Amtrak Management personnel numbers vs Via Rail personnel numbers from the Pocket Guide to Railroad Officials

[CandOforprogress2]

 Gee when you have deputys to deputys and asst. to asst. and VPs all over the place.--- Furthermore why is it so hard to find what should be public info online on Amtraks website of employees of Amtraks back office?

Page 1- Amtrak bureaucracy     https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B6syWxL9LzfRQXAxSVdsanVYTTZuV1JoVGVWU0I1RWVnM09Z/view?usp=sharing 

Page-2 Via Rail bureaucracy- https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B6syWxL9LzfRemVqTU1FUmRHYjItV19nb0ZNYTdKR25VUzZF/view?usp=sharing 

[BaltACD]

Went through that publicication a number of years ago.  At that time CSX had 146 different individuals that had 'Vice President' situated somewhere in their title.

It is amazing the people that work for a title, not money!

[MICHAEL KLASS]

Don't take those listings too seroiously. Most railroad don't bother to provide a complete either a complete or accurate listing.

The ORG is an anachronism that few people use for anthing more than finding rail stations and junction points. It certainly isn't a way to plan a passenger trip ro schedule a freight movement. The railroad listings are mostly useless.

[CandOforprogress2]

My Railroad club bought a couple of sticks of rail and some parts for our caboose and as such we are now a railroad customer and from time to time we get railroad industry publications and this Pocket Guide to Railroad Officials just happened to be one of them.

I guess if we decide to go thru the nightmare of getting another cabbose and shipping in by rail and then trying to track it down as it moves from yard to yard across tghe country which often takes 6 months or longer for antique railroad equipement ...this guide might come in handy as it has been known that NHRS clubs have had to beat down doors to get stuff done.

[CandOforprogress2]

Hunter Harrison might have made a good Amtrak President as one of the first things he did as CEO was get rid of the office cooler rats in Jacksonville FL. I also have heard that Amtrak is one of the largest law firms in DC.

[jeffhergert]

MICHAEL KLASS

Don't take those listings too seroiously. Most railroad don't bother to provide a complete either a complete or accurate listing.

The ORG is an anachronism that few people use for anthing more than finding rail stations and junction points. It certainly isn't a way to plan a passenger trip ro schedule a freight movement. The railroad listings are mostly useless.

 

The Pocket List of Railroad Officials is not the same as the Official Railway Guide.  The Pocket List (I have a couple old ones, 1950s and 1970s vintage, and they would be hard to get into many pockets.) lists a lot more company officers than the ORG did.  I don't know about current versions, but the older ones usually listed company officers down to the division level.

I do agree that a cursory glance at the Pocket List is not necessarily a fair comparison between Amtrak and VIA.

Jeff

[PJS1]

CandOforprogress2

 Furthermore why is it so hard to find what should be public info online on Amtraks website of employees of Amtraks back office? 

Until the end of FY16 the employee numbers for Amtrak were listed in the Monthly Operating Report.

At the end of FY16 Amtrak had 20,183 full-time or full-time equivalent employees.  Of this number 2,766 or 13.7 percent were involved in support functions, i.e. Office of the President, Human Resources, Finance, Procurement, Strategic Planning, Police & Security, etc.  The remainder were associated with operations. 

 

Support personnel is a term that is interchangeable with back office. 

 

Although it is arguable whether Marketing and Sales is a support function, I associate it more nearly with operations as opposed to a pure support function like HR. 

[PJS1]

CandOforprogress2

 I also have heard that Amtrak is one of the largest law firms in DC.

At the end of 2016 Amtrak's General Counsel Office had 143 personnel.  Not all of them, of course, would have been lawyers.  A significant percentage would have been personal assistants, para-legals, and secretarial persons.

[oltmannd]

You do bring up a good point.  That is that Amtrak should continuously benchmark against as many relevant places they can find. 

 

Amtrak is a railroad, a passenger carrier and a hospitality company.  They need to look at industry leaders in all these fields to find best practices.

[CMStPnP]

One issue with the comparison.   VIA Rail is younger than Amtrak and as a practice the railroad industry is horrible when it comes to disconnecting old phones when they relocate offices.    I used to work at Verizon and OMG,  Santa Fe and UP had tons of phone lines still active you can call and they would ring forever with nobody answering.     Great for business I am sure.

[CandOforprogress2]

So if Amtrak had a OR or Operating Ratio like the Freight Railroads what would it be? By the way I am counting the annual subsidy from Congress as revenue a purchase of service agreement like the commuter railroads.

[CMStPnP]

CandOforprogress2

So if Amtrak had a OR or Operating Ratio like the Freight Railroads what would it be? By the way I am counting the annual subsidy from Congress as revenue a purchase of service agreement like the commuter railroads.

Somewhere well over 100.

Operating Ratio = Total Operating Expense / Net Sales.

[PJS1]

CMStPnP

  So if Amtrak had a OR or Operating Ratio like the Freight Railroads what would it be?  

Somewhere well over 100.

Operating Ratio = Total Operating Expense / Net Sales. 

It would have been 131.5 percent in 2016; 127.3 percent in 2017.

[CSSHEGEWISCH]

That's not too out of line with the passenger operating ratios being calculated in the mid to late 1960's, especially prior to the loss of mail contracts.