Passenger Trains > A Railpace editorial on the Viewliner fiasco

The August issue of Railpace, which I received today, has an editorial from founder and editor in chief Tom Nemeth. Mr Nemeth laments the apparent lack of interest by Amtrak management in what he describes as the Viewliner fiasco.

Allegations of shoddy workmanship, years of delay, and stone walling by Amtrak's media relations office about whether there's even a problem. Railpace apparently contacted Amtrak's media relations department but was "essentially told that Railpace is a small fry media, and not worth Amtrak's time to respond to these inquiries." Marc Malgiari had no interest in describing the issues holding up the order, or what solutions were being considered, or when the cars might enter service. According to the editorial, no one at Amtrak was available to comment on the record.

But other folks were more than happy to comment off the record, although there's no indication that resolving the issue is currently a priority at Amtrak, according to the editorial.

It's a powerful and angry call for answers and a plan for action. The Summer 2014 travel season is now history, and many potential revenue rooms won't be sold. It's a shame these questions aren't being posed by Congress, instead of issues involving flower vases and $8 hamburgers.


The editorial isn't yet on the website, but it should be. These are important questions that deserve management attention and answers.


http://railpace.com/

So is this a subtle hint and advertisement soliciting subscription to Railpace? The link does not seem to take one to0 the Editorial referred to, and no hint as to where such might appear. For example I can't find the Editorial from the previous month either, which I would expect to find if they are freely available.

Jishnu Wrote:
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> So is this a subtle hint and advertisement
> soliciting subscription to Railpace? The link does
> not seem to take one to0 the Editorial referred
> to, and no hint as to where such might appear. For
> example I can't find the Editorial from the
> previous month either, which I would expect to
> find if they are freely available.


I mentioned this editorial isn't yet on the website. This one is controversial enough that it may be posted. The several criticizing former NJ Transit top cop Joe Bober were posted.

I'm not sure this is - or should be - a surprise.

It is obvious that Amtrak "management" is only interested in the retaining their jobs, NEC, Acella, not rocking the boat, and holding their breath.

If you consider, the question has always been "where are they going to use this stuff"? The order, timing and the order of importance all demonstrate, fairly clearly, what Amtrak's intentions and lack thereof are.

The baggage cars are the only units that could realistically be used at the moment, and they aren't ready. You say Viewliner sleepers, diners and dorms are usable right now? No argument - *IF* and it is a VERY big *IF* - Amtrak were interested in and capable of running trains outside of the NEC. This has become increasingly a larger and larger question. The numbers of passengers would certainly seem to scream that more cars are needed. The occupation percentage of sleepers would as well. But....

But...that would mean your company was interested in expansion and had equipment (other than the new cars) to use. Locomotives are not available for the additional cars per train (though surprisingly, they are readily available for special trains - and interestingly, those special trains require two locomotives for 4 cars - that *SHOULD be a wake up call, shouldn't it?). Extra cars mean expansion - in terms of other equipment, and most importantly, employees. Think there are enough to cover new diners and sleepers? Can they hire more (that is a serious question - is there some restriction on hiring until and unless the recuperation of fairs vs costs is at a certain percentage?)? Can they hire people to repair locomotives - and keep them well maintained? Can they keep the new cars maintained? Not being critical, I really don't know. My experience on Amtrak and looking at equipment and seeing how they run says no, but I am no there 100& - or even 10% of the time.

So why put the performance of new cars on the front burner. The longer they don't roll, the better - not enough locomotives, people to man them, people to maintain them, etc. Not necessarily Amtrak's fault per se either - lack of funding pretty much dictates abilities in some areas. This is almost as good as continuing to build 4 pipers and immediately storing them for 2 decades.

But seriously - I have to wonder if Railpace editorial staff really expected anything. Amtrak has shown no use for "lesser" journalists for years, nothing new. They don't care to see that those are really the ones you have to be good to - but remember who these guys are. When was the last time you had an airline executive talk to the small media? "We’re the Phone Company: We Don’t Care & We Don’t Have To". Unfortunately, Amtrak, while the only came in town in terms of LD rail, is not in terms of transportation. "Maybe if we stop answering, they'll stop calling". But it does somewhat put the lie to it being a government agency to a degree. Contact your local congressman and ask the questions. Or perhaps Mica.

