Empire Commuter: Don't try your own medicine

The latest issue of Arrive, Amtrak's magazine for their passengers in the Northeast, has a fascinating article, Service Agreement, which describes how:

In the face of growing competition, consumer skepticism and shrinking brand loyalty, many companies are taking a renewed look at customer service -- and the results are taking off.

Of course Amtrak is a monopoly so competition isn't an issue -- which might explain why five passengers headed for Rhinecliff ended up in Albany on my train last night. The PA system wasn't working, the Rhinecliff station is pitch-black at night -- no sign is visible -- and the conductors couldn't be bothered to walk through the cars and announce the stop.

Is that "service with a snarl" or what?

 

Empire Commuter: At least in the UK they admit it

The UK Telegraph reported on a recent commuter train outage there:

As the inquest into the shambolic events of the past week began, Robin Gisby, Network Rail's customer services director, apologised to those who had suffered.

With passengers' anger showing little sign of abating, he added: "I am deeply unhappy that we have mucked them (passengers) around. We will get this thing fixed and then we will understand in detail what went wrong."

According to one railway insider the main focus is to restore some semblance of normality to the network. "Then we can worry about people covering their backsides."

If only Amtrak managment had that attitude!

Empire Commuter: Update on Holiday Party on the Rails

Bob Candeloro updates us on Holiday Party plans:

Holiday party is on for this Friday. While I plan on bringing beverages (beer, wine, soft drinks) and snacks, please feel free to bring whatever you might like to drink and/or eat. As far as securing our own car for Friday, Amtrak will not be able to accomodate us. Surprise, surprise. You'd figure after a 6-hour commute on Tuesday, they'd be able to round up an old car around somewhere. Anyway, this will not spoil the fun. As usual, we will meet in the first car, at the front of the train. Let's finish out the year in style ...

 

Empire Commuter: Next stop Hollywood!

The state of New York and Amtrak finally settled a long-running feud over a defunct plan to usher in high-speed rail service aboard rehabilitated turbo trains which former Governor Pataki initiated back in 1998. New York wanted $477 million in restitution from Amtrak but graciously agreed to $20 million after Amtrak kidnapped the trains in question, holding them hostage in a terminal in Delaware.

Now that everyone is back to being pals again, Amtrak and the NY Department of Transportation will split the tab for a new $10 million plan for track improvements.

After these nuptials, it's off to Hollywood, when they hope to sell the discarded trains as props in film productions.

Amtrak trains have previously appeared on TV shows including "House," "The Gilmore Girls," "What About Brian?" and "Sex and the City," and in films including "Tyler Perry's Why Did I Get Married?" In fact they seem to be anywhere other than arriving at their destination on time.

Since appearances are more important than reality to Amtrak management one can only hope that they settle permanently there and let someone else take over the Empire Line.

Holiday Party for Empire Commuters

One of our fellow Empire Commuters, Robert Candeloro, just told me about a party for some people who need to party very badly:

Just a reminder, on Friday, December 21 on Train # 237 (4:40PM), we will be having our holiday party. Please pass the following invite on to all our fellow Rhinecliff, Hudson and Albany riders. I am trying to secure our own coach (car) for the ride home, which will help greatly if we get a good number of people to show up. This is a one time deal, so pass the word and lets make it a good one. As they say, the more the merrier.

Okay to Highball !!!!!!

Empire Commuter: Never What You Want

When you want the train to move, it stops...

The Consumerist blog reports how an Amtrak train ran out of fuel 8 miles from a station and left the passengers to their own devices:

An Amtrak train traveling from San Diego to Santa Barbara ran out of fuel eight miles from its destination. Hartford Courant Editor Jeanne LeBlanc's daughter happened to be on the train, and recounted Amtrak's puzzling response.

Anyway, the passengers sat on the train for two hours, in the dark for the last 20 minutes, before they were allowed off -- but only if they could arrange their own transportation. She called her boyfriend and got a ride.

What would have happened if she could not arrange a ride? She has no idea how long the other passengers had to wait. The plan, the crew had told them, was to have a freight train push the Amtrak train to an intersection, where a fuel truck could reach them.

This happens just as Amtrak receives a guarantee of six years of funding from Congress and then raises the fares for regular commuters.

On the other hand, the SF Chronicle reported today that:

A pedestrian apparently absorbed in a cell phone call was struck and killed by an Amtrak train in San Leandro today after he walked around a lowered crossing gate and onto the tracks, authorities said.

The victim, a man who was not immediately identified, was struck at 12:30 p.m. by a northbound Capitol Corridor train at the Alvarado Street crossing, about 8 miles south of the Oakland station, Amtrak spokeswoman Vernae Graham said.

None of the 20 passengers or crew aboard the train was injured. That train and two others were delayed and another Capitol Corridor train was cancelled, Graham said.

