This Week at Amtrak; May 22, 2009

This Week at Amtrak; May 22, 2009

A weekly digest of events, opinions, and forecasts from

United Rail Passenger Alliance, Inc.
America’s foremost passenger rail policy institute

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 6, Number 14

Founded over three decades ago in 1976, URPA is a nationally known policy institute which 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, New York, and other cities. 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) It’s the “little things” that often start the biggest stories. Progressive Railroading Online featured a story on May 19th about Amtrak launching construction on the much-needed new Auto Train station in Sanford, Florida. The story went on for four paragraphs talking about this new $10 million facility being paid for with federal stimulus fund monies.

It was the last line in the last paragraph which really matters the most. “Amtrak plans to seek other places throughout the country where it can launch other Auto Train services.”

Wow.

Auto Train, in concept and operation, has consistently been a winner, and has huge potential. Apparently, now that Amtrak is out of full-retreat mode, it thinks so, too.

Today’s Auto Train, with daily service between the Washington, D.C. suburb of Lorton, Virginia, and the Orlando suburb of Sanford, has a “cost recovery” ratio at the farebox of 121%, in Amspeak. In the real world, it makes a profit. The current load factor for the Auto Train is 63.6%, up from 50% where it was for years. Considering this train has no intermediate stops, 63.6% makes this train – even though it is (gasp!) profitable – underperforming. Mostly this is due to seasonal migration of cold-weather states denizens and Canadians coming to the warmth of Florida, or those same people escaping our intolerable heat and humidity of the summer for the cooling breezes of northern climates.

Yes, we need more of this, and good for Amtrak to be looking for other route opportunities.

2) The saga of SunRail in Central Florida continues, with its supporters racing to a deadline of June 30, 2009 with CSX to close the deal, even though the Florida Senate would not vote to approve the deal week in early May. SunRail supporters are looking for a way around the Florida Senate to get the project going. This should be an interesting exercise in government creativity. Despite the fact every leftie in and out of Florida wanted to paint CSX – the current owner of the tracks SunRail will hopefully travel upon after the tracks are sold to SunRail – as evil, money-grubbing, anti-American, anti-human, anti-everything, no rational person can blame CSX for looking for an outcome that will best benefit the company and its shareholders. Everyone seems to forget railroads are not public utilities, but private businesses which have a primary responsibility to create benefits and profits for owners. Anyone who believes CSX should not live up to that responsibility in the best way it can is living in a dreamland.

But, now, some thoughts on Amtrak and some opportunities to prove it’s really an organization dedicated to the proliferation of passenger rail and being an honest provider of transportation, not just dedicated to extracting maximum rents from gullible public agencies.

3) For an exercise, suppose you are a planner in Amtrak’s planning department. Suppose your goal was to harvest the low hanging fruit of opportunities, where passenger train service could be expanded with minimum impact on the need for additional equipment, the establishment of new stations, or blazing new trails, but “closing gaps” in the national system and expansion based on sound matrix theories. What are your obvious choices?

That question has a number of good answers, but we’re going to focus on several easy choices, including extending the Palmetto south from Savannah, Georgia to Jacksonville, Florida; pushing the former Kansas City Mule/current Missouri River Runner services to Omaha, Nebraska; extending the California Zephyr from Emeryville, California to Los Angeles, taking the Silver Meteor, Silver Star, and Crescent to Boston; extending the Capitol Limited to Florida; and turning the pretty-much wasted Heartland Flyer into a real route, extending it on both ends to form a Chicago-Oklahoma City-Fort Worth-San Antonio route.

4) In the 1980s, at the instigation of United Rail Passenger Alliance, the Amtrak Board of Directors granted an experimental program extending the New York-Savannah Palmetto route to Jacksonville, Florida, an additional 148 miles that includes the route of the Silver Meteor and Silver Star. Ostensibly, the Palmetto hauled some U.S. Mail, but the extension mostly benefitted passengers.

Originally, the Amtrak planning department opposed the move, saying the only traffic which would be picked up by an extended Palmetto was local traffic between Jacksonville and Savannah, never taking into account the realities of extra frequencies and how much of a traffic generator going from two trains a day to three trains a day produces. The extension started off with a bang, and much to the dismay of Amtrak planners, Jacksonville passengers wanted to go other places than just Jesup, Georgia or Savannah, they wanted to travel to every station along the route, even all the way to New York City! The extension did well for a period of time, and then came the realignment of Florida service, and the Palmetto was extended to Tampa, and given a new name, the Silver Palm. Despite a number of changes, the train continued to do well for over a decade, until yet another realignment and cuts, including the end of Amtrak Express and mail haulage, which was big business for the Silver Palm (Remember, Amtrak managers are judged on how much money they save in a budget, not how much revenue they produce.), and the Silver Palm went away, and the Palmetto returned, this time only to Savannah. The reason, as quoted by an Amtrak spokesman, was Savannah produced better crew turns than Jacksonville, so the train ended there instead of Jacksonville.

Essentially, Amtrak said the needs of passengers were not important, but the needs of the operating department were paramount.

Moving the southern terminus of the Palmetto would cost relatively little; there is already the required crew base in Jacksonville for the train and engine crew and the onboard services crew, no extra equipment would be required, and the only inconvenience would be abolishing the car cleaner jobs in Savannah and moving those jobs to Jacksonville. Also, the hours the Jacksonville station is open would need to be extended. So, the 296 extra train miles a day, and a few extra hours for the Jacksonville station to be opened are the only large considerations. The route matrix of stations increases from 20 stations (including terminals) to 22 stations, adding Jesup, Georgia and Jacksonville. The possible city pair combinations leap from 190 city pairs with 20 stations to 231 city pairs with 22 stations, nicely increasing the travel possibilities. In the final days before the Palmetto was extended to Tampa and renamed the Silver Palm, it was not unusual for the Palmetto to board up to 40 or more northbound passengers in Jacksonville on a daily basis.

As reported in the last edition of TWA, Amtrak says the Palmetto has a cost recovery ratio of 96%; no doubt, with the additional addition of the two new stops that ratio would easily go into the black, which would make the Palmetto profitable, even under Amtrak’s arcane accounting system. The Palmetto has a 51.3% load factor, using only two train sets of one club-dinette, four coaches, and one baggage car.

To recap:

– No extra equipment
– Only 148 additional route miles in each direction
– No extra train and engine crews or onboard services staff (T&E crews on the Silver Meteor already run between Jacksonville and Florence, South Carolina, where the Palmetto’s southernmost crews board on their way to Savannah.)
– Minimal costs to keep the Jacksonville station open longer hours
– Southbound and northbound schedule can remain as is with additional time added in the evening and the morning to accommodate run to Jacksonville
– City pair combination possibilities jump from 190 to 231 city pairs
– Increased frequency makes train travel more attractive for every city along the route because two more stations have been added, including the Jacksonville metropolitan area market of over 1 million souls

What’s not to like about this proposal?

