No Amtrak crews have joined Keolis

electricron wrote:

strench707 wrote:Sorry its a little offnote, but I am just wondering if they will still do the Manassas railfest with train rides? Davis

A little off-note? How about a lot off-note?
But to answer your question, why would changing train operating and maintenance vendors change what the VRE Board chooses to do? Whether VRE supports railfest with extra trains or not is the Board's decision, not the hired vendor.

I was just wondering because I assumed for the weekend excursions they pulled Amtrak crews that are qualified on that line since VRE Amtrak workers weren't paid to be worked on the weekend. Basing off that assumption (which could be incorrect) I was wondering if Keolis would have the means to put crews in on the weekend without the fallback of other staff.

That's why its not as off topic of a question as you may believe (but still out there nonetheless and I apologize)

Davis

strench707 wrote:I was just wondering because I assumed for the weekend excursions they pulled Amtrak crews that are qualified on that line since VRE Amtrak workers weren't paid to be worked on the weekend. Basing off that assumption (which could be incorrect) I was wondering if Keolis would have the means to put crews in on the weekend without the fallback of other staff.

That's why its not as off topic of a question as you may believe (but still out there nonetheless and I apologize) Davis

If VRE Amtrak workers weren't paid to work on weekends, I'm assuming Keolis workers wouldn't too.
That policy probably had more to do with VRE unwilling to pay overtime than Amtrak. Again, if the VRE Board is willing to pay the overtime, I can't see why Keolis wouldn't want to perform the service. But, if VRE isn't willing to pay the overtime, neither would Keolis. I'm back to my first answer, it depends upon what the VRE board wants.
Amtrak did have more workers in the area that didn't work normally for VRE, some with more seniority, that wanted the overtime, that's the only reason I can think why Amtrak allowed them to work weekends for the VRE. Keolis will not have a pool of extra workers nearby....