This Week at Amtrak; February 1, 2008

A weekly digest of events, opinions, and forecasts from
United Rail Passenger Alliance, Inc.
1526 University Boulevard, West, PMB 203
Jacksonville, Florida 32217-2006 USA
Telephone 904-636-7739, Electronic Mail info@unitedrail.org
http://www.unitedrail.org



Volume 5, Number 4



Founded over three decades ago in 1976, URPA is a nationally known policy institute that focuses on solutions and plans for passenger rail systems in North America. Headquartered in Jacksonville, Florida, URPA has professional associates in Minnesota, California, Arizona, New Mexico, the District of Columbia, Texas, and New York. For more detailed information, along with a variety of position papers and other documents, visit the URPA web site at http://www.unitedrail.org.


URPA is not a membership organization, and does not accept funding from any outside sources.


1) When we last left our thrilling story, we were all breathlessly waiting to hear whether or not Amtrak would reverse its stance on the annulment of the Coast Starlight on its entire 1,377 mile route because of a winter mudslide in January in a remote part of Oregon.

We have an update.

But, first, a review.

2) Here’s the Amtrak service disruption notice telling the world Amtrak was throwing in the towel temporarily on the Coast Starlight.

[Begin quote]

January 23, 2008
4:30 pm PST

Due to massive mudslides over railroad tracks north of Chemult, Oregon on January 19, Amtrak Coast Starlight service will be disrupted January 24 through January 31, with no alternate transportation provided. The Union Pacific Railroad has suspended all railroad traffic through the area.

As a result, the following operation plan is in effect:


The northbound Coast Starlight (Train 14) is canceled from Los Angeles to Seattle from January 24 through January 31*.

The southbound Coast Starlight (Train 11) is canceled from Seattle to Los Angeles from January 25 through February 1*.

*These dates may be extended.

Although the Coast Starlight is canceled in its entirety between Los Angeles and Seattle during this period, Amtrak does offer service on other trains and motorcoaches between Southern California and the Pacific Northwest. For travel throughout California, passengers may make motorcoach connections at Los Angeles Union Station to the San Joaquins train service for travel between Bakersfield and Sacramento/Oakland.

Passengers may also take the Pacific Surfliner trains between Los Angeles and San Luis Obispo. At San Luis Obispo, they may take a motorcoach connection to the Capitol Corridor train service in San Jose for travel to Sacramento/Auburn and points in between. Amtrak offers a motorcoach connection between Sacramento and Medford, Ore.

For travel throughout the Pacific Northwest, passengers may take the Amtrak Cascades service from Eugene, Ore. to Vancouver, BC.

Amtrak regrets any inconvenience. This information is correct as of the above time and date. Information is subject to change as conditions warrant. Passengers are encouraged to call 800-USA-RAIL or visit Amtrak.com for schedule information and train status updates.

[End quote]

As of Thursday, January 29th, Union Pacific is still saying it will reopen the line within a three week period. This is a monumental undertaking. However, alert readers will recall how fast and efficiently the UP replaced the burned bridge in California last year. UP has the will and knowhow to get this done. But, it appears the Starlight will not run in any capacity until the mudslide is cleared and the track is repaired in Oregon.

3) As reported in the last issue of TWA, Paul Dyson, long time URPA member and currently President of the Railroad Passenger Association of California and Nevada, wrote the following letter to Amtrak President and CEO Alex Kummant upon the announcement of Amtrak’s plans for annulling the Coast Starlight along its entire 1,377 mile route, traversing nearly the entire Left Coast of the United States from Seattle to Los Angeles.

[Begin quote]

RAIL PASSENGER ASSOCIATION OF CALIFORNIA

22nd January, 2008

Mr. Alex Kummant
President and Chief Executive Officer
NATIONAL RAILROAD PASSENGER CORPORATION
60 Massachusetts Avenue NE
Washington DC 20002

SUSPENSION OF COAST STARLIGHT SERVICE

Dear Mr. Kummant:

After our meeting last March in Los Angeles rail advocates on the west coast felt optimistic that there is a new, more businesslike attitude at Amtrak, and that we could look forward to a new era of customer service and a determination to protect the franchise. I am therefore very distressed to learn that your company proposes to suspend Coast Starlight service throughout its entire length because of a mudslide in central Oregon. Although your managers may be telling you that there is an opportunity to save operating cash during this off peak season, you are making a very big mistake by suspending service in California.

