WASHINGTON — In a meeting last week, Amtrak President and CEO Richard Anderson told the head of the Rail Passengers Association that the company “will continue to operate, and even selectively upgrade, what Anderson calls ‘epic, experiential’ trains like the Empire Builder and Coast Starlight.”
Association CEO Jim Mathews reported details of the meeting with Anderson and Stephen Gardner, Amtrak’s executive vice president and chief commercial officer, in an email to advocacy groups and reported it in the association’s weekly “hotline” under the heading, “Long-distance trains not in the crosshairs … for now.”
In conversations with Mathews, Gardner reiterated what he had said in public testimony, that the Empire Builder would continue to run daily. “No plans exist for permanent reductions in service through Amtrak’s next authorization in 2020,” and possible adjustments as a result of positive train control technology issues “are not an abandonment strategy,” Gardner added. But he told Mathews that Amtrak’s “sweet spot” is where “multiple daily frequencies can be serviced with an optimized number of trainsets, so both fares and trip times can be competitive with other modes.”
On April 18 in Los Angeles, Anderson told an audience, “There are some really epic trips, California Zephyr, the Coast Starlight, some of the trains we run on the east coast. That has a place. But the government pays every person that uses long distance $145. It costs $750 million to run those trains,” adding, “our responsibility is how to keep that experiential piece of the pie in place, and at the same time try and figure out our mission to service short-haul markets.”
Also discussed:
— Cold meals set to debut on the Lake Shore Limited and Capitol Limited on June 1 are “a work in progress,” with “at least one hot food option to be added back to the menu as well as the ability for coach passengers to buy meals from that menu in the diner or elsewhere,” Mathews reports. Gardner also says Amtrak is looking for ways to “upgrade food contracts across the system … and 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.”
— The 11 Viewliner II dining cars now parked in Florida are awaiting parts and modification; once completed, they can go into service.
— The company will soon issue a request for proposals for new diesel locomotives.
— A request for information will poll manufacturers this summer “about the availability of single-level trainsets and diesel multiple units.”
— “Next up will be identifying ways to replace the Superliner Is and IIs,” Mathews reports. Despite the fact that virtually all Superliners are younger (built in 1979-1981 and 1993-1996, respectively) than the newest Amfleet cars now being refurbished, Anderson says the bilevels “are simply too old and have too many serious concerns, including the need for all-new frames — that the answer is really replacement rather than refurbishment.”
Mathews made no mention in either the email or hotline report of a revised delivery schedule for the long-delayed Viewliner II cars — 25 sleeping cars and 10 baggage-dormitory cars — Amtrak has already agreed to purchase as part of the 130-car order with CAF USA.
In a text message to Trains News Wire after receiving a copy of the email from an advocacy group, former Amtrak president Joe Boardman noted that there was also no specific mention of the Southwest Chief.
Boardman says, “While the Rail Passengers Association might buy the idea of ‘experiential” trains, it flies in the face of the communities and the people who depend on trains for connectivity to the nation and mobility — that is their mission.”
He adds, “I do not believe it should be the (stated) mission of Amtrak to operate “experiential” long distance trains. I’m sorry, but this plan and or thinking is not a winning strategy for Amtrak. In fact, it is a prescription for a loss of congressional support and therefore additional isolation and loss of mobility for many across the rural areas of our nation.”
