Passenger Trains > Why Speculate?

Why are we always speculating on how many cars Amtrak has tied up in heavy maintenance, lite maintenance, storage, wrecks, etc....?

Shouldn't NARP or our congress have enough clout to require Amtrak to provide monthly or quarterly reports on the status of car types?  The American tax payer has paid for those cars for the most part and it makes sense that Amtrak should be accountable enough to provide a regular status report. 
Same thing goes with employee count:  Monthly or quarterly report on number of employees, leaves, vacancies, etc... - this too will hold Amtrak accountable to get to pre-pandemic levels.  We the American taxpayer needs our congress to press for this information and require Amtrak to provide a plan to that can be tracked.  All of these metrics should be tracked and compared to pre-pandemic levels.

It's time for Amtrak to be transparent on why trains are short of cars and employees; thus affecting revenues which can off-set some of the subsidy costs.  



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/22/22 04:51 by amtrakbill.

I agree 100%

Very sensible. Accountability is needed in any organization, particularly one which is at the least very stressed, and at worst being mismanaged. Those of us here on TO who have been managers know this from hard experience. Difficult times can be the very ones where accountability in solving identified problems and meeting goals for their correction is most critically needed.

A call for better accountability and transparency has been an element in messages I have been preparing for my elected representatives, to be sent soon. Your thoughts will strengthen that section. Thank you.

MC

Amtrak management will not become more transparent -- they DARE NOT BE.

If Gardner were transparent about the stored cars at Beech Grove -- he would have to say something like:

"If I repair these cars, I will increase costs.  My bonus is based on cutting costs.  Revenue and ridership growth
are not important to me, because my personal income is NOT based on growth or service expansion."

Given this -- can we reasonably expect transparency from Gardner (or their invisible President--Roger Harris)?





 

ronald321 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Amtrak management will not become more transparent
> -- they DARE NOT BE.
>
> If Gardner were transparent about the stored cars
> at Beech Grove -- he would have to say something
> like:
>
> "If I repair these cars, I will increase costs. 
> My bonus is based on cutting costs.  Revenue and
> ridership growth
> are not important to me, because my personal
> income is NOT based on growth or service
> expansion."
>
> Given this -- can we reasonably expect
> transparency from Gardner (or their invisible
> President--Roger Harris)?

It's not like Amtrak has the employees, parts and shop capacity to magically fix these cars...

Outsource the work to outside contractors if they can't complete repairs in a timely manner.

SpringedSwitch Wrote:

> It's not like Amtrak has the employees, parts and
> shop capacity to magically fix these cars..
===============================

Sorry but this sounds like it was posted by a company-planted lurker. The issue here is not whether Amtrak's myriad woes can be fixed overnight, but about transparency. The issue is that doing so might expose how many of these ills are self-inflicted or worse, self-serving on the part of bonusing upper management.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/22/22 08:01 by GenePoon.

SpringedSwitch

How do you know they don't have the parts?  Has Gardner claimed this?

And if there really is a worker shortage --it would still not be to
Gardner's advantage to hire anyone.  This would increase cost and jeopardize 
future bonuses.

To be honest - I understand Gardner's rational.  who among us would give us the huge
bonuses he gets--just to repair stored cars.


 

GenePoon Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> SpringedSwitch Wrote:
>
> > It's not like Amtrak has the employees, parts
> and
> > shop capacity to magically fix these cars..
> ===============================
>
> Sorry but this sounds like it was posted by a
> company-planted lurker. The issue here is not
> whether Amtrak's myriad woes can be fixed
> overnight, but about transparency. The issue is
> that doing so might expose how many of these ills
> are self-inflicted or worse, self-serving on the
> part of bonusing upper management.

Sorry. I missed that part in the tirade about management bonuses.

Accountability in government? I'm waiting for the punchline...and don't hold your breath.

JG

As I see it right now mangament is guilty by omission, no transparency at all. Without tying to sound like a broken record if we go back to the SWC fiasco Gardner was guilty of lying and embellishments. I honestly don't see any hope of reforming this management or BOD for that matter. They need to go, the excuses are never ending. The first chance they get they will gut the system. For those that say look at the traditional dining they "brought" back, etc. Lets see how much they say it's costing them next time are before Congress. My bet is again costs will be embellished ridiculously. Just like Amtrak claims it snows in Miami 🤦‍♂️.

64Chevelle Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Outsource the work to outside contractors if they
> can't complete repairs in a timely manner.

Sure, but that still takes money they don't have.

The money IS there they just have to ask for it.

United Airlines spokesman boasted on the CBS evening news Tuesday night, of hiring 15,000 employees in the last year, to ramp up for the Thanksgiving rush!

