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Who cares if passenger rail disappears ?

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I was talking about Amtrak over dinner with a friend who works in management at a railroad and this occurred to me - I don't think there's much of anyone in middle management at Amtrak who really loves passenger rail. Many of them came over from the Pensy when Amtrak was created. Believe me there has been little love lost on passenger service since the '50s. So my guess is that the managers that the Amtrak enheirited from the Pensy had already been working for years in an environment where passenger service was ignored. Since Amtrak was set up from the beginning to fail, they probably have seen things as business as usual. I think that might change under Mr. Gunn though. He seems determined to kick *** and take names if people don't get with the program. It can be a real disadvantage to love trains in railroading in general. I'm trying to get a job as a conductor (freight or passenger) and my friend advised me to downplay my love of trains in the interview. He said that a lot of managers (maybe train staff as well) refer to rail fans as FTNs (*** Train Nuts). I think that's sad. Maybe if railroads had more people who loved trains, things would be better. Hard to tell from the outside. Also, I think that Amtrak would do well to focus more on customer service, like VIA does. My last train trip was less than delightful I must say. The conductor in my car wasn't unfriendly exactly. He just seemed kind of indifferent. The train stopped at some tank town for 20 minutes to put a rowdy drunk off the train. That wouldn't have been so bad except that they didn't tell anyone who didn't ask. It would've been less annoying if they had gotten on the PA and told us what was happening prefaced by an apology for the delay. Also, although I was going to Des Moines, the train closed station was at least 50 miles away. So my sister and her husband had to drive to the sticks to get me. I'll probably ride the train again in the future when I go to visit her. Its better than driving in some ways. But I keep thinking that it could've been a delightful experience. The seats are bigger and have more leg room than you get on a plane these days. FWIW
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