United Rail Passenger Alliance

Volume 3 Number 37

1. Memo To: Alexander Kummant President and CEO, Amtrak/National Railroad Passenger Corporation Washington, D.C. September 12, 2006Welcome to your first day as the new chief steward of Amtrak, our national passenger railroad. We look forward to working with you as you improve the company.

   We trust you will have no problem finding your way around headquarters, and, later, there are several good restaurants in the area we would like to recommend for lunch.

   May we offer the following suggestions as you begin the task of moving Amtrak forward?

   • Please note the name of the company, the National Railroad Passenger Corporation. The “national” indicates Amtrak’s mission and responsibility to serve as much of the continental United States as possible. “National” does not indicate disconnected regional corridors serving only part of the national population. As Amtrak lives by taxpayer support, each American in each part of the country pays taxes to support the company, and, therefore each American should be afforded access to passenger rail. Regional favorites, such as the NEC, should be primarily supported by regions served (such as is the case with California’s excellent passenger rail program), not at the complete expense of everyone.
   • We very much applaud the statements you made to your hometown newspaper, The Chronicle-Telegram, in Ohio. Phrases like “The nation needs a vision for its rail system, one that can safely support freight and passenger trains,” and your “self-described passion for turnaround work” sound very good. Particularly well received is your statement, “People talk about losses, but without splitting the capital spending out from the operational dollars. Infrastructure dollars can hardly be characterized as losses.” Also, “The board has only asked me to run Amtrak crisply and efficiently; to take a look at the entity as a whole and drive the operation and the business, as it were. That can mean most anything, but nobody has told me to dismantle anything.” Please continue to make such positive statements. Amtrak has suffered too long from poor leadership that has talked more about losses and crisis than about improving the railroad so it can be a robust, healthy organization in charge of its own fate.
   • As said many times before, Amtrak is the best kept secret in America, regrettably. Please find new ways to make Amtrak more visible to its owners, the people of America. In coming weeks we will talk more about this, including some very successful programs initiated by the former Gulf Coast Business Group that made sad trains into happy trains with more passengers and more revenue passenger miles.
   • Please, for the sake of the company and those cities and towns served by the Sunset Limited and Cardinal, find a way to make these two trains daily. As long as they operate on discreet routes but only on tri-weekly schedules, costs will continue to be high and revenue passenger miles low. Tri-weekly is the single most expensive way to operate trains that have large infrastructure costs like stations. And, please take an immediate look at what it will take to restore the Sunset Limited to service east of New Orleans. The infrastructure is back in place, the only thing missing are useable station buildings in Pascagoula and Mobile, which can be handled by using portable station buildings which have been used successfully elsewhere in the Amtrak system for years. The latest silliness about restoring the Sunset Limited is the Florida Department of Transportation hasn’t asked for the train to be restored. What? That makes no sense. You have stations, you have a strong railroad infrastructure, and you have waiting passengers. Why do you need some state bureaucrats to ask you to restore a train you were happily running before Hurricane Katrina? Please tell you staff to quit stalling by saying the dog ate their homework and get the train back.We will talk more later; we know you’re having a busy day. Thanks for coming to help Amtrak be a better, more reliable, healthy, passenger railroad.
2. The welcome arrival of a new Amtrak president and chief executive officer hopefully brings along a large broom which will sweep some of the executive debris out of Amtrak. There are so many areas which need new leadership; perhaps, for the future of the company, chief among them is strategic planning. Amtrak’s planning department is where all types of critical data is refined and organized so senior management and the board of directors can make intelligent decisions about all aspects of the company and passenger operations.The most reasonable question to ask is, how good is the quality of this information? Is the Amtrak middle management bureaucracy simmering along in its usual best imitation of the late Stalinist Kremlin in Moscow? Are too many lower level decision makers too content in their jobs so they feel invulnerable? Of all of the places in Amtrak, both the planning and marketing departments need the brightest thinkers and those willing to think outside the standard Amtrak box.

   Also, for a company which has been around since 1971, Amtrak needs desperately to draw on institutional memory (whether from inside the company on all levels or outside) to avoid again making the near fatal mistakes it has in the past.

   We know Amtrak is talking about tinkering with the long distance route structure. Hopefully, most of what we will see will result in just talk, and not the mistakes of the past such as those made during the Mercer days of the 1990s, or the disastrous route cuts of 1979. Both the Mercer and 1979 cuts only hurt the company, not helped it. While some expenses decreased, there was an alarming decrease in revenue passenger miles and passengers as well, that far exceeded any expense savings. Will this happen, again? Will no one in the planning and marketing departments understand the critical importance of the matrix theory, where one route always feeds multiple other routes? … That every route is part of a system, not a disjointed corridor?

   Will the marketing and planning departments understand the future of the company is outside of the NEC and other corridors, and the tracks of the freight railroads are the only place Amtrak can grow to prosperity?

