What's become of Amtrak's Performance Improvement Plans?

The Passenger Rail Investment and Improvement Act of 2008 (PRIIA) required Amtrak to complete Performance Improvement Plans (PIPs) for each of its 15 long-distance routes in order to “to achieve financial and operating improvements,” in the words of the legislation. Each plan was to address such aspects of the customer experience as on-time performance, schedules, frequencies, routes, stops, equipment consists, needed capital improvements, on-board amenities, and financial performance. The law leaves the power to enforce Amtrak’s compliance with this requirement with the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA), giving it the authority to withhold operating funds for routes for which it determines that Amtrak is “not making reasonable progress” in implementing the PIPs.

Amtrak released six separate PIP documents covering each of the 15 routes, most recommending significant changes in the quantity and quality of service provided. However, very few of these changes have been implemented, and FRA does not appear to have taken any action to prod the passenger carrier into compliance. Below is a brief list of the most significant PIP recommendations, along with what action, if any, has been taken so far to implement them.

• 

  Passengers wait to board train 1/421, the westbound Sunset Limited/Texas Eagle, at Maricopa, AZ on Jan. 2, 2013. Photo by Malcolm Kenton.
  Increase Sunset Limited frequency to daily: Amtrak began negotiations with host Union Pacific towards achieving daily service, but these broke down when Amtrak balked at the $750 million UP wanted in exchange for capacity expansion. In the end, Amtrak settled for an adjusted schedule for the Sunset, implemented in October 2011, which cuts the dwell time in San Antonio and serves Houston and Tucson at more attractive hours, but serves Los Angeles at less attractive hours (but allows for a same-day connection from the southbound Coast Starlight to the eastbound Sunset — achieving one of the PIP’s recommendations). 
• Combine the Sunset Limited and Texas Eagle into a daily through Chicago-San Antonio-Los Angeles train, with a connecting daily San Antonio-New Orleans train: It is unclear whether Amtrak’s failed attempt to work out daily Sunset service with UP was to only make the existing New Orleans-Los Angeles train daily, or to implement the PIP’s recommended restructuring. Nevertheless, it appears that the idea of combining the Sunset and Eagle while requiring passengers from points between New Orleans and San Antonio, including Houston, to change trains at San Antonio to continue west is not being pursued.
• Increase Cardinal frequency to daily: The status of Amtrak’s negotiations with CSX and other host railroads towards a daily Cardinal is unknown, but the fact that much effort is going into preserving the Hoosier State (see my previous post) — the need for which would disappear if the Cardinal ran daily — indicates that the prospects for a daily Cardinal in the near future are dim. While there are certainly parts of the Cardinal’s route where capacity expansion is needed, train watchers along the former C&O mainline have told me that CSX dispatchers already leave a slot in the running order on the Cardinal’s schedule every day. 
• Add checked baggage service to the Cardinal: Implemented in May 2010. (As an aside, a much-needed second Viewliner sleeper was added to the Cardinal consist this summer, but withdrawn in October, presumably to be added again for the coming summer.)
• Add Amtrak’s lone dome car, the Ocean View, to the Cardinal consist on a seasonal basis: This was implemented in the fall of 2010 and 2011, but has not been done the last two years, for unknown reasons.
• Combine the Capitol Limited and Pennsylvanian west of Pittsburgh: No word on whether this idea is still being actively pursued. The main obstacle to this is that Norfolk Southern would need to install a new switch at the Pittsburgh station to make the switching move easier in both directions, and the cost of this work will need to be borne by either the state or federal government, or both. Another not insurmountable issue is that of combining a single-level train with a bilevel train — this could be done using a transition sleeper, but it would still result in quite a walk for passengers on the Pennsylvanian portion of the train to access the Capitol’s diner and Sightseer Lounge. A final possible difficulty is that the Pennsylvanian is a state-supported train, but if it is combined with the Capitol, it would become a federal responsibility — which would increase the federal operating grant, but would save the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania some money.
• 

