My plan to help Amtrak Reduce Losses

In trying to make a point about high-end salaries...

As noted before, the $100,000 figure represents the HIGH-END of a range. Having worked for large corporations, I can tell you that unless one can walk on water, they won't be hired for more than the 'midpoint' of the salary range.

Also consider this...the salaries on the east coast are typically 20-30% higher than in the midwest. Consequently, most 'living expenses', as well as house costs, are 20-30% more expensive in the east than midwest. I know this first hand, having moved from WI to MA about 9 years ago. FWIW, my house in MA would be 20% cheaper in WI (I checked), and, based on what I've seen elsewhere, AT LEAST 100% more expensive in the NYC area!

jg greenwood wrote:Am I the only one with the idea that Amtrak management salaries are a tad-------------excessive? Visit their Job Opportunities web-site & scope out the pay range for a Road Foreman of Engines. IIRC, the high end of the scale is $100,000.00. I think one would be hard pressed to find any RFE on a freight railroad realizing more than $75,000.00/yr.

Yes I think Mangement Sallories at Amtrak is too high.

AmtrakFan

Part 3 of the plan
Reduce waste of Office space in Chicago they are renting space for a $1 Million Dollars a year and their offices in CUS in sitting Empty find more ways to reduce waste of space as well as other cost cuts.
Add More Routes ASAP
Order More Cars when money savings would allow
Order 180 More Viewliner Sleepers
400 LD Coaches
550 Corridor Coaches
80 Diners
70 Crew Dorms
125 Baggage Cars
25 Baggage-Dorms
Retire all the Horizon cars and some of the Amfleet cars
Order
180 More Superliner Sleepers
340 Superliner Coaches
80 Crew Cars
50 Diners
25 Coach Baggages
40 Lounges
New Routes
Chicago-Miami
Chicago-MSP-Billings-Seattle
New York- Kansas City with a thru LA Sleeper
Chicago to Las Vegas-LA
Washington to San Antoino with a thru Coach and Sleeper to Mexico
Daily Sunset Limited
More Corridor Service
Add another Flordia Trian
ReIncranted Broadway Limited

AmtrakFan

Also Order 15 RDC for Chicago to Milwaukee, Springfield, CT to New Haven, CT and Chicago to Grand Rapids.
Order 90 New Auto Racks for the Auto Train
AmtrakFan

somehow i dont think saving a million dollars a year on office space is going to pay for all those new cars .
Anyone can plan to spend lots of money , you need to show how those cars would be paid for , cost / revenue for new routes etc .

David Benton wrote:somehow i dont think saving a million dollars a year on office space is going to pay for all those new cars .
Anyone can plan to spend lots of money , you need to show how those cars would be paid for , cost / revenue for new routes etc .

I ment all of the Cost Savings the cars would be paid for from Bonds, savings, State paying for new routes, most of plans come from this sight about amtrak www.azrail.org/amtrak90 a plan for succes as well as capital improvements that are public and privatly funded, sale of Horizon, Amfleet and P40 sales will help as well as using exitising stations that are in good shape that don't have rail service.
All Corridors will be paid by the states, introduce competive Economy Sleeper Fares, encourage Group Sales, tighter cost control, get the Government to pay for some of stuff, better equiment ulitization, productivity will increase, road crews do swithching when trains are broken up into sections, reduce staffing levels while improving service like the Sleeping Car Attendent will also serve food, reduce dwelling time in stations improve equitment ulitzation, add more cars to current trains, stuff like that.


This will take place over 6 to 10 Yrs.

Except the states are broke, which is why the 3 Rivers is vanishing and the PHL-HBG corridor is in deplorable shape and still running diesels under the wire

jfrey40535 wrote:Except the states are broke, which is why the 3 Rivers is vanishing and the PHL-HBG corridor is in deplorable shape and still running diesels under the wire

Continuence of the former Pennsylvanian was offered to Pennsylvania for $2.5 million per year. But Amtrak made this offer only weeks after the state budget was finalized and signed into law. There is no way for any state to scrape-up $2.5 million in a couple of days from a finalized budget.

So, was Amtrak stupid? No. They knew Pennsylvania could not ante-up on a moment's notice. For reasons beyond my comprehension. I believe Amtrak wanted the train cut and timed the train-off announcement so that PA could not respond. Amtrak routinely gives a state a year to place money in a budget for train support. In this case, PA was given days. Mission Impossible. Blame for loss of one of two cross-state PA trains is squarely Amtrak's, not the state or fiscal woes. Amtrak wanted it gone and it is gone.