5) Amtrak’s Missouri River Runner, the service with the snappy new name instead of the older Kansas City Mule, operating between St. Louis and Kansas City, Missouri via Sedalia is an opportunity to turn a local, state supported service (Illinois, are you listening?) into a regional service connecting three of Amtrak’s long distance routes with a simple extension. Take the River Runners to Omaha, Nebraska, thereby creating a route from St. Louis to Kansas City to Omaha. The extension would be less than 200 miles, and, with some clever scheduling, would tie together for hubbing the routes of the California Zephyr, Southwest Chief, and Texas Eagle. But, really, if you’re going to be aggressive about this, run the trains all the way from St. Louis to Chicago on the Texas Eagle route (Or, for extra credit, be really creative and go beyond the Texas Eagle route and bring the trains into Chicago on the City of New Orleans route, therefore connecting four, instead of three, long distance routes.).

Too many of Amtrak’s current routes begin and end a hubs like Chicago or Los Angeles, but you “can’t get there from here” from anywhere but endpoint hubs, making Amtrak virtually useless for anyone who dares to want to travel in anything but a straight line.

The current fad (as in, hopefully, will go away, like all fads) for Amtrak is to milk money from state governments to run trains which come to a screeching halt at state borders. There is no thought of federalism, or (horrors!) of reducing costs to states (after all, it’s only taxpayer money) by extending state routes and turning them into regional routes. Taking the Missouri River Runners and letting them sprint all of the way from Omaha to Kansas City to St. Louis (and, even into Chicago) creates viable regional connections which provide feeder service from one long distance route to other long distance routes.

Today’s Kansas City-St. Louis service, despite having two daily frequencies, boasts of a depressing 37.4% load factor, carrying 151,700 passengers a year, or just 104 passengers on average per departure. That 37.4% load factor, believe it or not, is based on a train consist of two Horizon coaches and one club-dinette car for one train consist, and three Horizon coaches for the other train consist. Train consists this small are designed for failure and constant government dependance.

If you’re comfortable spending other peoples’ money, and not really caring about financial accountability, it doesn’t matter to you what kind of load factor trains have, just as long as trains run on a route. The three routes involved with hubbing in this concept, the California Zephyr, Southwest Chief, and Texas Eagle, all have better than average load factors, but all have room for improvement. The Zephyr’s is the lowest, at 52.3%, followed by the Chief and Eagle, both at 63.8%. While technically a long distance route is sold out at 65%, both of these trains today are suffering from short equipment consists, so adding a single car to each consist could produce a great amount of revenue for new travelers with better hubbing opportunity and a greater number of city pair combinations.

To recap:

– Create a regional route connecting three (or four) major long distance routes for greater hubbing and matrix benefits; a poor performing, state sponsored route expands into a greater money maker and provides more transportation output
– Route extension is less than 200 miles

6) The extension of the California Zephyr from Emeryville, California southward to Los Angeles was a favorite of the late Adrian Herzog, Ph.D., one of URPA’s early luminaries. Dr. Herzog, who was considered one of the country’s best computer modelers for passenger train routes (He was an astrophysicist/rocket scientist by trade.), considered the addition of an overnight run down the Coast Starlight route on the very western edge of California to have huge money-making potential.

Today’s California Zephyr westbound arrives in Emeryville, California from Chicago everyday at 5:10 P.M., and departs eastbound the next morning at 9:10 A.M.

The Coast Starlight makes the run between Emeryville and Los Angeles in just a tad over 12 hours. Adding that travel time onto the schedule of the Zephyr, plus allowing from some station dwell time, would permit the westbound Zephyr to depart Emeryville at 6 P.M., and arrive in Los Angeles before the morning rush hour, anywhere from 6:30 to 7:30 A.M. Departing eastbound, the Zephyr could depart Los Angeles in the middle of the evening sometime beyond 7:30 P.M., and be in Emeryville for the scheduled departure back to Chicago at 9:10 A.M., allowing a full 12 hours in Los Angeles for the train to be cleaned and maintained, all during daylight hours.

One extra train set would be required for this extension. The major benefit from this extension would be a full second frequency, offering overnight service, between Los Angeles and the San Francisco Bay Area, two giant California markets. Not only would this relieve some pressure from the Coast Starlight, but it would also increase travel possibilities, opening up a huge vista of passenger opportunities.

The city pair combinations for single train travel skyrocket from 561 city pairs on the current California Zephyr route to 946 city pair possibilities when you add the 10 stations in California south of Emeryville and down to Los Angeles. The California Zephyr has a load factor of 52.3%, with plenty of room to grow. It runs with one baggage car, one transition dorm/sleeper, two sleepers, one lounge car, a diner, and three coaches.

To recap:

– One extra trainset
– Second frequency, providing desirable overnight service on a highly popular route with high revenue potential on a full service train
– No new stations, but many stations will have to extend hours for an overnight stop
– Two additional train and engine crews, one additional onboard services crew
– Allows California Zephyr to have turn maintenance and restocking at full Los Angeles maintenance base instead of smaller maintenance base in Emeryville
– Existing California Zephyr schedule remains as is, with additional running added before and after present schedule times

7) Moving the northern terminus of the Silver Meteor, Silver Star, and Crescent from New York City to Boston isn’t really much of a stretch. Today’s Meteor arrives from Miami in New York City at 11:38 A.M., and returns to Miami at 3:15 P.M. The Silver Star arrives from Miami in New York City at 7:16 P.M. and returns the next morning, departing Penn Station southbound at 10:52 A.M. The northbound Crescent arrives in New York at 2:06 P.M., and departs southbound the next day at 2:15 P.M. It’s obvious too many trains are sitting for too long in Sunnyside Yard in New York; the Meteor, Star, and Crescent each use four full consists under today’s scheduling.

Take the whole bunch, and push them each to Boston, including the Lake Shore Limited, while keeping the separate Boston section, but setting it up as it’s own Boston-Chicago train as a second frequency between Boston, Albany/Rensselaer, and Chicago. All cities along the Northeast Corridor are horribly under served by Amtrak trains going east-west. It would require no extra equipment for any of these trains.

Boston is already servicing the Boston section sleepers of the Lake Shore, and has a full turn maintenance base today, so moving each of these trains to Boston from New York will only impact the onboard services crews of the Lake Shore and Crescent, as the Meteor and Star are staffed by the Miami Crew Base.

Since all of the track on the NEC between New York and Boston is either owned by Amtrak or Metro North, pushing these trains north is not a major consideration, and each train can keep its current schedule, just adding time before and after the current schedule for running between Boston and New York.

Amtrak for decades has had an unsavory habit, except during the Christmas season, of running long distance trains on the NEC as “receive” or “discharge” only, preventing local business between New York and Washington. No matter what excuse may be given about time keeping, quick movement on the corridor, or, Amtrak’s favorite – the dog ate its homework – the only reason this is done is to funnel local revenue to Acela and Northeast regional trains instead of the long distance trains. With proper yield management in place, this receive/discharge system could be abolished, and passengers wishing to travel on a full service train with a complete dining car and private sleeping car accommodations could be filling empty spaces (particularly northbound) on these trains and adding to both food and beverage revenues and accommodations up charge revenues.

