by Tadman
I've had three CofNO round trips in three years and never been late.
The new Acela: It's not Aveliable.
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Moderators: GirlOnTheTrain, mtuandrew, Tadman
Ridin’ on the City of New Orleans
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According to Amtrak, in FY2014, the CNO generated $22 million in revenue. No one–including Amtrak—knows what its costs were because Amtrak’s cost accounting systems don’t track and report any route’s actual costs; rather, they collect system costs into category national aggregates and then allocate the totals back out to each route based on management assumptions. This system is notoriously inaccurate. Amtrak still hasn’t released its 2014 annual report due to accounting irregularities, and its financial officers have emphasized in the past that reported route costs are “not additive” (meaning that the total is less than the sum of the stated parts). Amtrak’s make-believe accounting system assigned more than $46.5 million in system costs to the CNO in FY14.
A train with only three coaches and 1 ½ sleepers cannot hope to earn enough revenue to cover its costs, whatever they might be.
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To provide food service on the CNO, Amtrak runs a “Cross Country Café” car (“CCC”), which is a former dining car hull that was rebuilt in 2010 into a diner/snack bar configuration. The dining car galley on the lower deck was left as-is. (The Sightseer Lounge car on the CNO is unstaffed, and the crews have appropriated its lower deck snack bar and seating area as their own crew lounge). The snack bar end of the CCC car sells the usual assortment of snacks and beverages, and is staffed with a single employee, who is rarely very busy.
While many have criticized the design of these CCC cars, the issue with their use on the CNO is not the car but its staffing. To serve dinner and breakfast on #58, and breakfast and lunch on 59, Amtrak is now assigning just one employee to do everything: greet and seat passengers, provide and explain menus, take orders, set and clear tables, microwave and plate meals (in the galley), serve meals (up and down the stairs many times), collect payment from coach passengers, make adjustments for passengers who have complaints, procure and serve alcoholic beverages from the snack bar end of the car, and do the necessary record-keeping with meal checks and inventories. On many trips, when passenger loads meet or exceed the average, one employee, despite heroic effort, simply cannot accomplish this. The result is terrible service, combined with mediocre food served on cheap throw-away dishes and glassware. The snack bar employee provides no assistance to the dining car employee; occasionally, the sleeping car attendant will step back into the diner and help clear and re-set tables.<SNIP>
According to Amtrak, in FY2014, the CNO generated $22 million in revenue. No one–including Amtrak—knows what its costs were because Amtrak’s cost accounting systems don’t track and report any route’s actual costs; rather, they collect system costs into category national aggregates and then allocate the totals back out to each route based on management assumptions. This system is notoriously inaccurate. Amtrak still hasn’t released its 2014 annual report due to accounting irregularities, and its financial officers have emphasized in the past that reported route costs are “not additive” (meaning that the total is less than the sum of the stated parts). Amtrak’s make-believe accounting system assigned more than $46.5 million in system costs to the CNO in FY14.this person has clearly never worked in a corporate finance department. some costs are always allocated in any business such as shared assets (like equipment). perhaps amtrak's accounting system is less make believe (many large corporations use the same accounting system) than the problem is large "system" costs.
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David Benton wrote:Does anyone actually know if there is a chef or not ?There has not been a chef on the CONO since the July service changes.