  Checked baggage and boxes are loaded and unloaded from the westbound Sunset Limited/Texas Eagle at Maricopa, AZ on Jan. 2, 2013. Photo by Malcolm Kenton.
  Allow unboxed bicycles to be carried onto the Capitol Limited: This train parallels one of the country’s most popular long-distance bicycle trails between Pittsburgh and Washington: the Great Allegheny Passage and C&O Canal towpath. Yet the only way passengers can take bicycles on the train is by partially disassembling them and putting them in a box to be checked as baggage — thus leaving out intermediate stops between DC and Pittsburgh, which lack checked baggage service. Amtrak did a pilot run in late October 2013 with bicycle racks in the otherwise unused (at least when the consist also contains a separate baggage car) lower-level baggage area of one of the Superliner coaches. I do not understand why this hasn’t been implemented yet, but cyclist-passengers can only hope that the introduction of the new CAF USA baggage cars this spring will allow for unboxed bicycle carriage on more long-distance trains.
• Implement checked baggage at Galesburg, IL for the California Zephyr and Southwest Chief: Implemented in September 2013.
• Switch two or three coaches, the lounge car and the locomotive on and off of the Crescent at Atlanta: This is to accommodate the fact that the train has much lower ridership south/west of Atlanta than north/east of there. The track configuration at Atlanta’s Peachtree Station would need to be modified and a storage track for the layover equipment would need to be found or built. It is unclear where Amtrak and Norfolk Southern are in terms of negotiating this.
• Pilot feeder Thruway bus routes to connect the Crescent with Macon and Columbus, GA and Chattanooga (via Atlanta), Montgomery (via Birmingham) and Jackson, MS (via Meridian): Unclear whether negotiations have begun with potential motorcoach operators.
• Staff two sleepers on the Crescent with one attendant: Amtrak has not provided an update on this. Opposition from organized labor would not be surprising.
• Make the eastbound Lake Shore Limited an earlier departure from Chicago: The PIP states that this initiative would not be pursued until CSX’s tunnel clearance project on the Capitol Limited route was complete, allowing it to depart Chicago later. That project was completed in late 2010, but Amtrak seems to have taken no action towards reshuffling the schedules of trains 30 and 48. 
• Convert the Lake Shore Limited dining car to a club-diner with cashless payment: This is being implemented. A new iPad-based electronic order processing and inventory accounting system for long-distance dining cars was piloted on the Silver Meteor in the fall of 2013.
• Add a stop at Quantico, VA to the Palmetto and at Fredericksburg, VA to the Silver Star: No word on the status of these additions. These would require CSX approval, but should not be difficult to implement and would cause only a minor schedule adjustment.
• Add coach capacity to the Silver Meteor: Implemented this year. The standard consist is now five Amfleet II coaches and three Viewliner sleepers, plus baggage car, Heritage diner and Amfleet II cafe.
• Add feeder Thruway bus routes connecting eastern North Carolina points to the Palmetto at Wilson, NC: Implemented in mid-2013.
• Implement “priority offloading” of cars from the Auto Train for a $50 fee, and eliminate smoking on board Auto Train: Both begun in 2013.
• Add a station stop at Marks, MS to the City of New Orleans: The municipality would have to fund the construction or rehabilitation of a station that meets Amtrak standards. This improvement most likely is awaiting local funding or various approvals.
• 

  An Amtrak California Thruway bus meets a San Joaquin train at Bakersfield, CA on May 24, 2014. Photo by Flickr user Daniel Wright.
  Add feeder Thruway buses connecting the City of New Orleans with the Crescent (Jackson-Meridian), and one connecting Vicksburg with the City at Jackson: This may be in the works, but no specific information has been provided.
• Convert the Coast Starlight’s Arcade Car (lower level of a Superliner coach) to Business Class seating: No word on the status of this improvement.
• Establish a Thruway bus connecting Winnipeg, Manitoba, with the Empire Builder at Grand Forks, ND: Issues with the timing of the bus runs and potential border crossing delays remain to be worked out.
• Connect the Southwest Chief to the Heartland Flyer with a Newton-Wichita-Oklahoma City Thruway bus: Although local advocates continue to work for a northward extension of the Flyer, there is no word on the status of a bus link. It would likely require state support from Oklahoma and Kansas.
• Establish palletized express service Chicago-Los Angeles via the Southwest Chief: This would be Amtrak’s first foray back into the freight/express business since the George Warrington era of the late 1990s. No word on the status of this proposal.

Amtrak was given ample opportunity to offer specific comments and updates on these items, but declined to do so prior to press time, offering only the following statement: “Amtrak complied with PRIIA requirements and produced reports regarding possible performance improvements, providing the plans to the public, Congress, states and other stakeholders. While some of the ideas have been implemented in various forms, others remain under consideration. Some plans require additional funding that has not been provided.”

The views and opinions expressed here are solely my own and do not reflect those of any other person or entity. I am freelance writer for numerous railroad-oriented publications and companies in the railroad and travel industries, but as far as my blog posts are concerned, my only interest is that of an ordinary railroad passenger.