Staff layoffs

slchub wrote: ↑Mon Sep 07, 2020 8:10 am One service elimination I don't understand is Amtrak Express Shipping. They have a baggage car on most trains. Cargo does not complain nor care if it rides in the cold, heat or dark. To eliminate a service that is already in place and working seems odd. But then again, we have seen other oddball cuts such as dining options.

I guess if you’re only going 3x/week, you can’t be as reliable with a delivery day. And you definitely can’t take on any time-sensitive or perishable freight if your Express shipment involves more than one train.

Or maybe Flynn & Co just are trying to shed “non-core” aspects of Amtrak’s business model. I wouldn’t be surprised if Amtrak Express didn’t come back, just like chef-prepared meals.

mtuandrew wrote: ↑Mon Sep 07, 2020 9:39 am ..I wouldn’t be surprised if Amtrak Express didn’t come back, just like chef-prepared meals.

So Mr. Stephens, your use of the double negative implies that you hold that BOTH Express and Chef prepared meals will make a "comeback"?

There are other topics at which this point is more appropriately discussed.

How utrue. Yes most cargo does not care but there is much that does. Flowers. sealed bags have altitude restrictions.You don't want your potatoe schips bags blowing open. Can nam more.

west point wrote: ↑Mon Sep 07, 2020 2:43 pm How utrue. Yes most cargo does not care but there is much that does. Flowers. sealed bags have altitude restrictions.You don't want your potatoe schips bags blowing open. Can nam more.

Flowers by rail? Don't think so. Too time sensitive. Potato chip bags exploding? What rail line in this country would that possible occur on? I can't think of any. Help me out.

It was in Trains magazine, Empire builder ,

Potato chip bags exploding would be due to airplane air pressure. Not that you would ship potato chips by air.

Gilbert B Norman wrote: ↑Mon Sep 07, 2020 9:44 am

mtuandrew wrote: ↑Mon Sep 07, 2020 9:39 am ..I wouldn’t be surprised if Amtrak Express didn’t come back, just like chef-prepared meals.

So Mr. Stephens, your use of the double negative implies that you hold that BOTH Express and Chef prepared meals will make a "comeback"?

There are other topics at which this point is more appropriately discussed.

Nope - the double negative means I would be surprised if Amtrak does restart the Amtrak Express program. I expect that both Express and fresh-cooked meals have seen their last days.

I blame "How It's Made" and "Nerve Center" for how I know this.

Flowers are definitely time and temperature sensitive. Flowers have to be kept chilled (10-12C, or 50-53.6F). Trains are too slow to handle it and thus are shipped by air as much as possible.

Potato chips... aren't as delicate, but most companies put manufacturing plants in different regions. It's why you can get Utz potato chips, which usually is common along the NEC... in California. They have plants in Louisiana, California, and Philadelphia. So... not really conductive for train shipping.

So yeah, Express is a gonner. Fresh cooked meals? I'd say on the LD trains that are 2 nights long, but that's it. Overnight? Yeah, I wish they had gotten frozen pancakes...

Flowers by Express was happening in 2012 , not sure how long it lasted.
viewtopic.php?p=1008111#p1008111

Almost $5 billion now needed from the government to prevent service cuts and staff furloughs.

https://trn.trains.com/news/news-wire/2 ... -workforce

WASHINGTON — Amtrak President William Flynn has told members of Congress that the company needs a $4.9 billion appropriation for fiscal 2021 to avoid employee furloughs and reduced long-distance train frequencies planned for October.

Flynn, Rail Passengers Association President and CEO Jim Mathews, and labor officials representing the Transport Workers Union and Transportation Communications Union testified Tuesday at the U.S. House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee’s Rail Subcommittee hearing titled, “Amtrak’s response to COVID-19.”

Amtrak declined to provide the figure needed to avoid the job and service cuts to Capitol Hill staffers until late last week, despite requests from elected officials in June [see “Senators seek more details on Amtrak service, job cuts,” Trains News Wire June 29, 2020.

That drew sharp criticism in the opening statement from subcommittee chairman Dan Lipinski (D-Ill.) for “just now submitting their amended FY21 supplemental request to Congress less than one month before the current fiscal year expires and Amtrak plans to implement these furloughs.”

Riding in the lounge on a Piedmont today and absorbing some conductor-AC gossip of unknown reliability.... They are discussing the possible closure of the Raleigh crew base and weather or not they will relocate to DC. This greatly puzzles me, growth is certainly coming to Raleigh, seems like a strange choice in this environment (service expansion, staffing difficulties, solid NC ridership, etc.)

What trains do the CLT base Crews cover?. What are their trip sequences? What about Raleigh? Conductors and egineers different? Qualified on all routes? ATL. CVS, Raleigh, Carolinian turn location?

I know very little about Amtrak staffing. I have observed that all Carolinians have a crew change in Raleigh, all Piedmonts originate in Raleigh (and all Piedmont crews that arrive in Charlotte appear to turn around and return to Raleigh same day). The Crescent has a crew change (and refuel) in Charlotte. I think the Star has a crew change in Raleigh as well (but I have only observed from the platform).

It sounded like these guys were also qualified on the auto train route as far as Florence. I have seen the same crews work the Crescent route from Charlotte to DC (maybe just Lynchburg?) as the Carolinian.

Bob Roberts wrote: ↑Wed Jun 29, 2022 10:03 pm I know very little about Amtrak staffing. I have observed that all Carolinians have a crew change in Raleigh, all Piedmonts originate in Raleigh (and all Piedmont crews that arrive in Charlotte appear to turn around and return to Raleigh same day). The Crescent has a crew change (and refuel) in Charlotte. I think the Star has a crew change in Raleigh as well (but I have only observed from the platform).

It sounded like these guys were also qualified on the auto train route as far as Florence. I have seen the same crews work the Crescent route from Charlotte to DC (maybe just Lynchburg?) as the Carolinian.

Going by the 2006 map, Star crews run from Raleigh to Hamlet with Hamlet as the "away" base. No idea if they leave crews overnight or just taxi them in and out. Looking at the 92 schedule, Hamlet to Raleigh is less than 3 hours. However, Hamlet to Richmond (next crew base north) is 6hr 19 mins, which would then require a second engineer.

With all Piedmont round trips starting in Raleigh I can't see them eliminating Raleigh, unless they really want to leave a Charlotte crew overnight to bring down the first train of the morning (#73).