Amtrak Has an Image Problem

[WesternNation]

We can all agree that Amtrak has its problems; from OTP to old equipment, it’s continually an uphill battle to improve and develop America’s primary passenger rail carrier. Conservative factions continue to call for Amtrak’s defunding while others call for spinning routes off to private operators, ignoring the boondoggle that is the passenger rail system in the UK. However, there is one rather basic problem that Amtrak has encountered in the last 10-15 years that continually gets overlooked: Amtrak has a branding issue. This post (or article, depending on length), is designed to identify and address each segment of this issue, as much as one can from an “outsider” perspective (meaning, I’m not an employee, so I do not have access to Amtrak uniform programs, catalogs, or reasoning behind branding decisions).

Rolling Stock Livery: There are currently 8 different liveries in use on Amtrak (Phase III, Phase IVb, Phase V, PacSurf, CapCor, Cascades, and Downeaster), with the most recent being IVb in 2002 and the refreshed Phase III popping up on the new Viewliner II series cars. All of these different liveries creates a branding issue as well as an inconsistent image when equipment must be swapped out. A prominent example of this is found in California, when “National Network” Superliner coaches are added to the Pacific Surfliner and Capitol Corridor trains. Another example is basically every long-distance service in the country. The new Viewliner II cars were delivered in Phase III paint with the branding of “Amtrak America”. No action has been taken to enact this rebranding system-wide, and as a result, the mixed branding on the equipment harks back to Amtrak’s “Rainbow Era”. While it may be desirable for each service to have its unique branding, it will likely cost more in the long run and degrade the overall unified brand. For new rolling stock, an LED information screen (like the ones found on the front of the SC-44) on the sides of each car identifying the train with train number, service name, and final destination, will assist passengers while maintaining the professional look of a unified brand. Understandably, some services may have branding standards within the operating contracts, which may prevent all services from having a unified image.

Frontline Employee Uniforms: Amtrak’s most recognizable employees are those who interact with passengers every single day. As a result, a professional and unique image for the frontline employees is a must-have. However, Amtrak’s Uniform Program seems to have fallen short in doing so, providing uniforms to Train Service and OBS employees that are similar in nature which (from what I have personally witnessed) passengers can easily confuse, especially if Conductors remove their cover on board. Additionally, I have seen many conductors (especially in warmer environments) not wearing their jackets, which increases the chance of passengers to confuse OBS personnel for Conductors and vice versa. Recently, Station Service employees have started wearing light blue polos with navy blue lettering, which appears to be a “cop-out” for a proper uniform that one would be proud to wear. Amtrak should return to the use of colored epaulets to denote craft, maintaining the white or teal on navy blue for Conductors and Assistant Conductors, Red for the Red Caps (while reinstating the red variant of the conductor's cover, not the ballcaps in use now), yellow for the Engineers, and navy on teal for the Station Services agents. These uniforms provide a consistent, yet unique appearance clearly identifying the various employee workgroups to both internal and external stakeholders as well as giving the entire frontline employee force a clean, professional look.
Amtrak has a branding and image problem. If the company is to be taken serious both in the eyes of the general public and in the halls of both state and federal governments, a concerted effort is needed to unify the Amtrak brand and image of their employees. While this would certainly cost a significant amount of money, it would be one of the “easier” things for Amtrak to accomplish, as new services, new equipment, and large capital projects are largely dependent on outside funding (via the annual subsidy from the federal government), but it would do much to increase the look of professionalism and overall “togetherness” of the railroad.

Do you agree? What ideas do you have for Amtrak's brand image?

Amtrak Logo and Branding Guide (PDF Download):
https://history.amtrak.com/archives/amt ... 2-8-19.pdf
Amtrak Uniform Blog Post:
http://blog.amtrak.com/2014/01/amtrak-uniform/
2014 Amtrak Uniform Post:
https://history.amtrak.com/archives/onb ... forms-2014
2006 OBS, Transport, and Station Service Employee Uniform Post:
https://history.amtrak.com/archives/on- ... forms-2006

[bostontrainguy]

Funny that you mentioned this. I just recently came across this old pic of the Desert Wind and the first thing that hit me was that these were the days when Amtrak cared about it's image. All matching graphics and even traditional good old fashioned back-to-back engines!

desert wind.jpg (398.23 KiB) Viewed 2888 times

P.S. I think they should just go back to all Phase III across the system. I think even the Genesis look good in it.

