Columbia Elections Office, an area not known as an able breeding ground for railroad passenger services executives. This is an entrenched group of executives who are accustomed to guerrilla turf battles and fighting to maintain comfort and convenience standards for the operating department more than passenger services.
   • Amtrak front line managers and onboard services employees. These are people (those who are still employed after all of the layoffs) who must work with passengers everyday and make these programs work. To them, this is yet another change that may stay, or may go away.
   • Amtrak passengers. A mostly maligned group, unless you’re an Acela passenger. This group, for which the whole company exists, is often forced to endure hardships and inconveniences that even the citizens of London never dreamed about during World War II’s Battle of Britain.
   • The American taxpayer. Allegedly, the greatest benefactor of Diner Lite, because the program is designed to save taxpayer subsidies. In reality, this one group which will have to open its wallets – again – when history is rediscovered and Diner Lite is declared a failure, for the third time in Amtrak’s history, and the fourth time in the modern railroad continuum.
4. Okay, now that we know everyone, let’s take a look at an internal Amtrak memo for all OBS and related employees last week, outlining the Diner Lite plan.
   

   "Operations "Simplified Dining Service "Service Advisory "Train Service and On-Board Service Employees "Issue Date: 02-14-2006  "Background   "It is estimated that in FY06 Amtrak's Food & Beverage (F&B) Service will lose nearly $120 million system wide on revenues of $79.2 million, and expenses of $198.8 million (food and labor) resulting in a deficit of $119.6 million. Of the Food & Beverage expense (198.8 million), over 60% is for the wages and benefits of On-Board Service employees.  "The FY06 Appropriations legislation states that unless Congress and the Department of Transportation certify that Amtrak has achieved operational savings by July 1, 2006, Amtrak will be restricted from using appropriated funds to subsidize the net losses from F&B and Sleeping Car service on any Amtrak route.  "Progress in achieving these savings will be monitored by the Inspector General of the US Department of Transportation (DOT) and then reported quarterly to the House of Representatives & Senate Appropriations Committees.  "Controlling costs and maximizing revenues in the F&B service is critically important. As a result, Amtrak has a number of strategic initiatives to reduce costs and increase revenue. One of these initiatives is called the Simplified Dining Service. This service is an internal change in the way Dining Car operations are organized and managed on all Long Distance Trains.  "Advisory   "Effective February 15, 2006, the Simplified Dining Service will be instituted on the Capitol Limited and the Sunset Limited. The Service has been in place on the Texas Eagle and the City of New Orleans since December and will be re-launched as a result of significant comments and suggestions from both employees and customers.  "All Long Distance trains (excluding Auto Train and the Empire Builder) will be transitioned to this service by June 1, 2006.  "The following is a list of scheduled dates for implementation:
   
   February 15, 2006  Texas Eagle, City of New Orleans, Capitol Limited and Sunset Limited April 15, 2006     Silver Star, Lake Shore Limited and Southwest Chief May 3, 2006        Crescent and Coast Starlight May 24, 2006       California Zephyr and Silver Meteor
   
   "The annualized savings expected from Simplified Dining Service is in excess of $10 million. These savings are primarily a result of an estimated staff reduction of 100 positions. Generally, the Dining Car crew will be reduced from a crew of 5 to a crew of 3. Additional crew positions must be added based upon the anticipated number of meals to be served per meal period, not consist or passenger counts.  "In addition to the Simplified Dining Service, Amtrak Transportation and Customer Service Departments Strategic Reform Initiatives include: renegotiated and new vendor contracts; modified equipment; and integrated Lounge Car, Cafe Car and Dining Car food service on long distance trains. These initiatives are specifically identified by the DOT as establishing reform. The new contract with Gate Gourmet became effective January 1, 2006, and contains a number of changes which are very beneficial to Amtrak.  "As a result of the Simplified Dinning Service implementation, the following changes will take effect:  "... - The Dining and Lounge Cars are to open immediately for service. The collection of tickets is not a reason to delay the opening of either the Dining Car or Lounge Car and no announcement is to be made advising customers to wait until the tickets are collected. ...

