United Rail Passenger Alliance

Dear Mayor Apgar:

Thank you for your letter to Mr. Kummant of May 1 regarding your concerns about passenger rail service between New Orleans and Florida. I am answering on Mr. Kummant’s behalf.

Prior to Hurricane Katrina, Amtrak operated a three-day-a-week Sunset Limited service between New Orleans and Orlando. Service east of New Orleans was notoriously unreliable, made stops along the Mississippi and Alabama Gulf Coast at night (when on time), and was among our slowest services. Its schedule called for 21 hours to go from New Orleans to Orlando, compared to 11 hours by highway. Amtrak spent an unacceptably high $378,000.00 on passenger inconvenience costs for disruptions east of New Orleans in Fiscal 2005 due to the unreliability of the Sunset Limited. Not surprisingly, ridership on the Sunset Limited east of New Orleans was declining in the years leading up to Hurricane Katrina, with minimal boardings at many of the intermediate stops.

Amtrak is continuing its efforts, in consultation with governmental and other stakeholders, to identify a viable service that will meet the Gulf Coast Region’s transportation needs and the funding required for implementation. The numerous options considered include restoration of the Sunset Limited or modified overnight service along the entire route, and short-distance services between various endpoints. We have not established a timetable for a decision. Because several stations on the route still have storm damage, capital investments will be needed before any passenger service can be restored.

DeLand continues to be served by two Amtrak trains a day in each direction, the Silver Meteor and the Silver Star between New York and Miami. Where ridership on the Sunset Limited east of New Orleans has declined in the past few years, ridership on the remaining two trains has increased during the same period.

I hope this information assists you in your appraisal of the situation.

Sincerely,

Joe McHugh Vice President Government Affairs and Communications

Where to begin analyzing this fluff and poppycock? First, let’s focus on the positive. Mr. McHugh said “Amtrak is continuing its efforts, in consultation with governmental and other stakeholders, to identify a viable service that will meet the Gulf Coast Region’s transportation needs and the funding required for implementation. The numerous options considered include restoration of the Sunset Limited or modified overnight service along the entire route, and short-distance services between various endpoints.” Good stuff. That would lead one to assume that something is on some burner, somewhere, and this issue hasn’t been forgotten.

However, Mr. McHugh also said, “We have not established a timetable for a decision. Because several stations on the route still have storm damage, capital investments will be needed before any passenger service can be restored.” Okay, why hasn’t a timetable been established? It’s been two years, now. What’s the holdup? As far as the “storm damage to stations on the route” argument, well, that is much less of an issue in reality. The passenger trackside platforms are in place, which is the critical component. Amtrak is also notorious for bringing in “Amshack” portable buildings that serve as stations, sometimes for years, while older buildings are rehabilitated or done away with. The process of bringing in portable stations to good platforms takes about 15 minutes. Anything beyond that is just featherbedding. Plus, most likely, just about any city government along the route which wants service restored would most likely share the costs of fixing or improving stations; Amtrak doesn’t have to go it alone for this process.

The comparison between train time and driving time is totally bogus. There are very rare instances where the train beats the automobile in any race. That’s not the point. Train travel is a viable option for many reasons. You do not take the train when you are in a hurry. You travel by train either for the experience, because you are unable to travel in a car for whatever medical or other reasons there may be, perhaps for the convenience of intermediate stops as your destination, or because you choose not to fly or take a bus. Mr. McHugh’s comparison of train travel time to driving time is a losing argument before the thought is even finished.

Then, the icing on the cake is Mr. McHugh’s statement inferring DeLand should be happy because its north-south service provided by the Silver Meteor and Silver Star is improving; never mind that passengers just may want to travel to places other than where the Meteor or Star will take them.

This letter to Mayor Apgar is a disgrace. Mr. McHugh is well regarded by many as someone who is a professional in his job. Actually, the disgrace goes beyond Mr. McHugh to all of the Amtrak senior management who haven’t figured out a way to restore the Sunset Limited or place a viable substitute in its place. If the issue is Amtrak want’s someone else to pay for the train, well, a very dangerous precedent is being set that could cause the company to discontinue ANY long distance train for any reason, and hold up its resumption while waiting for states or others to pay the piper. At least Jesse James had the courage and dignity to use a mask and gun when he was robbing someone.

