In a wide-ranging meeting with Rail Passengers Association President and CEO Jim Mathews this week, Amtrak CEO Richard Anderson said that there are no immediate plans to suspend service on any long-distance routes. Amtrak Chief Commercial Officer Stephen Gardner, who joined the meeting, added that any changes that might result from failures by commuter agencies to address Positive Train Control issues would be temporary service disruptions.
Both executives sought to ease concerns among rail advocates that Amtrak management is moving towards abandoning service on large parts of the National Network in favor of corridor investments, particularly in the Northeast Corridor. These followed similar assurances Gardner offered to Senators during public testimony last week that put Amtrak on record before Congress that no plans exist for permanent reductions in service through Amtrak’s next authorization in 2020.
PTC adjustments “are not an abandonment strategy,” Gardner noted.
That’s not to say that the nature of Amtrak service won’t evolve or change over time, but both executives stressed that they are pursuing a growth strategy for Amtrak aimed at serving more Americans rather than fewer. Further, Anderson added that there will always be long-distance trains, and that in many cases Amtrak will try to upgrade the experience on these routes--trains Anderson describes as “epic, experiential trains” like the Empire Builder, Coast Starlight or other long-distance services.
However, growth in the near-term and opportunity in the medium term lie in services around the country in corridor segments of under 600 miles, and ideally about 400 miles, Gardner said. This is a “sweet spot” in which multiple daily frequencies can be serviced with an optimized number of trainsets, so that both fares and trip times can be competitive with other modes.
In any case, the long-term shape of the National Network will be determined by Congress, which makes the upcoming re-authorization of the surface transportation bill even more important to RPA and its members. And it’s why we continue to ask RPA members to take part in our Mayors campaign and our continued outreach and education efforts to their local congressional representatives and Senators.
Mathews also asked about several specific concerns raised to him by RPA members, such as the “contemporary menu” now being rolled out on the Lake Shore Limited and Capitol Limited routes, plans for new equipment and rolling stock, and safety.
Anderson and Gardner both told Mathews that Amtrak wants to improve the food offerings systemwide, and Anderson added that the railroad is prepared to spend more money on food to accomplish this. Gardner acknowledged that the Lake Shore/Capitol menu is a work in progress, noting that there is more to be done. Amtrak expects eventually to restore at least one hot-food option to that menu, as well as the ability for Coach passengers to buy meals from that menu in the diner or elsewhere.
Amtrak is looking to renegotiate its food contracts across the system so as to upgrade the quality of the food available, as well as looking at ways to let passengers choose their meals ahead of time, and choose when and where they would like to eat--in the diner at fixed mealtimes, or in their room or at their seat when they want. Amtrak also wants eventually to go cashless, with on-board attendants using point-of-sale portable devices to charge for these items.
Management hopes to get the new-build CAF diners now accumulating in Florida out on the road and into service soon, but Gardner reports that those 11 diners now parked in Hialeah are awaiting parts and modification. Once they are completed, they can go into service.
Speaking of new equipment, Amtrak is ready to move any day now with a Request for Proposals (RFP) to replace the diesel locomotive fleet, and the plan is to move quickly to award the contract and begin getting locomotives built and into service. Gardner told Mathews that Amtrak is looking to issue a Request for Information this summer to poll manufacturers about the availability of single-level trainsets and diesel multiple units, or DMUs, again with an eye toward moving quickly to get equipment under contract and into a delivery pipeline. Next up will be identifying ways to replace the Superliner Is and IIs which are now reaching the end of their reasonable service lives.
Anderson acknowledged that while he had talked in November at the RPA meeting about possibly re-fitting these cars, it has since emerged that they are simply too old and have too many serious concerns--including the need for all new frames--that the answer really is replacement rather than refurbishment. Meanwhile the Amfleet I refresh is nearly finished, and the Acela refresh is beginning to put improved trainsets back out to the Northeast Corridor.
In safety, Anderson is laser-focused not only on Positive Train Control but on leading the industry in implementing an airline-style Safety Management System, or SMS, by the end of the year--a step, he reminds, that is required of Amtrak by FRA regulation following the National Transportation Safety Board’s implementation recommendation. Anderson believes the freight railroads have a "risk-tolerant" mindset and he finds it baffling; "they're perfectly willing to accept that they'll wreck a train every three years."
As a comprehensive, systematic way of assessing individual risks to safe operation and identifying specific mitigation steps for each risk, SMS is proven in the aviation world not only to improve safety but to continuously drive down incidents and risk. It’s why the SMS at Amtrak will identify a range of ways to reach “PTC-equivalent” levels of safety in areas that aren’t fully PTC-compliant. Mitigations include everything from slow orders to spiking or blocking facing-point switches for mainline movement, applying different technologies to assure accurate train location, sending the conductor up to the head or, failing everything else, using buses to move passengers around the affected track segment.
This is Amtrak’s official line. As advocates, we need to be observant of what this all means in practice -- while gearing up to fight for a national vision in the coming reauthorization.