As with other routes, the city pair combinations for same train service, by adding either the Shore Route or the Inland Route between Hartford, Connecticut and Boston go up dramatically.

On the matter of sending the Lake Shore from Penn Station in New York directly to Boston, this merely creates a desirable “L” shaped route, which suddenly provides the passengers along the New York-Boston section of the NEC with more travel choices without having to change trains.

On the other side of the coin, by creating a new train between Boston and Chicago via Albany/Rensselaer (such as the old New York Central train, the New England States), this ploy requires only additional dining cars, and, most likely, more coaches to keep up with the increased demand in business because of a second frequency along the current Lake Shore Limited route. The current consist of the Boston section of the Lake Shore is one baggage car, one sleeper, one Horizon food service car, and two coaches.

Today’s Lake Shore Limited sits for 12 hours in Chicago before it heads back east, and the Boston section lays over for 14 hours on the east end. By keeping the current Lake Shore schedule (or, perhaps, departing Chicago 60 or 90 minutes earlier, the new Boston train could depart Chicago an hour later, providing the major metropolitan city of Cleveland, Ohio with a more marketable eastbound train time, from the current 5:05 A.M. to a slightly more civilized 6:00 A.M. and still arrive in Boston before late night because of eliminating the extra time in Albany for switching from one train to two trains. The same theory holds true westbound; by leaving Boston a bit earlier than its current noon departure, and eliminating the switching time of combining two trains into one, the new train from New England could be in Cleveland closer to midnight than 3:27 A.M., and still be in Chicago after 7:00 A.M.

Let’s stop for a moment, and veer to the right. If you’re a resident of Cleveland, and want to ride the train, you better be a night owl. Cleveland’s Terminal Tower downtown station at one time was one of the busiest stations in the country, with dozens of trains serving this major northern city. Today, Cleveland is only served by the Lake Shore Limited and the Capitol Limited. The Capitol’s Cleveland times aren’t much better than the Lake Shore’s, arriving westbound at 1:55 A.M., and eastbound at 2:48 A.M., all at a relatively small Lakefront station. Even though the Ohio legislature and governor’s office are working on creating a new Three C Corridor of Cleveland-Columbia-Cincinnati, that will only provide daylight service, and the southern terminus of that route will be in Cincinnati, which at the moment is only served (you guessed it) in the middle of the night by the tri-weekly Cardinal running between New York, Washington, and Chicago. Cleveland and Ohio all deserve better than what Amtrak has provided lo these many years.

As said before in this space, the most efficient answer to the problem of providing any type of adequate service to Cincinnati is to do what the Commonwealth of Virginia has done with its two new trains – extend an existing NEC train over the route of the Cardinal between Washington and Cincinnati. Amtrak has two daily trains which originate in New York before 6 A.M.; either of these trains extended to Cincinnati would arrive well before the Cardinal does at 1:03 A.M., not only providing a second frequency along this very scenic route, but bolstering the fortunes of the Cardinal, which Amtrak has indicated next year it will look at making a daily train. A return eastbound train from Cincinnati could launch from its terminal anytime after 7:00 A.M. and provide good daylight service until close to arriving in Washington, D.C.

On the west end of the route in and out of Chicago, the Hoosier State operates on days the Cardinal does not, on the same schedule. Once the Cardinal goes daily, again, an opportunity opens for the Hoosier State to operate from Chicago earlier in the afternoon than it does now (about mid afternoon) and still arrive in Cincinnati before midnight, with the return westbound train leaving Cincinnati early in the morning during daylight hours and arriving in Chicago mid afternoon. This also provides the major city of Indianapolis with much improved passenger train service.

But, back to the issue at hand, moving the northern terminus of all east coast long distance trains from New York City to Boston.

To recap:

– No additional equipment needed, except for fleshing out a new Boston-Chicago train by adding a diner and a couple of coaches because of added passenger demand
– Minimal changes in crew bases; moving the Crescent food service crew base from New York to Boston, and moving the Lake Shore Limited crew base from New York to Boston. Boston already has a major crew base. No additional onboard services crews on existing trains, and only minimal additions for new Boston-Chicago train
– Additional train and engine crews needed between New York and Boston, and 231 route miles added to each train between New York and Boston
– Better equipment utilization instead of train consists having long layovers in New York’s Sunnyside Yard. No schedule changes south of New York City
– Passengers better served by single train service for entire east coast to Boston; elimination of receive/discharge restrictions north of Washington allows for these trains to be better financial performers, and provide a new array of choices for local passengers on NEC
– No additional stations costs

8) It’s time to revive an old idea at Amtrak that never made it to reality: taking the Capitol Limited south from Washington to Orlando, Florida. The way the current schedule for the Capitol runs, the train arrives in Washington early afternoon just after lunch, and stays in Washington until the next afternoon at 4 P.M. These trainsets spend more time sitting around than they do on the road; it’s less than an 18 hour run between Washington and Chicago. It takes three train sets today to run the schedule with one baggage car, 2 coaches, one diner-lounge, one lounge car, two sleepers, and one transition dorm/sleeper. The Capitol has a load factor of 66.9%, but with only two coaches, there is ample room for growth, even with an additional coach already added during high revenue periods.

Extend the train down the former Atlantic Coast Line route of CSX via Rocky Mount, North Carolina and Charleston, South Carolina, and terminate the train at Orlando (Tampa would be better), making use of the excellent Auto Train maintenance facility in adjacent Sanford, just as the Sunset Limited in brighter days used the Auto Train maintenance facility.

Keeping close to the current Capitol Limited schedule would provide a civilized 9 A.M. or so arrival in Orlando, perfect for starting the day in America’s family vacation capital. The return train would leave Orlando after 9 P.M., and resume the northbound Capitol schedule in Washington. Since the current misuse of equipment for the Capitol Limited takes three trainsets, this change would only require one extra trainset, and would most importantly resume through train service between Chicago, the Midwest, and Florida without blazing any new trails (or having an expensive reopening of any old trails). Since the route between Washington and Orlando is already served by both the Silver Meteor and Silver Star as well as the Palmetto (see above), the addition of a Florida-bound Capitol Limited would provide and additional popular frequency feeding passengers into Orlando from the Midwest with through-train service.

An extended Capitol Limited would provide good marketing hours for major stops south of Washington, such as Richmond, Virginia; Fayetteville, North Carolina; and Florence, South Carolina.