Teamsters Rally for Fairness at Amtrak

Workers Surround Amtrak Headquarters To Protest Working Without Contract For 8 Years

WASHINGTON, May 17 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — Hundreds of Amtrak workers rallied today at Amtrak’s headquarters at Union Station, expressing frustration about working without a union contract for eight years with no negotiations on the horizon.

“These are the longest and worst negotiations I have ever been through,” said Tony Gardner, a 30-year member of the Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employees Division (BMWED) who works in Philadelphia. “My union brothers and sisters know that Amtrak has been raking in profits for years, but we aren’t seeing anything.”

Workers at the rally chanted, “Shut Amtrak Down,” and held signs that said, “It’s the end of the line … No Amtrak Contract … No Amtrak trains.”

“We are the backbone of rail labor,” said Mark Kenny, chairman of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen’s (BLET) Amtrak committee. “The new Democratic majority in Congress recognizes the importance of rail labor. They’ve passed landmark legislation, HR 2095, that will address numerous rail issues such as limbo time and the elimination of dark territory. We hope they will soon address Amtrak.”

In addition to the engineers, trainmen, conductors, signalmen and dispatchers at the rally, members of the BMWED, the workers who maintain the tracks, switches and on-site buildings for Amtrak stood along with members of other unions in solidarity.

“I’ve not seen such solidarity on the Amtrak issue for many years,” said BMWED President Fred Simpson. “It’s terrific to have the members of the United Transportation Union, the Machinists and others with us today — all united to fight for fair negotiations at Amtrak. We’ve got to keep bringing this issue to the public and members of Congress.”

“We have to say to our Republican colleagues, ‘Get Your Hands Off Amtrak,’” said Rep. Elijah Cummings, (D-MD). “You, the workers who keep this railroad running, have been deprived of what you are rightfully due. We are doing everything in our power to preserve Amtrak.”

In addition to the rally, several unions announced the formation of a bargaining coalition for Amtrak negotiations. Based on the successful model used for the freight rail negotiations, the bargaining coalition has signed on the BLET, BMWED, National Conference of Firemen and Oilers and the Brotherhood of Railroad Signalmen. The coalition is expected to grow as other unions face an evolving situation at Amtrak.

“Bargaining as a unified group will put the Amtrak unions on the offensive,” said John Murphy, Director of the Teamsters Rail Conference and Teamsters Vice President. “The time is ripe for a change in negotiating tactics. We’ve seen how the strength of unified bargaining won us a good agreement with the freight railroads. Now is our opportunity to get Amtrak to the table.”

The BLET and BMWED are both divisions of the Teamsters Rail Conference. The Teamsters Union was founded in 1903 and represents 1.4 million hardworking men and women in the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico.

Lots of normal rhetoric in the press release as expected from a union. That’s okay, because that’s their opinion and the press release expresses the points they want to get across to the media.

However, one sentence in the press release just can’t be ignored: “said Tony Gardner, a 30-year member of the Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employees Division (BMWED) who works in Philadelphia. ‘My union brothers and sisters know that Amtrak has been raking in profits for years, but we aren’t seeing anything.’”

Let’s review those last few words: “Amtrak has been raking in profits for years, but we aren’t seeing anything.” Really? Where? On the fabled Northeast Corridor, where allegedly all of those Acela trains are making so much money (see item number three, below, for more details)? Are we seeing another myth generated for years by Amtrak Corporate Communications coming home to haunt all of us?

URPA studies have shown the long distance trains do throw off a positive cash flow (that means “profits” for all of you unfamiliar with the term), but that positive cash flow is quickly scarfed up by corporate overhead costs and NEC operating and maintenance costs. Amtrak says it needs about $500 million a year in operating subsidies. URPA believes that figure is a bit high, but, Amtrak, as it is operated today, is not profitable.

When finishes cleaning up its various corporate communications nightmares left behind by recent administrations prior to the arrival of Mr. Kummant as president and chief executive officer, then silly statements like the one above from people who should know better will go away. Until then, Amtrak is putting out yet another fire of its own making.

Dear Sir,

I believe that you manipulate the costs of Acela, vis-a-vis conventional Amtrak maintenance costs.

