Passenger Trains > COVID-19 update: Bye-bye Acela

Effective tomorrow, March 23, ALL AMTRAK ACELA TRAINS ARE CANCELLED UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE.

https://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?4,4980759

99% drop in advance Acela bookings...but Amtrak was tight-lipped all weekend; no official confirmation until today.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/22/20 19:25 by GenePoon.

So our best high speed train in this country, is really just an expensive vehicle for the elite?
Who would have guessed a 99% drop, but hasn't this exposed a weakness in Amtrak's most vaunted service?

I wouldn't say that. I'd wager a lot of people on the Acela are office commuters - the exact kind of people who can Work From Home.

Connie4800 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I wouldn't say that. I'd wager a lot of people on
> the Acela are office commuters - the exact kind of
> people who can Work From Home.

Agreed - the vast majority of your normal business travelers that support services like Acela (and the airlines) are not your One Percenters.  HOWEVER, this DOES expose what could be a major threat to rail and air, as well as hotels, convention centers, commercial real estate, etc.  What happens when we come out the other side of the pandemic and companies realize that they survived and still got work done with a remote workforce?  EVERY company, big and small,  is going to be summoning the ghost of EHH to "PS" their business to cut costs wherever they can.  Maybe these endless meeting really aren't needed and can be done via Skype.  Maybe all our high dollar office space really isn't required and people can get just as much done from home.  Just look what happens to mass transit of any type, hotels, restaurants, office space, etc., if just as few as 2 or every 10 "business travelers" never return to the day to day market.  



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/23/20 05:22 by scraphauler.

mp51w Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> So our best high speed train in this country, is really just an expensive vehicle for the elite?

"The Elite" has become a kill-saw buzzword for anyone a certain political persuasion has deemed "the enemy'  Even grade school teachers are Elite.

Brian

Perhaps I was a bit crass with my rush to judgement of Acela riders.
Maybe we can find comfort in the fact that, Amtrak's "most intelligent" rail passengers,
are heeding the call to self isolate during the crisis.  Locking down a city, like New York, is like
the final knockout blow for public intercity transportation.  Are people still flying in the NEC?

There are many people whose jobs allow them to work from home. Either occasionally, or a lot.  And other folks who have to report for work. Fire fighters, Amtrak conductors, active duty military personnel, etc.

Folks who don't choose among the various alternatives may not understand how much revenue Acela generate(d) for Amtrak. Sometimes double the revenue per train mile as a regional. For folks whose time literally is money, saving a half hour, being able to work on the train, etc is worth paying $50 or $80 more for what's essentially the same ride as a regional.  Consultants who are tapping out e-mail while billing $200 an hour, a little more space is nice.  A lawyer reading a brief at $500 an hour, that's money in the bank, and well worth the $80 extra.

Losing this revenue is a big loss for Amtrak. And there's not a damn thing the company can do about it

scraphauler Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Connie4800 Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > I wouldn't say that. I'd wager a lot of people
> on
> > the Acela are office commuters - the exact kind
> of
> > people who can Work From Home.
>
> Agreed - the vast majority of your normal business
> travelers that support services like Acela (and
> the airlines) are not your One Percenters. 
> HOWEVER, this DOES expose what could be a major
> threat to rail and air, as well as hotels,
> convention centers, commercial real estate, etc. 
> What happens when we come out the other side of
> the pandemic and companies realize that they
> survived and still got work done with a remote
> workforce?  EVERY company, big and small,  is
> going to be summoning the ghost of EHH to "PS"
> their business to cut costs wherever they can. 
> Maybe these endless meeting really aren't needed
> and can be done via Skype.  Maybe all our high
> dollar office space really isn't required and
> people can get just as much done from home.  Just
> look what happens to mass transit of any type,
> hotels, restaurants, office space, etc., if just
> as few as 2 or every 10 "business travelers" never
> return to the day to day market.  

But it's really all okay:
George Warrington told us in the 1990s that Amtrak was on a glidepath to self-sufficiency. There is no cause for alarm. ;)

Thank goodness the only actual problem is that the fleet of overnight long-distance trains is leeching - I am so sorry to even whisper this - several nickels away from the perfectly profitable NEC. This outrage must be stopped! ;)


In all seriousness, though, I agree with you. Regarding future business patronage of Acela Express, Amtrak has potentially stumbled into a pit of quicksand. There is not an abundance of escape routes, let alone pain-free ones, away from that.

A possible long-term shift of such dimension across the span of the society which AX service caters to is major structural change imposed from the outside, and if it actually happens (I personally think it will) Amtrak lacks enough leverage to fully defect it. Soften the blow? Perhaps, but not avoid it entirely.

scraphauler Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> What happens when we come out the other side of
> the pandemic and companies realize that they
> survived and still got work done with a remote
> workforce?  EVERY company, big and small,  is
> going to be summoning the ghost of EHH to "PS"
> their business to cut costs wherever they can. 
> Maybe these endless meeting really aren't needed
> and can be done via Skype.  Maybe all our high
> dollar office space really isn't required and
> people can get just as much done from home.

Many "work-at-home" employees were recalled to the office few years ago, because managers realized that productivity was difficult to enforce for these people. Those who refused got fired. Many Silicon Valley companies (the alleged center of Information Technology) did this, and Yahoo! (before the merger) made the headlines in this regard.

Don't assume work at home is going to keep people employed. Many people are still in denial about how expendable they really are, including those in the management level.

Only way to keep "work-at-home" people productive, is for companies to do "legal" surveillance on your home. I bet very very few people have looked at THIS angle. Very creepy. I much prefer commuting and going to the office to separate my personal life from work.

choodude Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> "The Elite" has become a kill-saw buzzword for
> anyone a certain political persuasion has deemed
> "the enemy'  Even grade school teachers are
> Elite.

A more acceptable definition of "The Elite" might be the small number of people in the "ruling class" who have the authority to make the decisions for the rest of us. Even that might offend some, but realize that in this definition, there isn't supposed to be a political side. There are people in academics who are part of "The Elite" but I suspect school teachers would rather not be lumped with them. :-)

For those-in-the-know, there was an event several months ago discussing the very possibility of the crisis that's happening now. The "Elites" involved in the event were totally concerned about making sure there were no information outages - seen any Internet outages as a result of us staying home and "overuse" the Internet? Thought so. However, the same "Elites" did not consider the possibility of lack of hospital beds the crisis might cause.

School teachers should agree that THEY SHOULD GET AN F.

If people are going to be upset at "The Elite" do some thorough research, and target the anger accordingly. 

Pandemics have been killing people in the mideast for millenia, and in Africa / Asia.  What's different this time is it is affecting a large number of western, middle income countries.

Thinking back a few years, the Ebola virus perked along in Africa for months before (western) medical teams became infected, and had to be airlifted to specialized hospitals.  Until white, middle class US people were involved and in the media glare, Ebola was a distraction.

cchan006 Wrote:

>
> Many "work-at-home" employees were recalled to the
> office few years ago, because managers realized
> that productivity was difficult to enforce for
> these people.


How many is "many" employees?  47?  63?  132?  What percent?

>
>
>
> Only way to keep "work-at-home" people productive,
> is for companies to do "legal" surveillance on
> your home.


That's the only way? Measuring home worker's output isn't effective? Why not?