To recap:

– Requires one additional set of equipment, and makes more efficient use of current three sets of equipment which now have long, unprofitable layovers; also more efficient use of onboard services crews
– No new stations or new routes
– Provides single-train service from Chicago and the Midwest to Orlando, Florida
– Makes more efficient use of Auto Train maintenance facility
– Adds to frequencies on popular east coast routes to Florida
– Combined with previously mentioned concepts such as extending the City of New Orleans east and south to Orlando, extending the Capitol Limited, too, would create a pair of strong services between the Midwest and Florida, with each train complementing the other, and creating huge matrix theory opportunities

9) Bless its steel soul, the Heartland Flyer is probably Amtrak’s most lovable, yet terrible route. Just 206 route miles long, this bump which sits atop the Texas Eagle schedule runs from Fort Worth, Texas almost due north to Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, with five intermediate station stops. Departing Fort Worth northbound at 5:25 P.M. after the Texas Eagle has called at Fort Worth in both directions, the Heartland Flyer arrives in Oklahoma City at 9:39 P.M., sits overnight, and leaves the next morning at 8:25 A.M., trundling back to Fort Worth and arriving at 12:39 P.M. in time for the southbound Texas Eagle.

It takes one trainset of two Superliner coaches and one Superliner snack coach for this toy route, and the State of Oklahoma pays Amtrak millions of dollars to operate this train on its behalf. The Heartland Flyer generates $1,680,500 in revenue, with ridership of 80,900 passengers per year, or an average of 111 passengers per departure. The load factor, typical of a short run such as this, is 43%, even with a very short consist of equipment.

There has been a good movement afoot, including the state governments of Oklahoma and Kansas, to expand this microcosm of passenger railroading to something useful that has half a chance of being financially successful in the process.

The Heartland Flyer needs major surgery, in two easy steps. Get rid of its base in Fort Worth, and extend the southern terminus of the train either southwest to San Antonio (providing a much-needed second frequency between Fort Worth and San Antonio), or southeast to Houston via Dallas, restoring a long-lost Amtrak route which would reconnect by rail the two largest metropolitan areas in Texas.

The second easy step is to extend the Heartland Flyer northward to Newton, Kansas (on the route of the Southwest Chief, and, coincidentally the near exact middle of the continental United States) and take the train to Kansas City or, even better, to Chicago or St. Louis.

These two easy steps turn the Heartland Flyer from a nearly-useless and tragically expensive stub route into a powerhouse route serving major metropolitan markets and important intermediate stops, and, just as importantly, connects discreet existing routes with new travel opportunities so “you can get there from here” without having to go around the Horn of Africa.

Concepts such as this take money-losing routes like the Heartland Flyer and turn them into real transportation providers, ignoring invisible boundaries falsely built by near-sighted executives who only seek to raid government treasuries instead of completing Amtrak’s real mission of being a truly national passenger railroad company.

To recap:

– Expands a poor-performing local route into a strong regional route
– Connects two other long distance routes and major metropolitan areas through hubbing which has not previously been possible
– Provides real transportation alternatives in lieu of what is essentially a high cost local train which provides no real transportation output
– As a stand-alone route, the Heartland Flyer has 21 possible city pair combination. Combining the Heartland Flyer and its present connection to the Texas Eagle brings the city par combinations up to 1,128; extending this train and connecting it to the Southwest Chief route in Kansas explodes the number of city pair combinations to 3,160, a huge jump from the 21 combinations on the present route.


10) The battle for the hearts and minds and souls of Sunset Limited fans and admirers has gained momentum with lots of discussion going on over Amtrak’s proposed changes to the route of the Sunset, replacing America’s oldest continuously operating named train with three distinct new trains, and one of them being a renamed and extended Texas Eagle operating daily from Chicago to Los Angeles via San Antonio, Texas and then west on the Sunset route to Los Angeles.

Here are a couple of ways to look at this.

First, Amtrak has taken a proactive approach to ending the days of the Sunset being an unacceptable tri-weekly train, stuck with most of the overhead of a daily train but not with the earning potential. The extension of the Texas Eagle to Los Angeles and making it daily all the way with a new name such as resurrection of the respected “Golden State” name (formerly of the Rock Island Railroad) makes senses, because, as Amtrak has said, that has the greatest potential for earning revenue.

While the creation of a second daily train on a daylight schedule to replace the Sunset between San Antonio and New Orleans is offensive to some because it will require a cross-platform change for those traveling all the way from Los Angeles to New Orleans, at least this – again – gets rid of unacceptable tri-weekly service and puts daily service on the line to important cities like Houston, Texas, and the many smaller cities between Houston and New Orleans. Amtrak has also speculated it will provide through-car service all the way from Los Angeles to New Orleans when more equipment is available through being rescued from the wreck line and re-manufactured at Beech Grove in Indiana. Since Amtrak has already restored the Boston sleeping car to the Lake Shore Limited, this bolsters confidence Amtrak is looking at concepts that work, and understands the strength of through-car business.

And, Amtrak openly saying it will take some of the surplus sleepers from today’s Sunset after it is reconfigured and put them elsewhere where strong demand exists so it can capture the revenue from these cars is not only revolutionary coming from Amtrak, but highly welcome.

The second way to look at this is Amtrak has cut and run from the constant bickering over the Sunset Limited name being used as a poster boy for bad management by both politicians and the news media, and is looking to replace what was once America’s only true transcontinental route with three trains (including whatever happens east of New Orleans) that has more consideration for Amtrak’s operating and maintenance departments than the comfort and convenience of its passengers.

A third alternative was offered this week by the prestigious and highly respected Passenger Train Journal magazine, with a full article on how to “fix” the Sunset Limited, complete with reroutings and restructuring so the train has more major metropolitan areas to serve, and better connections with other trains.

Since Passenger Train Journal, along with Progressive Railroading, are the two most important and credible national magazines regarding railroading, it’s tough to ignore what PTJ has to say without some serious discussions.

No matter how you choose to look at the fate of the Sunset, there have been howls of protest from some who simply want what is there now with some improvements, and nothing more. But, these howls overlook the fact Amtrak is taking a critical look at much of its long distance system and attempting to fix some problems which have long needed fixing. While almost any changes to the Sunset as we know it today other than taking it daily are sure to be painful, it’s important to look at the big picture regarding the Sunset and seeking what is the best solution from a combination of interests, including financial, passenger services, and the ability of Amtrak to offer a worthwhile service. The way the Sunset is today accomplishes none of those goals. A changed and/or reborn Sunset under a new name has a chance to accomplish those goals, even if it takes some getting used to by those of us on the ground.

11) This resolution was passed by the attendees of the Rail Passenger Association of California and Nevada and National Association of Railroad Passengers joint meeting in Los Angeles on May 2, 2009.

[Begin quote]

Whereas the Rail Passenger Association of California is deeply concerned that there has been no new investment in rolling stock for the Coast Starlight, Sunset Limited, California Zephyr and Southwest Chief (the western overnight trains) since 1991, and

Whereas currently up to 95% of Amtrak’s capital investments go to the North East Corridor trains and infrastructure, and

Whereas there is a growing demand for rail passenger travel and these western trains are often sold out, and

Whereas old equipment is expensive to maintain, is subject to mechanical failure, and is unattractive to passengers, and

Whereas without new investment these trains and other routes will eventually be withdrawn for want of serviceable equipment,

Therefore the Rail Passenger Association of California calls upon the National Railroad Passenger Corporation (“Amtrak”) to meet its obligation to provide a national network by allocating a reasonable proportion of its capital investment budget to purchase new coaches, sleeping cars and dining cars for the western overnight trains, to a common design that can also be used for corridor services.

