Passenger Trains > Today's commentary from Evan Stair

The Case is Being Made - Long Distance Trains on the Chopping Block

Last minute annulled trains, sleeper passengers bumped to coach, missing Sightseer Lounges, diners, and sleeping cars; reports are escalating after a summer of strategic neglect. Amtrak has the equipment to support a year round, daily long-distance network. Yet rumor has it that Amtrak's Washington D.C. based board of directors and executives have no intention of hiring maintenance and onboard crews to rectify the meltdown that began in October 2020. In fact, they may be counting on the meltdown to collect critical data to restructure the railroad.

 That restructuring may come sooner than you think. In September 2016, Amtrak hired Charles "Wick" Moorman, former Norfolk Southern Railroad CEO to replace a retiring Joseph Boardman. Current Amtrak CEO Stephen Gardner was already climbing the executive ladder at this point.

 Moorman clearly stated his stay would be short. The two issues he wanted to address were Amtrak's safety culture and to identify his successor. That successor came in July of 2017 with former Delta and Northwest Airlines CEO Richard Anderson.

 When Anderson took full control as CEO on January 1, 2018, he stated that Amtrak's long-distance network, "made no sense." He set about, possibly with insight from Gardner, to target the Southwest Chief with eventual discontinuance (does anyone remember the proposed Dodge City-Albuquerque 'bus bridge'?)

 A bipartisan, bicameral, group of federal lawmakers from Kansas, Colorado, and New Mexico turned back the internal attack. Yet, the pandemic provided Anderson and his lieutenant Gardner with a new opportunity. It was a crisis they apparently did not intend to waste.

 Anderson made no friends in Washington D.C. Just as the pandemic hit in March 2020, he resigned and Amtrak hired William Flynn of Atlas Airlines to run the company. The common denominators remained Gardner and Amtrak Board Chairman Anthony Coscia.

 A new strategy hatched. Mothball equipment, continue Anderson era layoffs and furloughs, and create a new self-imposed crisis with the pandemic as an excuse. Just as passengers began returning to long-distance trains, Flynn and Gardner made the decision in October 2020 to reduce daily long-distance train frequency to tri-weekly.

 Ever since, Amtrak has not had sufficient crews to restored mothballed Superliners to operational conditions or crews to staff them even if they were ready. This is despite three Congressional bailouts and laws passed that strongly encourage Amtrak to maintain system frequencies.

 Now Amtrak CEO Stephen Gardner, Amtrak President Roger Harris, and Amtrak Board Chairman Anthony Coscia have a more subtle and manageable crisis. This is another in a long line of crises they do not intend to waste.

 What is discouraging is Amtrak's regular patrons and advocacy are unwilling to uplift this crisis to their two U.S. Senators and U.S. Representative. Recall how President Abraham Lincoln described our government: Government of the People, by the People, and for the People. Said differently, you are ultimately in charge of Amtrak's structure, not President Biden, Congress, and certainly not Amtrak's board and executives.

 So why are you not taking your role seriously? We offer tools to help amplify our collective voices. Again, I have offered my services as a 21-year passenger rail advocate to assist with your messages. My email address is EvanStair@PassengerRailOK.org. Contact information for your senators and representatives is located at www.govtrack.us

Don't complain to Amtrak. Your complains will be stored in File 13.   Discuss your personal situation with representative government in Congress. We can fix this, but the onus is on you to uplift the issues.

Evan Stair
President
Passenger Rail Kansas
Passenger Rail Oklahoma



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/10/22 14:19 by GenePoon.

I've already posted this in another thread, but it bears repeating here:I think Congress has lots of distractions these past two years, many of which are frankly more urgent to most constituents than LD trains. 

I've said it before, but I think Amtrak's woes stem more from managerial incompetency and institutional/bureaucratic politics than a cynical conspiracy to destroy the LD network—but that's not to say such incompetency could significantly affect routes Amtrak leadership cares least about. As a federal employee in "the swamp," I've seen firsthand how such incompetency/politicy/bureaucracy gets in the way of providing decent service. 

Looking forward to my trip on the SW Chief later this month. Hopefully won't be my last one.

This happened today and Chestler showed up: (How nice of him)

https://www.masstransitmag.com/rail/infrastructure/press-release/21276840/amtrak-kansas-stations-receive-accessibility-improvements?fbclid=IwAR18_hkgYvoR16pOcsy6hYtHAEj5HoW6cx6Yg9D-a5gDfQ-306kXczznz6g

If not a conspiracy to kill the LD trains, then definitely fine letting them degrade to 3 car trains that run 3 times a week..

Ever the optimist, I sent the following to my 2 congressman and 1 representative (from California).  I always try to be short and to the point with people who consider themselves to the the "Big Dogs". 


This is a complaint about Amtrak and a request for Congress to take an interest in making sure Amtrak does its job. 
Amtrak is supposed to provide passenger rail service.  I had a trip reserved and paid for from Emeryville, California to Denver, Colorado on Aug 31, and return on Sept 6 , all on an Amtrak sleeper car. I have been watching the schedule keeping on this train all summer. It has been typically 1 to 4 hours or more late.  At least once, it was cancelled entirely with short or no notice to the passengers. 
So I went to the Amtrak website to cancel my trip, and found that the return leg of my trip had already been cancelled by Amtrak.  They never told me!   Would they have waited until the day of the trip to tell me?
I called Amtrak and cancelled the entire trip.  They charged a $250 cancellation fee. 
You need to take an interest in this government-supported “service”.  Congress has appropriated money for Amtrak to do its job, and in my experience Amtrak is NOT doing its job.  Please replace the Board of Directors and Chief Officers of Amtrak with people who represent the entire country (not just the Northeast) and who will do the job of running a railroad!
 

