Passenger Trains > The Reindeer Writes the Amtrak Chairman on the CZ

October 31, 2006

Mr. David Laney
Chairman, Amtrak Board of Directors
60 Massachusetts Ave., N.E.
Washington D.C. 20002

Request to Annul “California Zephyr” Between Emeryville and Salt Lake City

Dear Mr. Laney:

For about a year, Amtrak has been unable to deliver reliable passenger train service on the “California Zephyr” route between Emeryville and Chicago, with trains operating 3 to 8 hours late virtually every day, and with ridership down substantially from historic levels. At the same time, there is no evidence that Amtrak management has made any headway to resolve the associated railroad maintenance and operating problems between Reno and Salt Lake City that appear to be the primary cause of the delays. Not only is this abysmal performance harming Amtrak’s credibility as a transportation carrier, but Amtrak’s acquiescence in this intolerable situation over a period of a year or more shows a lack of respect of its customers and suggests Amtrak is an ineffective and unresponsive government bureaucracy that cannot respond to changing conditions. The information on Amtrak’s website warns of these delays, but vaguely suggests that they are temporary and provides no suggestion as to when they will be resolved – or even if there is any effort to resolve them. I’m not aware of any correspondence from Amtrak to Union Pacific indicating that Amtrak has any concerns in this regard.

I respectfully suggest that you and the other members of the board direct your management team to restructure the “California Zephyr” to address the situation. Specifically, I recommend that until the improvements required for reliable operations between Emeryville and Salt Lake City are completed, you annul the train between Emeryville and Salt Lake City, while continuing to operate the Salt Lake City to Chicago portion. Currently, passengers especially in the Denver-Chicago market are being held hostage to poor operating conditions elsewhere on the route, and that doesn’t need to be the case.

I have worked to improve rail passengers operations in California and the United States for almost 30 years. Amtrak’s tolerance of poor operating conditions, month after month, first on the “Coast Starlight” and now on the “California Zephyr,” is challenging my support for Amtrak, which increasingly looks like a failed transportation model, even as other public agencies are being successful in delivering quality rail passenger service to the consumer. Thus, I’m calling on you to restructure the “California Zephyr”, before the public must endure additional months or years of third-world operating conditions.

Thank you for considering my views. I would like to hear from you on this important issue.

Sincerely,



/s/ Reindeerflame

AKA, urge Laney and Co. to kill it! If you actually ain't payin' attention Reindeer, the track conditions out there in Nevada is the culprit, and someone mentioned why, wish you could actually look at the facts instead of jumping to conclusions!

His response... "we run trains west of the Beltway and east of Bakersfield??!!"

Someone's been standing a bit to close to the business end of the reindeer. Time to come up for fresh air...

NIce letter. It seems to be factual and reflect actual conditions and consequences of the problems. You would think a well thought out letter like this would get some attention.

Be careful what you ask for, you might get it.

reindeerflame Wrote:
>
> ..... Specifically, I recommend that
> until the improvements required for reliable
> operations between Emeryville and Salt Lake City
> are completed, you annul the train between
> Emeryville and Salt Lake City, while continuing to
> operate the Salt Lake City to Chicago portion.
>
The Sunset Limited has been "temporarily annulled" for over a year while infrastructure is repaired. Gee! You would think that in a year, some of the stations could have been restored, even if they were operating out of a trailer or some sort of a portable building (like the portables that some school systems use.)

So, just be careful what you ask for.

John

Edit: Spelling error that the spell checker missed.

ProAmtrak Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> AKA, urge Laney and Co. to kill it! If you
> actually ain't payin' attention Reindeer, the
> track conditions out there in Nevada is the
> culprit, and someone mentioned why, wish you could
> actually look at the facts instead of jumping to
> conclusions!


Um, isn't that what Reindeer states in his letter?

stupid idea!!

> stupid idea!!

Historically correct, however, since the Rio Grande wanted to do the same thing. The Rio Grande Zephyr was a tourist train from Denver to Grand Junction, with little or no ridership afterward. Once the Amtrak train of the same name was sent over Donner Pass, the western end lost any remaining sightseeing interest.

TB

reindeerflame Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> October 31, 2006
>
> Mr. David Laney
> Chairman, Amtrak Board of Directors
> 60 Massachusetts Ave., N.E.
> Washington D.C. 20002
>
> Request to Annul “California Zephyr” Between
> Emeryville and Salt Lake City
>
>
BAD CALL!

calzephyr48 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> reindeerflame Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > October 31, 2006
> >
> > Mr. David Laney
> > Chairman, Amtrak Board of Directors
> > 60 Massachusetts Ave., N.E.
> > Washington D.C. 20002
> >
> > Request to Annul “California Zephyr” Between
> > Emeryville and Salt Lake City
> >
> >
> BAD CALL!


That may be, but you know that he's just about 100% likely to do what I say.

Can't help but remember the passenger load (or lack of) on the Rio Grande Zephyr between Salt Lake and Grand Junction and to a lesser extent between Glenwood Springs and Grand Junction. Without the through service, there just is not much demand between Salt Lake and Denver and points east.

I think ridership would plummet, much more so than the ridership being driven off by the abysmal timekeeping. Not to mention the fact that, once it is gone, it would take an Act of God for UP to put it back (or even Amtrak to want to for that matter -- look at the Sunset east of NOL, as another poster mentioned).

ChS7-321 Wrote:

> Um, isn't that what Reindeer states in his letter?

Yep, big time! Potholes are starting to creep up if they go on his suggestion about it since Laney wants an "Expanded Amtrak!"

reindeerflame Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> calzephyr48 Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > reindeerflame Wrote:
> >
> --------------------------------------------------
>
> > -----
> > > October 31, 2006
> > >
> > > Mr. David Laney
> > > Chairman, Amtrak Board of Directors
> > > 60 Massachusetts Ave., N.E.
> > > Washington D.C. 20002
> > >
> > > Request to Annul “California Zephyr” Between
> > > Emeryville and Salt Lake City
> > >
> > >
> > BAD CALL!
>
>
> That may be, but you know that he's just about
> 100% likely to do what I say.


Of course, you're just as any other anti-Amtrak LD Critic, annul that and then ridership drops big time, worse than now, and it's probably a point of no return! Very nice suggestion Reindeer, maybe Joseph Vranich can hire you!

IMO, a late train is better than no train.

sfericsf Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> IMO, a late train is better than no train.


I agree, and if they work on getting it better, that's cool. Everyone who read the post about why 5 and 6 are always late knows UP is working towards that, sucks people like Reindeer thinks suspending 5 and 6 until it's fixed is a "Superb" idea!

Why keep running 8 hour late trains? What does that serve?

WAF Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Why keep running 8 hour late trains? What does
> that serve?

It serves people traveling from point A to point B.

Is 8 hours late, a "service"?

You could always take the BNSF approach, just ignore the bad track, don't put on a slow order, and hope for the best.