Crew members aboard the Sacramento-bound train told authorities they saw the victim talking on the cell phone before he was struck, Graham said. The warning lights and gates at the crossing were functioning properly, she added.

Fatalities on and around the tracks are a common occurrence and I've heard from a disgruntled former station manager that it's because Amtrak management has determined the occasional lawsuits are cheaper than additional fencing.

Empire Commuter: At least in the UK they make excuses for being late

This summer it was announced that many Empire line trains would be running 15 minutes late due to track repairs. Now they've stopped working on the tracks and trains are still consistently 15 minutes to a half hour late. Basically Amtrak has given up on any attempt to justify the delays.

In the U.K. trains are often late, but old world civility demands that some explanation be given. The UK Sun reports this incident:

TRAIN passengers were stunned yesterday when a guard told them: "There's a LLAMA on the tracks."

Commuters on the London to Manchester train burst out laughing at the announcement.

The Virgin Trains service was stopped outside Stoke-on-Trent for ten minutes as staff leapt into action to clear the line.

Passenger Andrew Robinson, 34, said: "The train stopped and the guard said over the tannoy 'OK folks, this is a new one, there is a llama on the track, we've got to hold here while we check it out'.

"Everyone on the train found it hilarious and started laughing — it put everyone in a good mood."

Richard Price, 24, added: "I thought it had to be a wind-up — what was a llama doing in Stoke?"

A Virgin Trains spokesman said: "After initial reports it was announced that there was a llama on the tracks. The animal eventually ran off and we could only find a white cow in the vicinity."

Empire Commuter: GAO on condition of railroad bridges and tunnels

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) just released a report on the state of the country's railroad bridges and tunnels:

Freight railroads account for over 40 percent (by weight) of the
nation's freight on a privately owned network that was largely built
almost 100 years ago and includes over 76,000 railroad bridges and over
800 tunnels.

But getting info on this topic is difficult because the railroads want to keep it a secret.

Little information is publicly available on the condition of railroad
bridges and tunnels and on their contribution to congestion because the
railroads consider this information proprietary and share it with the
federal government selectively. Major (Class I) railroads maintain
detailed repair and inspection information, while other (Class II and
III) railroads vary, from keeping detailed records, to lacking basic
condition information. Despite their age, bridges and tunnels are not
the main cause of congestion, although some do constrain capacity.
Because bridge and tunnel work is costly, railroads typically make
other investments to improve mobility first.

Not very comforting is it? But not to worry -- our government has the greatest confidence in the railroads' commitment to their infrastructure:

The federal role in overseeing the safety of railroad bridges and
tunnels is limited because FRA has determined that most railroads are
sufficiently ensuring safe conditions. FRA has issued bridge management
guidelines, makes structural observations, and may take enforcement
actions to address structural problems. However, FRA bridge specialists
use their own, not a systematic, consistent, risk-based, methodology to
select smaller railroads for safety surveys and therefore may not
target the greatest safety threats.

Empire Commuter: Reach Amtrak Executive Customer Service

The Consumerist website has these tips on effective complaints to Amtrak:

The corporate email address for Amtrak appears to lastnamefirstletteroffirstname@amtrak.com.

So, just by way of example, president and CEO Alexander Kummant would be kummanta@amtrak.com.

The only phone number we could find was 202-906-3000. You can reach the employee directory by saying "employee," try to pronounce "Alexander Kummant" correctly (or any of the other officers listed here), and then use the tips in How To Interact With Executive Customer Service to escalate your claim.

Empire Commuter: Don't Bother Calling Your Office, Mr. Fort

This morning I was chatting with an Amtrak conductor as the train was stuck in the tunnel right outside the platform in Penn Station. He described a disturbing premonition he had.

"On Saturday I was walking down Sixth Avenue past 47th Street when I saw a man wearing black boots, a black hood and a black cape chasing a taxi. If the Batmobile has been repossessed then we're all in serious trouble."

On Saturday the Albany Times Union reported that protective netting would be installed on the underside of a Broadway bridge to guard against the possibility of concrete falling on Amtrak trains and employees.

But this is not the sort of thing Charles Fort, who devoted his life to investigating strange phenomena in the skies, would have been interested in.

State Department of Transportation spokesman Peter Van Keuren said Friday that those chunks were likely knocked loose intentionally by inspectors who examined the bridge on Wednesday and issued a safety flag to notify the city, which owns the bridge.

"It's structurally sound," Albany Public Works Commissioner Tom Capuano said of the bridge. "This [netting] should take care of it."

If it doesn't, maybe Batman can hold his cape under it.

Empire Commuter: U.K. railroad replaces service with style

The U.K. Times Online reports that a passenger rail service with one of the worst records for on-time performance has decided that style is more important than punctuality. First Great Western, which operates services from Paddington to South Wales and the West Country, has engaged Sally Crabtree, a Cornish poet, to perform at selected stations.