Or, if Railpace were serious, they could contact a "major" media outlet and join forces, as a freelance provider, the major media gets a few paragraph story, their magazine gets an in depth story, along with some references in the major media.

Lackawanna484 Wrote:
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> ". . . Railpace is a small fry media, and not worth
> Amtrak's time to respond to these inquiries."

Ouch! Sometimes the truth hurts, doesn't it?

> It's a shame these questions aren't being posed
> by Congress, instead of issues involving flower
> vases and $8 hamburgers.

Never underestimate the stupidity and incompetence of our beloved Congress. About the only thing they can do correctly is vote themselves pay increases. The politician who's probably obsessing over the flower vases and $8 hamburgers is probably the same guy who thinks that a woman can shut her body down and prevent pregnancy during an incident of rape.

You can't make this stuff up. If it wasn't so tragic, it would be funny.

Want info? Complain to your senators and representatives and insist that they get the answers you seek. Works for me!

You know the old definition of insanity! Nobody wanted to demand accountability over things like the Super Steel Turboliner fiasco, everyone said let's just forget it and throw more money at Amtrak for new projects and this time everything will be great....can't be surprised if it turns into Turboliner 2.0!

There is always FOIA if someone is really interested in getting information, instead of throwing a royal tantrum. :)

The difference with Railpace and the major media is that the major media pays for contributions to their publications. Railpace only provides a free magazine for published material, no money.

lvrrpassenger Wrote:
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> The difference with Railpace and the major media
> is that the major media pays for contributions to
> their publications. Railpace only provides a free
> magazine for published material, no money.

=================================================

Amtrak will feed any major media all the propaganda they can handle, for nothing.

It's worth the price.

Back in the days I lived in the northeast, Railpace used to be referred in local railfan circles by the name Rumorpace. They would print just about anything seemingly without going to any effort to verify it. Oh, and then there was also the well known Nemeth clique one had to be in to get photo's and articles printed in his magazine. Now it's been 17 years since I moved from the northeast and Railpace territory .... I wonder if anything has changed.

As for the Viewliners, Amtrak did halt the production line for two or three months to have CAF correct quality issues early on. This was widely reported across the railfan press and online forums like this one.

Lets examine the facts:

- The Viewliner II order was placed on July 23, 2010. Tomorrow is the fourth anniversary of the order.
- The original 2010 press release called for delivery to start in October 2012, and for delivery of all 130 cars to be to be complete in 2015.
- A "show and tell" for the press was held in late October, 2013. At that time, delivery of four cars for testing was to happen in the winter, with delivery of revenue cars beginning in the summer of 2014.

So, the original 2010 plan for initial delivery of 27 months after award actually took 48 months. That is missing the initial delivery milestone by 80%.

The October 2013 expectation of three months for delivery of four cars for testing actually took nine months. Even that well after the fact, over one year late schedule was missed by 200%. At this point, we have no idea when revenue cars will start arriving, but I have a gut feeling that summer 2014 isn't happening. :)

Clearly, something happened to cause these delays. While delays can occur with any large project, delays of these percentages are not common. A Viewliner is not a 787. Contrast the performance of CAF's Viewliner order with the Siemens ACS-64 order - arguably a far more complex piece of equipment. I know that Amtrak has told rail advocacy groups that there are no major problems, that it is just stuff that happens routinely. I actually hope they don't believe that, because if they do, that would call into question Amtrak management's ability to manage projects. Had I been in charge of a project with a delivery milestone at 27 months and I ended up delivering at 48 months, someone'e head would have rolled, likely mine.

As for a FOIA request, the dealings between Amtrak and CAF (a private company) may be cloaked by proprietary issues with CAF and not subject to release.