   Will the marketing and planning departments understand that passenger counts and revenues are meaningless, and the only real measures for success are revenue passenger miles and revenues that exceed expenses? In the September 5th issue of Amtrak This Week (the OTHER This Week publication) for employees, Amtrak said that 54% of the passenger revenues originate on the Northeast Corridor. Big deal. More than 54% of the company’s expenses and need for subsidy originate on the NEC, so the NEC still operates at a loss.

   We all remember Disraeli saying “there are lies, damned lies, and statistics.” It’s time for Amtrak to start reporting real statistics instead of those published to make people feel good, but actually do little to improve the fate of the company.

   If the Amtrak Board of Directors and new President and CEO Alexander Kummant are going to be well served and make good decisions, they need good data to work from; no one is completely convinced the data coming from inside the company meets that standard.

3. America lost a great railroader with the passing of Henry Christie in August. For those of us who were privileged to know him and work with him, all that can be said is that it was an honor to part of his world. He was a brilliant man who generously shared his knowledge and wisdom.Those readers of this space who worked with him know that Mr. Christie was one of the great railroaders of the 20th Century, starting in the steam era and ending his storied career deep into the electronic age.

   Mr. Christie was a great debater, and loved to talk about his favorite subjects – the most favorite of which was the railroad universe.

   Following is his formal obituary, as supplied by his wife, Ann Christie, one of the world’s most delightful people.

   HENRY C. CHRISTIE, 79, died Monday, August 7, 2006 at St. John’s Hospital, Tulsa, OK after a short illness.

   A memorial service will be at 1:00 p.m. Thursday, September 21, at First United Methodist Church in Michigan City, IN.

   He was born October 17, 1926 to Robert & Agnes (O’Brien) Christie in Newcastle-on-Tyne, England. On December 17, 1976 in Kansas City, MO he married Ann Mohegan who survives in Owasso, OK.

   Henry’s career was in the railway industry. He started his railroad career with the Southern Railway in England and continued it after immigrating to the United States December 1949. He worked for the New York Central; Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railroad; Amtrak; Pittsburgh & Lake Erie and Chicago South Shore & South Bend Railroad. After retiring Henry served as Secretary-Treasurer for The Air Brake Association for 11 years, retiring again two years ago.

   In lieu of flowers, the family request memorial contributions be made to First United Methodist Church Music Department, 121 E. 7th Street, Michigan City, IN 46360, The Railway Supply Institute, Inc., Scholarship Program, 29 W. 140 Butterfield Road, Suite 103-A, Warrenville, IL 60555, Salvation Army or the organization of donor’s choice.

   There are many details to Mr. Christie’s career. Here is a bio of Mr. Christie written by this writer in 1993 when Mr. Christie was working on a consulting basis:

   Eastleigh Enterprises, Railway Consulting

   Henry C. Christie

   Eastleigh Enterprises is a railroad industry consulting firm, specializing in equipment and operations issues. The firm offers consultation for all phases of operations and rolling stock, as well as analysis of costing, staffing, and budgeting. Eastleigh Enterprises also offers engineering overviews and quality assurance services.

   Henry C. Christie, as principal of the Canadian Premier Rail project, provided the majority of the operating and maintenance expertise for the study. Mr. Christie has excelled as a professional railroader since 1943 when he began his career as a Locomotive Cleaner and Fireman for the Southern Railway in England. Since then, he has steadily moved through the professional ranks of railroading in England and the United States, where he has served the New York Central System; the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railroad Company; Amtrak; the Pittsburgh & Lake Erie Railroad Company; the Chicago South Shore & South Bend Railroad; and the Electro-Motive Division, EMD.

   Mr. Christie served as Chief Maintenance Officer of Amtrak, reporting to the Vice President, National Operations, and was responsible for the overall direction of running maintenance functions of locomotives and cars for the corporation, excluding the Northeast Corridor. He was responsible for daily activities, planning, control, direction and budget monitoring. He was also responsible for initiating action covering all maintenance programs, directives and instructions to the field. He assisted the regional vice presidents in the running of maintenance facilities under their direct control. He was also responsible for maintenance details of contract negotiations with various carriers. He had an immediate staff of 37 people; indirect control of 2,400 people, with an annual budget of $78 million.

   Mr. Christie also served Amtrak as the Director – Running Maintenance, and Manager – Car Planning and Engineering [Mr. Christie was responsible for drawing up the Amtrak Heritage Fleet A & B Lists; cars on one list were kept for conversion to HEP power, and the other list of cars were sold as surplus.].

   At the South Shore, Mr. Christie served as General Manager – Motive Power & Equipment, and also as General Superintendent, Transportation.

   Mr. Christie was responsible for 16,500 cars and 105 locomotives as the Chief Maintenance Office of the Pittsburgh & Lake Erie Railroad Company, with equipment capital expenditures of $75 million being processed in certain years.