The California Transportation Commission meets February 14 to decide, amongst other issues, whether to fund a menu of rail projects approved by the voters last year with Proposition 1B. Included in this list is $25 million for signal and track improvements on the Coast line, as well as a number of investments in the state-supported corridors. In view of your stated objective to build partnerships with the states, the timing of your demonstration of the unreliability of passenger rail on one of your most popular routes could not be worse.

I have just spent this past 4 days in San Luis Obispo at a meeting of the Coast Rail Coordinating Council and at a RailPAC sponsored public meeting. At the CRCC, representatives from all the counties between L.A. and the Bay area continue to express support for expanded rail service. They plan to lobby the CTC meeting in favor of the $25 million for the Coast. The RailPAC meeting attracted over 50 residents who came to learn about how passenger rail can provide improved mobility for residents and attract tourists and their dollars. I was guest on a local talk radio station Friday evening and the callers were unanimous in their support for rail, with one caveat; poor reliability. All the goodwill generated by the efforts of our group and of those public officials who support passenger rail will be devalued by your opportunistic decision to save a few operating dollars.

This should be a busy season on the Coast Starlight, at least in California. The weather is temperate and there are hotel rooms available especially midweek. You should be promoting midweek packages especially for overseas tourists, not canceling trains. And don’t let your people tell you that trains 798/799 provide a substitute. These ghastly trains, with their sad Horizon equipment, third world schedules, leaving L.A. too early to make a San Diego connection, and bus service north of San Luis Obispo, are NOT an acceptable substitute for the Coast Starlight.

I strongly recommend that you review this decision. I realize that reconfiguring schedules in these circumstances takes time and effort. That’s why you have managers. I realize that some passengers will cancel their trips and you will lose some revenue. But you will lose far more in goodwill and credibility if you take the easy way out and cancel the trains. So do some low cost local advertising on the Coast, with coupons, suspend the reservations only requirement, and use this as an opportunity to introduce your service to some new customers.

I hope to hear from you soon that you have reversed your decision.

Yours faithfully,

Paul J. Dyson, President

[End quote]

4) Let’s further review the facts, as present in the last issue of TWA. The track-blocking, Coast Starlight-stopping mudslide is located approximately at Chemult, Oregon, only 432 miles into the southbound run of the Starlight. Regional Amtrak Cascades daily service extends south from Seattle (it actually begins in Vancouver, British Columbia in Canada) 310 of the 432 Starlight route miles to Eugene, Oregon. It’s about a 10 ½ hour run from Seattle south to Chemult.

Coming north, Chemult is a full 945 route miles from the Los Angeles terminal. That part of the run takes 23 ½ hours, and includes such heavy-hitter stations in California as Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo, Salinas, San Jose, Oakland, Emeryville (both Oakland and Emeryville handle passengers transferring to San Francisco across the bay), Martinez, Davis, Sacramento, Chico, Redding, and Dunsmuir (Mount Shasta). In Oregon, Klamath Falls is also south of Chemult.

By blanking the entire run of the Coast Starlight, Amtrak is automatically saying how unimportant these stations are to the functioning of its national system, and substitute regional service will have to make do.

5) Amtrak President and CEO Alex Kummant replied to Mr. Dyson’s original letter on January 28th. Here is Mr. Kummant’s reply.

[Begin quote]

Mr. Paul J. Dyson
President
Rail Passenger Association of California
1008 10th Street, Suite 217
Sacramento, California 95814

Dear Mr. Dyson,

Thank you for your letter of January 22 regarding your concerns with the temporary cessation of Coast Starlight service. As you are aware, the Union Pacific Railroad (UPRR) mainline across the Cascade Range has been closed because of a significant landslide at Coyote Mountain, which is between Chemult and Eugene, Oregon.

The Coast Starlight is one of our premier services and ranks highly among our long-distance services in terms of ridership and revenue. That said, this time of year, late January and February, is in relative terms the seasonal low point for ridership on this train. When the landslide at Coyote Mountain occurred on January 19, it was difficult to obtain from UPRR a reliable estimate of the extent of the damage and the duration of track closure, for reasons outlined below. In fact, the duration of track closure is still unclear at this time.

