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[quote user="oltmannd"]   <blockquote> <div><img src="/TRCCS/Themes/trc/images/icon-quote.gif" /> Sam1:</div> <div>   Irrespective of the fraud problem associated with on-board food and beverage sales, the losses associated with this activity are eye catching.  In FY10 Amtrak lost $154 million on these sales.  Sales revenues of $131 million were offset by $192 million in direct costs and $93 million in indirect costs.   <div style="clear:both;"></div>   </div> </blockquote>   That's $5 per passenger! Ugh. [/quote] Here is another little tid bit that I picked-up from an Amtrak IG report on performance incentive payments.    Between 2002 and 2006 Amtrak paid BNSF approximately $33 million for on-time performance incentives in accordance with the authorizing contract.  Of this amount $9.1 million or nearly 17% of the billings were in error. Amtrak's management agreed with the audit findings and pledged to fix the problem, which it appears to be doing.  It has hired two employees to audit all hoist carrier billings.  It is likely that the company will get back most of the $9.1 million, which should cover the compensation packages (tongue in cheek) for the two new employees. However, I cannot help but wonder what took them so long to implement this conventional practice. There is no evidence that BNSF tried to snooker Amtrak.  Apparently the billing errors were a function of several variables, including complex contract language.  Who would have guessed it?  Lawyers writing or at least blessing a contract that most people could not understand.  This issue is not fraud or waste per se, but it sure looks like poor accounts payable practices. In our company, anything more than a one per cent error rate set off all kinds of alarm bells. The Amtrak IG submits biannually a written and oral report regarding its audit and investigative activities to the Congress.  I have read the latest two reports.  They are professional and as good as anything that I have seen from industry.  In addition, I read the report on dinning car fraud as well as two reports on performance payments to the hoist railroads.  The audit methodologies and reports comply with government auditing standards and would comply easily with generally accepted auditing standards in any environment.
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