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Sleeping Car Service Generates Incremental Profits
Thursday, June 22, 2006
Attacks continue on Amtrak’s long distance services, with the focus now shifting to dining car and sleeping car service. My research indicates that that Sleeping car service on Amtrak’s long distance trains generates an incremental operating profit of at least $40 million (based on Fiscal 2004 data). Part of the basis for this is a recognition that elimination of dining cars would put substantial coach revenue at risk, since more coach passengers than sleeping-car passengers make very long trips.
Sleeping cars perform an important transportation function. They carried people over 630 million miles in each of the last two years—22% more than Amtrak’s premium high speed Acela Express & Metroliner services in the Northeast did in FY 2004.
People like to use the word “cost” and “subsidy to the rich” to describe sleeping car travel. The federal cost of moving one person one mile in a sleeping car is less than in coach. The federal cost of operating a national network of trains with just coaches and no food or other amenities would be far greater than the cost of continuing the current level of service.
Under any scenario, the goal of break-even food service is unrealistic and ignores the fact that, worldwide on all transportation, when food is provided it is to enhance overall revenues, not to serve as its own profit center. Reducing long distance trains to coach only service would dramatically reduce public utility, volume of use, and revenue while simultaneously increasing both cost per passenger mile and per passenger, making the service inefficient, irrelevant to the traveling public and unjustifiable.
Follow this link to our full analysis.
-George Chilson
NARP President
Posted by NARP
Tags:House Votes for Amtrak
Thursday, June 15, 2006
Thanks (once again) to the yeoman work of Railroads Subcommittee Chairman Steve LaTourette (R-OH) and James Oberstar (MN), top Democrat on the full Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, the House voted 266-158 (with 71 Republicans voting yes) in favor of adding $214 million for Amtrak to the $900 million the committee had approved.
The LaTourette-Oberstar amendment is roll call vote #263 to H.R. 5576, the “TTHUD” appropriations bill (TTHUD = Transportation, Treasury, Housing and Urban Development, The Judiciary, District of Columbia). It began at about 9 PM on Tuesday, June 13. A full listing of the “yeas” and “naes” can be found on the webpage of the Clerk of the House (click on ” 109th Congress, 2nd Session (2006)” then on the roll call vote number (left column).
All 266 deserve our thanks, but also need to be reminded that more funding must be added before the process is complete, that is, in the Senate and in the House-Senate conference. Senate action is expected in July.
Members also need to start hearing about the “death” language in the House bill which is available on-line on the “Thomas” Library of Congress website. (Enter H.R. 5576 in the “Search Bill Text” field, choose the “Bill Number” bubble, press submit, then click on “Capital and Debt Service Grants to the National Railroad Passenger Corporation.” It’s the 42nd line in a long list, right after “Railroad Rehabilitation and Improvement Program” and well above “Title II” and “Department of the Treasury.”).
Perhaps the most deadly parts of the bill are these two provisions:
- Within 120 days of enactment, Amtrak is to give the appropriations committees a plan to make “food and beverage service” and “first class service (including sleeping car service)…revenue neutral or better on a fully allocated cost basis no later than October 1, 2008.”
- The bill also says that “not later than October 1, 2008, Amtrak shall reduce its system overhead expenses by 10 percent from the level identified as existing on October 1, 2006, and in each subsequent fiscal year, reduce system overhead expenses by 10 percent of the level existing on October 1 of the immediate preceding year.”
The above language suggests an attempt to kill Amtrak through the back door, the front door having failed. Legislators—especially senators right now—need to hear that it is unacceptable.
If this language is sincerely aimed at improving Amtrak rather than killing it, what happened to the conservative philosophy of less government interference? With a Republican controlled House, Senate, White House and Amtrak Board why does Congress feel compelled to second guess the decisions of the people they put in charge of Amtrak by using statutes to tell them how in detail to run the business? Lack of trust?
—Ross Capon
Posted by NARP
Tags:In Memory: Linda Park Verdi
Wednesday, June 14, 2006
(Edited June 19—additional information at end of entry)
Yesterday morning, I attended the “service of remembrance and thanksgiving” for—and the burial of—one of the brightest lights that ever shown at Amtrak: Linda Park Verdi, who served the railroad faithfully for 33 years, after joining Amtrak in June 1973 one year after getting her B.A. (business & public administration) from University of Virginia. She was top-notch in every respect—the radiance of her personality; her talent, knowledge and creativity; and her work ethic. Not surprisingly, the service was well attended by current and retired Amtrak people, and Amtrak staff got calls of sympathy from around the country.
