Amtrak news in 2002 - 2nd quarter

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Visit Amtrak Reform Council website
(ARC ended its involvement in all
decisions with its Feb. 7 report to
Congress, so its website may vanish.)

Amtrak half-swings on its 180-day pitch - Despite mounting concern for its financial viability, Amtrak did not issue mandatory discontinuance notices for any of 18 long distance routes regarded as the heaviest burden on its operating budget. Previously, Amtrak predicted it would discontinue some or all of those trains on October 1, which automatically set a notification deadline of April 4. Instead, Amtrak issued letters to governors of the 46 states where it operates trains. One well-informed website forsees the Bush Administration splitting the difference between Amtrak's request for $1.2 billion and its present funding level, giving the cash-famished passenger service half a loaf, as it were. S-1991, the Hollings bill supporting nationwide passenger train improvements, has not been mentioned as these choices move forward.

True grit - Amtrak has a new Gunn as it heads toward a stressful summer that will culminate by September 30 in federal and state decisions about its survival as a railroad company. The single company responsible for operating American passenger trains nationwide will welcome on May 15 a new President and CEO, David L. Gunn. Any observer of the trials and tribulations of Amtrak and its top management, particularly in the past seven years as Congress took aim at its budget, knows Mr. Gunn must have a gritty streak in his personality, for him to shoulder the heavy burdens Amtrak must lift by Septmber 30.
Mister Gunn’s extensive career began almost forty years ago at Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Rwy. after he graduated Harvard College with a MBA. His most recent position has special significance for Kenosha because, according to Amtrak’s press release, Mr. Gunn was General Manager of Toronto Transit during the period when five PCC streetcars were sold to Kenosha Transit for its Harborpark circulator. The relevant Amtrak paragraph says:

That is an auspicious finale to a sterling resume. Amtrak can survive with his leadership. It will survive with Mr. Gunn and our full support. His resume will gain yet another paragraph of outstanding achievement.

DOT Secretary Mineta at UW-Milwaukee - WisARP stalwart Dave Rasmussen reports federal DOT chief Norman Mineta was somewhat casual about Amtrak at first when he spoke to a student audience on Thursday, April 25, while personally delivering "a $870,200 check to the Midwest Regional University Transportation Center, a consortium of Midwest college transportation departments, led by UWM." Initially, Dave wrote, Sec. Mineta asked a student wondering about Amtrak whether he had an answer. But serious explanation followed, as the Secretary noted a per-passenger outlay of $370 could buy an airline ticket instead of train fare, and any amount budgeted this coming fiscal year (in the range of $521 million to $1.2 billion) will not be a blank check for Amtrak to squander. (See how distracting averaging can be. Folks in much of the Empire Builder territory do not have an air fare option, so replacing the transportation service provided by Amtrak would cost many times $370 per-passenger.) Sec. Mineta concluded by acknowledging Amtrak's vital role after Sept. 11, and indicating the passenger railroad is needed by Americans.

Cuts to Amtrak now into muscle, bone - Toledo Blade in a May 6 article about regional NW Ohio effects of Amtrak layoffs and earlier cutbacks quotes Amtrak regional director for government relations Raymond Lang, "We’ve lost too many of our good employees in the past few months." Mister Lang spoke during a Toledo forum in April on the future of passenger train service. Neither he nor The Blade remind us that Mr. Lang has entered a position held for many years by Deborah Hare, another apparent casualty of the relentless budget pressures upon Amtrak and its most seasoned managers and executives. Those pressures now have also decimated Amtrak's fleet of Superliner coaches, as another 14 Superliners are sidetracked due to damage suffered April 18 in the Auto Train derailment. Repairs are not scheduled, due to lack of funds, so other trains on other routes have lost their Superliner equipment and substituted older, more costly to maintain coaches which annoy passengers more because of outdated amenities.

New CEO pledges national system - In a May 21 letter to Amtrak employees, CEO David Gunn assured his lay off-stricken workers "...you have the right to expect straight talk from me." He went to write: "I am committed to a national railroad passenger system, which includes the corridor, commuter and intercity services. I will not participate in the dismemberment of our company." His letter has been widely publicized and more widely praised; it is reproduced at this KenRail web page.

Rumors flying faster than Acela Express - The railroad industry grapevine is in a class by itself for stories -- and most of them are wild exaggerations. But not all. So, no one but insiders at Amtrak know for sure whether rampant rumors predicting Amtrak will file for bankrutpcy are true. If borne out by events, the borrowing decisions of the past are sure to suffer hindsight analysis as severe as critiques of Bret Favre by Monday morning quarterbacks. A national passenger train corporation and operation was pledged in a letter to Amtrak employees on May 21 from CEO David Gunn, but severe cutbacks forced by insufficient Amtrak finances have sapped morale in recent months, and Mr. Gunn now says Amtrak needs more cash by July. But David Gunn is no Paul Reistrup. Amtrak will resume a more customary railroad company structure, at Gunn's behest, dropping Strategic Business Unit sub-structure for company-wide departments. Mr. Gunn also told employees, “One last thought. Guests may be called passengers.” Gol-ly-y. Then Acela Express trains must be more than High Speed Rail vehicles.