Initial reports from UPRR on January 19 indicated that an area about 0.8 miles in length was covered with 4-10 feet of debris, but that the line might reopen within two or three days. We immediately instituted a bus bridge between Klamath Falls and Portland to accommodate passengers who already were en route. On January 19, this resulted in a 9 hour delay for northbound passengers and a nearly 6 hour delay for southbound passengers, though delays caused by the bus bridge were reduced over following days.

Late in the day on January 20, UPRR provided Amtrak with an updated track repair estimate of two or three weeks. The damage report was more significant than earlier reported, covering parts of a segment 14 miles in length, with areas of track buried in 15 feet of debris, and with continued movement of soil in the area. The location is in a very remote, steeply sloped area with minimal road access. On January 21, the bus bridge resulted in a 1 hour delay for northbound passengers and a 19 minute delay for southbound passengers. We decided to continue the bus bridge for three more days (January 22, 23, and 24), but then annul the Coast Starlight in its entirely, including the bus bridge, through February 1.

This decision was made after careful consideration of projected passenger counts and revenues, compared to bus bridge costs and added employee-related expenses, particularly relocation of Mechanical forces to Klamath Falls to turn and service the train set that would terminate there if the service continued to operate during this extended track outage. The bus bridge costs are not insignificant, approximately $12,000-$15,000 a day. We also considered that, as stated above, usage of the Coast Starlight in late January is less than at other times of the year, and the challenges presented by running stub trains and bus bridges, especially in winter.

We carefully evaluated all of these factors and looked at every opportunity available to us, including talking to the BNSF Railway, which has a potential detour route via Wishram, Washington, and Bend, Oregon. This detour proved not to be practical due to its 49-mph top speeds and the many UPRR freight trains already diverted to it because of the track outage.

We also considered whether to operate separate stub trains on the northern and southern extremes of the route. Again, given the season and other factors, we found that running the stub trains made no sense for the period through February 1. In the north, parallel Cascades service has ample space this time of year to carry additional passengers. Also, the northbound Coast Starlight carries no local passengers north of Eugene.

In the south, we found that ridership on the Coast Starlight that is local to the Los Angeles-Sacramento segment is light during this season and could be diverted temporarily to the state’s network of corridor trains and Thruway buses fo the period through February 1. For example, there is Pacific Surfliner service from Los Angeles to San Luis Obispo and Capitol Corridor service from San Jose to Sacramento, connected by Thruway bus service. Also, passengers to and from Los Angeles can use connecting Thruway bus and San Joaquin train service via Bakersfield. During this current two-week period, we will have the chance to talk with Caltrans about other bussing options to bride parts of this route. You raised a number of arguments in favor of marketing a stub train along the coast route within California. However, keeping in mind that our decision was made on January 21 with a hope of restoring service early in February, a process of prudent planning and analysis of the sort of service that you have suggested would likely have taken as long as the service outage lasted.

That said, UPRR has not yet given us a firm indication of when the line in Oregon will reopen. February is a relatively weaker period for the Coast Starlight, but ridership historically increases heading into March and April. You can be assured that we want to reinstitute the service as quickly as possible. Given the information available to us, we believe that the decision we made was the correct one. We expect within the next two weeks, the service options available to us will become clearer, and that a more definite path to full recovery will be found. We will keep the public informed as we make any such determinations.

Sincerely,

Alex Kummant
President and Chief Executive Office
Amtrak

6) As of 2 P.M. PST, Thursday, January 31st, this was Amtrak’s service disruption notice on its web site.

[Begin quote]

Service Alert: Coast Starlight Service Disruption Continues — Train Service Suspended Due to Massive Mudslides Across Railroad Tracks North of Chemult, Oregon


January 31, 2008
2:00 pm PST

Due to massive mudslides over railroad tracks north of Chemult, Oregon on January 19, the Amtrak Coast Starlight service continues through February 15, with no alternate transportation provided. The Union Pacific Railroad has suspended all railroad traffic through the area.

As a result, the following operation plan is in effect:


The northbound Coast Starlight (Train 14) is canceled from Los Angeles to Seattle through February 14*.

The southbound Coast Starlight (Train 11) is canceled from Seattle to Los Angeles through February 15*.