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 07/22/14 18:03 by prr60.

FWIW (for those unfamiliar with RAILPACE Magazine) it's been around now for about 30+ years! It is primarily a monthly "newsmagazine" dedicated to the Northeast - and, I personally think, does a fairly good job. It has regular news contributors (and, usually, based on other reports and news sources: TV, newspapers, railfan organizations, first hand experience, etc. etc.) There are many current photographs (pictures are worth a thousand words!) Personally, I look forward to each issue for the "latest" in rail news from that part of the country. If one disagrees with the editorial comment don't buy it or renew the subscription.

After the derailment issues with the WMATA 5000's, which I'll admit is apples and oranges, I am still not the least bit surprised.

Siemens is not only stamping out a complex engine every week or two, but they work perfectly. We should call them GG-II.

I don't think there's a snow balls chance in hell there will be an Amtrak option order. But one can dream that VIA Rail takes it, gets a couple of dozen corridor coaches, re-equips the Ocean, and gets rid of their Renaissance junque.

Hopefully Railpace is a little behind on this one, and the release of the first cars signals that the problems are mostly behind them.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/22/14 18:52 by hsr_fan.

CA_Sou_MA_Agent Wrote:
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> Never underestimate the stupidity and incompetence
> of our beloved Congress. About the only thing
> they can do correctly is vote themselves pay
> increases.

Let's remember who was behind that...
http://townhall.com/tipsheet/leahbarkoukis/2013/01/02/house-passes-congressional-pay-freeze-129-members-vote-for-pay-increase-n1477581


Anyway, Railpace is "small scale" only in that it is
a regional magazine vs national. And if you look at
Trains and Railfan, you'll note that stories such as
which Tom is said to have tackled, are written by the
editors themselves. Not paid contributors. And still,
is Railpace expected to pay Amtrak for information?

Looking forward to the article. Nice to see someone
tackling some more serious stories with first hand
knowledge.

As for photograhers niche - if I recall correctly,
the previous issue featured a plethora of contributors
showcasing some of the best pics from Spencer - not
just one's from the editor or a select few.

/Mitch

Railpace does little to no fact checking in their publication. They virtually take the photographers description verbatim and print it.

Not surprised Amtrak considers them a published version of Trainorders.

While I certainly don't have any inside information and don't presume to be an expert, I will say that CAF has a very sophisticated design team and that Viewliner II required a lot of new design. The Amtrak specifications and FRA regs, many new since the original Viewliner order, all had to be taken into account. As with any rail order, procurement, contract negotiation, design review and approvals, production planning and approvals and testing and commissioning all take time. Schedule failures can be the result of bad schedule planning, carbuilder delays or owner delays through slow response to review and approvals of submittals. My guess is that this contract had thousands of contract submittals which had to be approved and if Amtrak or its consultants weren't timely in their responses it would be an issue for delay. This is also CAFs first project that involved FRA compliance, certainly no trivial matter.

Let's hope the end product is worth the wait and better off as a result.

I think Railpace does a pretty good job of encouraging new contributions, but Tom is very picky about photo quality. So if your stuff's not up to snuff, that's tough.

Editing, fact-checking, or proofreading? Nope, not too much. Seeing common railroad place names misspelled in Railpace photo captions is proof of that. But I still support the magazine as a useful resource.

rantoul Wrote:
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> 3rd_Raton Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Back in the days I lived in the northeast,
> > Railpace used to be referred in local railfan
> > circles by the name Rumorpace. They would print
> > just about anything seemingly without going to
> any
> > effort to verify it.
>
> Today's TO.

TO is actually a good example of what's called crowd sourcing. Somebody makes an assertion, somebody contradicts it or adds additional information, and others chime in. By the end of the day, you know that train 15J is the replacement for train 19Q (etc) and has been extended from Conway to Vermillion on Tuesdays only. As a made up example.

Doesn't work as well in non fact based arguments (does Amtrak management know what it's doing? is the SMART union slitting the throat of the BLET, etc?) where people have strong beliefs.