[End quote]

Amen.

Before you start any conversation about the above suggestions, keep in mind, even after Amtrak funds the repairs to wrecked equipment through stimulus funds, there will still be another 200 or so pieces of equipment which can be repaired and put into revenue service. It’s all just a matter of priorities and how much desire Amtrak has to fulfill its mandate to provide a true national system of passenger trains, or its present plan to suck as much money as possible out of government treasuries while providing the least amount of service.



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J. Bruce Richardson
President
United Rail Passenger Alliance, Inc.
1526 University Boulevard, West, PMB 203
Jacksonville, Florida 32217-2006 USA
Telephone 904-636-7739
brucerichardson@unitedrail.org
http://www.unitedrail.org

This Week at Amtrak; May 4, 2009

This Week at Amtrak; May 4, 2009

A weekly digest of events, opinions, and forecasts from

United Rail Passenger Alliance, Inc.
America’s foremost passenger rail policy institute

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 6, Number 13

Founded over three decades ago in 1976, URPA is a nationally known policy institute which 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, New York, and other cities. 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) It looks like the Sunset Limited, as we know it today – and, since 1993 – is about to be dead and gone, hacked into at least two, probably three pieces as reported in the last issue of This Week at Amtrak. The full story is below, after an account of Florida’s SunRail debacle in the Florida Senate. See item number 3, below.

2) SunRail, apparently for all practical purposes is yesterday’s news, leaving behind a bewildered constituency trying to pick up the pieces. The demise of SunRail late last week in the Florida Senate came after a long and torturous journey, and the end was due to a lethal combination of revenge, ignorance, and plain stupidity. The last cause – stupidity – shouldn’t be too shocking, as it was the stupidity of elected officials who didn’t bother to do their homework, and the current state of Florida’s Republican Party which has become populated with elected officials who are less than stellar and have only been elected because they pledge allegiance to the Republican label.

Yes, it happened here in Florida, and it could happen to you, too.

First, some background. Florida is a huge state, from the extreme northeast corner just north of here in Jacksonville at the Georgia line, it’s over 300 miles due south to the bottom of the peninsula, south of Miami. Going due west from the Atlantic Ocean here at Jacksonville, it’s over 300 miles to just west of Pensacola to the Alabama state line. Florida has three distinct coasts, the east coast, west coast, and gulf coast. Our current population estimate is over 18 million souls. Politically, we are divided into seven distinct parts: South Florida, which encompasses Miami, Ft. Lauderdale, and Palm Beach; Southwest Florida which encompasses Naples, Fort Myers, and Sarasota; Tampa Bay, which includes Tampa, St. Petersburg, and Clearwater; the Interstate 4 Corridor of Central Florida which includes Lakeland, Orlando, and Daytona Beach; Northeast Florida which includes St. Augustine and Jacksonville; North Central Florida which encompasses Ocala, Gainesville, and Lake City; and West Florida/the Panhandle, which includes all of the gulf coast areas including Tallahassee, Panama City, and Pensacola.

Republicans for the past 20 years have controlled Florida; we have our second Republican governor in a row (first, Jeb Bush, now, Charlie Crist), and both houses of the Florida legislature have been controlled by Republicans since the 1980s.

South Florida and Gainesville in North Central Florida are the liberal hot spots in the state; most other areas have a mix of Republicans and moderate Democrats running the big cities.

SunRail was a plan to bring commuter rail to Central Florida, starting about 20 miles inland from the east coast in DeLand, on the extreme western edge of Volusia County (Daytona Beach is the most famous city in Volusia County), and traveling southwest to Sanford, Winter Park, Orlando, and Kissimmee, and ending eventually in Poinciana, on the outskirts of what is today the Central Florida theme park area, consisting of Walt Disney World, Universal Studios, and SeaWorld, and everything that goes with those three giants of entertainment and vacation nirvana.

Florida, like so many other states, was a creature of railroad development in the 19th Century, but, railroad development, via the Florida Land Boom in the 1920s, kept going until after 1925.

Eventually, through the usual mergers, Florida ended up with three major railroads, with CSX having the most trackage and claim to the majority of Florida. CSX has two Florida main lines, the old Seaboard Air Line main line via Ocala in the center of the state, and the old Atlantic Coast Line, via Orlando, which runs to the east of the Seaboard main line.

It was the old ACL main line CSX was willing to sell to the State of Florida to commence SunRail.

The deal was a commuter railroad developer’s dream. A well maintained, vital piece of track starting on the far outskirts of Florida’s major metropolitan area in the middle of the peninsular, and hitting every bedroom community along the way, while paralleling Interstate 4. DeLand, Sanford, Longwood, Castleberry, Winter Park, downtown Orlando, Kissimmee, and Poinciana were all planned SunRail stops, with another dozen thrown in for good measure. Some of the track was already double tracked, and several stations were already in place and currently used by Amtrak. Putting SunRail into operation would be relatively easy as opposed to so many other new commuter rail projects which require huge infrastructure upgrades and major building projects. SunRail could be up and running on its first segment in a measurement in months, not years.

Florida already has Tri-Rail in South Florida, which runs from north of Palm Beach to Miami, hugging Interstate 95, and using the old Seaboard main line which was completed during the Florida land boom in the 1920s. Tri-Rail has been in operation for 20 years, and by all transit measurements is a success on a daily basis. It was robust service every day of the week, and is popular in all segments of South Florida society.

Two other areas of Florida are actively looking at creating commuter rail; Jacksonville and Tampa Bay both are putting together long range plans which include major commuter rail components. The Tampa area system will run over existing CSX tracks; the Jacksonville system will use a combination of CSX, Norfolk Southern, and Florida East Coast tracks, all of which radiate like spokes on a wheel from downtown Jacksonville.

CSX, like all railroads, was made the whipping boy of this project because it sought to maintain its risk position, by asking the State of Florida to limit how it can be sued by commuter rail passengers, and be held harmless under any circumstances, no matter who was a fault (including CSX) for the accident.

This is an interesting place to stop, because it involves so much of the convoluted thinking of today’s society, where private property rights seem to be disappearing in favor of what some think are overpowering rights for the greater good of society. Of course, we fought a war against the Mother Country of England to get away from such tyranny, but, in light of the shabby job done today by alleged educators in America, no one seems to remember this morsel of history.

CSX, like all railroads, is as private company, owner by stockholders and investors. People buy and maintain shares of CSX stock because they believe it is a well-run company and a good investment, on which there will be a return in the form of dividends. In addition to the widows and orphans which own this stock, there are retirement systems, individual retirees, mutual funds, hedge funds, and a wide variety of other types of stockholders, all who depend on CSX to provide income based on their investment. For those in the back of the class sleeping, this is called capitalism, and it is what makes our country go forward.

CSX has what is called a fiduciary responsibility to its owners/shareholders to run the company as well as possible, and provide a return on investment. If the CSX managers do not do this, they can be held liable in a number of ways, under a variety of laws and regulations. When this does not happen, we have situations like Enron, where everyone is a loser.

