Passenger Trains > Bloomberg article on Amtrak / Richard Anderson / State of Amtrak

You need to read this article on Amtrak and Richard Anderson.  There is a picture of him sitting in front of a white board in his office.  If you look closely at the white board he has written some items he is working on.

It says Big 10
1. Maximo
2. Quintik
3.POS
4. WiFi
5 Kiosk
6 Safety and cybersecurity
7 Timekeeping
8 Customer Technology
9 and 10 are not legible

Obviously Mr. Anderson loves technology as the top two items on his board about about cloud computing and scheduling software which the airlines use.

He even has Wick Moorman's phone number on the white board - it's 757-404-.... I won't type the rest out of respect for Wick the former CEO of Amtrak but you can see it for youself.

it's a flattering and not flattering article about amtrak and makes a lot of interesting points for those who are business people and who don't understand the complexities that exist. 

A very intersting read....

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2019-11-20/amtrak-ceo-has-no-love-lost-for-dining-cars-long-haul-routes



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/20/19 06:32 by amtrakbill.

There is nothing "nostalgic" about having a decent meal in a dining car. It's basic need for any journey that covers normal meal times. All the high speed trains Anderson references lose money. So what makes him or anyone else including the idiots in Congress on both sides think Amtrak should make money? Those same idiots have probably spent enough on the impeachment hearings which clearly will lead to nothing,  to fund full dining cars for years. 

andersonb109 Wrote:
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> There is nothing "nostalgic" about having a decent
> meal in a dining car. It's basic need for any
> journey that covers normal meal times. All the
> high speed trains Anderson references lose money.
> So what makes him or anyone else including the
> idiots in Congress on both sides think Amtrak
> should make money? Those same idiots have probably
> spent enough on the impeachment hearings which
> clearly will lead to nothing,  to fund full
> dining cars for years. 

I can't imagine the Congressional dining rooms, or the Vice President's dining room in the Capitol make money, either. 

But, none of them are subject to the Mica rule to address food and beverage losses.

There is also nothing nostalgic about a train running more than 500 miles, or taking a trip over 500 miles, if not over the continental divide, and he has no clue as to what the metric passenger-miles means. The man has been on the job for 2 years and has learned absolutely nothing. Bob-tailing train into short corridors does not boost OTP. The Carolinian is late just about every day. Driverless vans to replace trains in rural areas ? Yeh, right try that on the rural roads near Raton Pass in the dead of winter. 



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 11/20/19 06:26 by joemvcnj.

Lackawanna484 Wrote:
> I can't imagine the Congressional dining rooms, or
> the Vice President's dining room in the Capitol
> make money, either. 

They should all be made to use the "contemporary dining" menu.

"FRESH CHOICES!!!"

joemvcnj Wrote:
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> There is also nothing nostalgic about a train
> running more than 500 miles, or taking a trip over
> 500 miles, if not over the continental divide, and
> he has no clue as to what the metric
> passenger-miles means. The man has been on the

What does passenger-miles mean?  Do passenger-miles write their congressmen or buy train tickets?

> job for 2 years and has learned absolutely
> nothing. Bob-tailing train into short corridors
> does not boost OTP. The Carolinian is late just
> about every day.

Because John Snow liquidated the track on the A-Line and rewarded himself the salvage value and savings in his pay package.

Abyler,

  You are so right.  John Snow started the downfall of CSX before anyone heard of PSR.

 

It would be more interesting if you responded to the article instead of crying about food service.

"Last year, Amtrak lost $39 million on the line, which comes as no surprise. How many people want to take such an unreliable train?"

The losses have nothing to do with ridership. If ridership and train length doubled, the train would lose even more money because the operating costs would go up faster than the revenue. The trains as structured today cannot make money - their speed and costs of operation from staffing levels and the cost of maintenance and provisions cannot be balanced against any realistic level of ridership.  The issue is the productivty of labor and capital assets and revenue per unit labor, not ridership and revenue.

"Others, he argues, should be broken up into shorter, faster routes between cities, enabling travelers to bypass congested highways and airports with their time-sucking security requirements."