You tell us that there are thousands of Amtrak employees nation-wide who are responsible for maintaining Amtrak’s conventional fleet. Then you compare Acela’s costs with only one of the facilities responsible for overhaul and maintenance of conventional equipment. That does not compute.

Why do you feel that you must attack the Northeast Corridor?

If it were not for the Corridor and the support that it generated for Amtrak’s survival for the last 35 years, there would be NO intercity passenger trains at all. That is a fact. It does not matter that the corridor was saved because so many commuter agencies also depend on it. Long distance trains would not have survived without the Northeast Corridor.

Play with numbers all you want; people will not ride trains unless they offer a competitive advantage.

Acela has begun to capture market share between New York and Boston because it is a BETTER alternative to flying or driving.

Long distance trains will begin to thrive when they offer competitive advantages to their alternatives. They must be pleasant to ride and reliably on time. That’s it. Forget about blaming the corridor as if it hogs precious resources. What it does is ensure a substantial political bloc that consistently votes to fund a national rail system.

Thank you for listening.

Sincerely,

Amtrak NE Corridor Conductor on very busy and on-time Acela trains

URPA’s Dennis Larson handles much of our research and numbers crunching. Mr. Larson has this reply for our Acela conductor. All numbers are taken directly from Amtrak reports.

The Acela story continues to sound wonderful, but there is considerably more buried in Amtrak’s reports that may go unnoticed. Acela maintenance is staggering. Amtrak’s December forecast (issued on March 14, 2007) to keep Acelas rolling safely for FY 2007 has gone from $52.5 million to $57.8 million as posted in the February Report published on May 10, 2007.

Here is a notation in the February 2007 Report: “Materials were unfavorable by $4.1 M primarily due to increased volume of wheelset program repairs and increased repairs related to High Speed Rail.”

A notation issued in the January report also published on May 10, 2007 - “Materials were unfavorable by $4.6 M primarily due to increased volume of wheelset program repairs and increased repairs related to High Speed Rail.”

And yet another notation from the December 2006 report issued on March 14, 2007 - “Materials were unfavorable by $2.6 M primarily due to increased volume of wheelset program repairs and increased repairs related to High Speed Rail.”

Here is a more complete look at maintenance costs as requested by one person. Amtrak owns three heavy maintenance facilities in Wilmington and Bear, Delaware; plus the Beech Grove facility, in Indiana. There are other maintenance facilities in Washington, D.C.; New York City, Rensselaer and Niagara Falls, New York; Boston; Hialeah, Florida; Chicago; New Orleans; Los Angeles; Oakland, California; and Seattle.

Amtrak’s expense forecast for the Beech Groove (Indiana) facility is $4,180,000 for FY 2007. This is the premier Superliner heavy repair facility. Also included is equipment from the Pacific Surfliner trains, locomotives, baggage, Horizon, and Heritage lounge car overhauls totaling 205 units; 163 of these are cars, the rest are power units.

The Bear, Delaware facility is currently servicing mostly Amfleet equipment totaling 138 units. Amtrak shows a profit forecast of $10.9 million at Bear, obviously they are doing work that is contracted in from outside sources. The same could be happening at Beech Groove, but currently there isn’t any information provided on either operation regarding additional outside work.

Wilmington’s heavy repair shops work on primarily AEM-7 locomotives and diesel locomotive quarterlies and annuals (inspections and “tune-ups” and overhauls). Amtrak reports 150 units planned for completion in FY 2007. Forecasted costs for this fiscal year are reported by Amtrak at $27.4 million.

The High Speed facility shows two Acela interior upgrades only, planned for the year, no mention about wheels, brakes or suspension parts. Total forecasted costs are as mentioned previously, $57.8 million, which remains Amtrak’s highest maintenance costs of all parts of the company and all types of equipment for just 20 Acela trainsets totaling six cars and two power units, each.

The total bill for Amtrak’s mechanical department is steep enough nationwide, which includes Acela maintenance. A total of $322.4 million will be spent on parts/labor and $99.2 million for non-labor mechanical department expenses.