Although I only knew her at her Amtrak job, this part of the biography included in the service program came as no surprise:
“We remember Linda as being outgoing, full of energy and vitality, with her beautiful, infectious smile; where Linda was, there was the party. Linda made friends wherever she went. As a worldwide traveler, Linda loved visiting new and exciting places and people.
“Linda enjoyed life to the fullest. Her hobbies included gardening, boating, golfing, entertaining, crafting and working on ‘family roots.’ Linda’s creative talents were expressed in everything she did.
“Linda is so loved by all of her family. She selflessly gave of herself in all of her relationships as wife, daughter, sister, aunt and friend. So many special memories will remain in the hearts of all the lives she touched.”
The program said, “During her faithful 33 years with Amtrak she made significant contributions.” That is an understatement, to put it mildly. Linda:
- Managed the marketing part of Amtrak’s October 1983 restart of Auto Train. (The private Auto Train Corporation ran the service until May 1, 1981.)
- Helped develop features of the Southwest Chief upgrade.
- Was involved in upgrading the Superliner trains, including movies and on board guides.
- Led the program to get movies on the Florida trains.
- During the mid-1990s, initiated Amtrak’s Travel Planner and oversaw its annual improvement.
- Was deeply involved with Amtrak’s marketing efforts with VIA Rail Canada, and went to Montreal many times to meet with VIA marketing people and develop new programs. The most significant result of this work was the North America Rail Pass which gives passengers unlimited travel on both Amtrak and VIA Rail Canada for a 30-day period.
- Did a joint marketing effort involving publication of Thomas the Tank Engine books with the “outside” pages promoting Amtrak to kids.
- Worked on Amtrak timetables in recent years. This was an underutilization of her talents, but it should be noted that one of David Gunn’s more visible decisions was to reinstate Amtrak’s national timetable, so it was certainly good to have Linda involved in seeing that that product met high standards. She also visited the NARP office on a few occasions to pick our brains about how the timetable could be improved; some of the additional transit information is one result of those conversations.
It is hard to imagine Amtrak without Linda, but she would want all of us—inside and outside the company—to keep working for a great national rail passenger service for the U.S.
—Ross Capon
The family requested that in lieu of flowers gifts may be designated for the Linda Verdi Memorial Fund and given to St. John’s Lutheran Church, 5952 Franconia Rd,. Alexandria, VA 22310, “or charity of choice.”
“Linda as we would like to remember her: Sipping some wine on the TGV.” Special thanks for the photo and caption, which we received from Ira Silverman, MARC Director of Operations and formerly Amtrak’s Director of Route Marketing.
Posted by NARP
Tags:New Orleans-Mobile rail route safe
Friday, June 09, 2006
A $700 million first installment towards the proposed abandonment of the CSX New Orleans-Mobile rail line, widely termed a “railroad relocation project,” was dropped from the final agreement on the big war supplemental (emergency spending) bill. See third paragraph from the end of this article in the Washington Post.
-Ross Capon
Posted by NARP
Tags:Dump The Pump Day
Yesterday was Dump The Pump Day, organized and promoted by the American Public Transportation Association and their “Public Transportation: Wherever Life Takes You” program. One of the more interesting factoids on their website was: “By getting rid of a car, and using transit instead to commute to work, a person would save between $3,300 and $11,100 annually. Transit use saves more than 855 million gallons of gasoline every year.” That’s a lot of gas!
Fortunately, I dump the pump every day, as I live about five blocks from the NARP office and either bike or walk to work. However, my girlfriend is not as lucky. Her new job just south of Towson, Maryland requires her to drive; transit is simply not a viable option. And it doesn’t have to be that way.
She could easily take transit—to—work. In the morning, there is a MARC commuter rail “super express” train from Washington non-stop to Baltimore Penn Station. Then, ten mintues later, an express #3 Maryland Transit Administration bus leaves from Penn Station and would deliver her to the front door of her office. Total commute time (with transfer): 1 hour, 5 minutes.
However, the evenings are a different story. There is no counterpart return express #3 bus, so she would have to take the hour-and-a-half-travel-time #3 local bus, then wait 30 minutes for a MARC train which isn’t non-stop. Total travel time: 2 hours 45 minutes.
