WASHINGTON — Although Amtrak is in a holding pattern while state stay-at-home orders have decimated ridership and revenue, management is actively studying possible service changes when conditions improve.
That’s the message Thursday from Board Chairman Tony Coscia, new President and CEO Bill Flynn, and Stephen Gardner, executive vice president and chief operating and commercial officer, in a conference call with reports.
Coscia pointed out that Flynn didn’t wait for his official start date of April 15 to assume his new role but jumped on board in early March as the COVID-19 pandemic began to unfold, and “essentially eliminated his compensation for the time being … in order to make a contribution to the company’s overall efforts to significantly reduce senior executive compensation.”
Flynn says Amtrak will continue to execute major capital projects such as its next-general Acela 21 trains, and is working with Congress and the Trump Administration on the Fiscal 2021 appropriation and potential infrastructure funding plans.
He also revealed the company is “conducting a fair amount of research to determine what recovery will look like,” developing multiple service plans that will be shaped by “surveys of customer sentiment,” and that Amtrak intends to “introduce product ahead of demand.”
Preliminary results show that it will be about three months or more before people expect to travel as they did before the downturn began. Flynn says, “We have to demonstrate to our customers that we have an attractive product that they will value when they come back.”
Gardner emphasized that Amtrak wants to “accelerate the process of seeking ways to connect better with customers throughout their journey.” This includes new ticketing kiosks, text messaging informing passengers where to head when they arrive at stations, and the ability to pre-order food from cafe cars. “We want to give customers a greater level of confidence about their journey when they are ready to come back,” Gardner says.
Asked whether Amtrak labor unions had agreed to delay or forego already-negotiated wage increases in an attempt to avoid furloughs, Flynn said, “So far, nobody has taken us up on that, but we continue to work with union leadership so they understand where we are in this crisis and how we are going to move forward.”
In response to a follow-up email, Amtrak spokesman Marc Magliari tells Trains News Wire that 58% of onboard service employees are on an extra board which guarantees them 150 hours per month of work. Regularly assigned employees are guaranteed a 180-hour month, so the pay reduction works out to about 16%.
“Engineers and conductors have a 40-hour-a-week guarantee, but many of them previously worked assignments that included overtime, which has been reduced,” says Magliari.
Asked about removal of downloadable schedules from Amtrak’s website because virtually all previously issued documents are now inaccurate, spokeswoman Christina Leeds explained that existing schedules are available only by origin and destination when accessed by date through the “schedules” link in the booking system. “We will add the (downloadable) schedules back when we start to restore service,” she says.
George, to your comment about learning from the past, how many of FDR’s programs were later found to be unconstitutional.
The curve in the current picture crosses Plankinton Ave. going west to the Post Office/depot “cavern”. (Sorry about the obscure abbreviation.) The former RoW continued north to curve sharply west crossing 2nd St., frequently blocking it heading into the Everett St. ( a short, 2 block street heading east/west) depot. Westbound parlor car passengers had quite a trek to board a long train, because typical Hiawatha consist put SuperDome, diner, parlor, and Skytop at the tail…no double stop.
The curve at the west end crossing 5th. St. and going under the 6th. St. viaduct (built by Insull’s CNS&M) was more open. If memory is correct, some the fine laid-stonework, prominent in period photos, remains. With blocked streets, men (and boys) watching the action back in the day, the many period photos accurately capture what it was like.
GEORGE – Thanks for the support. Regarding the legality of the restrictions (as opposed to the rightness or wrongness of quarantine), there are two entirely different questions with different answers. Many people lack the discernment to tackle either question let alone both.
(1) Does quarantine violate freedom of assembly or freedom of religion? Or the freedom to be about one’s own business.
I’ll defer on that question and go on to the next question.
(2) Does the governor or mayor of whatever state or city have the authority to issue these rules?
The answer to Question #2 probably varies from one state to another. It’s likely in many states the governors do not have that authority.
Two things deeply trouble me.
(1) Governors edicts are accepted as “law” and people accept that it’s illegal to do this that or the other, on the governor’s say-so. Subject to enforcement by police and the payment of fines or the threat of imprisonment.
(2) The news media is of zero help. In almost no case has a media reporter or editor inquired as to what chapter and verse of state legislation or state constitution that the governor is acting under. For example the governor of my state is Tony Evers. Has any news media e-mailed the governor’s office to enquire under what authority he has closed schools, businesses and churches in Wisconsin? Not that I’m aware of. Possibly he has that authority under Wisconsin law or the state constitution. Possibly he doesn’t. I don’t know. In either case, I’m not aware that he has volunteered chapter and verse nor has the media asked.
As you posted earlier, George, the Constitution has been shredded. And by some polls 80% or so of America accepts that.
