I thought I'd post this so you might know the latest news. If you want to join Friends of Amtrak let me know. Subject: Friends of Amtrak Update 6/11/2000 Date: Mon, 12 Jun 2000 01:24:47 -0700 From: "Craig S. O'Connell" <crocon@connix.com> To: crocon@connix.com Dear Friends of Amtrak: Amtrak has reportedly established a new "Right And Ready" policy, an ongoing pilot program where terminal inspectors are given more detailed checklists and wider latitude to declare a car, or a train, unfit. All "Right And Ready" inspections are being done and have been going on for a few months now but Amtrak may make a major announcement of this on July 4th. Reportedly, this has already done a lot to make sure that the onboard crews have good equipment at the start of their runs. However, the issue remains that if you don't have a large enough reserve of cars, and Amtrak does not, then trains will still depart occasionally with equipment that is substandard. This is one important reason why we, as Amtrak supporters, need to led our representatives in Washington know that Amtrak is a high priority item for us. Presumably, the goal of the program is to force the product lines to be accountable and at the same time enable them to identify what problems come from poor terminal servicing whether it be at Ivy City, Sunnyside, Boston, or Philadelphia, and what problems crop up en route. Reportedly, financial awards have been offered in several rounds as incentive to the right and ready teams. Early numbers show terminal readiness to be improving in line with management expectations. I am told that the "Right And Ready" policy announcement will be coupled with a Service Guarantee that Amtrak will tout as unprecedented in the transportation industry. According to sources, Amtrak will guarantee a satisfactory trip or issue vouchers or adjustments to tickets, refunds or other compensation. The new Service Guarantee program is due to begin on July 4. Implementation of such a Service Guarantee program could be a nightmare for those responsible for administering it but Amtrak is attempting to drive some accountability down to the product lines, station, and train crews who might be able to find more ways to welcome new riders onto the system. This information is unofficial and has not been provided to me by Amtrak so you, the reader, will have to judge for yourself and time will tell. ---------------------------------------------------------------- Amtrak will be starting Acela Regional Service trains #134 & 135 (old 170 & 163 time slots with quicker times) within a month or so. All tracks in South Station and Southampton Street yard will be energized as of 12:01 a.m. tonight, Sunday, July 11. ------------------------------------------------------ Around The Rumor Mill: Reportedly Amtrak is planning to make some marketing changes in the very near future. About a year and a half ago I reported that serious discussions were underway to replace Amtrak's "pointless arrow" logo. There have been rumors ever since but thus far nothing has come of them. More rumors are now in the air as July 4 approaches and again the "pointless arrow" seems to be making the extinct list. As far as I know, Amtrak will have new uniforms on July 1, 2000. I'm not sure if this will be a system wide change or just a Northeast Corridor change but the new uniforms will most likely be teal/grey in color, like the new Acela colors. The name Amtrak will stay but the Acela logo may replace the "pointless arrow" or an altogether new logo may appear. July 4th could be the date for this announcement as well but I have nothing firm on that now, just more rumors... Sources tell me that long-distance services are to be rebranded and possibly renamed this fall. Does this mean that Amtrak will shed the names and images of the glory days of railroading that had been retained? Will names like the "Empire Builder" or "The Crescent", icons in the railroading world, be abandoned for something more upbeat and mod? Stay tuned. ----------------------------------------------------------- From NARP...Legislative Update: The Senate Transportation Appropriations Subcommittee, chaired by Richard Shelby (R.-Ala.), has postponed its work on a fiscal 2001 transportation funding until June 13. Full committee action could come within a couple days of that, with a floor vote as soon as an opening for it occurs. Progress on getting S.1144 (flexibility for states to spend TEA-21 funds on passenger rail) to a Senate floor vote continues to be blocked by a hold on the bill by Senator Bond (R.