The New york Times and other sources are reporting that new Amtrak President Alex Kummant terminated several senior officers on Friday. The following are reported as leaving: General Counsel Alycia Serfaty, VP Transportation Tom Schmidt, VP Marketing Barbara Richardson. VP Communication Bill Schulz, Chief Financial Officer Dave Smith and the VP Planning.
Dave Gunn is quoted as saying that it is well within the job of the President to make major changes, but notes that the relatively low pay and the uncertainity of the future of Amtrak makes recruiting well qualified people difficult.
Article is at the UTU site at http://www.utu.org/worksite/detail_news.cfm?ArticleID=32315
"We have met the enemy and he is us." Pogo Possum "We have met the anemone... and he is Russ." Bucky Katt "Prediction is very difficult, especially if it's about the future." Niels Bohr, Nobel laureate in physics
eolafan wrote:Very true indeed, but I for one will give them my last six years in business (professional manager with a history of growing profits for every company I have worked with) before I retire....hello Amtrak, are you listening?
Guess you could check the job oppurtunities listed on the Amtrak Web site on Monday.
Never too old to have a happy childhood!
"Don't come back Monday".
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/16/washington/16amtrak.html?ex=1166936400&en=c31479eafbd16b01&ei=5040&partner=MOREOVERNEWS
This wasn't a shakeup, it was an earthquake.
.....It sure sounds like they are going to need someone's help...Go for it.
Quentin
Think this had anything to do with it?
Somebody at Amtrak deserved to be fired over this one. And, with four passenger trains stranded on their line, the UP people should have at least tried to get things moving.
It's like no one anywhere, except for the Logan County, Illinois emergency people, took any initiative or responsibility. It's shameful.
Ordeal on the tracks When storm hit, hundreds rued choosing Amtrak By PETE SHERMANSTAFF WRITERPublished Friday, December 08, 2006 Friday afternoon at Chicago's Union Station, Jason Moulton bought his train ticket home to Springfield. He had come a long way - from Milan, Italy. Moulton, 26, had been working in France the past six months learning the wine trade. He was looking forward to a relaxing trip home. Amtrak seemed like a good way to finish the journey. At the ticket counter, an Amtrak clerk informed Moulton that his train to Springfield, set to leave at 5 p.m., would make its final stop in Lincoln. >From there, passengers would take buses to their destinations, ranging from Springfield to St. Louis. Fine, Moulton thought. He knew the weather was bad and figured there'd be adjustments. Roughly 15 minutes before boarding time, however, plans changed again. An announcement was made that the train would, after all, make its way to Springfield. At that point, he had a feeling that "a lot of weird things are going on with Amtrak today." What Moulton did not know - along with, apparently, every Amtrak official in Chicago - was that the three trains already headed south from Union Station were struggling. Ice-covered tree limbs and power lines had fallen over tracks in central Illinois. Electric switches weren't working. Conductors were stopping the trains so crews could get out and manually switch tracks and remove debris. None of those trains made it past Lincoln, where Amtrak failed to provide enough buses for everyone. But that was only one incident among many that eventually made a bad situation an ordeal for hundreds of passengers in the four trains headed south from Chicago. For the first half of the trip, Moulton's train kept a modest, steady pace. But starting at Bloomington, it slowed to a crawl. Between 8:30 and 9 p.m., Moulton said, the conductor announced a "90 percent" chance the train would stop in Lincoln, as Moulton originally was told. Moulton and the other passengers also learned the three trains ahead of them were stuck near Lincoln. Brian and Kate Flanagan of Evanston were on the first train, which had left Chicago at 7 a.m. - more than half a day earlier. With their two children, Brian, 20 months, and Mary Kate, one month, the Flanagans were on their way to a wedding in St. Louis. About the same time Moulton and his fellow passengers were re-informed they would be stopping in Lincoln, the Flanagan family and fellow passengers on the first train had been stuck on the other side of town for hours. "We had moved from a cornfield south of Lincoln, where we had been for seven, eight hours," Brian Flanagan said by phone Thursday. "We rolled back to Lincoln. We sat there for - time blurs - hours." Out his window, Flanagan could see the buses waiting. He and his wife also were running out of baby formula for Mary Kate. Many passengers wanted to get off the train, but Amtrak employees wouldn't let them. "I had had it by that point," Flanagan said. "We were 14 hours into it. I lost my patience." But when