Compare the financial and ridership performance of the Pennsylvanian to the old Three Rivers or Broadway, or the Palmetto and Carolinian to the Florida trains and Crescent and tell me where he is wrong?  Just like with moving freight, there is more market to be had in shorter hauls, and much of the long haul train business is short haul customers.  There are good arguments for running long haul trains from overlapping markets if they can be made to perform, and there is also a market there for true long distance ridership, but it is irresponsible to limit what the rail network can do and misuse limited capital assets as if American travel habits are the same as 1939 or 1950 at the dawn of the streamliner era.

For Long Distance trains to survive, they must become more efficient and make better use of assets. Equipment can't sit in a yard for 24+ hours rusting to the rails to be "serviced". Amtrak services Auto-Train every day in less than 8 hours, this needs to be a sort of benchmark nationwide.  If anyone has learned anything from the airline business, the future is in smaller trains running more frequently (think 737's), not monster 18 car trains running once per day (think 747's).  What can a single engine pull on a particular line at speed? That should be the train length. If ridership grows, add more short trains, don't add bigger trains.

What should a line like the Southwest Chief look like if you applied this idea to it? Would we be better with a LA-ABQ-Denver train, and Denver-KC-Chicago train and a shorter overnight through train (or two) for the more limited through business?  I think we would.  Does a train that runs overnight basically to position equipment need to have full luxury accomodations like sleepers and diners?  Do red-eye flights from the West Coast to the East?

"Kevin Mitchell, chairman of the Business Travel Coalition, says the move infuriates corporate executives and their colleagues who board in different cities, hoping to sit together to discuss their affairs. “It was absolutely crazy,” Mitchell says. “It didn’t work.” Amtrak disputes this, saying customers like assigned seats and it’s part of the reason revenue on the Acela’s first-class cars has risen 11% this year."

I like the assigned first class seating.  If corporate people from different stops want to sit together, just reserve seats together ahead of time, they are almost always available until the last few hours.  You can book your sleeper rooms the same way if you want to keep multiple people together, I don't see why some people oppose this.

"M.E. Singer, a contributor to Railway Age, a trade publication, says this is an old trick the Southern Pacific employed to depress ridership in advance of abandoning its passenger lines in the 1960s."

You really have to wonder when we no longer be plagued by these false opinions and equivalencies from 50 years ago, and are allowed to remodel the business.  The stasis is killing Amtrak.

"And what of the crew members who might lose their jobs, including Claude Mitchell, the singing dining-car attendant? "

What of the toll booth collectors made obsolete by EZ Pass and the like?  You suppose the man could be given a different job at Amtrak that uses his experience but also is more productive for the company?

"Anderson says he plans to ask Congress next year, as part of Amtrak’s regular five-year reauthorization process, to allow it to begin experimenting with shorter routes on some lines. He’s considering the Sunset Limited, which operates three days a week between Los Angeles and New Orleans."

Good first choice.  New Orleans makes no sense as a terminal and maintenance base and the Sunset Route clearly doesn't work with its tri-weekly service.  The entire Sunbelt route system is an out of date abomination.  Terminals should be in major cities and the major cities should be connected.  LA - Houston, Houston-Atlanta.  Start there.  Maybe make the Texas Eagle go straight to Houston to and extend the Heartland Flyer as long discussed to pick up DFW to SAS and Houston as well as up to Kansas City.  Centralize operations and connections where people actually live.  These would all be 750+ mile long distance liens.

Despite 24 hour layovers, LD equipment piles up more mileage than corridor equipment, and they in turn have more mileage than commuter equipment, because they also run all night. Look at the entire picture. Amfleet-2 are about 6 years newer than Amfleet-1, yet have more mileage on them. Horizon cars have more miles on them than their NJT Comet-II clones. 

What would he do with the easterrn LD train ? Have everyone stay in a hotel in Buffalo, Pittsburgh, Charlotte, and Florence until the next morning to resume ? 



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/20/19 08:32 by joemvcnj.

amtrakbill Wrote:
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> Obviously Mr. Anderson loves technology as the top
> two items on his board about about cloud computing
> and scheduling software which the airlines use.

I remember the self-driving car "technologists" hyping cloud computing, as if that's the core technology that makes it work. The answer is NO. Sensors (like LIDAR) is the core technology. Cloud computing won't save Amtrak, and I say that with a loud obnoxious DUH.

"Blue Horseshoe loves cloud computing" for those who know where I paraphrased this phrase from.