Crabtree, known in artistic circles as "the pink-wigged pocket Venus from Cornwall",  travels with a copper tree hung with a variety of objects. Customers are invited to pick one, and she will read or compose a poem appropriate to what they have chosen.

She will take up her stance outside rush hours, so that poetry readings do not further interfere with an already vexed travelling environment.

Sounds like a good idea -- I'm not sure how I'd react to a "pink-wigged Venus" when vexed by a late train.

Empire Commuter: Another Pork Rind Party and Business as Usual

Bigwigs in New York State government have been using the prospect of a high speed rail service to justify big contacts to politically connected engineering consultants for over twenty years.

Last January Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno joined the pork rind party with an announcement of a "New York High Speed Rail Task Force Action Program", which would immediately receive $22 million in state funds. New York pols were no doubt drooling over his prediction that $10 billion would go into the project by 2025.

One of the first steps in the "Action Program" was to be a commuter rail demonstration between Albany and Saratoga Springs.

Unfortunately the demonstration could not take place because the single-car diesel unit that was to be used was too tall to go under one of the bridges on the route. Possession of a yardstick or any other instrument for measuring distance does not appear to be a requirement for politically connected engineering consultants hard at work on the "Action Program".

John Egan, who has spent many years in senior state government positions and has overseen many New York Capital Region construction projects, originally headed the "Action Program" but has since gone on to greener pastures as the head of the state Office of General Services.

It appears that few legislators in Albany have any real understanding or concern about what's needed for a modern intercity rail system. If you've ever driven around the streets of Albany (or over the Dunn Memorial Bridge which suffered a partial collapse a while back after passing inspection) it's pretty clear that there's not much understanding or concern about any aspect of the transportation infrastructure.

In other news, the sun rose again yesterday, but Hell has not yet frozen over.

Much info for this post came from a recent article in the Schenectady Gazette.

Empire Commuter: Money is not the problem or a solution

Amtrak is hustling for their annual appropriation of taxpayer dollars and the prospects are looking good. A U.S. Senate panel yesterday voted to allocate $1.47 billion to Amtrak in the fiscal year that begins Oct. 1. That's $176 million more than the agency received in the previous budget, according to the Senate Appropriations Committee's Subcommittee on Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies.

Bill Richardson at the United Rail Passenger Alliance has a few things to say about Amtrak's claim that service is lousy because they're broke:

That is only a myth that has been perpetuated by Amtrak management and the National Association of Railroad Passengers and other organizations of that ilk which believe in the illogical concept that government is good, and private industry is bad.

As we have discussed before, Amtrak onboard employees and station employees, as well as those in back office functions like reservations and accounting are de-motivated and self-demonized by their employment and work atmosphere. Too many unresolved union contracts for too long, too much negative discipline instead of positive discipline, and the allowance of too many people to stay in jobs for too long they are not suited for have made a complete mess of Amtrak passenger service.

Empire Commuter: It can always be worse

Reuters reports that France's renowned rail system is having a problem with bed bugs:

France's national rail company said on Friday it had taken several sleeper carriages out of service to deal with an infestation of bed bugs.

"Some passengers told us they were bitten," an SNCF official said, adding the parasites had been found on a night train going from the Mediterranean city of Nice to eastern Metz last week.

"We took the affected carriages out to treat them."

To prevent capacity problems, SNCF was not taking any new reservations for night trains from Nice to Paris this week. The affected carriages had already been disinfected and services would be back to normal next week, the official said.

Bed bugs were a rare occurrence, she added.

"It's the kind of little animal that unfortunately you'll only notice when they bite. There's no other way to detect them. They are so small."

Of course the Amtrak solution would be the give the passengers enough free booze so they wouldn't notice.

By the way, has anyone else noticed the maniacal little mouse in the Acela Lounge?

Empire Commuter: Everybody gets something but us

Passengers on Amtrak's high-end overnight trips will get a $100 credit towards purchases at the bar while the union representing many of Amtrak's engineers may get their first contract in almost eight years.

And the Albany Times-Union breathlessly reports that "state agricultural officials ... gathered at the Rensselaer Rail Station to celebrate a new initiative promoting 'agritourism' to Amtrak passengers .... A 16-page Pride of New York supplement included in Amtrak's annual New York By Rail magazine was funded by a $50,000 state grant .... [which] comes from a pot of $1 million for agritourism promotion included for the first time in the 2006-07 state budget. The money helps Amtrak encourage more leisure travel within New York, said railroad spokesman Clifford Cole."

What about people who want to have a drink and then go home at a reasonable hour?

