Hotline #146 - July 7, 2000

Amtrak took what it sees as two major steps towards its goal of self-revitalization yesterday, with the unveiling at Washington Union Station of a service guarantee program and a new logo.

The new service guarantee is an outgrowth of earlier (and on-going) efforts to retrain staff, and to reduce the number of mechanical and supply problems affecting trains (the "Right and Ready" program). It goes beyond programs offered by other carriers in that it is unconditional. From now on, any Amtrak customer who experiences a problem should (a) discuss their concerns with any available Amtrak employee; then (b) request a Service Guarantee Certificate if the concerns aren't addressed in a satisfactory manner in step (a). This Certificate is available by calling the Amtrak reservation phone number (800-USA-RAIL) and requesting one. Customers will be asked for a ticket number for control and valuation purposes (so keep your ticket stubs!) and may be asked questions about the nature of the problem -- but all who request a Certificate will get one, by mail.

Amtrak West has conducted a prototype of the program for the last three years on the Coast Starlight (Los Angeles-Seattle), and it has contributed more in goodwill and repeat business than it has cost in customer compensation. However, the Coast Starlight program excluded factors like lateness and mechanical problems. The new, systemwide program is "unconditional." With lateness and readiness of trains still a serious problem on long-distance trains in June, it remains to be seen whether Amtrak will be flooded with compensation requests. Still, from a customer perspective, a sweeping service guarantee can only be good news for NARP members and other Amtrak customers.

The new logo -- now visible on Amtrak's web site -- has Amtrak's name in all-capital, bold letters with a three-bar wave either below or to the left of it, all in white and the shade of aqua used in Acela materials. It replaces the red, white, and blue "inverted" or "pointless" arrow logo that Amtrak has used since its creation in 1971.

Amtrak President George Warrington told Marketplace (a public radio program) that the actions are to show that "we are no longer that ... image of a tired, complacent company. We're an aggressive, competitive player." He told the Washington Post that 15% of new passengers are dissatisfied and don't take Amtrak again, but that retaining each additional percent of those passengers would mean another $13 million in revenue annually.

Testing of Acela Express high-speed trains has resumed, Amtrak announced June 30. Testing was suspended earlier in June after broken or missing bolts were discovered in truck (wheel-set) assemblies. Engineers proposed using longer, stronger bolts and the Federal Railroad Administration approved resumption of testing. Start of service may be September at the earliest.

A new intermodal station opened in Bakersfield, Cal., July 4. Amtrak vacated a double-wide trailer on F St. for a new, 8,000-square-foot, $15.5 million facility on S St. The city provided the land, Amtrak provide the furnishings, and state and federal grants provided the rest.

A station rededication will take place at Temple, Tex., July 8 from 10 am to 3 pm.

At the National Corridors Initiative (NCI) conference June 26, prominent conservative Paul Weyrich, who is vice-chairman of the Amtrak Reform Council (and a NARP member), pleaded with passenger rail advocates not to confuse conservatives with libertarians. Libertarians, he said, believe "all government is bad." He cited Wendell Cox, the perennial anti-rail transit campaigner, as an example. He said the appeal to conservatives should emphasize that better public transportation gives people more choices. Weyrich also defended the work of the Amtrak Reform Council, which he said has "a solid, pragmatic, bipartisan majority absolutely committed to rail passenger service. If we have our way, there will be a lot more service." He lamented that the unions have made it a legislative priority to try to get rid of the ARC.

A study on restoring rail transit service to San Francisco's Bay Bridge was released June 19 by the Metropolitan Transportation Commission. It put the cost at between $4.6 billion and $8 billion, including changes to bridge design and the rail systems themselves beyond the bridge. Rail system options that were studied included light-rail into Berkeley and Oakland, diversion of one BART line to the bridge, and electric commuter service running through from the Caltrain line on the Peninsula. One rail proponent, Emeryville Councilman Ken Bukowski, criticized the report for not considering replacing existing highway lanes with rail lines as a way to keep down costs. There were streetcar lines on the bridge until 1959, but they were replaced with less efficient highway lanes.

A mammoth rail/highway, bridge/tunnel project between Sweden and Denmark was opened officially by the monarchs of those two nations July 1. The link across the Oresund between Malmo and Copenhagen will greatly alter travel patterns in southern Scandinavia, and was written about in the NARP newsletter in August 1991 (in the context of small countries making ambitious rail investments, while projects in the U.S. they would consider modest, like the Boston Rail Link, languish). There is more information at the Oresund link web site.