eolesen wrote: ↑Mon Jul 08, 2019 9:54 amI agree mostly here, but when things are going haywire daily, it's time for the biggest boss possible to stop the big picture work and "RTFT", or "ride the frigging trains". Lately a lot of my frustration with Amtrak is not from issues fixable by more funding, it's by issues fixable by more attention from management. If Mr. Anderson had three fixer guys that were well known throughout the system for showing up and troubleshooting unforced errors like bad boarding procedures and unnecessary double stops, it would provide better service.JoeG wrote: ↑Sat Jul 06, 2019 10:09 pm ...It's laughable to think that these types of decisions are something the CEO or President would initiate or even need to endorse.
The problem is that he has no idea of how to run a railroad. What's with canceling short-haul trains days before a forecast storm? Maybe he had to do that at Delta, where planes have complex country-wide schedules. That's not true of Keystone service, NEC service or Empire service, for three.
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Why is he making life tough for PV owners and charterers? These guys are willing to pay whatever to run their cars and he is rejecting their business.
He says PV makes trains late? As everyone know they are already disgracefully late. I'm not just talking about the LD network, where probably a lot of the problem is with the Class Is. Even their premier Acela service has an ontime percentage in the eighties.And that is with "on time" defined as no more than 15 minutes late. Even bedraggled NJT considers a train late after 5 minutes.
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Finally, when ordinary railroad things go wrong, like an engine that fails to load, it takes Amtrak at least a couple of hours to recover, and that's on the NEC. It certainly seems that some of their "almost" profitability is caused by their failing to provide enough protect engines, cars and crews.
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If Mr Anderson hires a safety expert, that is one (the only) thing he's done that is progressive. But his lack of nuts and bolts railroading experience prevents him from being the leader Amtrak needs.
Just like "Orange Man, Bad" syndrome, it's easier to attack Anderson than want to admit there's a need for Amtrak to be managed differently than it has been for the previous 30+ years. The article admits there's been some significant improvements e.g. I can't think of a significant accident that's happened since he arrived.
And regarding JoeG's assertion about private cars versus class 1 delays, let's be real honest. I have more than one managerial type at Amtrak telling me the hidden costs and delays of PV's are enormous. Why not get them cleaned up so the majority of delays are on the Class 1's, and it's easier to negotiate? Recently I was on a train that didn't leave Chicago on time, and it gets worse from there. We had no PV's, but that's the kind of delays PV's create and it drives the freights nuts. It's hard to fight them on delays when Amtrak doesn't have clean hands.
We can all note there are plenty of PV's still on the system. Last week I watched plenty of pics of two PRR-liveried cars having a race Chicago-Washington. The week before that, one went right past me on the Pere Marquette and then travelled to Indy for he last run of the Hoosier. PV's are absolutely still running, they're just not getting as favorable of treatment. I think Mr. Levin has a beef with current management and the average person (IE not a buff) just. doesn't. care.
The new Acela: It's not Aveliable.