Lyell Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Ever the optimist, I sent the following to my 2
> congressman and 1 representative (from
> California).  I always try to be short and to the
> point with people who consider themselves to the
> the "Big Dogs". 
>
>
> This is a complaint about Amtrak and a request for
> Congress to take an interest in making sure Amtrak
> does its job. 
> Amtrak is supposed to provide passenger rail
> service.  I had a trip reserved and paid for from
> Emeryville, California to Denver, Colorado on Aug
> 31, and return on Sept 6 , all on an Amtrak
> sleeper car. I have been watching the schedule
> keeping on this train all summer. It has been
> typically 1 to 4 hours or more late.  At least
> once, it was cancelled entirely with short or no
> notice to the passengers. 
> So I went to the Amtrak website to cancel my trip,
> and found that the return leg of my trip had
> already been cancelled by Amtrak.  They never
> told me!   Would they have waited until the day
> of the trip to tell me?
> I called Amtrak and cancelled the entire trip. 
> They charged a $250 cancellation fee. 
> You need to take an interest in this
> government-supported “service”.  Congress has
> appropriated money for Amtrak to do its job, and
> in my experience Amtrak is NOT doing its job. 
> Please replace the Board of Directors and Chief
> Officers of Amtrak with people who represent the
> entire country (not just the Northeast) and who
> will do the job of running a railroad!
>  

I do not see where the train is canceled on September 6. The app may have been incorrect due to some sort of inventory change - I would agree that the reservation and technical side of things needs improvement to avoid erroneous cancellation notices in the app and other things as well as more timely cancellation notifications but it doesn’t seem like the train is canceled that day.

However I do have to say the cancellation fees are well spelled out in the cancellations/fees policy and you ultimately chose to cancel this trip for no reason other than fearing you may be late - ultimately that’s your choice of course but not really an emergency requiring them to waive fees that are spelled out. They do not charge change fees for altering the date (moving it forward if you have to reschedule the trip.)

1-4 hour delays are typical on long distance service - yes this summer the Zephyr and some other LD service has had bad luck on some days running much later including the cancellation you are referring to. While there have been some Amtrak caused delays the biggest problem has been delays due to the host freight railroads. If your expectation is a timely arrival within an hour of schedule I would suggest that overnight Amtrak travel isn’t for you - unless a big development is made in trying to improve OTP with the freight carriers.

Additionally in my opinion massively late trains due to freight delays make Amtrak caused delays more likely because the understaffed mechanical shops are in more of a rush to turn the train.

Delays of at least a couple hours are fairly routine and should be expected. The longer delays are a problem that needs to be resolved - but again if your expectation is an on time arrival within an hour of schedule go with another mode of transportation. Overnight Amtrak travel particularly out west does require a bit of patience, flexibility, and time - it’s a long route and a lot can happen to delay the train including a lot of factors that aren’t Amtrak’s fault and some that are. There’s certainly some warranted criticism on things Amtrak needs to improve - but it isn’t really fair to blame them for all the delays that occur.



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 08/11/22 04:06 by lordsigma.

Don't conflate their delays with their miserable customer service. Then consider the delays by their malfunctioning equipment they have chosen not to keep in working order. The Superliner refresh has ceased. But it's business as usual on the NEC - the trains are not 2 or 3 coaches, the Amfleet-'s are not sitting around on RIP tracks, the toilets mostly work, and the locomotives aren't dropping like flies, unlike the new locos in Chicago.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/11/22 04:49 by joemvcnj.

joemvcnj Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Don't conflate their delays with their miserable
> customer service. Then consider the delays by
> their malfunctioning equipment they have chosen
> not to keep in working order. The Superliner
> refresh has ceased. But it's business as usual on
> the NEC - the trains are not 2 or 3 coaches, the
> Amfleet-'s are not sitting around on RIP tracks,
> the toilets mostly work, and the locomotives
> aren't dropping like flies, unlike the new locos
> in Chicago.

Not sure why you think the Superliner refresh has ceased. Every Superliner coming up from Beech Grove in the past year has gone thru the refresh program;

DevalDragon Wrote:

> Not sure why you think the Superliner refresh has
> ceased. Every Superliner coming up from Beech
> Grove in the past year has gone thru the refresh
> program;

3 or 4 days ago, the Cardinal had 38066, 32000, 31005, 34030 in tow out of Beech Grove.  Diner, Sleeper, Coach Baggage, Coach. If they haven't gone thru a rehab program, some one certainly spit polished then.  They looked new.  Fresh black paint on the trucks, brand new wheel sets.  So it's obvious someone at Beech Grove is doing SOMETHING.  Or maybe they're just using them as fancy axle count cars. 

scraphauler Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> DevalDragon Wrote:
>
> > Not sure why you think the Superliner refresh
> has
> > ceased. Every Superliner coming up from Beech
> > Grove in the past year has gone thru the
> refresh
> > program;
>
> 3 or 4 days ago, the Cardinal had 38066, 32000,
> 31005, 34030 in tow out of Beech Grove.  Diner,
> Sleeper, Coach Baggage, Coach. If they haven't
> gone thru a rehab program, some one certainly spit
> polished then.  They looked new.  Fresh black
> paint on the trucks, brand new wheel sets.  So
> it's obvious someone at Beech Grove is doing
> SOMETHING.  Or maybe they're just using them as
> fancy axle count cars. 

WSDOT had a similar problem with Beech Grove of the Cascades F59s. Off to Beech Grove for refurb and conk out on one of the first couple of trips back...except for the ones that weren't still running when they got to Seattle.

Same scenario with the Surfliner Units, I'm like "Why send them for overhaul and the overhaul sucks!"