   Employees, Version 2.3:

   "21a. "Cafe/Lounge car service should be open upon passenger boarding, at the initial terminal. No exceptions."  "21c. "Normal hours of operation on the Cafe/Lounge car of long-distance trains are 6:00 a.m. until midnight, unless otherwise indicated on the train manifest. Short-distance trains must offer continuous hours of operation."  "- During normal dining car hours of service, crew member and deadhead employees are prohibited from eating in the dining car. A crew table during normal dining car hours is no longer permitted. Employees may eat before the beginning or after the end of the scheduled dining car hours. ...  "- Dining car hours for lunch will be extended from 2:00pm to 3:00pm. ... Item 21b reads as follows: "Although these are general guidelines that may be subject to some variation by specific train, minimum meal service periods for Dining Cars are as follows, unless otherwise directed by an Operations Service Advisory:
   
   Breakfast 6:30am - 10:00am Lunch 11:30am - 3:00pm (Lunch is now extended from 2:00pm to 3:00pm. This will be updated in the OSU) Dinner 5:00 pm - 9:00 pm"
   
   "... - A standardized reservation system called Staggered Seating will be used in every Dining Car, system wide. The Staggered Seating system provides customer with options for reservations at 15 minute intervals, and reduces the number of customers per seating to 8. Every 60 minutes a total of 24 [sic] customers are seated and served. During the 4 hour dinner period, a total of 96 [sic] customers can easily be accommodated.  "- Reservations are now required for breakfast, lunch and dinner. The LSA is responsible for contacting all customers to arrange their lunch and dinner reservations. The LSA and all Train Attendants, both coach and sleeper, will work together to arrange customer's breakfast reservations. ..."

5. Here are selected quotations from another internal Amtrak memo, from the Assistant Superintendent, Passenger Services.
   

   " ...[S]o you will understand the magnitude of the challenge we are facing and the impact of failure, the Long Distance Trains are very likely being given their last chance to succeed.  "I cannot emphasize strongly enough that this service change has to work or the dining cars on the long distance services and the sleeping cars are both in jeopardy.  "There are NO plans to change the current service offered by the Empire Builder. Besides the Auto Train, the Empire Builder will continue with its current Dining Car set up. These are the only Long Distance Trains that will remain unaffected for the foreseeable future. The Empire Builder's Food and Beverage margins continue to increase, as does the overall train margins, e.g. more profit. Ridership and Revenue have grown at a good rate. As long as we are able to continue this trend AND if we can increase our CSI scores, there is a very good chance we will be able to keep our Empire Builder initiative going. Perhaps our continued success will open up this type of opportunity for another Long Distance Train. Other critical components to our success will be increasing our operating and safety rules compliance which have a direct monetary impact to our bottom line.  "In addition to the Simplified Dining Service, the Transportation and Customer Service Departments Strategic Reform Initiatives include: renegotiated and new vendor contracts; modified equipment; and integrated lounge and diner car food service on long distance trains. These initiatives are identified by the Department of Transportation as requiring reform.  "Is Simplified Dining a downgrade in service?  "No. The type of products being offered and the quality of those products are excellent. The number of menu selections offered to the customer remains.  "The key to the success of this initiative is the delivery of the service to our customers. If the service to the customer is performed as outlined in this document and in compliance with the Service Standards Manual, thecustomer will perceive nor experience any change.  "Fully Prepared Center of the Plate Items  "Start of Trip - Dining Car- Products will be delivered to the train as individual servings ... .  - Products are not pre-plated.  "Plating/Preparation  - Center of the plate items come fully cooked, needing only the appropriate re-heating. - Meals must be prepared and served to order. There is to be no advance preparation of center of the plate items. ... - Starch and vegetable portions are prepared by Chef. There are choices for each meal period.  "No longer required  - Griddle work has been eliminated. - Pots, pans are no longer needed. China and glassware are disposable. - Scullery work is significantly reduced, as only flatware will need to be washed by the Chef.  "Standardized Staffing Level  - The base count per meal period is 96 meals served for an entire meal period ... - The base staffing level is based upon the projected meal count, not passenger count or consists. (This assumes that the schedule includes full meal periods and not truncated - for example a departure at 7 P.M. which is a reduced meal period by schedule).

   [The questions arises, with a late dining car opening due to the train's schedule, will hours be extended to serve all who want to eat, or will the diner close on schedule?]

   - When meal counts exceed 96 per meal period, an additional employee may be added. This is situational, and at the discretion of management.  "It is critical for the continuation of the Food & Beverage operation that the Simplified Dining Service is successful - success is not optional."

   One Washington wag had this to say about the two memos:

   “Groan. What a horrible memo. Leaving aside the blame-shifting, (remember folks, whatever happens it’s Congress and the DOT who are always to blame) I particularly enjoyed the delightful “the beatings will continue until morale improves” tone … . “Long Distance Trains are very likely being given their last opportunity to succeed,” whatever that means. Perhaps that means 40% load factors, just like the “successful” NEC.

   “As usual in the Am-world, we have lots of hand-wringing over costs, but [hardly] one word about revenues. … ONE! I’m not exaggerating.

   “The staggered seating (to make their skeletal staffing “work”) seems particularly customer friendly, and a revenue-killer. Am I to understand that no more than 8 persons will be admitted to the “dining” car in any one fifteen-minute window? That’s 32 per hour, for those keeping score at home.

   “Apparently, Amtrak thinks they can “succeed” in running a restaurant serving 96 meals in a meal period. Great way to run a restaurant, folks. I bet if David Hughes raided the management ranks at the nearest Denny’s he could get better talent than this.