Flanagan approached an Amtrak employee, demanding information, "I was told they weren't on duty anymore," he said. "Quite frankly, that wasn't the answer I was looking for." Federal law apparently prohibits Amtrak employees from working longer than 12-hour shifts unless OK'd by superiors. Having passed that mark, and with no orders to keep working, several train employees called it quits. On Moulton's train, the delayed passengers also were growing more frustrated. It didn't help when, at one stopping point, the conductor came into Moulton's car and began shouting at a woman sitting next to him, accusing her of dialing 911 to complain, he said. According to Logan County Emergency Management Agency officials, at least two passengers traveling in the four trains did call 911. But this woman wasn't one of them, Moulton said. "The conductor began screaming at this woman - ‘Why did you call 911?'" Moulton said. "It bothered a lot of us who knew she never made the phone call. She had a right to call 911, anyway." Things got worse. As Moulton's train attempted to pull closer to the Lincoln station, it stalled. Then the power went out. And, along with it, the heat. "It was for a good 45 minutes to an hour," Moulton said. "It started getting cold." Moulton said the passengers could see it wasn't a long walk to the station, where buses were waiting. "Then the conductor made a point of announcing that anyone leaving the train will be arrested," Moulton said. The conductor even enlisted the snack car cashier to report passengers going AWOL. When that employee left her station, "mob mentality set in," Moulton said. "The passengers started raiding the snack car. It was getting a little bit out of hand. We were hungry and thirsty. People took it upon themselves to go for the bottled water, at least." About 9 p.m., Flanagan, desperate to get baby formula for Mary Kate, dialed 911 on his cell phone. Another passenger, calling about someone needing insulin, also dialed 911. Both calls made their way to Dan Fulscher, director of the Logan County EMA. "People were on the train for 15 hours," Fulscher recalled Wednesday. "They needed help. I go, ‘OK.'" One of the first things Fulscher did was dial Amtrak's emergency hotline. "I was put on hold twice, then disconnected. On the third call, in an elevated voice, I let them know who I am. That I need to talk to who's in charge. They put me with some guy from Philadelphia. He confirms three trains are stopped somewhere in central Illinois." Fulscher also called the Illinois Emergency Management Agency's operation center in Springfield. "(Springfield) was astonished they had not been made aware that passengers in trains were stranded in the storm," he said. The Amtrak official told Fulscher that, of the three stuck trains, only one was near Lincoln. Of course, there were four trains. All at Lincoln. Approaching 10 p.m., Fulscher and his Logan County crew made their way to the Lincoln depot to help passengers from the first train, the one that had left Chicago at 7 a.m. At roughly the same time, local law enforcement got on Moulton's train and began arguing with the conductor. They wanted her name. She wanted theirs. The officers asked the conductor what authority she had to arrest anyone who wanted to leave. The conductor said she was following Amtrak policy, that it was illegal. Then the officers accused the conductor of kidnapping the passengers. "At that point, the conductor ‘wakes up,' " said Moulton, who tried to record the confrontation with his video camera. "At the same time this is happening, family members are coming up to our train and screaming for their relatives. ‘That's my daughter! Get her off this train now!'" "Then people start jumping off the train." Attempts to reach the conductor through Amtrak were unsuccessful. Moulton decided to remain on the train. Eventually, the power returned and the train gradually made it to a crossing near the depot. Fulscher's Logan County emergency fleet still believed he and his team were arriving to help passengers from just one train. "I see people coming off the train, believing this is all there is," he said. Then he saw others appearing from the darkness behind the first train, some having walked with their luggage for blocks. "I look at some Amtrak employees and say, ‘I thought your people said one train,'" Fulscher recalled. "No, there's four," they told him. The conductor from Moulton's train met with Fulscher and demanded he help her establish a head count. "That's something you should be telling me," Fulscher shot back. What he said next differs slightly based on various accounts. But all versions agree in basic form. "You're in Logan County now," Fulscher said, in more words or less. "And we're taking charge of these passengers." The buses that were supposed to be waiting for Moulton and the other passengers on his train had left by the time they made their way to the boarding area. "We're not only stuck