   Mr. Christie’s service to the Rock Island included duties as the Assistant Chief Mechanical Officer – Locomotive and Assistant Chief Mechanical Officer – Car. The two positions yielded combined responsibility for 30,000 cars and 605 locomotive units. He also served as the General Superintendent of the Car Department and Manager of Engineering and Research Services.

   Professional memberships include the American Society, Mechanical Engineers; American Railway Engineering Society; Car Department Officers’ Association; and Locomotive Maintenance Officers’ Association. He is also a member of MENSA and the Union League Club of Chicago.

   Industry related activities include AAR Mechanical Division General Committee, AAR Special Equipment Committee, AAR Car Construction Committee, various AAR ad hoc committees, and guest lecturer at the Illinois Institute of Technology.

   Mr. Christie co-authored various papers for the Pittsburgh Air Brake Club and Central Air Brake Club of Chicago, and his writing has appeared in Progressive Railroading magazine.

   Not mentioned in the bio was his 1994 visit to the White House to discuss the privatization of Amtrak. Henry Christie was a kind, generous man who loved his work and his friends and family. He loved to sing (hearing him sing opera was an inspiring experience), and most mechanical things in the world fascinated him. Among his friends he was also a famous cook.

   Henry Christie will be missed by all of us who were privileged to know him, and will be greatly missed by the industry he served and advanced so well.

4. The New York Sun newspaper last week ran an editorial about it, and the Boston Globe filed a news report about the financial relationship between the National Association of Railroad Passengers (NARP) and Amtrak, and NARP’s ability to think and react independently of Amtrak management. As reported in this space earlier this year, NARP for a number of years has been receiving annual financial payments in the tens of thousands of dollars from Amtrak to operate Amtrak’s customer advisory committee. This occurred at the same time NARP, as a third party, was lobbying Congress and others for higher federal subsidies, without publicly disclosing the contractual arrangement with Amtrak.URPA Vice President Bill Lindley writes, “According to The Sun’s recent editorial, ‘NARP`s executive director, Ross Capon, says … the relationship has never come up in board meetings when members decided whether or not to criticize Amtrak …’
   

   “Please be mindful of that carefully placed qualifier; NARP’s official criticisms of Amtrak seem to appear about as frequently as snowfall here in Phoenix. The issue has certainly arisen before the NARP Board; as an alternate at their Santa Fe meeting in 1997, during the discussion of their budget, I questioned the $16,000 annual contract from Amtrak for the Customer Advisory Council and how it imperiled the impartiality of NARP. I explained it seemed to be in conflict with the assertion that NARP has ‘no association with Amtrak or the railroads.’ (quote from NARP brochure, 1974.) Mr. Capon was present during the brief but heated discussion that ensued. The motion to exercise the escape clause in CAC contract was tabled, and presumably never again revived.”

5. President Bush has nominated Mary Peters as the new Secretary of Transportation. Secretary-Designate Peters is from Arizona, and Mr. Lindley, as mentioned above, a resident of Arizona, files this report.
   

   “Through the Arizona Rail Passenger Association, I have worked on numerous occasions with Mary Peters, whom President Bush has nominated for Secretary of Transportation. I particularly remember her 1998 address to the Arizona Association of Railroad Passengers; she described her mission as ‘taking the department into the next century’ through an emphasis on multi-modalism; she noted that although the Department of Highways changed its name to the Department of Transportation in 1974, it had taken too many years for the agency to embrace ideas other than highways; and she brought rounds of applause by explaining, ‘we should not widen highway corridors to 8, 10, and 12 lanes. We need to look at a maximum highway configuration of 6 lanes … Highways [alone] are not going to meet our transportation needs in the future.’

   “In 2000, as president of ARPA, I worked with her to bring a TALGO train for display at Phoenix and a demonstration round-trip between Phoenix and Tucson. Photos at http://azrail.org/archive/events/phoenix/2000 include a view of Ms. Peters with the TALGO on the platform at Coolidge.

   “Arizona now is seeing the benefits of her leadership then. ADOT undertook the hard job of implementing her vision; through the new Public Transit Division, ADOT is supporting light rail in metro Phoenix as it moves toward completion, and commuter rail as it begins to move beyond the study phase toward implementation.

   “Ms. Peters started as an office secretary at the Arizona Department of Transportation and moved upward through transportation planning to become director of that agency 16 years later. As Federal Highway Administrator for several years starting in 2001, she gained experience working within the Washington framework; most recently she was with HDR Engineering as a transportation policy consultant.

   “In the White House announcement last week, Ms. Peters said she wants to tackle roadway congestion by modernizing transportation systems, such as expanding the use of toll roads – just one example of how the DOT is likely to change from business-as-usual under her guidance.

   “Ms. Peters understands what highways can do, and what they can’t; she has been a supporter of passenger trains and multi-modalism; and she knows how to set a direction and make things happen. She will make an excellent Secretary of Transportation.”