Charles – I always knew I was sane and level-headed, but thanks for the reinforcement. I stand with you. I predict that, in the fullness of time and the Republic still existing, SCOTUS will find many of these social and economic orders to be unconstitutional. Might be of benefit the next time around. The price of liberty is eternal vigilance, not crawling into bed and shaking with fear.
While this may be off topic, it would be an interesting study of this current pandemic and the flu pandemic of 1918 as to the effect on the economy and transportation of both passenger and freight.
We’ve never been here before. It will be years before we being to understand all the implications. Lives vs. livelihoods is a terrible decision to have to make. None of us know the “right” answers, because there aren’t any–someone gets hurt no matter what. What is practical will vary from place to place and time to time. And, all the while the constant flow of information (traffic in the channel) will make us think we know more than we do.
Timetables ARE available, but it’s been years since they were reliable. The only reliable station times are those in the booking engine.
https://beta.amtrak.com/timetables.html?amtrak=031520a3f7z6
Steve, remember when Wolf ran for governor the first time. He was supposed to be the best candidate for the small business owner. Now he is killing their businesses. I live in the suburban Philly area and I don’t see anything changing here until June.
I didn’t understand McConnell’s reasoning–until I found out the state of Illinois asked for $41.6 Billion from the feds which just happens to be about the amount the state is in debt for all its past spending plus its unfunded public pension liability. It also faces a major increase in negotiated government union salaries that starts very shortly but the state hasn’t even approached the public unions about delaying that or negotiating cutbacks. The last thing American taxpayers need is for the Feds to reward states for many years of very poor fiscal management.
“First, do no harm,” right, Doctor? The economy has been destroyed. The Constitution is in tatters. For what? King Andrew I says that the alternative is death. No, it’s not. The alternative is not to succumb to the fear-mongers who overreact, revel in power, and manipulate numbers. Amtrak is a tiny grain of sand on the self-induced, unnecessary misery of a beach that America will burn its feet on for many moons to come.
DANIEL – I 100% know the reason for the lockdown – to slow the spread of he virus until the medical system would be able to car for the ill people. We’re at that point.
DANIEL – What do you think the lockdown would accomplish? That the virus would go away?
If you don’t understand the reasoning behind “stay home” by now, I doubt anyone on this forum would be able to explain it to you to your satisfaction. Please check with your doctor before injecting disinfectant.
JEFFREY – The former alignment of the sharp curve to the east approach of the former Milwaukee Road depot is visible, as has been stated. A mile or so west the former alignment of the west approach was obliterated for highway construction. In between of course the location of the depot itself has been obliterated since shortly after the station closed in I think 1965.
JEFFREY – In CURTIS’ post p/o means Post Office.
GALEN – The subject of this blog is the “virus” – it’s right there in the headline. So you get comments on how the “virus” has affected and will affect transportation, Amtrak and otherwise. If you don’t want comments that’s your opinion but I don’t see why you’d want them banned.. If you look to the right of this page you will see Jim Wrinn’s blog with the word “coronavirus” in the headline. TRAINS MAG covers contemporary as well as historic issues.
As I’ve stated to Trains Mgmt in the past…PLEASE!!! eliminate this comment section. This is meant for comments on the RR industry not political viewpoints. Also, certain people seem compelled to rebuttal every comment that others make. In this day & age most comment sections have been taken over by the lunatic fringe and are to be avoided.
Curtis Larson: I think I know where that curve is. I was through Milwaukee years ago before the new station was built, and managed to get a couple pictures as we were going around a sharp curve. Or, that was probably the old curve that you write about? But, what does “p/o-depot” mean? Sometimes folks use abbreviations in these posts when they should spell it out for those of us uninitiated.
Talking around the issue. The issue isn’t kiosks or downloadable timetables or executive compensation. The issue is that the grotesque overreaction to the virus has dealt a mortal blow to all forms of public transportation, including Amtrak.
A year ago we had a booming economy and record-low unemployment. At that time, the best of times, Amtrak and all forms of public transportation were financially distressed. If anyone on this forum (most or all of us are public transportation advocates) has any answers, plz. inform. A year ago we were talking about the financial problems of Boston’s MBTA. Now MBTA’s revenue is essentially zero.
A few months ago we were talking about expanding the Hiawatha. Guess what folks, the Hiawatha is now down to ZERO. There is no more Hiawatha. Eventually it will come back, but at who knows what frequency or ridership or degree of subsidy from the bankrupt state of Illinois. My guess is four round trips, five if we’re lucky.
Any of you who support this endless lockdown, you have bankrupted public transportation, pension funds, Social Security and Medicare. For what? The virus hasn’t gone away, you’ve slowed it down by a couple of weeks if even that.
ROBERT (1) If you believe we have the most COVID cases or deaths in the world you’d believe Joseph Goebbels.
(2) We have one of the highest survival rates (3) My most recent trip by rail, since you asked, was March 8th. My most recent trip by air, since you asked, was April 14th, which was Tuesday of last week, BNA direct to MKE with a stop at DCA. Totally enjoyable.