there. We had no place to go," Moulton said. Then, he spotted the emergency management team. "Maybe 10 vehicles, an ambulance, a pickup, Ford Broncos," Moulton said. "Lincoln had banded together to transport us in our moment of need." Fulscher and his crew gathered the remaining dozens of passengers from Moulton's train and took them to the county's emergency safety complex in Lincoln. Downstairs, he let them know he'd do his best to get them home. Moulton video-recorded Fulscher's speech. On Moulton's tape, you can hear a man off camera calling Fulscher, "Santa Claus." "Mainly they wanted to hear someone tell them what's going on," Fulscher said. About 3 a.m., as his team worked on finding transportation, Fulscher woke up the owner of a local pizzeria, who quickly baked up a dozen or so pizzas. Fulscher woke up a local school bus driver and commandeered a nursing home shuttle bus. Eventually, he got enough vehicles lined up to get people on the road again, providing a police escort just in case. When the passengers arrived in Springfield, the emergency crews helped scrape ice off the cars the passengers had parked there days before. Approaching 6 a.m., Moulton finally arrived in Springfield. Another passenger offered him a ride. It took them 45 minutes to scrape all the ice off the car. Moulton didn't get to bed until 7:30 a.m. - 2:30 p.m. in Milan. "I'm astonished between the difference in European trains and Amtrak," Moulton said. "I haven't taken Amtrak in years. This is most likely my last time." Flanagan and his family had arrived in Springfield hours earlier, but they were too late to make the wedding. They stayed overnight in a hotel and rented a car to drive to St. Louis on Saturday. They at least made a post-wedding party. Like Moulton, Flanagan said his regard for Amtrak isn't high. "To some degree, I have an ax to grind over Amtrak," he said. "If they look bad, I'm not concerned." Pete Sherman can be reached at 788-1539 or pete.sherman@sj-r.com.
G
That was certainly a cluster you-know-what.
It's possible that Tom Schmidt as VP Transportation took the fall for that. There are 8 operating division within that department (NE, Mid-Atlantic, Midwest, etc.) and it includes all on board and other operating jobs. I assume that each division also has a manager and it would seem that would be the area that handles those "special occasions". The VP Transportation reports to the Sr VP Operations, Bill Crosbie, who Gunn brought in from Toronto. The Sr VP O also has Police, Customer Service, Health & Safety, Ops Planning, Mechanical and Engineering. I not sure where Schmidt came from. I seem to recall that he may have come on after Gunn left.
Gunn was a stickler for an organization that had clear lines of authority and responsibility. He expected that every manager would know his job. You may recall that he eliminated 60 some VP jobs when he came on, just because nobody knew who was in charge of what. He was far from a micro manager, but he wasn't about to let a total screw-up like the Illinois storm problem go on. And I don't think he was above knocking a few managers' heads about, but he probably did that without raising his voice.
A few months back there was a similar problem as a result of a CSX derailment north of Jacksonville (FL)-people left on trains way too many hours, with no decisions being made to fix the situation. It leads me to suspect that under the "interim" Presidency of Hughes, things probably got very sloppy.
Im guessing that within the next few weeks there will be more firings of folks who are not union covered. Sorry to see Broadbent go, pretty decent boss.
Dan
CNW 6000 wrote:...and people wonder why AMTRAK isn't more heavily utilized. After reading that, I'll never ride one. Maybe it's an overreaction, but there's no possible way that any sane person could spin one iota of positive anything out of that. AMTRAK... off!
CNW,
This certainly was a very bad scenario. The conductor was totally unprofessional and obviously a poor performer when under high pressure. Hopefully she was promptly disciplined and sent for retraining if she wasn't terminated. Regardless of the situation, a passenger train's conductor must keep a cool head with passengers.
BUT don't let this situation discourage you from riding Amtrak. I've ridden Amtrak at least 10 times since the 1970s and have had only one "bad" experience (rude lounge car attendent ). Don't forget that for every nightmare Amtrak story we read of, there are just as many or more airline or Greyhound horror stories as well.
Inspite of some problems the Europeons, generally, have an enviable rail passenger network. However, with our "Eisenhower" inspired interstate system, vast distances between major cities, freight railroad issues, obscenely high liability insurance rates, and the attitude of many in congress, Amtrak is going to continue to have a tough time reaching the goal of providing service that rivals that of Western Europe.