-Mo.). Bond opposes any form of Highway Trust Fund money going to passenger rail (even if states want this flexibility and even if such money already goes to other, non-highway modes) and apparently does not want his colleagues to have the opportunity to vote on it. There is a possibility that some "flexibility" language will be attached to the appropriations bill. For more info go to the NARP HOTLINE AT: http://www.narprail.org/hot142.htm ---------------------------------------------------------- For Immediate Release June 9, 2000 SHUSTER ANNOUNCES HEARING ON AMTRAK FUNDING PROPOSALS Representative Bud Shuster, Chairman of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, announced today that the Committee will hold a hearing on current proposals to meet future inter-city rail capital needs. The hearing will focus on three proposals. First, the hearing will look at an innovative financing proposal sponsored by Representatives Houghton and Oberstar to allow Amtrak and the States to issue bonds for capital projects. The proposal could provide an alternative method for intercity rail capital investments. Shuster noted that the Committee has supported other innovative financing mechanisms for transportation projects in the past, and that the Houghton/Oberstar proposal deserves serious consideration. Second, the hearing will look at a Senate proposal to allow Amtrak funding out of the Highway Trust Fund. And third, the hearing will look at whether Amtrak funding should be allowed out of the Mass Transit Account of the Highway Trust Fund. The date and location of the hearing will be announced shortly. ------------------------------------------------------ UPDATE ON LA - VEGAS SERVICE The Las Vegas Service is currently scheduled to debut in Late January, assuming that Amtrak's and the Union Pacific's attorneys are able to mitigate the Fish and Game Department's insistence that an environmental impact report needs to be made for the "Desert Tortoise". They feel the tortoise will be adversely affected by the construction of the 2nd track between Kelso and Cima which has to occur prior to start up of the Vegas service. Amtrak West has enlisted the help of Governor Gray Davis (CA-D) to also assist in this regard. Meanwhile Amtrak ran a demonstration train between Phoenix and Tucson for ADOT secretary Mary Peters using the Las Vegas Talgo equipment. It reportedly was a huge success and grass roots support for the service is growing exponentially. ------------------------------------------------------ PIONEER SERVICE UPDATE: Amtrak has reportedly been working with the state of Oregon, and to a lesser extent Idaho, to identify ways to supplement revenue on the proposed resurrection of the Pioneer train. The current population base in the area will make ridership too low to meet operating expenses. Amtrak is seriously pursuing mail & express freight shipments to help support a revenue base. However, the problem is that most of the market for mail and express is beyond Boise and the Union Pacific RR has opposed taking trains beyond Portland to Boise without significant infrastructure improvements. Nevertheless, it appears that the PDX-BOI (Portland to Boise) portion of the Pioneer will happen in the near future. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Pacific Surfliner Attendant With the start-up of the Surfliners, six Pacific Surfliner Attendant (P.S.A) jobs will be put on. three will work out of a San Diego base, three will work out of a LAX base. Their responsibility will be to provide maintenance (cleaning) service to Pacific Business car and service to its guests. Secondary to that, the attendant will assist the Lounge car Lead Service attendant, maintain a trash free environment and clean restrooms throughout the train consist. The attendant shall perform outlined standard duty during his/her scheduled hours on board the equipment but from time to time he/she may be directed to assist or to perform additional duties. LAX works LAX-Santa Ana and return SAN crew works SAN-San Juan Capistrano and return. This way no overnight hotels to pay for. courtesy: Ed Von Nordeck ----------------------------------------------------------------------- AMTRAK CONTRACTOR RAIDED BY FEDS -- On June 7, federal agents, armed with subpoenas, raided the joint Old Saybrook, Connecticut offices of Balfour Beatty Construction Inc. and Massachusetts Electric Construction Co., a contractor for Amtrak's high speed electrification project between New Haven, CT and Boston. The contractors are being investigated for alleged misappropriation of hundreds of thousands of dollars and alleged fraudulent overbilling of Amtrak. The agents arrived with rented trucks and hauled away computers and file cabinets from the company's offices. For its part, Amtrak has often questioned the company's money claims, although the quality of the work has never been in dispute, with electric trains now running that route since January. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- "Support An Expanded Amtrak" bumper stickers are still available from Jim Norton. These are four color, peel and stick variety, sized to fit inside a legal sized envelope. FREE with LSSAE, $1.00 for each additional. Quantities of 100 available for 24.00 postage paid to organizations and individuals. For your bumper sticker send to: Jim Norton 153 Rebecca Pines Madison, Alabama 35758 ----------------------------------------------------------------------- On Wednesday, June 07 in Bay Minette, AL, Amtrak #2, the westbound Sunset Limited hit a logging truck when the truck driver apparently tried to beat the train through a grade crossing. The 10:30am accident broke the truck in two but caused no injuries. Driver Earnest D. Allen, driving the empty truck for Deep South Trucking, wanted to cross the tracks at one crossing but the gates were down, so he went to the next one at Hand Avenue, which has flashing lights but no gates. The train, traveling at 44mph, smashed into his trailer and split it in two. Said Bay Minette police chief Terry Sanders, "It appeared he knew a train was coming and he attempted to cross anyway." Already 3h53m late at Atmore, the train was held an hour for investigation. Currently (5pm PDT) the latest report is 5h25m late out of San Antonio. courtesy: Ray Dunbar, All-Aboard ---------------------------------------------------------------------- INDIANA HIGH SPEED RAIL ASSOCIATION Board of Directors Friends of the Association Please mark your calendar SIXTH ANNUAL MEETING & SEMINAR Friday, September 8, 2000 7:30 am to 4:00 PM At the beautiful CENTER FOR VISUAL & PERFORMING ARTS 1040 Ridge Road (in the southeast Chicago suburb of) Munster, Indiana MORE INFORMATION WILL FOLLOW ------------------------------------------------------------ If you would like to submit a trip report please follow the guidelines at the following site: http://trainweb.com/crocon/tripreports/send.html ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Passenger service slated for Guilford Rail System, between Boston, Massachusetts and Portland, Maine, will be pushed back past the January 2001 start date. While some blamed Guilford for earlier delays, this delay is being caused by the 'Big Dig construction project at North Station in Boston. April 13, 2001 has been established as the new start date, according to Michael Murray, executive director of the Northern New England Passenger Rail Authority. Courtesy: Dave Bowe ----------------------------------------------------------------- Thirteen cities will receive $10,000-$25,000 each from the Great American Station Foundation to preserve, restore, and improve local rail transit stations. The winners--Fremont, Calif.; Raton, N.Mex.; Waterbury, Vt.; Hamlet, N.C.; Burlington, Iowa; Hastings, Nebr.; Elizabethtown, Pa.; Oakland, Calif.; Rome, N.Y., Sanderson, Tex.; Jesup, Ga.; Hamilton, Ohio; and Macon, Ga.--were selected from 42 applications submitted by communities in 22 states. Grant funding has been provided primarily by Amtrak, one of the Foundation's founders; Amtrak contributed $950,000 to the Foundation in FY 2000 in support of its activities. Courtesy: Dave Bowe ------------------------------------------------------------- Amtrak's Mid-Atlantic Division Safety Council has a new web site dedicated to the safety of its employees and guests: http://www.safetycouncil-amtrak.com ------------------------------------------------------------------- Ohio residents...Don't forget the OARP's 24 hour hotline: OARP's 24-hour hotline: (614) 470-0334 ------------------------------------------------------------------- AMTRAK PRESS RELEASE: THE FLOODS ARE GONE AND AMTRAK IS BACK IN MISSOURI WITH HALF-PRICE COMPANION FARES CHICAGO - To celebrate