So, CSX wants to protect its interests and the interests of its investors/shareholders by asking to be protected against lawsuits in case of accident. Railroading, as everyone knows, is one of the most dangerous activities on Earth, and accidents, under the very best of circumstances, are prone to happen.

We have seen in recent years insane decisions by judges and juries against railroads because it is presumed all railroads have deep pockets, and any time someone gets a hangnail when near a train, it is cause for the railroads to pay big bucks for any pain and suffering as a result of said hangnail. Amtrak in the past couple of years has had more than one lawsuit where scrapings from the bottom of the human gene pool have trespassed on Amtrak property (which was plainly marked as no trespassing areas or fenced in areas to keep the public out), but, judges have said Amtrak didn’t to enough to stop dumb people from harming themselves.

CSX, rightly so, wants to avoid this situation in Florida, and, in Massachusetts, too, where it is negotiating to turn over some trackage for commuter use around Boston.

The public and public officials somehow seem to continually think railroad property is public property, and should be available to everyone for any use. It’s only when an accident occurs (that hangnail, again), that suddenly the mean, rich, railroad should have been more careful to protect those who use private railroad property for public purposes.

The revenge piece of this saga goes back almost a full decade. Back in 2000, the general electorate of Florida, not realizing what a silly mistake they were making, actually added an amendment to the Florida constitution requiring a high speed rail system be built in Florida. No funding mechanism was added at the time, and the amendment was worded and promoted without benefit of an actual cost to taxpayers. The “gee whiz” factor of the thing, along with total ambivalence by many facets in the state (including this writer), allowed the amendment to be passed and ratified in Florida’s general election in 2000. The morning after election day, many rational people woke up and were stunned to learn we actually had a mandate to build a high speed rail system in Florida, even though there was no way to pay for it, nor a rational plan for it.

The amendment was the work of a Florida millionaire, C.C. “Doc” Dockery, who had nothing better to do than push for his dream and spend his money on the constitutional amendment.

Jeb Bush, Florida’s Republican governor, two years into his first term, was appalled. Governor Bush, a fiscal conservative grappling with a number of issues and trying to get a handle on a bloated state budget and tax system he inherited from his predecessor, knew a bad amendment when he saw one. Additionally, one of his first acts when he took office in 1999 was to kill another Florida high speed rail project, the Florida Overland Xpress, which was the product of a reputable firm in California. The concept of the FOX project was good, but many felt it had the inherent problems many of today’s proposed high speed corridor have; it was a stand-alone system, had inadequate feeder systems, and was too expensive for what Florida needed to spend at the time.

Even though Governor Bush’s Florida Department of Transportation had a solid policy to develop rail before developing major new highways in a booming state where 800+ people a day were moving to, Mr. Bush knew both FOX and Mr. Dockery’s plans were flawed and had the potential to cost Florida taxpayers a ton of money without much return on investment/sustainable ridership.

Subsequently, in 2004, Florida voters, under the leadership of Governor Bush, wisely got rid of the amendment to Florida’s constitution and high speed rail went away.

This annoyed Doc Dockery, a millionaire who was accustomed to getting his way. As a result, Mrs. Millionaire, Paula Dockery, got herself elected to the Florida Senate from the Dockery’s hometown of Lakeland, one county over to the east from Tampa on Florida’s west coast.

Senator Dockery started ingratiating herself in the Florida Senate, collecting chits and swapping votes she would hoard and use later against SunRail.

Towards the end of his second and final term in office (We have term limits on practically everyone in state office here in Florida.), Governor Bush made a surprise announcement and said a much needed commuter rail system would be created in Central Florida, using the existing CSX/old ACL tracks to the northeast and southwest of Orlando.

It was a great bargain in many respects. In exchange for CSX selling the 61 miles of track for the future SunRail to the State of Florida, the state would provide hundreds of millions of dollars for CSX to upgrade the old SAL main line in Central Florida which runs through Ocala, allowing CSX to move all but local freight service from the ACL line to the SAL line. Additionally, local communities along the SAL line would receive huge amounts of dollars to upgrade and bridge over grade crossings, eliminating traffic congestion and making sure the doubling of freight trains would not be an inconvenience to local residents.

CSX would also move the primary operations from its Taft yards in Southwest Orlando to further south in Winter Haven, and build an entirely new yard and intermodal facility which would be closer to the old SAL main line and still maintain a presence near all of Florida’s major Interstate highways.

Senator Dockery found her chance for revenge against Jeb Bush. She flung herself into action, convincing the downtown merchants of Lakeland all of the new trains coming down the SAL line would ruin business in Historic Downtown Lakeland (One man’s definition of historic, of course, is another man’s definition of blighted and/or old.). She also started a campaign against CSX, and gathered up lots of allies along the way like the trial lawyers, calling the deal a “giveaway” for corporate monolith CSX, unfair because of the limited liability portion of the deal, and pretty much also managed to blame tooth decay in every citizen of Florida because of the overall meanness of CSX.

As a result, the Florida Senate defeated the plan in 2008. But, wait! supporters said, we have a two year deal with CSX, not scheduled to expire before June 30, 2009, so we can win this thing again when the legislature goes into its 2009 session.

And, Senator Dockery did it again, finishing off SunRail last Friday, the final scheduled day of the legislative year. Even though the legislature automatically went into a week’s overtime to finish the budget, only budgetary matters are being considered, not new programs.

Republican Senator Dockery used every trick in the book. She scared the unions into going along with her by exclaiming union jobs would be lost if SunRail became reality. The truth is, eight – yes, 8 – CSX union jobs for signalmen would be abolished along the 61 mile SunRail route, but all eight of the workers would be offered their same job on another part of the CSX division which encompasses SunRail.

She also convinced many of Florida’s minorities to back her, falsely claiming that money for SunRail would take away money from education and community program accounts. Never mind the majority of the money was coming from the federal government in special earmarked accounts which could only be used for transportation, and never mind what little state money being used was also barred from being used for projects other than transportation.

The trial lawyers the second go-round gave up the fight and endorsed SunRail, as did the downtown merchants of Lakeland. Dockery still fought on, because her goal was revenge on Jeb Bush’s system, not what was best for Florida.

Tri-Rail, in South Florida, while a continual success, has been hampered by money for its entire 20 year history. It is currently supported by farebox revenue and the three county government of Palm Beach, Broward, and Miami-Dade counties. The county governments, while simultaneously pushing for expansion of Tri-Rail by encompassing the parallel Florida East Coast Railway main line to create a giant “U” shaped system (An excellent idea; the possibilities are endless if this goes through.), constantly threaten to cripple Tri-Rail by slowing down basic funding for the system.