[WesternNation]

Funny that you mentioned this. I just recently came across this old pic of the Desert Wind and the first thing that hit me was that this was the days when Amtrak cared about it's image. All matching graphics and even traditional good old fashioned back-to-back engines!



desert wind.jpg

P.S. I think they should just go back to all Phase III across the system. I think even the Genesis look good in it.

I like the idea of seeing the Chargers in Phase III. It was a clean, professional look. I like the current logo and Phase V/VI paint too, but it’s time for Amtrak to pick something.

I’m not necessarily convinced that Amtrak doesn’t care, per se, but rather that there are ideas that are not followed through on or not thought out completely before implementation. One of the blog posts I came across on the Amtrak history site stated that there was a uniform rollout program in the early ‘00s that wasn’t completed and they reverted back to the navy uniforms shortly thereafter. That’s a perfect example of something not being thought out before actually doing it.

[SouthernRailway]

When I think of Amtrak's image problem, it's the typical complaint about passenger rail in North America: few trains, and the trains that run are slow.

I've never heard complaints about non-matching uniforms or trains. European railroads and pre-Amtrak US railroads certainly didn't always match. European railroads are a jumble of colors sometimes.

[Pensyfan19]

Not to mention certain occasions which the media loves to cover to make Amtrak look bad, such as Amtrak charging $25,000 for a group of people with wheelchairs and with a conductor asking the leader of the NAACP to move out of her seat. Also when some (such as myself) call for privatisation, I mean private railroads running passenger service similar to how they used to be run un the US up to the 1960s; not the british franchising fiasco which has caused delays and biding wars in Britain to the point where the UK government has to take over some of their rail lines (Northern and South Western some time soon) which is what gives privatisation a bad rep.

[bostontrainguy]

When I think of Amtrak's image problem, it's the typical complaint about passenger rail in North America: few trains, and the trains that run are slow.

I've never heard complaints about non-matching uniforms or trains. European railroads and pre-Amtrak US railroads certainly didn't always match. European railroads are a jumble of colors sometimes.

Aesthetics and image are very important to many people and give the impression that details are important to the company. If your fleet looks haphazard and shoddy then maybe your maintenance and safety protocols are too.

Here's a tidbit for you. Painting an airliner cost about $200,000 and adds about 550 pounds to the weight of the plane which means it needs to burn more fuel costing more money. And yet just about no one sees it most of the time! But as I said, image is very important and the airlines realize it even for such a limited opportunity.

[Gilbert B Norman]

Also when some (such as myself) call for privatisation, I mean private railroads running passenger service similar to how they used to be run un the US up to the 1960s...

Mr. Pennsy, this thought gets broached from time to time, such as at another site today (possibly by you).

First, I cannot imagine any set of circumstances under which the Class I industry would want to get back into the passenger train business for their own account. This even if Amtrak was making "$$$$ hand over fist".

Second, "they can't".

Within RPSA70 and the resulting May 1, 1971 Agreement, the signatory roads, and any successor lest one think that such does not apply to BNSF., CSX, and NS on the strength they didn't exist on A-Day, are barred from running passenger trains as a proprietary venture. A totally private concern could, but they would need to come to terms bilaterally with a Class I, and without any injunctive relief Amtrak enjoys.

While of course, there has been much enacted legislation amending RPSA70, that provision remains in force.

[Pensyfan19]

Then how would that explain Brightline? They had to seek permission from a class II railroad and is close to an existing Amtrak route.
Not to mention the other intercity passenger services, such as Rio Grande, Southern and Rock Island, which continued passenger service for years after the formation of Amtrak.
And there's also the proposals of private rail service in the form of Texas Central Railway, the Microsoft-backed Northwest High Speed Rail from Portland to Vancouver, and now talks of an Atlanta to Dallas high speed rail.