You are such an idiot. Acela revenues are up as is equipment availability (a 16th train set was made available and the plan is to go to 17 or 18) and the additional money is well worth it because Acela’s are essentially minting money for the company. In March Acela generated almost 20% of the company’s ticket revenues. To put that in perspective that is more than all the long distance trains COMBINED. If you exclude the Regional service it is more than all the other corridors COMBINED.

Congress has less of a problem with allocating capital than it does operating, so Acela is essentially cross subsidizing your beloved long distance trains.

Well. It’s tough to argue with something that is “essentially minting money for the company,” but URPA’s group took a stab at answering Mr. Guruswamy. Here are the replies, mostly in their original form.

I guess those rolling money machines must have free use of somebody else’s infrastructure. And, places like 30th Street Station come free, too. [And …]

Alas, this argument never seems to pan out in the real world. Let’s suspend disbelief for a minute and consider this. IF the Acelas are making money hand-over-fist, why in the name of Beelzebub’s bloomers isn’t Amtrak investing all this excess cash into the NEC and getting it off the federal dole? What could possibly be a better sign of rampant “success” than covering ALL the costs, not just above the rail. Heck, even those … long distance trains do that before they get socked with system costs. You know IF true, then Amtrak’s got all the cash sloshing around. We know for sure that it’s NOT going to keep Beech Grove humming on three shifts rebuilding Superliners.

Amtrak could slough off this cash to keep the NEC in a state of good repair and any additional federal capital monies could flow toward building these “successful” electrified corridors connecting every burg over one million in population. AND, in the bargain, all those fuddy-duddy naysaying interlopers like me would have been flat out wrong about the Acela. What’s not to love here, IF what Dharm says is true? [And …]

If, as they assert Wondertrain Acela is pulling in cash like a beer bar on Friday night, then why are they all so desperately afraid to cut it free of the Golden Trough? Those two points couldn’t be more diametrically inconsistent: Acela is a huge success, and generates X% of the revenue, but, oh, by the way, it also needs three quarters of a billion dollars a year of subsidy, without which the whole system collapses, but those two points aren’t related.

Dharm can’t have it both ways — if Acela is what he says it is, then we can legislate as follows, and he will have to agree to support it: “Notwithstanding any other provision of law, no Federal funds appropriated to any purpose after January 1, 2008 shall be spent directly or indirectly in support of high speed passenger rail service in the Northeast Corridor. To the extent that any high speed rail passenger service benefits directly or indirectly from federal funds expended after January 1, 2008 in any manner or for any purpose on railroad infrastructure, including track, structures, signals and communication, reservations, insurance, stations, security, equipment maintenance, power generation and cost of capital, or planning or research for any of the foregoing, the operator of the service shall reimburse the Treasury no less than often than weekly a portion of the federal expenditure on any such applications equal to the allocation from such expenditures to the high speed service determined by the Speed Factored Gross Ton Miles formula approved by the Secretary of the Treasury with the advice, but not the consent, of the Secretary of Transportation.” [And …]

And, IF it’s a huge success, why in blazes aren’t they doing more of it? A company with any business aptitude whatsoever that hits on a successful way of making money doesn’t just sit on the idea. Let’s say Orville Redenbacher test-markets green maple-syrup flavored popcorn in Columbus, Ohio, and it’s a runaway success. Do they say, “nah, forget it, let’s not sell this nationwide”? No, they ramp up production.

Amtrak, on the one hand say’s the Acela is a stunning “success” and yet, paradoxically, it shut down all its HSR development projects, during the reign of David Gunn. In this case, actions speak way louder than words.

Why are we settling for these pokey diesel-powered snail darters in the Midwest and even slower snail-darters in California? Surely, if 125-135 mph Acela is throwing off boatloads of cash some savvy investors will give them untold billions to build these things everywhere and rake in the proceeds? Right? Yet, Amtrak can’t even convince a gullible Congress, which seems to believe just about anything the company puts out, to give them the money. A puzzlement …

Here at TWA we always look forward to hearing from our Acela conductor friend as he asks honest questions in a straight forward manner. We appreciate his loyalty to his company, and his belief in what he does for a living. Amtrak needs more employees like him.