Empire Commuter: Let's hope this isn't our future

For about twenty years there have been studies and plans for a "high-speed" train for the Empire Line. So far they have come to little more than a way to fund politically connected engineering consultants. But as the saying goes, "be careful of what you wish for." An article from the UK Globe and Mail describes a high-speed rail system in China that wasn't quite what it seemed:

Fake building material imperils new Chinese railway

July 7, 2007 at 1:25 AM EDT

BEIJING: Fake construction material is jeopardizing the safety of China's newest high-speed railway, a Chinese newspaper says.

An investigation by the newspaper found that large quantities of bogus material had been used in several hundred kilometres of a $12-billion (U.S.) high-speed railway between the cities of Wuhan and Guangzhou.

The newspaper, China Economic Times, said the scam by unscrupulous suppliers could lead to cracking in the railway's concrete supports, creating a "great danger" to the railway.

The newspaper report, published this week, has triggered an investigation by the Chinese Railways Ministry.

The report is the latest revelation in the widening scandal over shoddy and hazardous goods in China. The issue has emerged as a global concern, with many countries, including Canada, increasingly worried by the dangers of food and other products from China.

Empire Commuter: Just when it seemed safe to get back on the train

As I was getting off the 7:10 train in Albany last night I was talking to another regular commuter about how the delays of the last week seemed to be over. Little did I know that my train was the first one that was on-time that evening. The Kingston Freeman reports:

Train kills 44-year-old man on tracks in Staatsburg

STAATSBURG  An Amtrak passenger train struck and killed a 44-year-old man on the tracks in Staatsburg on Tuesday, police said.

The Dutchess County Sheriff's Office said the man walked onto the tracks at 4:25 p.m -- about a quarter-mile north of Lee Street in Staatsburg -- stopped and was struck by a northbound train carrying roughly 140 passengers.

The victim's name was not released. Amtrak spokesman Cliff Cole, in New York City, referred to the man as a "trespasser" on the tracks, according to The Associated Press.

The train, comprising an engine and four cars, was northbound from New York City to Albany, police said.

No one on the train was injured, but the tracks had to be shut down for about 2-1/2 hours while the incident was investigated, and several trains were delayed as a result. The tracks reopened about 7 p.m. Tuesday.

Police did not know why the man walked onto the tracks and said their investigation was continuing.

Staatsburg is a hamlet in the Dutchess County town of Hyde Park, near the Rhinebeck line.

Inadequate fencing around tracks has been the cause of many Amtrak fatalities.

Empire Commuter: Delay due to lax inspection?

Yesterday I was an hour and five minutes late getting home to Albany on train 241 which is supposed to leave Penn Station at 7:10 pm. The first thing that I noticed when I got on the train was that it was filthy -- old newspapers, soda bottles and stale popcorn on the seats, the seat checks from the previous trip still over the seats. Fifteen minutes after the scheduled departure time the conductor announced that minor engine problems were being fixed and that we we'd be on our way in a few more minutes.

After waiting forty minutes in the train at the platform the conductor asked us to board another train across the platform and then we finally departed.

Obviously the train I originally boarded had not been cleaned or inspected. What if the brakes or signals had failed instead, a few minutes after departing? What regulations are there regarding this? Drop me a line if you know.

Empire Commuter: Is there a mechanic in the hoouse?

Last night my train was an hour and forty minutes late due to mechanic problems. Not mechanical -- the problem was that the one mechanic on duty was working on another train and couldn't get to mine for a half hour after the engineer discovered the engine wouldn't start. You'd think there would be more than one mechanic on duty during rush hour at Penn Station but failing that they could just ask "is there a mechanic in the house?" over the P.A. system. It would a welcome respite from those idiotic "if you see something, say something" announcements.

I called Amtrak, asked for Customer Relations, described the incident and they graciously agreed to send to send me a $22.00 voucher which can be applied to my monthly pass. It's not much but those vouchers can add up when Amtrak has one of their periodic bouts of breakdowns and delays. Besides Amtrak is a political bureaucracy rather than a business so it hurts most when someone complains and forces them to do extra paperwork.

Call early and often!

Empire Commuter: Ride that dinosaur!

Associated Press reports that "Amtrak president says old equipment could slow expansion plans:"

WASHINGTON - Amtrak is still using some equipment that dates back half a century, and obstacles to getting new equipment could stand in the way of the railroad's expansion plans, the company's president told Congress on Tuesday.

Alex Kummant said one major difficulty is the lack of existing U.S. manufacturers of rail cars.

"While we have enough equipment to serve today's needs, we lack the equipment it takes to foster corridor development," Kummant said in remarks prepared for the railroads subcommittee of the House transportation and infrastructure committee.
"It will be a challenge to obtain the necessary equipment to fully exploit our intercity corridor development opportunities, as well as to modernize and replace much of the existing fleet, some of which dates to the early 1950s," Kummant said.

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The word from Amtrak staff on the Empire Line is that some crucial switching and signaling equipment is so old that no one is alive who knows how to repair it or fabricate replacements. How soon before something breaks down that can't be replaced?