Amanda would love to “dump the pump,” but it’s just not practical. The continued work of APTA and other groups to expand and promote transit will make it accessible to many more people.
And, by the way, we are going to move to Laurel, Maryland, to make her drive a bit more bearable. I’ll become a daily MARC commuter on the Camden Line. But, we aren’t living in suburban box land, we’re living in revitalized downtown Laurel in a really neat transit-oriented mixed use development complex, Patuxent Place.
-Dave Johnson
Posted by NARP
Tags:Same Old Song and Dance
Thursday, June 08, 2006
So it appears we are going down a similar funding path for Amtrak as last year. The House Appropriations Subcommittee and full committee approve an inadequate figure after rejecting amendments to raise the funding, attempts will be made to raise the funding level on the full House floor, with the ultimate idea that the whole thing is shipped over to the Senate with a note that says, “Dear Senate. You fix this. Sincerely, The House.”
All this goes on while highway, aviation and to some extent transit funding is behind a “firewall,” unable to be reduced or used to fund anything else. That in and of itself is not necessarily a bad thing: transportation funding needs to be predictable and protected. But why doesn’t passenger rail benefit from this?
Anyone reading this blog probably knows the issues behind it. But the bottom line is that it makes funding Amtrak—and thus an entire mode of transportation—difficult to impossible. Try to explain to anyone outside Washington the logic of cutting the most energy efficient form of transportation, given the world energy situation!
[Read our May 19 hotline for more details on Amtrak energy efficiency. Its in the 6th paragraph.]
Now more than ever, America needs an Amtrak reauthorization, with that coveted federal-state funding match for infrastructure and equipment investment.
-Dave Johnson
Posted by NARP
Tags:Great Quote!
Tuesday, June 06, 2006
Can you beat this for a terrific start to a timely and relevant op ed column? It was in the May 30 Seattle Times, and is by Al Runte, whose recent book is “Allies of the Earth: Railroads and the Soul of Preservation.” The title of his op-ed (available online, website registration may be required) is “Forget gas; we need a plan to keep passenger trains rolling”.
“Here we go again — blaming everything on the oil companies for the spiraling cost of gasoline. How about we try something positive for a change, say, restoring our passenger trains?”
I couldn’t have said it better myself!
-Ross Capon
Posted by NARP
Tags:Private Grade Crossings: Who is Responsible?
Friday, June 02, 2006
As David discussed yesterday, Amtrak Train 350 – the morning run from Chicago to Detroit/Pontiac – hit a gravel track at a private crossing, killing the truck driver and badly damaging Amtrak equipment. This raises the question: should the owners of private crossings be required at least to erect warning flashers?
Right now, the federal government has no authority to require this, although a few such owners already have taken such steps voluntarily. Indeed, federal authority to require warning equipment is limited, even on public crossings. The Federal Railroad Administration has been reviewing the issue, which indeed was on the DOT Secretary’s action plan back in 1994, but got pushed to the back burner by the train horn rule.
The good news is that a Federal Register notice on this may come soon, and a docket will be opened so that people can submit comments; four “public workshops” are also in the works.
-Ross Capon
Posted by NARP
Tags:Always Look Listen and Live!
Thursday, June 01, 2006
Amtrak Train #350 was involved in a fiery grade crossing accident on Tuesday near Jackson, Michigan. You can watch coverage of the incident from Lansing’s NBC affiliate, WILX’s, website. To view the videos, click on the two links over on the right side of the page. I’m pleased to see that the coverage is positive and does not take the sensationalistic approach that some television stations do. The passengers also said that they were pleased with how Amtrak was handling the disruption.
Most people who would visit this website are very rail safety conscious and even enjoy stopping to watch a train (my girlfriend says she’ll never have to worry about being hit at a grade crossing as long as I’m driving; I usually slow down and wait for one!). But as rail advocates we have a responsibility to “preach the word” about safety.
With the summer travel season upon us, tell your friends, family, co-workers, neighbors, and everyone else that it is important to STOP, LOOK, and LISTEN at all rail crossings: especially those that do not have flashing lights or crossing arms. This is a particularly important message for teenage drivers, many of whom are beginning their first summer of driving on their own.
-Dave Johnson
Posted by NARP
Tags:©2010 National Association of Railroad Passengers | » NARP website
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