Legislators from the other six parts of Florida are generally non-plussed by the hard-and-fast pleas of South Florida politicians to allow them to levy a $2 per day sales tax on rental cars in Palm Beach, Broward, and Miami-Dade counties only, claiming it would hurt tourism. They would not even allow a proposed bill this session in the legislature for two things to happen: first, by a super majority, county commissioners would have to approve the $2 rental car tax, and, second, the tax would have to have voter approval in a general election. Despite constant pleas from Tri-Rail supporters, house and senate members from other parts of the state are tone-deaf, and refused to even consider such a measure. And, since many of the South Florida senators refused to back SunRail because of misinformation and threats from Senator Dockery, Central Florida senators essentially said, “too bad, so sad,” and turned their backs on Tri-Rail, leaving the three counties to fend for themselves for funding.

Obviously, the politicians from the other six political divisions in Florida want the fruits of expansion and commerce in South Florida, so they will have the sales taxes and property taxes generated in South Florida to spend all over the state, but they refuse to understand how much an efficient commuter rail system contributes to the economic well-being of an area, which ultimately increases tax revenues. They want their cake, and want to eat it, too, but still cling to a silly “no new taxes under any circumstances” mantra in a state which has grown so rapidly it’s impossible to keep up with infrastructure needs and expansion solely based on current income.

This story could go on for another 2,000 words to get in all of the details, but, at this point you get the drift. SunRail was killed not for the public good, but for political revenge and intrigue, swapped votes and payback, misinformation, and outright lies.

Congressman John Mica, who represents much of the SunRail area in Congress, was a strong supporter of SunRail, and tried to convince his colleagues on the state level $100 million has already been spent on SunRail, and a quarter of a billion dollars allocated for SunRail on the federal level would forever disappear if the Senate failed to act. Likewise, Congresswoman Corrine Brown of Jacksonville, whose district also includes some of the SunRail territory, and is the most powerful Democrat in Congress controlling railroad money to be spent, couldn’t convince her colleagues on the state level, either. It was if all of this federal money didn’t matter; political intrigue and revenge mattered more.

Today, as this is being written, defeated SunRail proponents – Republicans and Democrats alike – are meeting in Orlando and trying to figure out what to do. The State of Florida will most likely move ahead with its plans to expand Interstate 4 to its maximum width, and, without the benefit of SunRail to help local commuters, it’s going to be very messy driving through Central Florida for the next few years.

The Florida Republican Party has demonstrated what happens when one party stays in power too long. All of the initial visionary stars which got things going and brought the party to power have been replaced by political hacks who win elections only because of their party affiliation. Leadership has been replaced by rote process.

The fun part of this concerns CSX. While CSX will continue to pay property taxes and run trains on the old ACL main line through Orlando and Central Florida, it will proceed to build its new yard and intermodal facility in Winter Haven, and most likely reroute more trains down the old SAL mail line. All of those cities and town along the way which would have received state help for traffic mitigation due to increased train traffic are now on their own. Likewise, the City of Lakeland will see increased train traffic, but now that SunRail is gone, so is the part of the package which would have paid to move the CSX line out of downtown Lakeland. The worst fears of the merchants will come true, but no one will be there to help them solve the problem.

Senator Paula Dockery and her husband, C.C. “Doc” Dockery have their revenge against Jeb Bush, three years after he left office and is a private citizen living in Miami. Just as talk has started again about high speed rail in Florida from the federal level, Doc Dockery resigned his position on Florida’s High Speed Rail Commission a few weeks ago. That probably doesn’t matter much. Some of the federal criteria for high speed rail, such as having a feeder system like SunRail, won’t be met, and most likely federal money will go anywhere but Florida.

The new efforts of TBART, the Tampa Bay area’s metropolitan planning organization, to get a commuter rail system organized on CSX tracks just took a major hit. If you were a CSX executive, would you put much time and effort into a project like that so your company can become a whipping boy for a vengeful woman? All of this was not just a slap in the face to CSX, it was a slap in the face in the company’s home state.

And, don’t forget about us here in Jacksonville. We’ve been slowly but surely putting together a pretty good commuter rail plan, which not only will help Jacksonville, but provide benefits for Amtrak, too. Don’t get too excited about that; Senator Paula Dockery started driving a pretty heavy stake through the heart of our plan, too, for all of the same reasons as with Tampa’s system.

Could this happen to you in your state? You betcha. This is why many of us for years have been saying any rail plan must be the best plan, not just any plan. Any time politicians are involved with commuter rail – or, any type of passenger rail – there is a potential for trouble. We’ve just proved that here in Florida; we have a dead system, $100 million spent on something that doesn’t look like it’s having any immediate prospects, and one of our best corporate citizens has a black eye through no fault of its own.

One telling result of all of this is the public’s (and politicians’) love for the automobile. Because this is such a deep and abiding love, no one is willing to look at reasonable alternatives. It’s one thing to talk about banning automobiles and forcing everyone onto public transit or commuter rail. It’s quite another thing to provide reasonable choices as long as the public budget stays balanced and there is a large enough segment of the population which wishes to use those choices. Those who dearly love automobiles need to understand not everyone have the same deep feelings about spending hours each day in a car, along with hundreds of thousands of your new best friends, all creeping along at minimum speeds, just hoping you can move over four lanes to the right before you reach your exit.

3) William Lindley of Scottsdale, Arizona attended the joint RailPAC/NARP meeting in Los Angeles and files this report and personal observations.

[Begin quote]

By William Lindley

Saturday, May 2, 2009 in Los Angles, Amtrak Interim President and CEO Joseph Boardman and longtime and well-respected Vice President Brian Rosenwald laid out the company's new direction. The scene was an auditorium in the office tower adjoining Los Angeles Union Station, at the well-attended joint membership meeting of the Rail Passenger Association of California and Nevada (RailPAC) and the National Association of Railroad Passengers (NARP).

Amtrak has had some good leaders before; and on occasion there has even been money enough to work with; but like the Chicago Cubs where everything so promising in Spring seems to not quite come together by the end of the baseball season, there has always been a missing link. On Saturday, though, one received the impression that – with folks like the determined and visionary, yet, realistic Mr. Boardman, and the experienced and capable Mr. Rosenwald – there might, this year, be a World Series to be had for Amtrak.

In a letter to Amtrak employees shortly after he arrived in his new position, Mr. Boardman wrote, "In my view, a national intercity, interconnected passenger rail service is critically important for the mobility and energy independence of the United States." Saturday's presentation was consistent with realistically expanding passenger trains' role across the country.

Mr. Boardman spoke of Amtrak as momentarily feeling like "the dog that caught the car" with the recent stimulus funds – "What do you do now?" Yet, plans are moving quickly, with the $1.3 billion already 70% obligated. He said "a healthier Amtrak includes a better relationship with employees" and the May 1st employee appreciation day included due back pay.

Touching on the Obama Administration's high speed rail plans, he explained systems like the French TGV only occurred after the existing networks were at capacity. America does not yet have a "high speed rail culture ... we are not ready for orphan systems" that do not have appropriate feeder networks including bus, streetcar, subway, and commuter trains. Boardman described a high speed network emerging through incremental improvements, using improved track such as "Class 6 at 110 MPH," and even using (relatively common) Class 5 mainline freight tracks at 90 MPH. And, "I don't buy the argument you can't mix passenger trains and freight at 110 MPH." This from the man whose immediate previous job as Amtrak’s interim president and CEO was the administrator of the Federal Railroad Administration, whose primary role is that of the safety of America’s railroads.

