Yesterday NB AutoTrain was very late account a vehicle incident compounded by the train then falling into the window of an absolute curfew. Arrived Lorton at 1755 - train was serviced and departed SB at 2215 - 4 hours 20 minutes.
I have no problem with turning the passenger cars in that amout of time with a concerted effort in cleaning, stocking and maintaining the equipment.
However, I find it amazing to have unloaded all the inbound vehicles and then loaded and secured the outbound vehicles in that amount of time on the inbound autoracks.
Does Amtrak have extra autoracks on hand at Lorton and/or Sanford so that part of the outbound vehicles can be loaded when the partrons arrive at the facility, no matter how late the inbound arrival is?
Never too old to have a happy childhood!
Balt: Fleet strategy exhibit shows 80 auto carriers in service. Mechanical report has 4 in overhaul at any time at Sanford. most trains are 18 -22 carriers 76-44 = 32 spares. Someone else will have to give us the observed spares at Lorton but split in half would be 16 but that highly unlikely ? Auto train usually runs balanced consists so spare carriers do not build up too much.l
Blue Streak is right. I was told that several spare carriers were on hand at Lorton, and were loaded prior to the arrival of delayed northbound no. 52. That means a considerable amount of loading work was completed in advance, thus cutting the pressure to get carriers unloaded and reloaded after 52's arrival. I do not know how many carriers were available for early loading, but it was certainly enough to take the pressure off and expedite the departure of 53 southbound, albeit quite late.
Tom
It seems like every time I go past there, there's five to seven spare autoracks sitting around
ACY:
When the Auto Train is more than four hours late arriving into Lorton and, therefore, equally late departing for Florida, do the on-board service crews still have to report at their normal check-in time? Or does management call them or send them a text message advising them to delay their check-in?
If the crews check-in at their normal time, but the train is delayed for four hours before heading south, do the on-board service crews get paid overtime?
What would happen if a crew member was suddenly taken ill or involved in an accident and, therefore, could not check-in for work on-time. Are there extra board personnel standing by for such a contingency or would the train head south with one less crew person?
Rio Grande Valley, CFI,CFII
Lorton isn't as much of a problem as Sanford is.
Auto Train Onboard Service crews are based in Lorton. Once they arrive at Lorton at the end of a round trip, they are relieved by the next crew. When the train arrives at Lorton, the Crew Base personnel decide what will be a reasonable time frame to expect. If it is appropriate to set back the report time for the next crew, that is done by phone. The amount of adjustment is determined at that time. If no call has been received, OBS crew members assume they will be expected to report at their normally scheduled time.
If a crew arrives late into the Sanford turnaround point, the Mechanical Dept. estimates a time that the train will be available for boarding, and informs the Onboard Service crew of any adjustments to their new report time.
Overtime is not based on the standards that apply in most other jobs. OBS crew members are guaranteed a certain number of HOURS ACTUALLY WORKED PER CALENDAR MONTH. If the delays or the schedule demand it, this can be exceeded at straight pay, up to a certain limit. Then overtime kicks in. I've been away from it for over 2 years, so I hesitate to quote specifics about the actual hours in the agreement. If the employee loses actual working hours due to sick leave (unpaid, by the way), or vacation, bereavement, etc. during that calendar Month, then the actual number of hours worked will be reduced, making it highly unlikely that the employee will qualify for any overtime at all, no matter how late the train or no matter how short his rest time becomes on the turnaround.
In general, there are no extra employees available to fill in enroute. The ill employee may be taken out of service and ride home, at $0 pay, in the crew car; or in extreme cases he may be removed from the train for medical attention, also at $0 pay, just as any sick passenger would be. The duties of that employee would then be taken over by the remaining employees on board, increasing their work load.
There is an Auto Train extra board to cover for illnesses, vacations, etc. They are all based in Lorton. If a crew member becomes ill before departure from Lorton, it might be possible to get an extra board person to cover the job before departure, but this is pretty iffy because the call may come without enough notice. There is nobody like that available at Sanford.
(edited slightly 11:26 PM EDT)
ACY,
Thanks for your complete and thoughtful reply.
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