*These dates may be extended.

Other Amtrak trains and Thruway Motorcoaches operate between Southern California and Northern California and in the Pacific Northwest.

For travel throughout California, passengers may take the San Joaquins service between Los Angeles and Sacramento/Oakland. Passengers may also take the Pacific Surfliner trains between Los Angeles and San Luis Obispo and the Capitol Corridor train service from San Jose to Sacramento/Auburn and points in between.

For travel throughout the Pacific Northwest, passengers may take the Amtrak Cascades service from Eugene, Ore. to Vancouver, BC.

Passengers can contact Amtrak for alternate schedule and travel information.

Amtrak regrets any inconvenience. This information is correct as of the above time and date. Information is subject to change as conditions warrant. Passengers are encouraged to call 800-USA-RAIL or visit Amtrak.com for schedule information and train status updates.

[End quote]


7) Mr. Dyson, never one to stray from a spirited discussion, immediately dashed off another letter to Mr. Kummant. Here is Mr. Dyson’s reply to Mr. Kummant.

[Begin quote]

January 29, 2008

Mr. Alex Kummant
President and CEO
National Railroad Passenger Corporation
60 Massachusetts Avenue, N.E.
Washington, DC 20002

Via fax

COAST STARLIGHT SUSPENSION

Dear Mr. Kummant:

Thank you for your letter of yesterday replying to my concerns about the Coast Starlight. While your response is an excellent tour d’horizon of the circumstances leading to your decision, it contains no real response to the key issues. What is more important to Amtrak, preserving your franchise, providing transportation in accordance with or substituting for your advertised schedules, and preserving thirty years of painstakingly accumulated political goodwill, OR saving a few thousands of dollars each day in operating expenses? It is facile to state that ridership is light, with the inference that therefore providing service is not very important. One could well argue that such light loads should be rectified by better marketing and pricing, but in any event that is beside the point. The point is you have an obligation to provide service, or at least as much service as you possibly can, and I have no doubt that your line managers are capable of rising to the occasion.

On the political front your people will no doubt have told you that ALL expenditure, including the intercity rail budget, is under severe threat here in California. Whether we agree or not your announced policy is to develop “corridors” in partnership with the states. California is the poster child for this process having spent over $1 billion of California tax dollars on its rail programs. Over the next few weeks lawmakers will be fighting over the budget, the end result of which may well be cuts in the state rail corridor services. How can you have been so ill-advised as to annul the state’s premier north-south long distance train at just the time when rail advocates and pro-rail policy makers are trying to sell the state rail program as having relevance to our transportation needs? If you lose California as a corridor partner your entire policy is in shambles.

Regarding diverting passengers to the state rail and bus network, the irony is that for 36 hours I-5 was closed north of Los Angeles, meaning that the Bakersfield/San Joaquin service was not an option. In any event, rail passengers regard buses as a poor substitute for a one-seat train ride. I cannot accept that the “prudent planning and analysis” required for a one train a day service should take more than day or two, nor do I accept that “the challenges presented by running stub trains and bus bridges, especially in winter,” are so much greater than normal operations. You sell your people short by saying so. Indeed you give the lie to that statement by reporting that the bus bridge bedded in quite well on day two. Probably the bus ride between Eugene and Klamath Falls is measurably quicker than the train.

Given what is happening with the Sunset, the Crescent and now the Coast Starlight, RailPAC will inevitably come to the conclusion that there is once again a concerted attempt to shut down the long distance network by driving away passengers with these extended annulments. You are either in business to run these trains and provide the advertised service, or not. The public deserves an honest answer.

Yours faithfully,


Paul J. Dyson
President

[End quote]

As of press time for this edition of TWA, no response from Mr. Kummant to Mr. Dyson has been forthcoming. As developments warrant, we will keep you informed.

8) One important note: If you purchase your Amtrak tickets through a travel agency (If you can find a travel agency which still sells Amtrak tickets), be sure to inquire about purchasing an independent trip insurance package, which covers interruptions of trips and other events which may affect travel. Amtrak is no longer a sure bet for reliable travel.



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United Rail Passenger Alliance, Inc.
1526 University Boulevard, West, PMB 203
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Telephone 904-636-7739
brucerichardson@unitedrail.org
http://www.unitedrail.org