   “Looks like they’re limiting themselves to serving the hostages, I mean passengers, in the sleepers and completing kissing off any coach business. In the right hands Amtrak’s “diner-lite” concept just might have been a positive, if they offered an alternate menu of simpler meals at lower price points, meals that might be more attractive to those in coach. Couple that with longer opening hours and they could grow revenues. I’ll bet there’s even a consultant or two out there who could show them how this works.

   “There are so many wonderful aspects to this plan. “Chefs” who are now flatware washers, and disposable “glassware” for starters. It’s hard to keep a straight face when the memo postulates that all this will be imperceptible to the customer. Serve me cheap wine in a plastic cup and lukewarm not-cooked-to-order food on plastic plates, prepared by a “chef” who’s now a glorified microwave operator and I’ll perceive that this is not the “first class” experience for which I paid thousands of dollars.”

   Let us not forget, just mere paragraphs ago, what Amtrak Vice President for Customer Emmett Fremaux said in the Amtrak Ink article about first class service: “Passengers should feel that they are getting the value they expect from our premium service both in the quality of the food and from those who are delivering it,” said Fremaux. One can only guess that he didn’t have sleeping car and long distance coach passengers in mind when he said this.

   Another observation from another wit about the Diner Lite memo:

   “ONE measure of the utter intellectual bankruptcy of this “management” group is that they don’t have to be aware of the history of this issue on the regional trains in the ’50s, the Sunset and the secondary carriers in the ’60s, or Amtrak long hauls in the early ’80s. All they have to do is look at what happened LAST MONTH on their own precious flagship Wondertrain: cut back on the food “expectations” of customers, and dissatisfaction goes up while revenues go down. They even note this phenomenon on the Empire Builder: exceed customer expectations in food service, and revenues, satisfaction ratings, and profits go up. So, they do the exact opposite.”

6. To sum all of this up, there are some good points to Diner Lite, but still mostly bad points. Instead of finding clever ways to increase revenues, the strategy is to only cut costs.Instead of first looking at the financial reporting system which has been pronounced by all rational parties to be grossly damaged, the old system is being relied upon to make major decisions about the future of the company, its employees, and ultimately, passengers. Using a broken financial reporting system can only lead to making broken decisions, doomed to failure at inception.If you are a first class passenger on an Acela train, with a trip time of five hours or less, you are treated to better food service than those passengers who are spending anywhere from 12 to 72 hours on a long distance train, with no alternative food service. The Northeast fat cat bankers and lawyers wielding expense accounts on Acela are more important than the average American trying to enjoy a leisure trip on a long distance train. Acela first class passengers are being served at their seats, while long distance sleeping car passengers must maintain a rigid dining schedule while on vacation for the convenience of a short staffed dining car. Paying big, big bucks for a bed and bath on a train? No matter. Don’t even think about sleeping in. You MUST be in the dining car by the reservation schedule, or you lose your place in line, or the ability to eat. There are other similar dining experiences throughout the world – they’re known as cattle boats, where all you have to do is “moo” to be fed.

   In their own internal memos, Amtrak managers tout the effectiveness of full service dining cars on the Empire Builder and Auto Train, and declare there will be no changes in this service. Yet, instead of following their own successful program, they veer off into the murky world of Diner Lite, going against all of their own data which says passengers want and expect full service dining, not reheated, precooked food, served institutional-style.

   There have been proven tests conducted by Amtrak itself of concepts such as the 24-hour dining car that vastly improves the bottom line of the food service operation. There are many ways to “tweak” the old dining car service to drive more business into the diner that involves simple concept of marketing and customer service. These possibilities are all being flagrantly ignored for the relatively simple – but wrong – solution of cutting the heart out of dining car services.

   Sharply downgrading the dining car will, without question have an effect on sleeping car business. Beyond the most die-hard rail fan passengers, no one is going to want to pay the huge money required to ride in a sleeping car accommodation and be the captive of Diner Lite. There are plenty of other alternatives to riding the train in most places, and getting rid of morally admirable food just makes those other alternatives look better and better.

   Ultimately, the food and beverage service has the same problem as the company has, overall. There are too few long distance trains running to support the overhead as described under the present accounting system. The problem is not the number of employees working on the train. We know that single lounge car attendants run an operation on each train that practically prints money, the cars are such cash cows. But, until the long distance system has more trains and more frequencies, the large corporate overhead that is charged to the food and beverage system is always going to be a financial detriment to the service. First, fix the financial system so there are true numbers reported. Then, fix the system, including the rather glaring option of more trains and more frequencies, so the company can “grow” into its corporate overhead (once that overhead is properly overhauled and extraneous people are deselected). Simply put, this is just another example that the Amtrak system is too small to show proper savings of volume operation. Cutting is wrong. Expansion is right.

