Passenger Trains > Chicago Has Problems..............Answers ?

I spent 22 years working for Amtrak out in Sou Ca

All I ever heard was that Chicago had problems,their entire shop was rebuilt and still there were Problems.

When Train #3 comes in with Super Liners stripped of Electrical parts, then it makes you wonder, or cars with the Wrong Refrigerant

A friend who worked as a TA on Train #4 , said if he had a Good Sleeper on inbound #4, He would Write up a page of Defects, all phony, so if Chicago needed a Super Liner Sleeper, they would not take his car, worked most of the time

One time when I was at Beech Grove, I watched a Supervisor throw down his hard hat and storm off, seems that Two coach cars released from Beech Grove a few weeks prior went to Chicago and were back, stripped of All usable Material

So, can we talk of the Answers to the Problems at Chicago, Not the NEC, Not anything everything

Just the Problems AND Answers



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/10/14 12:01 by miralomarail.

Not really an answer...but I hear its been this way for 40 years and will always be that way. Part of the problem as we are told is chronic under staffing. How true that is I don't know. Everything else at Amtrak is.

Amtrak had a scandal several years ago. Workers clocked in @ Amtrak. They snuck off and worked for Metra. They were collecting TWO paychecks. How the IRS or RR Retirement did not catch this right away is beyond most people.

cashfare Wrote:
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> Not really an answer...but I hear its been this
> way for 40 years and will always be that way.
> Part of the problem as we are told is chronic
> under staffing. How true that is I don't know.
> Everything else at Amtrak is.

If they are understaffed, how do they have time to strip cars of usable parts? Assuming they are doing anything on the productive side.

Can't be fixed until Amtrak is fixed. Really - if you have no leaders in management, how are you going to make changes? If you don't know how long you'll be around (because the railroad might be gone), how are you going to engender morale?

Good workers aren't hard to find. But...existing ones know where political bones are buried, and won't allow any true change.

Fix the problem in 4 "easy" steps:

make Amtrak a private company / or make it a viable institution with funding via the government.

Hire leaders and good managers - and realize the two are not usually the same thing.

Enable the managers to manage - don't give them responsibility without authority.

Rebuild morale based on above.

The bottom line is simply this - you can not expect people to work for an entity that has no future, has no leadership, has no reasonable assumption of future without Congressional interference. And you WILL NOT obtain leadership until you get rid of that interference. And you will never have workers happy to come to work when there is no hope. And there is no leadership to instill that hope.

We all know Chicago is a Big problem.

we all know the answer. Fire everybody. Only Trainorders Qualified posters will be accepted to fill the positions.

Good workers are hard to find. Sloppy and lazy workers and managers, on the other hand, are in abundance.

There are lots of profitable US companies that deliver world class products with union labor. That's not the problem.

Lackawanna484 Wrote:
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> Good workers are hard to find. Sloppy and lazy
> workers and managers, on the other hand, are in
> abundance.
>
> There are lots of profitable US companies that
> deliver world class products with union labor.
> That's not the problem.

Are there many Amtrak Chicago area staff employed in positions similar to those of the freight railroads and Metra? If so, it would be interesting to know how the freight railroads and Metra fare in terms of recruiting and retaining staff.

Metra had problems this winter, especially January, who can at least get the majority of their trains to depart on time, unless in the middle of a snow storm.

CTA, with their exposed 3rd rail / lack of NY-style cover boards, have trains that seem to function also in harsh conditions.

NICTD had several days out with catenary issues.

But It all pales in comparison to Amtrak.

RuleG Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Lackawanna484 Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Good workers are hard to find. Sloppy and lazy
> > workers and managers, on the other hand, are in
> > abundance.
> >
> > There are lots of profitable US companies that
> > deliver world class products with union labor.
> > That's not the problem.
>
> Are there many Amtrak Chicago area staff employed
> in positions similar to those of the freight
> railroads and Metra? If so, it would be
> interesting to know how the freight railroads and
> Metra fare in terms of recruiting and retaining
> staff.

There are very specific parallels with Metra car and engine shops. I don't know the local details, perhaps somebody on the ground in Chicago has the numbers. Add in the quality results, and you could have a pretty good analysis.

One of the big problems at the 14th St. coach yard is that not all of the tracks have 480V cable lines, meaning that some of the equipment in storage is completely exposed to the elements during freezing weather. Not sure how much Amtrak equipment is unprotected as opposed to Metra equipment in their coach yards.
Bottom line - the serviceable equipment needs to be kept moving, otherwise freeze damage occurs and unserviceable equipment needs to be moved to places like Hialaeh, FL, LA or New Orleans before winter sets in.

Andy

twropr Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> One of the big problems at the 14th St. coach yard
> is that not all of the tracks have 480V cable
> lines, meaning that some of the equipment in
> storage is completely exposed to the elements
> during freezing weather. Not sure how much Amtrak
> equipment is unprotected as opposed to Metra
> equipment in their coach yards.
> Bottom line - the serviceable equipment needs to
> be kept moving, otherwise freeze damage occurs and
> unserviceable equipment needs to be moved to
> places like Hialaeh, FL, LA or New Orleans before
> winter sets in.
>
> Andy

When the new, heated indoor Amtrak service area was constructed in Chicago, the story was all equipment could be inside or on a 480V track. It wasn't necessary to update all the service tracks. But if the service area isn't servicing cars quickly enough, perhaps the over flow of cars awaiting service are on older tracks.

It would be interesting to see if the new facility has contributed to faster servicing.

10 years ago, their excuse was roadrailers and MHC cars were parked all over the place blocking access to some 480v lines.
They don't have that excuse anymore, and the situation seems worse.

miralomarail Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I spent 22 years working for Amtrak out in Sou Ca
>
> All I ever heard was that Chicago had
> problems,their entire shop was rebuilt and still
> there were Problems.
>
> When Train #3 comes in with Super Liners stripped
> of Electrical parts, then it makes you wonder, or
> cars with the Wrong Refrigerant
>
> A friend who worked as a TA on Train #4 , said if
> he had a Good Sleeper on inbound #4, He would
> Write up a page of Defects, all phony, so if
> Chicago needed a Super Liner Sleeper, they would
> not take his car, worked most of the time
>
> One time when I was at Beech Grove, I watched a
> Supervisor throw down his hard hat and storm off,
> seems that Two coach cars released from Beech
> Grove a few weeks prior went to Chicago and were
> back, stripped of All usable Material
>
> So, can we talk of the Answers to the Problems at
> Chicago, Not the NEC, Not anything everything
>
> Just the Problems AND Answers


Where the parts stolen or used on others cars?

brc600 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Amtrak had a scandal several years ago. Workers
> clocked in @ Amtrak. They snuck off and worked for
> Metra. They were collecting TWO paychecks. How the
> IRS or RR Retirement did not catch this right away
> is beyond most people.

Hope they went to prison for a long time. I'm guessing that they did not.

I think the Amtrak/Metra worker scandal happened over 20 years ago and it is no longer relevant. Anyway, Amtrak did a good thing by handling that situation.

Yeah, but even in good weather 14TH St. still just gets the train out and not pay attention to what's needed to get done. I remember one guy who posted on here who worked at the yard and told me what they expect, but I told him it shouldn't even be that, make sure the train's 100% ready to go with or without things written up! Wish Gunn stayed, because I know this would not go by on his watch!