Pennsylvania has and is continuing to contribute big bucks ($70 million) to upgrade the Keystone corridor trackwork. There is no lack of support from PA for Amtrak. By the way, there is nothing wrong with the Philadelphia to Harrisburg catenary. It is energized and ready for use. The reason Amtrak does not use electrics is lack of available units, not the wires.

And for whatever crazy reason, Amtrak thought scrapping the E60's was better than using them. Keystone corridor is 80mph in most places, so the E60 should have been a good substitute.

Quite frankly, there's absolutely nothing wrong with the Horizon cars, or the Amfleets, so there's no reason to sell them. It's cheaper to refurbish an existing car than to buy a new one.

Bonds have to be paid back, plus interest, raising your annual expenses. As for "get[ting] the government to pay for some...stuff," well, if life were that easy...

jfrey40535 wrote:And for whatever crazy reason, Amtrak thought scrapping the E60's was better than using them. Keystone corridor is 80mph in most places, so the E60 should have been a good substitute.

Not too sure about this one, the E-60's were not too good right from the
get go. They lasted quite some time even in their poor characteristics.
They used a lot of juice, were too heavy, hard on the track, had a lot of
speed restrictions and were sometimes somewhat dangerous to ride in.
In spite of very poor design, they lasted well over 20 years for the most
part.
Of course, I would prefer to see electric locomotives used on a fully
electrified route but I am not sure that it would make sense to have been
using E-60's on a three or four car train over questionable track.
In my opinion, modified MU cars would be the best equipment for the run
between Harrisburg and Philadelphia and even beyond to New York.
It would be a relatively simple proceedure to change ends at 30th Street
Philadelphia and with their superior acceleration, a decrease in the running
time would be able to take place. They would need better seating and
decent toilets and maybe some sort of snack bar as well. A gear ratio for
about 110 MPH would probably have been just about right for this line.
With this type of equipment, they probably would be able to operate this
service right from Penn Center downtown too.
Noel Weaver

That would have been nice. To me was just a shame to see the E-60's hauled off when there was a need for electric motors. Incidently, one E-60 made its last trip over the HAR line enroute to Strasburg for the RR museum.

Incidently, a few weeks ago I heard about SEPTA MU's operating over a portion of the line when there was a washout near HAR.

First off, let's just say the problem of Amtrak is not too many trains, too many employees, too high salaries, etc. It's guys like Rep Istook, who is ideologically opposed to Amtrak. His latest attempt to get party unity by "fining" Republicans who had the timerity to respond to their constituents who ask them to support full funding for Amtrak. I guess that the only things good that ever came from Oklahoma were Will Rogers and dust!

Full funding for one yer of Amtrak is less than one day's defense department spending. The Federal budget deficit is not caused by Amtrak, no matter what the politicians at the top say. If Amtrak got 10% of the pork barrel funding going to "Rock and Roll Hall of Fame" etc, that would be more than they asked for, let alone what they received.

If Amtrak were funded at a minimal level ($1.8 billion) per year, they could fix worn out track and signal systems, and begin rebuilding damaged cars. With those cars fixed, they could run either more or longer trains (eliminatings some of the crowding and standees at Thanksgiving that we've been reading about). More passengers means more revenue, which means a slower drain on the budget.

And if you can't figure out what that means, look at the new Pacific Surfliner train begun mid-November. Existing equipment, no new funding, more service!

Maybe they're on to something there.

More operable equiipment might just mean a Sunset that runs daily, or trains to Las Vegas, or trains from Portland OR to Salt Lake City. Or maybe trains from Denver to Texas and New Orleans. Maybe even more frequent trains in Rep Istook's Oklahoma!

But I dream! I keep forgetting: Amtrak BAD, subsidies for cars, airlines, boats, truckers GOOD!

good points Baldie , thats what i think amtrak needs to do at the moment , find where it can provide extra service for not much extra cost , and offer the states these services for abit more funding . It did this on the new haven - springfield route awhile ago too . so say a state is spending $ 10 million for 2 trains a day , if amtrak finds it can provide an extra train for say $ 2 million , it is a good deal for the state , and they might jump at the extra funding .

David Benton wrote:good points Baldie , thats what i think amtrak needs to do at the moment , find where it can provide extra service for not much extra cost , and offer the states these services for abit more funding . It did this on the new haven - springfield route awhile ago too . so say a state is spending $ 10 million for 2 trains a day , if amtrak finds it can provide an extra train for say $ 2 million , it is a good deal for the state , and they might jump at the extra funding .

Amtrak added a Hiawatha run last year at no additional cost, so they are doing these things where possible.