Viewliner II "Progress" Report from the Amtrak Inspector General

[schlimm]

The Vice Chair formerly was with BNSF; Boardman was head of a regional transit agency.   Directors of any company are seldom "eminently qualified" to run that company.  Check the boards of CSX or NS or UP.

The CSX board has two people besides Michael Ward with rail experience, out of twelve.

NS board only one, Jim Squires, has rail experience, out of twelve.

UP board has only one, Mr. Fritz, out of eleven with rail experience.

CP board, two of nine wth a lot of experience.

[wanswheel]

Going off-topic now because talk about the Amtrak board makes me nostalgic for the mid-70s, when my dad was on it.

Chicago Tribune, March 20 1975

Editorial - Let Amtrak's critics speak

We are on the side of all endangered and thus cheer the president of Amtrak in his endeavors to save the passenger train, but we cannot hope that God and the Interstate Commerce Commission grant him his latest wish.

The president, Paul Reistrup, wants the ICC to call off hearings in various cities concerning Amtrak's performance. He made his request after witnesses in New York and Chicago told some pretty hot [and cold] stories about their travel experiences. One woman, for example, reported that her roomette on the Panama Limited was so overheated that she was compelled to travel nude to New Orleans. The lights didn't work and there was no cool water.

Mr. Reistrup considers this kind of talk harmful to Amtrak and wants it stopped. But consider how tremendously much more harmful it would be, if the ICC said: "Okay, Paul. You win. No more hearings."

Then people would say, "See? The trains are so bad that Amtrak hushed up the people who tried to tell about it."

The passenger train would then progress from the status of endangered to that of well nigh extinct.

No, for Amtrak's own sake the stories must be told. The ICC more than a year ago issued regulations calling for better quality passenger service, and it is entitled to have face-to-face discussions with riders to learn how well the regulations are being observed. The public is helping to pay the bill for Amtrak.

Mr. Reistrup complains correctly that only some 50 of last year’s 19 million riders have been heard at the sessions, but that ratio won t be improved by stopping the hearings now. He suggests that the 50 may not be representative of the 19 million, and that, too, may well be true. The dissatisfied tend to speak up and the satisfied to remain quiet, but that s life.

Mr. Reistrup is probably most correct of all when he says the purpose of the hearings is "to generate publicity," and is most wrong of all in implying that this is bad. Publicity has helped to bring about much of the good in this world and to correct much of the wrong. The ICC is seeking to get the facts out into the light so that Amtrak may be moved to improve itself and Congress be bestirred to provide any additional legislation needed to make things better. Of all people, Mr. Reistrup should be most grateful that this process is under way.

 

 

Chicago Tribune, March 29, 1975

Voice of the People (Letters to the editor) - Amtrak is improving

CHICAGO—As one of the three consumer representatives on the board of National Railroad Passenger Corp., I read with especial interest your March 20 editorial "Let Amtrak's critics speak."

There is no question that all too many of Amtrak's patrons during the last four years have suffered experiences entirely justifying indignation. From Amtrak's beginning I have been critical of what I considered to be major mistakes in the setting up and early implementation of our national inter-city rail passenger service.

Many of our passengers' complaints today are the continuing consequences of things that should have been done differently in the beginning, as well as of things that we still aren't doing right. Wherever we are falling short, we do want to hear from our customers, and indeed we do: our consumer mail is heavy, both in complaints and in praise. For both we are grateful, for we do intend to do a good job.

I share your view that "publicity has helped to bring about much of the good in this world and to correct much of the wrong." But I'm a bit skeptical that "the ICC is seeking to get the facts out into the light so that Amtrak may be moved to improve itself and Congress be bestirred to provide any additional legislation needed to make things better." Rather I support Paul Reistrup's suggestion that the purpose of the ICC hearings is to gain publicity for the sake of publicity, not to bring about improvements in Amtrak's service.

The ICC has been regulating the railroads since 1887. We don't lack publicity for the sad state of our northeastern railroads, with seven of them bankrupt and the Rock Island now falling, too. In that perspective, where has the ICC been since 1887 in looking after rail passenger service?

Not until 1974 did the ICC decide, and then only under congressional prodding, that it had any business even thinking about "the adequacy of passenger service." By that time, Congress had already created a new board of directors for Amtrak, including the three consumer representatives. The new board took office July 19, 1974.

The board has taken positive steps to correct the conditions that have led to our customers' complaints. We have authorized the purchase of new cars and locomotives, station improvements, and the acquisition of major shop facilities to improve and speed up overhaul of our aged equipment. We have made modifications to the reservations system, adding unreserved coaches to formerly all-reserved trains, in response to suggestions by experienced train conductors and ticket agents. We have taken on a substantial part of the cost of upgrading the track of some of the railroads over which we run. And we have elected an experienced railroad man, Mr. Reistrup, as our new chief executive officer.

We're well aware of our shortcomings, and we are hard at work to correct them. I find it hard to believe that the ICC doesn't know this and has had to hold costly public hearings to find out.

Joseph V. MacDonald

The Pioneer (Seattle-Salt Lake City) at Shoshone, Idaho, June 1977. Left to right, Idaho Gov. John Evans, Mrs. Bethine Church, Amtrak President Paul Reistrup, Sen. Frank Church and Amtrak board member Joseph V. MacDonald

Mike MacDonald