Concluding his remarks, Boardman characterized the discussion of revising the existing Sunset route as representing a "new way of thinking, not an announcement" and continued, "We recognize the need to reconnect Florida (to the West)."

Replying to questions from the audience, Mr. Boardman indicated there would be a Viewliner (single-level, as used on eastern trains) equipment order, of all types (Coach, Sleeper, and Diner); that "Diner Lite" never worked, and it would be eliminated this year; and that "we will have a long distance fleet plan." He said Amtrak had begun to study new options for serving Phoenix, but that Las Vegas service would be further in the future.

Later, VP Brian Rosenwald spoke of several issues; of particular interest was the Sunset Route realignment proposal which is "within range of demonstrating that added revenue from daily service will offset the additional costs. Our only bias in developing this proposal is that there be daily service" with a primary factor being the highest projected revenue segment via Dallas to Chicago. He was clear this is all still a proposal, subject to further input, not an announcement.

As the proposal stands now, there would be a daily train operating from Los Angeles via San Antonio and Dallas to Chicago, with a cross-platform transfer to a daily train operating from San Antonio via Houston to New Orleans. Running time between Los Angeles and Chicago may be up to eight hours less than today’s Sunset Limited/Texas Eagle schedule. There would be daily through-car service with sleepers and full diner between Los Angeles and Chicago by extending the daily service between Chicago and San Antonio and tri-weekly service west of San Antonio of the Texas Eagle on the Sunset Limited route to a single train on the full Los Angeles-Chicago route, and dropping the two existing names of the Texas Eagle and Sunset Limited.

Departure from Los Angeles under this scenario would be closer to the Sunset Limited's traditional one, perhaps 10:30 P.M., in order to offer better times at Maricopa (for Phoenix) and San Antonio. The desert Maricopa station "will do for the moment" until a better plan for serving Phoenix can be devised. Estimate a 9:30 P.M. arrival at New Orleans from the west. Also, by moving to the traditional departure time of the Sunset Limited in Los Angeles eastbound, this re-establishes the connection with the Coast Starlight with its "strong revenue potential” because of the matrix effect. Further, a single onboard services crew could operate between LA and Chicago, thus simplifying operations.

To describe this new service, the "Sunset Limited" name might be shelved in favor of, potentially, the "Golden State." When equipment permits, Mr. Rosenwald was hopeful through cars between New Orleans and Los Angeles could be added.

In my opinion, the Sunset restructuring could bring a far stronger, functional passenger train presence to America's entire south and west. Coupled with new and developing commuter-rail and light-rail projects widely perceived as successes in Sunbelt cities like Phoenix, Dallas, and Houston, the seeds of a "rail culture" could well germinate.

My impression was that Joseph Boardman knows when to be specific, when to be delicate, and when to be bold. Mr. Rosenwald has demonstrated ability to manage a train and work with the parties involved. Together, Mr. Rosenwald and Mr. Boardman represent an Amtrak that may at last find its balance.

[End quote]

4) Other interesting facts reported by Mr. Lindley from the meeting include a continuing emphasis by Amtrak on the Route Performance Improvement program, which moves each route more towards product-line management “ownership.” Hmmmm ... Amtrak had this as a well-working program in the 1990s, and it was thrown out by former Amtrak President and CEO David Gunn in favor of traditional freight railroad management style. Now, the future is the past; at least it’s back to a program which proved to be one of Amtrak’s best management innovations.

There is also work afoot for restoring higher level of coach attendant staffing, dining car staffing, and restoration of regional dishes in dining cars. Gee, all of those Amtrak employees who were let go or otherwise forced out when onboard staff downsizing took place must be thrilled to know losing their jobs could have/should have been avoided.

Other than Auto Train, the Palmetto leads all trains in cost recovery, with a 96% ratio. This ratio correctly excludes allocated system costs (such as corporate overhead) and depreciation. Auto Train has a 121% ratio (that translates to profit), followed by the Empire Builder at 76%, and the Southwest Chief at 74%. the lowest long distance train ratios are the Cardinal at 52%, and the Sunset Limited at 33%. The common factor of the two lowest ratios is both trains are tri-weekly trains. The Empire Builder contributes over $5,000 per coach per day of revenue, and the Sunset Limited coach daily revenue is $1,990; again a victim of tri-weekly service.

5) Mr. Lindley’s report offers a mixture of hope and anticipation.

While the elimination of the Sunset Limited as a separate train – and, America’s oldest, continuously operating named passenger train – at least some attempt seems to be made to improve the financial performance of the route, even with a less than perfect replacement. If, as indicated, as soon as possible some necessary equipment comes out of the shops to provide through-car service from Los Angeles to New Orleans (An adequate supply of Superliner transition cars seems to be the hold-up.), then a reasonable substitute for the Sunset will have been accomplished. Later, hopefully, a second frequency on this route will be provided, and the honorable Sunset Limited name can be used, again.

For a number of years, the Sunset Limited has been made a mockery by uninformed politicians and uncaring Amtrak senior management. The move from tri-weekly to daily could have been accomplished long before this, and, even with all of the on time performance problems of the Southern Pacific and later Union Pacific railroads, the train would have had better numbers if it was daily and not tri-weekly. Finally, an answer seems at hand, even if the “chicken” way is being taken, and the equally honorable name of the Golden State for a time rides on the Sunset Limited’s rails. No more will ignorant politicians be able to point to the hapless Sunset as the route/root of all evil of Amtrak. So, what will be the solution for the tri-weekly Cardinal between Chicago and Washington/New York?

Mr. Lindley aptly points out what Amtrak Vice President, the father of the Pacific Parlour Car for sleeping car passengers on the modern day Coast Starlight, can accomplish when he’s allowed to flourish. Here’s hoping now that he’s firmly embedded in Washington and apparently has been given room to dream, he can push through more changes for Amtrak passengers and crews and help push the company to viability.

As for Interim President and CEO Joseph Boardman, while he received high marks from Mr. Lindley, others were not as fascinated with her performance in Los Angeles. While he receives credit for allowing Mr. Rosenwald to “do his thing,” and starting to make other inroads in the Amtrak bureaucracy, it’s still questionable if he is the man who ultimately has the type of vision luminaries such as Gil Carmichael and Andrew Selden have for the future of passenger rail. Mr. Boardman has shown us results, and has shown us good starting plans for the future, but, close to six months into his stewardship of Amtrak, we still have not seem a long term plan for Amtrak, nor have we seen any type of meaningful housecleaning in Amtrak’s management cadre. We will wait and see what Mr. Boardman next has to say and what he will do about a serious equipment order for the bi-level car long distance route system, which should be one of the highest priorities on anyone’s list for the stabilization and future growth of Amtrak.


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J. Bruce Richardson
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United Rail Passenger Alliance, Inc.
1526 University Boulevard, West, PMB 203
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