Just wait, this is coming....

Gardner, Corsica, et al., will take a victory lap after the holidays, as Amtk will show a profit from running shorter trains and having less employees.    The no nothings in congress will shower them with accolades and more bonus money.

Gets back to the same question...what is Amtraks mission....to make money or be a public service?

mp51w Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> United Airlines spokesman boasted on the CBS
> evening news Tuesday night, of hiring 15,000
> employees in the last year, to ramp up for the
> Thanksgiving rush!

United Airlines has a depth of human resources people and process that Amtrak simply does not have, and probably never has had. That's why the Amtrak Inspector General several months ago called attention to the challenge of Amtrak's steep curve for hiring, and questioned their abilities to meet it.

And for United, even with the depth that they have, it had to have been challenging for for them to hire 15,000 new people in the last year. That's a big number for any organization, particularly when many if not all of those positions are subject to stiff federal regulatory requirements that particularly affect onboarding and training.

This is not to criticize Amtrak's HR department. It's just to say that they are in HR, as in so many aspects, seriously under-resourced, and they always have been. As an unsuccessful applicant, I've had substantial contact with them. I was treated far, far better as an applicant with them, and experienced a much better overall hiring process, than with many other much larger corporations and entities who had much larger HR staffs and more extensive process and depth, including the Class 1 freight railroads. The details are a long story for another time. But Amtrak HR was, quite honestly, a pleasure to work with.

MC

You guys are nuts if you think that Amtrak is gonna magically come clean and show their cards just because someone important asks them to.  All they know is lies and deceit and big bonuses.  Now that someone other than just railfans is onto their game though, they're probably planning their exit strategy.

Another thing: does anybody remember the old saying, "Do not feed the trolls?"  One of the regular posters on this forum is a troll and loves nothing more than to ruffle all the Amtrak lovers' feathers.  Take his remarks with a grain of salt.  It appears to me to be a bit more than coincidental that shortly after Deval Dragon left the new guy showed up.

Andy

AndyBrown Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> You guys are nuts if you think that Amtrak is
> gonna magically come clean and show their cards
> just because someone important asks them to.  All
> they know is lies and deceit and big bonuses. 
> Now that someone other than just railfans is onto
> their game though, they're probably planning their
> exit strategy.
>
> Another thing: does anybody remember the old
> saying, "Do not feed the trolls?"  One of the
> regular posters on this forum is a troll and loves
> nothing more than to ruffle all the Amtrak lovers'
> feathers.  Take his remarks with a grain of
> salt.  It appears to me to be a bit more than
> coincidental that shortly after Deval Dragon left
> the new guy showed up.

Where are all these "Amtrak lovers?"  Certainly not here on Trainorder's passenger board where nearly every thread is bashing Amtrak...

mp51w Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> United Airlines spokesman boasted on the CBS evening news Tuesday night,
> of hiring 15,000 employees in the last year, to ramp up for the Thanksgiving rush!

How many employees left and were replaced by those 15,000 in the past year?

It is a good brag ... but if they did not increase the number of full time employees on payroll by 15,000 it is a misleading number. It would also be good to compare total employment levels vs pre-pandemic numbers.

justalurker66 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> mp51w Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > United Airlines spokesman boasted on the CBS
> evening news Tuesday night,
> > of hiring 15,000 employees in the last year, to
> ramp up for the Thanksgiving rush!
>
> How many employees left and were replaced by those
> 15,000 in the past year?
>
> It is a good brag ... but if they did not increase
> the number of full time employees on payroll by
> 15,000 it is a misleading number. It would also be
> good to compare total employment levels vs
> pre-pandemic numbers.

Honestly, I never thought for a second that the 15,000 were anything other than replacements for those who had left during the pandemic for whatever reason. I'm amazed that you would think otherwise. Lots of organizations had significant attrition during the pandemic. Yes, some of it was encouraged (offers of early retirement, for example), some forced (outright layoffs). But a lot was voluntary too, particularly for older workers. And United has been cited for its efforts, using government aid programs in part, to retain key employees who are more difficult to hire and who have steeper training paths because of specialized knowledge, like aircraft mechanics. That was to "bounce back" better as the pandemic waned. Something which Amtrak appears to have failed to do at Beech Grove, helping to exacerbate the equipment problem that it has.

United could not have possibly expanded its business enough to need 15,000 new employees if everyone had stayed during the pandemic, and they were only addressing "natural attrition" through regular retirements and resignations and terminations for cause. Sorry, it's more than a "good brag". By the way, I do not work for United and am not a stockholder, have no family or friends who work for them, nor an I even a regular passenger of theirs.

MC