Support emerges for Amtrak funding, help for this year - As the severity of Amtrak financial woes comes into sharper focus this first week in June, persistent critics are joining with staunch Amtrak supporters in Congress to budget at least $1.2 billion in FY 2003, beginning on October 1. Three weeks into his task as Amtrak president, David L. Gunn has moved swiftly and surely toward the leanest possible organizational structure, a sore point with long-time Amtrak detractors. For example, Mr. Gunn is now paring away the three Strategic Business Units and the management positions they entailed, a move which likely will end the distinctive variations between West Coast, NE Corridor and Intercity Unit trains; things like dining car menus and onboard amenities created by each SBU. By implementing those cutbacks, Amtrak has apparently assembled sufficiently broad legislative backing to assure FY 2003 funding, which in turn will assure lenders that a $200 million loan for FY 2002 operations will be repaid. Leading voices among fiscal watchdogs, such as Paul Weyrich and Senator John McCain, have spoken favorably of Mr. Gunn's initial moves and about Amtrak funding prospects in Congress.

Gunn mettle gray - One month into his last ditch rescue of Amtrak, President David L. Gunn continues drawing bright lines demarcating where he stands -- and showing where his predecessors did not stand. Trains.com quotes a Washington Post story by Don Phillips quoting Mr. Gunn telling an American Public Transit Association audience in early June: "That's like Coca-Cola changing its great brand name into 'brown liquid in a bottle.’ Acela, to me, is the room before the first floor." Accepting Mr. Gunn's view because he's a proven turnaround expert in transportation enterprises, we can only wonder how much was diverted by Board Chairman Tommy Thompson and President George Warrington in that now-failed attempt to make Amtrak self-supporting, perhaps even profitable. They complied with the mandate by Congress. The question remains whether Congress will accept its responsibility, now that others have done their part. Answers will emerge on June 20, according to a later Washington Post story, during a Senate Appropriations subcommittee hearing. You can ask C-SPAN to broadcast it.
Whither Amtrak – Less than two weeks remain before reaching June 30, at which date Amtrak president David Gunn has said cash for operations will expire. Amtrak awaits the decision of Congress on its FY2003 funding, and will shutdown in an orderly manner or proceed normally through the summer vacation travel season depending on what Congress decides.

Recyled solution offered - Just hours before Senator Patty Murray, of Washington state, begins hearing testimony on Amtrak's future, a Washington Post story by reliable Don Phillips indicates the long-awaited DOT proposal is a revival -- in new language -- of the Amtrak Reform Council plan that was set aside in February.

Amtrak teeters at the brink - Major newspapers in cities across the nation are dubious about chances for Amtrak to avoid a shutdown. It will start "in the middle of next week," said President David Gunn, according to a Washington Post story on June 21, and will proceed in an orderly manner so as not to strand travelers unprepared for this sudden demise of their trains. Northeast Corrider trains may operate a few days past then, before following other Amtrak trains into secure storage locations, necessary to guard against ordinary vandalism and extraordinary plots to terrorize passengers when train travel resumes. However, WisARP president John Parkyn advised in a June 21 e-mail that he "thinks [Amtrak] will go on."

Amtrak gets reprieve - With a flourish of self-congratulation, DOT announced on June 28 it has reached agreement in principle with Amtrak Chairman Smith to infuse $100 million into Amtrak coffers; Amtrak needs at least $200 million to operate through Sept. 30, the close of Fiscal Year 2002. However, the details were incomplete initially, and as they became more clear the NARP website on Saturday, June 29, felt obliged to preface its weekly summary with items which were not originally included in DOT's announcement. Early summaries of the agreement in Washington Post and elsewhere, usually fully informed, lacked mention of the trade-offs Amtrak accepted for the incomplete funding negotiated by DOT. Chicago Tribune was among websites (and newspapers) on June 29 which told of a $100 million laundry list of cutbacks which Amtrak is required to provide, and the remainder of funding for the current fiscal year is not yet defined. Congress will be asked to complete the financial 'bridge' into FY 2003 when it reconvenes the week after Fourth of July. Transportation sub-committee chair Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA) has been quoted pledging "When Congress returns next Monday [July 8], I intend to press for a direct appropriation for Amtrak's urgent needs so that Amtrak does not find itself even deeper in debt in October." No assurance yet that Senator Murray has the backing across the nation to prove her independence from powerful contrary forces when that day arrives, just four days after the nation's 226th anniversary of its founding Declaration.

Visit Wisconsin DOT web page for high speed Midwest trains and related topics.

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