[BandA]

Presumably the Amtrak employees get an annual clothing allowance, so new uniforms can be rolled out gradually at no additional cost. I like the idea of epaulets, much better then epithets, and doesn't require fancy custom stitchery. Same problem exists in medicine where doctors & technicians both wear plain scrubs and nurses wear multicolor scrubs. Nurses stopped wearing nurses' caps about 40 years ago but if you ever see one you know instantly they are a nurse, and the white lab coat says doctor. Similarly the gray striped engineer's cap from days of yore is universal.

I do not like the new Amtrak blob logo, the old one was so much more iconic. The metallic-gray looks so much classier than white on the body of a train - white looks old, metallic-gray fools you into thinking its all quality stainless steel.

As for off-topic privatization, I'd love to see privately-owned self-driving hi-rail cars that hook together, communicating automatically with central dispatch.

[BandA]

Florida East Coast was out of the passenger business, so Brightline and FEC have no obligations to Amtrak. I've read on railroad.net that Southern for one figured their deficit running passenger service for a few years until they could cleanly discontinue service without obligation would be less then mandatory contributions to fund Amtrak. I guess if a "legacy" railroad like NS or CSX or BNSF wanted to compete with Amtrak they would need permission.

[Nasadowsk]

*clip a few posts of banter about Phase this, Phase that, back to back locomotives, etc*

Hey, I got a way to fix Amtrak's image:

* Don't crash so much.
* Run on time
* Stop breaking down all the time.

Nobody gives a crap about how the train looks, or what phase the paint job is, if the above three aren't being met.

To most people outside the railfan world, "Amtrak" brings up images of trains in ditches, late, or broken down. They can barely get the NEC right. Forget about the more esoteric stuff like going faster than 80mph out west...

[Gilbert B Norman]

Then how would that explain Brightline? They had to seek permission from a class II railroad and is close to an existing Amtrak route.

Florida East Coast was out of the passenger business, so Brightline and FEC have no obligations to Amtrak.

Within his immediate captioned here in pertinent part, Mr. B&A has set forth the different "environment" in which FEC and Brightline came together.

The two parties, FEC and All Aboard Florida (dba Brightline), under common ownership at the time, sat down and negotiated a bilateral agreement - completely within their prerogatives to do so. Neither was bared by an exclusionary clause within a prior agreement made with another party.

[Hux]

*clip a few posts of banter about Phase this, Phase that, back to back locomotives, etc*

Hey, I got a way to fix Amtrak's image:

* Don't crash so much.
* Run on time
* Stop breaking down all the time.

Nobody gives a crap about how the train looks, or what phase the paint job is, if the above three aren't being met.

To most people outside the railfan world, "Amtrak" brings up images of trains in ditches, late, or broken down. They can barely get the NEC right. Forget about the more esoteric stuff like going faster than 80mph out west...

What passengers care about:

1) On Time/Reliable
2) Quicker or Less Stressful than Driving/Flying
3) Convenient
4) Comfortable
5) Clean

[John_Perkowski]

What passengers care about:

1) On Time/Reliable
2) Quicker or Less Stressful than Driving/Flying
3) Convenient
4) Comfortable
5) Clean

BINGO!

I would add add edible food in the diners and lounges.

My wife and I have been using 3 and 4 to get from Kansas City to Galesburg and/or Chicago. Our experience is 4 is often one and a half to four hours late into Kansas City, and doesn’t make up any time heading north. On the southwestern run, 3 at Galelsburg can be anyWhere from on time to two hours late. This is not how to attract people who want to use Amtrak as transportation

[Backshophoss]

During David Gunn's timme at the helm,along with mr Boardman's time at the helm there was 1 solid message from HQ.
Mr Anderson is not on point,too many mixed messages from HQ,,that's why morale is low on the front lines.
The class 1's are part of the problem with that PSR sickness spreading thru them