Passenger Trains > "Amtrak Awards Contract to Phase One for CUS"

LINK to story
 
"ALEXANDRIA, Va., Nov. 18, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Phase One (www.pocg.com) continues to expand its footprint in the Federal market with a recently awarded contract in support of Amtrak's mobile management tool for Chicago's Union Station.....
Yard masters will be using the application to schedule the activities associated with preparing each train for departure, and supervisors will notify the yard master when activities are complete. It is expected that this will not only support real time decision making but also provide visibility into issues that can now be resolved before trains enter the yard......"
 

In other words it will attempt to do what the yardmasters and trainmasters should have already been doing.
Nothing will change.

A lot of money spent on new software (with the added consultant cost) to address problems that proably have already been known by the personnel working at Chicago.  The key is getting the people responsible to actually use the information to improve service to passengers departing from Chicago.  All the reports, all the computer generated info is a waste if no one acts on it.  

Englewood Wrote:
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> In other words it will attempt to do what the
> yardmasters and trainmasters should have already
> been doing.
> Nothing will change.

Especially considering that the folks who have not been doing the job will now be instructed by folks who have never done the job.

TAW

Sounds like you have a lot of negativity for a situation in which you presumanbly have no direct personal lnowledge.Posts like this just clog up the Passenger board without changing things an iota.Wake up and smell the coffee.

Dachinghwa Wrote:
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> Sounds like you have a lot of negativity for a
> situation in which you presumanbly have no direct
> personal lnowledge.Posts like this just clog up
> the Passenger board without changing things an
> iota.Wake up and smell the coffee.

So, instead of being the Passenger Board police, you might offer an opinion on the subject, instead of clogging up the board yourself!

IMO, this is just another crock of baloney.  As someone upthread noted, if yardmasters and trainmasters did their job in Chicago, a lot of the ineptitude would've ceased long ago at the place.

The Western LD trains have almost 24 hours to turn, service, change out cars, etc.  So why should any of these trains leave late due to having to swap out cars?  How is this system going to help?  I don't work at the Chicago maientance base, but 24 hours should be enough to service and turn a train regardles of what type of computer program is used. Again if Amtrak employees "choose" not to fix the problems on incoming trains, no software in the world is going to change this.  I would love to hear from Amtrak insiders as to the actual procedure for servicing and turning the CZ or the SWC.  Anyone care to offer up information? 



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/29/16 16:00 by fulham.

Your 100% correct on your comment. It applies to all managers in the yard and all the managers in CUS who make operational decisions.

Posted from Android

Dachinghwa Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Sounds like you have a lot of negativity for a
> situation in which you presumanbly have no direct
> personal lnowledge.Posts like this just clog up
> the Passenger board without changing things an
> iota.Wake up and smell the coffee.

Worked for Amtrak in Chicago for 11 years.  A few of those spent
in the same room with the 14th St. yardmaster.

The "wake up and smell the coffee" comment reminds me of the multiple
times in my era when 5 and 6 had to stop on the BN mains and swap coffee pots
because 5 departed Chicago without any. 

To put it in the language of an old time 14th St. yardmaster: "unless this computer is
going to sh** out a good order diner from the shop, I don't need it."



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/30/16 04:18 by Englewood.

So why would 5 depart Chicago without a working coffee pot when the train sat there for close to 24 hours since arriving as 6 the previous day?  Were there no other working coffee pots anywhere in the yard?  Does Amtrak keep any backup inventory for items such as this?  Or was it that someone knew that the diner on 5 had no working coffee pot and chose to ignore it?  Did the crew on 6 the previous day not write up the defective item?  I have seen, on the  baggage storage shelves of the Superliner sleepers, the booklet for noting defective items in the car.  Would this booklet be used by yard personnel to spot defects or just ignored?  It would make sense to me that the incoming crew has the responsibility to report defective items so they can be corrected during the servicing period.  The yard crew has the responsibility to repair defective items, assuming they have parts to make the fix and assuming the fix is not something major.  Management has to make sure this is all being done, and with the help of proper inventory control, have spare parts on hand.  If one of these steps is not done, that is how I could see a train departing the station without something as simple as a working coffee pot.  Would this be a correct assumption, and if it is, what of the 3 steps is most likely to not be followed?

I don't know all the particulars of the coffee maker episodes.
That was probably 30 years ago.
I think china and silverware was also swapped at times.
As I recall, such items had a way of "disappearing" from the commisary building.
The incidents finally bubbled up when the BN made an issue out of it.
The trains were blocking both mains and in addition the BN did not want
the delays to go against their on-time performance incentive.

As far as the root cause, I would say ignorance and apathy.
Just as TAW relates how the freight railroads began to deteriorate operationally
in the 80's, the passenger side also had its share of people who did not understand 
the business.

The new breed thought anything the nasty private railroads had done with passenger trains 
had to be wrong.  Things such as the Q being able to turn Zephyrs in 3 hours, clean equipment,
dining and lounge cars open prior to departure, etc.

The arrogance even reached the point where prior to ordering Superliners, Amtrak
declined an offer from the AT&SF of all the mechanical drawings, including modifications, the
Santa Fe had of their high level equipment.  The Santa Fe thought all the information
from their years of high level car experience might be useful to Amtrak.  Ha!

The only railroad Amtrak wanted to emulate in the early years was Penn Central.
Now all the incompetence has been institutionalized at Amtrak.

 

Englewood Wrote:
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> The only railroad Amtrak wanted to emulate in the
> early years was Penn Central.
> Now all the incompetence has been
> institutionalized at Amtrak.

A B&O colleague went to Amtrak at the same time I went to SP. He started the system control center...along with a bunch of guys off the street, and a bunch of Pennsy guys. Pennsy (PC, but nobody from NYC) ran the place. He was pretty frustrated.

TAW

Englewood Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------

> The only railroad Amtrak wanted to emulate in the
> early years was Penn Central.
> Now all the incompetence has been
> institutionalized at Amtrak.

A truth! Lots of people I worked with over the years were strung out on PCP.. (Penn Central Pride)

And I thought this thread was how they were going to "Phase Out" Chicago...

TAW Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Englewood Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > In other words it will attempt to do what the
> > yardmasters and trainmasters should have
> already
> > been doing.
> > Nothing will change.
>
> Especially considering that the folks who have not
> been doing the job will now be instructed by folks
> who have never done the job.
>
> TAW

Perfectly said by Mr. Englewood and Mr. White.  Now you guys are on the hit list at Phase One Consulting Group.

Seventyfive Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> TAW Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Englewood Wrote:
> >
> --------------------------------------------------
>
> > -----
> > > In other words it will attempt to do what the
> > > yardmasters and trainmasters should have
> > already
> > > been doing.
> > > Nothing will change.
> >
> > Especially considering that the folks who have
> not
> > been doing the job will now be instructed by
> folks
> > who have never done the job.
> >
> > TAW
>
> Perfectly said by Mr. Englewood and Mr. White.
>  Now you guys are on the hit list at Phase One
> Consulting Group.

Look at the stuff I write here. I'm probably on several lists.

TAW