As my letter in June, 2007 Trains [magazine] indicates, I think Amtrak needs to reinvent its long-distance passenger services and network if it is to survive. The first immediate step would be to look around and see where the existing services could be reorganized to better effect. Here is one example involving train service from our region, specifically the New York-Philadelphia-Atlanta-New Orleans Crescent. Currently, to travel beyond New Orleans, it is necessary to stay overnight there to connect to the Sunset Limited on a Monday, Wednesday, or Friday at 11:55 A.M.

The Crescent links the nation’s first (New York) and fifth (our region) most populous metro areas with New Orleans but could be extended to the sixth-largest, Houston, quite readily by displacing the present Sunset Limited between New Orleans, Houston, and that train’s merge point with the Texas Eagle, at San Antonio.

At present, Amtrak sells a trip from Philadelphia to Houston (less than 1,600 road miles) on a round-about routing with three transfers en route, at Pittsburgh, Chicago, and (to a bus) at Longview, Texas. This takes about two full days. A more direct route extending the Crescent to replace the Sunset in the New Orleans-Houston-San Antonio segment would require no costly addition of route miles or train miles. It would require only a suitable redeployment of Amtrak’s single-level and Superliner rolling stock. Such a change would eliminate the need to change vehicles en route and would save about ten hours travel time. Surely a low-cost, high-revenue, passenger-pleasing change.

It’s puzzling why this and other barriers to continuous travel have existed in the Amtrak system for so many years. Is anyone interested in pressing Amtrak to do this kind of restructuring?

Mr. Pawson makes a point that many others do; why does the Crescent terminate in New Orleans, and not further west? One reason, of course, is “we’ve always done it that way,” even though some through cars years ago were handled to the west before Superliners.

Perhaps the most viable reason is the Union Pacific Railroad and BNSF line between New Orleans and Houston. Invariably, one of the biggest choke points for the Sunset Limited is between New Orleans and Houston, specifically along the oil refinery and chemical plant corridor in western Louisiana and eastern Texas. This is a very congested piece of railroad; extending the Crescent beyond the usually dependable Norfolk Southern onto the BNSF and UP to Houston probably would required a three to five hour layover in New Orleans on the eastward trip to allow for make-up time to keep the rest of the route east of New Orleans operating on any type of dependable schedule. That doesn’t mean there aren’t other options, if just means at this moment in time this is not the best option available. The thought, however, is good.

Thanks as always for your meaningful insight.

Would someone please tell most of the conductors on the Pacific Surfliners it is okay to be pleasant and respectful to passengers? A few are; but most act as though those of us who use the service, really are a great bother. So, get a job on a freight …

Why can airlines always have employees — especially cabin and cockpit crew, in clean, well fitting, attractive uniforms — and Amtrak cannot. Again, maybe a generalization, but what a difference it would make … and what about SMILES …

Frequent trips up and down the coast on the Surfliners are on one hand a joy — and on the other, brings a great sadness because of what it could be with GOOD, I won’t even say EXCELLENT, customer service. At least generally there is an attendant in Business Class — however, my question is — where the heck do they hide most of the trip?

But, it is a joy to whiz past cars on I-5 most days. Oh, and one last complaint — why can airports around the world keep their restrooms not just generally clean, but more often than not, spotless — and in the beautiful Los Angeles Union Station, they stink, they’re filthy, and graffiti ridden … and of the two, one is closed nearly all the time …

Thanks for your ear. And, thanks for This Week at Amtrak

And, thanks for reading and thanks for writing to us, too.

I liked your re-work of the Florida service in the latest TWA. I hope somebody is listening.

Anyway I have a couple thoughts of my own to contribute to the scenario:

• For Montreal service, I suggest extending the Palmetto to Montreal instead, as it could then roughly follow the schedule of the old Montrealer - but using only one additional trainset. This would give the Montreal service the benefit of the Vermont ski trade, which is considerable, business to Burlington and Vermont-Florida business. Population along the Adirondack route is pretty sparse north of Albany. At the south end, an overnight Miami section could be added over FEC, making a nice two nights and one day service from Montreal.
• Looking at the number of trainset required brings up the issue of late trains. If the trains ran more reliably, the service could be run with less trainsets (the Silver Meteor could make a same day turn at New York, the Silver Star split into Miami and Tampa sections could make a same day turn in Florida, the Silver Palm and Silver Meteor trainsets could make a same day swap in Florida. The Auto-Train could run with only two trainsets. But, that’s only possible if the trains were mostly on-time). I believe that it is worth Amtrak’s while to increase freight railroad compensation (Say 3 times the current figure, the same rate that the Capital Corridor pays UP to keep it’s trains successfully running on time. Track charges are not currently a large expense in the scheme of things.) if that would bring results (the contract should be structured so that increased payments would only be made for on-time trains). I believe that increased payments would be more than made up for by the increased business from satisfied customers, the lower crew expenses brought by covering for unpredictable late trains, and especially by the huge productivity increases of the fleet. Some speeding up of time in the shop would also be part of this equation.
• Increasing the productivity of the fleet would help, and so would rebuilding some Amfleet I to augment to long-distance coach fleet, but really, I think and new car order for eastern trains is needed. Rather than more Viewliners, I would suggest using the shell of the Bombardier stainless steel double-deck cars they are now building for NJ Transit. This has some limitations - because the cars must fit into the Hudson tunnel the interior of a double deck coach lacks room for overhead bins. However, there are plenty of Amfleet II cars around still useable so I’d suggest ordering the following:19 Luxury sleeper/first class lounge (bedrooms without bunks don’t need tall ceilings) [enough to equip the Lake Shore, Crescent, Silver Star, Silver Meteor]

  52 Sleeper/Baggage (short baggage area under superliner height sleepers - and the sleeping car attendant can help unload the baggage, saving an Assistant Conductor) [enough for the following runs: CHI-DET-NY; Lake Shore including BOS; Cardinal; Twilight Shoreliner; Palmetto MON-NY-JACK-MIA; 2 on Crescent (with extensions to Ft. Worth and San Antonio); 2 on Silver Star/Meteor (1 each for TPA/MIA)

  19 Sleeper/Dormitory

  19 First Class Restaurant Dinning Cars

  52 Grill dining car and lounge

  19 Family car with kids play area and lounge - a mix of sleepers, slumbercoach, couchette space

  106 Slumbercoach/couchette - enough to convert 50% of standard class travel on Lake Shore, Crescent, Silver Star/Meteor, Twilight Shoreliner

  Total is 215 cars (give or take). Can that be funded with equipment trusts and leases?

… I don’t understand how with some slight schedule and route changes, Amtrak couldn’t but help increase revenues and ridership. What are they thinking?My improvement suggestions (as you have shown with Florida) concerns the City of New Orleans. My suggestion is to run the train down the Chicago-St Louis line, and then from St Louis to Carbondale (actually Du Quoin - on the IC/CN) on it’s way to Memphis and New Orleans. Just think about the ridership/revenue increase from those in St. Louis. THEN tie the current Illini/Saluki at Carbondale, and the St. Louis/Kansas City to the picture and you can’t but help increase revenues and ridership. (Also, a new “corridor” opens between St. Louis and Carbondale with the state university.)

It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure this out!

Like the numbers in this week’s digest.

My own abstract contrarian view to east coast Florida service is the cuts are at the wrong end, vis., cut all the Florida trains at Washington, DC and let the passengers have a choice.

However, this may be too simple.

10) And, finally, a message from a gentleman in Staunton, Virginia.

Sharp thoughts on the Cardinal, which rattles through Staunton, Virginia a couple blocks from my office its dreadful 3 times a week. In response to a recent bad trip back from NYC a letter to [Mr.] Kummant resulted in a call from his secretary and a big refund and, who knows?, a little action: the sleeper has now been restored to the rear of the train where it belongs. “Diner” still disastrous. I advise friends riding to pack a lunch.

Alternative to your thoughts: make it daily for sure, but run it basically the way the way the C&O used to: two feeders from DC and from Norfolk/Newport News, hook up in Charlottesville and then run the thing fast and proper to Chicago, in time to connect with all the transcontinentals. (The old western sections off to Louisville and Detroit are probably too much for Amtrak to handle.) Norfolk/Newport News is a huge and growing market with no hub airport and dumpy trains now only up the “corridor.” Once again, the facilities are all there… Could also put back the hi-level equipment, which is are a huge plus to deprived eastern passengers, and, well why not, re-christen it the “George Washington”!

Best regards, Tim Jacobson