I'm sure it's obvious to people that the manipulative white board scribbles were staged, and it's funny idiots fall for that stuff. Ignore the hype, and focus on the substance.

cchan006 Wrote:
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> Cloud computing won't save Amtrak, and I say that with a
> loud obnoxious DUH.

Right.

But self-driving cars likely will.  At least outside of the northeast US.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/20/19 08:35 by restricted_speed.

restricted_speed Wrote:
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> But self-driving cars likely will.  At least
> outside of the northeast US.

It's been almost half a decade (4-5 years) since the financial media tried to brainwash us that the technology is "imminent." No follow-ups on the self-driving trucks for the UPS and USPS that was much hyped earlier this year. I am near "ground zero" of where Waymo (Google's self-driving car subsidiary) do their testing, and they've noticeably scaled back their activities in recent months...  no corresponding product release announcement to go along with that, so people should be suspicious.

It's one thing if people directly involved hype the technology. It's another when outsiders (like Anderson) hypes it.

I'll finish my off topic rant by saying that cloud computing in the long term is bad for this country, and I can say that because 2 of the startups I worked for more than a decade ago worked on this technology before it was called "cloud computing."

abyler Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------

>
> "Anderson says he plans to ask Congress next year,
> as part of Amtrak’s regular five-year
> reauthorization process, to allow it to begin
> experimenting with shorter routes on some lines.
> He’s considering the Sunset Limited, which
> operates three days a week between Los Angeles and
> New Orleans."
>
Anderson had plenty to say at the recent hearing but if he hasn't heard the feedback given back given who funds Amtrak, he has a lot to learn. However I think he's past the learning stage.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/20/19 09:12 by PRSL-recall.

I'm sure the inclusion of Wick's phone number "was not supposed to happen". No doubt the photographer had no idea of its significance. Makes me wonder if because of resulting indiscretion he will need to have his phone number changed. Also that Anderson even has his number written down likely means he doesn't call him very much. A man like him ought to be able to remember that. However it indicates to me he's not called all that much no doubt because they are not exactly on the same track, no pun intended of course.

PRSL-recall Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I'm sure the inclusion of Wick's phone number "was
> not supposed to happen". No doubt the photographer
> had no idea of its significance. Makes me wonder
> if because of resulting indiscretion he will need
> to have his phone number changed. Also that
> Anderson even has his number written down likely
> means he doesn't call him very much. A man like
> him ought to be able to remember that. However it
> indicates to me he's not called all that much no
> doubt because they are not exactly on the same
> track, no pun intended of course.

The number has been rmoved.
 

Anderson should have Wick's number on speed-dial. He should call it often.

abyler Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> "Anderson says he plans to ask Congress next year,
> as part of Amtrak’s regular five-year
> reauthorization process, to allow it to begin
> experimenting with shorter routes on some lines.
> He’s considering the Sunset Limited, which
> operates three days a week between Los Angeles and
> New Orleans."
>
> Good first choice.  New Orleans makes no sense as
> a terminal and maintenance base and the Sunset
> Route clearly doesn't work with its tri-weekly
> service.  The entire Sunbelt route system is an
> out of date abomination.  Terminals should be in
> major cities and the major cities should be
> connected.  LA - Houston, Houston-Atlanta. 
> Start there.  Maybe make the Texas Eagle go
> straight to Houston to and extend the Heartland
> Flyer as long discussed to pick up DFW to SAS and
> Houston as well as up to Kansas City.  Centralize
> operations and connections where people actually
> live.  These would all be 750+ mile long distance
> liens.

New Orleans is already the terminal for two daily trains, the City of New Orleans and Crescent. How would Houston and Atlanta be a better terminal than New Orleans? Has there been any indication that UP is willing to re-enter negotians with Anderson/Amtrak for daily service (even if it isn't the full Sunset route)? How would a tri-weekly short distance train that has an OTP of 50% be any better than a long distance train with an OTP of less than 50%?

Y'all think Wick was a great guy because he ran steam trains?   Ever think he helped pick his perfect successor so the NS could work towards the end goal of getting rid of passenger trains once and for all?

Wick retired from NS. I don't think he had any interest in carrying their water, so long as he gets their pension.
Rumor has it, Wick and Anderson had a testy relationship in transition, and Anderson finally told Wick "It's my railroad now".

Pension is nothing,  it's the stock price that matters in retirment,  says Wick as he looks at his investment portfolio.