   Who takes responsibility for this? There is plenty to go around. Congress, first, for trying to micro-manage Amtrak (even though Amtrak deserves a lot of scrutiny for its decades of financial naughtiness, no DOT IG knows how to run a rolling dining car service, either). Former US DOT IG Kenneth Mead has clearly accomplished his goal of taking the first steps of turning Amtrak trains into mere busses with steel wheels on steel rails. He’s gone now, but his legacy lives on, just like the railroad legacy of Jesse James. Mr. James, however, had the courtesy to wear a mask and use a gun so you knew immediately he was a bad guy.

   The U.S. Department of Transportation has to take some heat, too, beyond the damage done by Kenneth Mead. The DOT – under any presidential administration – has never enunciated a full domestic transportation policy that has a true determination for passenger rail. Various DOT secretaries have always left the rail decisions up to the troublemakers at Amtrak, and have never taken a firm hand in guiding the company towards solvency or rational, adult behavior. Secretary Mineta, under the direction of the White House, has taken more continuing interest in Amtrak than most other DOT secretaries since Amtrak was created, yet, like many others, Mr. Mineta has been poorly served by his staff with very bad information about passenger rail and Amtrak, causing Mr. Mineta to often look foolish in his statements concerning Amtrak. Mr. Mineta, an honorable man with a long and distinguished history of solid public service, deserves better, and deserves better information and guidance from his hired help.

   The Amtrak Board of Directors takes some of the blame for not acting more quickly to dispense with the dismal services of David Gunn and bring in another president more interested in passenger services, and less interested in rebuilding bridges on the NEC. This program began under Mr. Gunn’s stewardship; it should have been stopped with his departure. The board has been at the mercy of its inept paid staff, which has not served the board well. It’s time to take more action, including actions and efforts of the board persuading Congress to repeal the troublesome mandates on food service and sleeping cars from the FY 06 appropriations legislation.

   Acting President David Hughes takes the blame for allowing this fiasco to go forward under his guardianship of the company. While Mr. Hughes has the same handicaps as the board regarding his staff, one could hope that he would see the folly of all of this and immediately work to determine a better strategy.

   The Amtrak executive corps has got to go, almost in its entirety. They have no creativity when it comes to providing good passenger service, don’t understand the dynamics of long distance trains, and seem to care little about the big picture or future of the company. They have become so entrenched and accustomed to living on free federal monies that it’s a wonderment to them that anyone would be rude enough to question their judgement about what’s best for the company, and best for the passengers. Too much focus on transit mentality and not enough focus on passenger services has doomed this group to the hall of railroad executive shame.

   Amtrak front line managers and OBS and related employees need someone to help them perform their jobs in a better way and for better results. They’ve often been left to their own devices, many of which are either completely untenable, or just plain silly. Many employees need to make a living elsewhere, and the company needs to stop promoting employees into front line management positions just to isolate them from passengers because they are ill suited for human interaction.

   Amtrak’s various craft unions have to step up to the plate with a new, and better attitude about Amtrak. Yes, their natural interests are to protect their membership while seeking better pay and working conditions. But, the Amtrak unions have morphed into instant critics of the Bush administration, and anyone appointed by the Bush administration that seeks to bring any type of badly needed reform to Amtrak. Union leadership seems more interested in the politics of the matter than the affairs of the members. This is not helpful. It is not unheard of for intelligent, informed union leadership to take forward positions on the improvement of work environment and company efficiencies that not only promote job growth, but a healthier company. This is currently not happening at Amtrak; protection of the broken status quo seems more important than invention of a good, healthy future.

   Many of Amtrak’s sycophant, alcoholic-like enabling organizations that have wrongly only supported the growth of the NEC and have been merely content to maintain the skeletal and starving national system of long distance trains have also taken a seat way in the back of the bus on the issue of Diner Lite. Never comfortable with even offering constructive criticism – except against the Amtrak Board of Directors, which is perceived as the “enemy” because they were appointed by the wrong political party for these misguided organizations – these organizations continually sing the praises of any doubtful programs or changes Amtrak wants to make without any consideration of consequences. Like the unions, these organizations are only interested in maintaining a broken status quo instead of moving forward with clever ideas or concepts that will enhance passenger rail. The constant focus on more free federal monies for Amtrak instead of self improvement for Amtrak has brought not only a harmful atmosphere to the table, but may ultimately heavily contribute to the end of Amtrak as a viable part of our domestic transportation network. Shame on the members of these organizations for allowing their paid and unpaid leaders to mislead them in these issues, and shame on the leaders for not constantly questioning and probing for better answers and better solutions.

7. We know the board of directors is looking for a new, permanent president and chief executive officer. Please, hurry. Help is needed, now.