the resumption of regularly scheduled rail passenger service in Missouri, Amtrak is offering a special half-price companion fare. Between May 30 and June 30, when one person travels for full fare between any two points within the State of Missouri, a companion rides for half price. Companion fares are valid within the State of Missouri on the Missouri Mules and the Ann Rutledge between St. Louis and Kansas City Mo., the Texas Eagle between St. Louis and Poplar Bluff, Mo., and the Southwest Chief between La Plata, and Kansas City, Mo. Regularly scheduled Amtrak service between St. Louis and Kansas City was disrupted because of flood conditions for nearly two weeks from May 7 to May 20. Source: Amtrak ======================================================================= AMTRAK PRESS RELEASE: June 1, 2000 TRACK WORK CAUSES TEMPORARY SCHEDULE CHANGES FOR AMTRAK'S HIAWATHA SERVICE TRAINS -- One-day service changes also planned for Sunday, June 4, for Hiawatha Service and Lake Country Limited-- CHICAGO - Due to extensive construction on track owned by the Canadian Pacific Railway and Metra (the Chicago commuter rail system) north of Chicago, Amtrak will be adjusting the schedule of its Hiawatha Service trains, which operate between Chicago and Milwaukee. These changes are effective May 30 and will last approximately six weeks or until the work is completed. "We regret the inconvenience this track work may cause our guests, " said Amtrak Intercity President Edward V. Walker. "However, once completed, this work will improve ride quality and reduce maintenance costs." Hiawatha Service trains operating from Milwaukee to Chicago will have 15 minutes added to the schedule between Glenview and Chicago with the exception of the train departing Milwaukee at 6:20 a.m., which will only have 10 minutes added between Glenview and Chicago. Hiawatha Service trains operating from Chicago to Milwaukee will have 15 minutes added to the schedule between Sturtevant, Wis., and Milwaukee, with the exception of the train leaving Chicago at 5:08 p.m., which will have only 10 minutes added between Sturtevant and Milwaukee. In addition, there will be some service changes effective for Sunday, June 4 only for both the Hiawatha Service and the Lake Country Limited, which operates between Chicago and Janesville, Wis. On June 4 only, the Hiawatha Service train that is scheduled to depart Milwaukee at 10:40 a.m. will not operate. Guests for this train will be provided alternate transportation. The Hiawatha Service train scheduled to depart Chicago at 1:00 p.m. will not operate on June 4. Guests for this train will be accommodated on Amtrak's Empire Builder, which provides service between Chicago and Seattle via Milwaukee. The Empire Builder is scheduled to leave Chicago at 2:15 p.m. and arrive in Milwaukee at 3:50 p.m. On June 4 only, the Lake Country Limited, which provides service between Janesville, Wis., and Chicago, will depart Janesville at 6:35 a.m., 20 minutes later than its regularly scheduled departure time of 6:15 a.m. That same train is scheduled to depart Glenview at 8:50 a.m. and is scheduled to arrive at Chicago Union Station at 9:50 a.m., 45 minutes later than usual. Guests will be notified of these changes through flyers placed on seats on the trains and posters at both Amtrak stations in Milwaukee and Chicago. Amtrak Reservation Service Agents will also place phone calls to guests who have previously made reservations for trains affected by the construction work. Guests can also call 1-800-USA-RAIL for information on these changes. Source: Amtrak ----------------------------------------------------------------- If you would like to change your e-mail address for this distribution list please fill out the form found at: http://www.connix.com/~crocon/form2.html If you would like to UNSUBSCRIBE from this mailing list go to: http://www.connix.com/~crocon/form3.html ----------------------------------------------------------------- Regards, Craig S. O'Connell Friends of Amtrak http://trainweb.com/crocon/amtrak.html ------------------ When in doubt, empty your magazine.
Been a member for some time now. They put out a lot of good info, neat & to the point. I'd recommend joining to everyone. Reggie ------------------
Hey, I am possibly interested in joining, what are the requrements? E-mail me if you would like. ------------------ Andrew Suerth University of Minnesota Duluth Andy's Amtrak Photos