My next trip by air, since you asked, isn’t currently scheduled but I have June of this year penciled in, about two months from now. I’d be on the Hiawatha tomorrow if it was still running and if there were any place open in Illinois to go to.
50k deaths over about two months is (1) significantly exaggerated as it includes persons who died of something else but were infected with COVID (2) even if true would represent well under two weeks worth of death by illness in USA (3) would be a problem if continued at this rate but there’s no such indication the death rate will continue at this level.
MICHAEL _ If you meant the description of “ideologue” to apply to me I do believe it more fits the people I’m arguing against. The sanest, most level-headed people I know happen to agree with me.
Charles, I have to postpone the surgery that I need. Happy to make the sacrifice and absorb the pain if that helps. One of my favorite authors, James Lee Burke wrote the following: “What’s an ideologue?”
“Someone who brings religious passion to a political abstraction only cretins could think up,” he said. “When you meet one, flee his presence at all costs. He’ll incinerate half the planet to save the other half and never understand his own motivations.” Only you can decide if is applies–I don’t judge.
Hey Mr. Landry, there are 50,000 plus deaths in the U.S.A. now as well as the most coronavirus cases in the entire world. We’re #1! When is your next train or airplane trip?
Amtrak is a classic example of our country right now. (Besides the Covid situation.) Essential organization performing a vital task (running a country of people and a railroad to move said people) but it’s dysfunctional, because the system was set up flawed. Big changes need to be made in the format of Amtrak and as well as our congress. These are not mutually exclusive. I hope we can do this: when are young people going to step up and take charge? Because the older people are out of ideas of how to make any significant changes. I hope this new CEO works in the right direction: the accounting system needs to be project #1. I like what I’m seeing here in the Philadelphia area at least, but the NE is a small area of our country. Put people to work building HSR across America.
GERALD – Me negative? I’m the one who has been saying all along that this virus is nowhere near as serious as our government has told us it is. I’m the least negative, most optimistic person on this forum when it comes to the virus. It’s the “cure” I’m worried sick about.
All things (or nothing) being equal, the pix depicts a favored photo spot just East of the p/o-depot cavern, which occupy the site of a former Milw. Rd. yard. Back when the depot was further North on Everett St, the curve was sharper, causing a long Hiawatha to stretch herself odalisque-like around it, blocking the street. Pure sensuality westbound.
Charles, I have enough of your bs and negativity, you don’t know diddly squat about the virus just like the rest of us that aren’t medical professionals or scientists. Did you even notice the part where even the people at Amtrak are saying it will be 3 months after this is over before people start returning to normal travel patterns? That’s more optimistic than even most surveys come up with. All you need to do is look at history and past human behaviour to have some kind of idea how things will work out. McConnell’s brashness aside I think you’ll find he’s lost the Senate on the point of providing money to the States to keep them from declaring bankruptcy, it didn’t work in 2011 after the 2008 crash and it won’t work now. His talk of the national debt is garbage, anyone that’s anyone knows the debt is just paper. We have a population of almost 400 million, and not even 1% has been tested yet, but you say anyone that would have contracted the virus already would have by now…prove it. Now we’re hearing that there were actually deaths from COVID-19 weeks before originally thought…what does that tell you? Your precious Hiawatha service will be just fine once the states reopen, people have short memories, that’s a known fact that no one can dispute. I suggest you’re going to be one of the people suffering from this because of all the negativity, which is bad for anyone. I’d be surprised if this post even makes it, but sometimes you don’t see the forest through the trees and this is one of those times.
It is a choice between lives and the economy, nothing more nothing less.
MICAHEL – Our leaders want you to believe it’s a choice between lives and the economy. It’s nothing of the sort. The economic destruction of America over the decades will claim countless lives from depression, heart conditions, diabetes anxiety etc etc, while it’s unclear to me that the lockdown is saving any enough lives from COVID to justify it, if any lives at all are being saved.
Tell me MICHAEL, how about the people now not getting colonoscopies? How’s that for saving lives?This lockdown is verging on genocide.
Even if the lockdown were justified to flatten the curve, it’s now at the point of diminishing returns. Whovever is going to get exposed already has been exposed. Another month or two of forced lockdown won’t save anybody.
In some states and in various areas in many states we may have reaching the point where the “cure” [endless lock down] is worse than the “curse”. That’s not to say social distancing and wearing face masks can’t continue on for awhile and restaurant service still remain limited, but basically shutting down everything simply is not worth it from an overall standpoint.
Logic still seems to be missing in PA. Wolf is allowing government construction to proceed come Monday. But he still won’t allow private construction to begin. He’s let big box stores stay open but continues to shut down many of their smaller competitors. All but the few smallest rural counties may not be allowed to do much until at least mid-May and possibly June or even later.