"I like my Pullman Standards & Budds in Stainless Steel flavors, thank you!"
In regards to the bad situation with four Amtrak trains that were stranded in central Illinois during an ice storm earlier this month, what role did the host railroad, Union Pacific(?), play? It's the host railroad's responsibility to keep the track and switches clear. Wouldn't a dispatcher somewhere notice that he/she has four passenger trains that are stuck? I thought that Amtrak has the ability to see (not operate) the dispathing boards of host railroads that Amtrak trains travel on. Sounds like there was a lot of non-communicating going on here. Somebody might want to come up with a good emergency plan.
CC
Chris30 wrote: In regards to the bad situation with four Amtrak trains that were stranded in central Illinois during an ice storm earlier this month, what role did the host railroad, Union Pacific(?), play? It's the host railroad's responsibility to keep the track and switches clear. Wouldn't a dispatcher somewhere notice that he/she has four passenger trains that are stuck? I thought that Amtrak has the ability to see (not operate) the dispathing boards of host railroads that Amtrak trains travel on. Sounds like there was a lot of non-communicating going on here. Somebody might want to come up with a good emergency plan.CC
You are right.
"What we have here is a failure to communicate"
I wouldn't lay that one on the UP. The storm hit hard and fast with downed trees as well as signal and switch problems. The UP probably got out and cleared the line as quickly as possible, but there is no way they could have gotten the job done in time to keep the delays at a tolerable level.
There are so many things that can happen to interupt railroad operations at any place in the country and it is not possible to have a contingency plan in the hands of on board personnel to cover every possible incident. Beside regular radio communications, I suspect that most Amtrak on-board personnel carry cell phones, so there is no lack of ability to contact managers who should function as problem solvers and decision makers. It seems rather clear that someone who should have did not take charge of the situation.
It is pure speculation on my part, but I think it is possible that this incident may have had something to do with the VP of Transportation getting fired.
CNW 6000 wrote:I did ride one once and had a similar experience to yours. The car attendant treated me pretty poor and my (at the time, fiancee) even worse! I asked, politely, where I might register a complaint and was told to 'Step off the train at speed' and see if that'd get the same reaction. I've given up on AM-not on-TRAK.
I remember riding to Chicago from Champaign for one of those holiday breaks. We got stuck behind a disabled freight on the mainline, so I took a place in the lounge car and started slowly working my way down one beer after another. After 5 Heinikens, they ran out. The SIU and EIU folks had been boozing it up since long before I boarded, so they were running low. All they had left was regular Bud. So I order 2, to ensure that I got 2 before they run out. At this point, the lounge car attendant asks for my ID...first time. I thought it was odd and handed her my ID. Honest to God, she says' "This doesn't look like you." I had grown a beard and had contacts instead of glasses, go figure. But I responded, "You've already served me 5 beers. That really isn't my problem, is it?" I got my beers and we were underway shortly.
The head conductor was very professional and ended up having to calm down many drunk Salukis that were twitching for a nicotine fix. There was one adamant guy who he told he could get off and smoke, but he'd better take his luggage with, because he wasn't getting back on.
All told, I've probably taken Amtrak a dozen round-trips in the past 10 years and never had a bad trip.
jeaton wrote: It is pure speculation on my part, but I think it is possible that this incident may have had something to do with the VP of Transportation getting fired.
The four stranded Amtrak trains incident occured in 2006.
I'm glad this topic surfaced again.
I hope that since that torrid incident that the conductor involved has since received some "public relations" training.
While it's easy to blame the past and current Amtrak presidents, don't forget that Amtrak management is bound by the thick, buearacratic red tape of government and labor rules and regulations that result in horrid bungles like this one. On both sides, labor and middle management, it's often difficult to fire or demote poor performing employees.
Hopefully things have improved since 2006. I still sincerely believe that David Gunn was Amtrak's best performing "hands-on" president in its history. But as long as Amtrak is viewed as a "pork barrel" token and not a valuable and useful infrastructure.........it will not be allowed to become a succeessful passenger transport story.
For those of you wishing Amtrak would die and save your taxpayer dollars, please make similar complaints to our beloved FAA. Billions of dollars in a 5 year period, yet, according to the media our skies and runways are more dangerous now than they were in the 1980s.
Go figure!
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