Posted on 05/18/2011 11:18:55 AM PDT by NoLibZone
Amtrak blames the red ink on rising compensation costs for union workers and increased costs for fuel, materials and other expenses.
Amtrak is making money on its heavily traveled Northeast Corridor between Boston and Washington, serving mostly commuters, executives said.
But money-losing, long-distance routes are a drag on the bottom line, Amtrak say.
Amtrak officials project an operating loss of $506 million in the fiscal year ending Sept. 30, up from a loss of $419.9 million last year. Officials have projected a loss of $616 million next year.
Federal subsidies cover about 16% of Amtrak's operating expenses, which are projected to total $3.94 billion this year. That money fills the gap left by Amtrak's operating loss.
"It's the long-distance trains," Mr. Boardman replied, adding, "They're all unprofitable."
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
Remove the Unions form Amtrak.
It’s all Obama’s fault. No, really.
Remove the federal tax money from amtrak.
Privatize amtrak...
I suppose raising the price to cover a given route’s operating costs and a small profit is too insane to even consider....
Drill, baby, drill. And dump the unions. Oh, hell. Dump AMTRAK!
Maintenance of long-haul routes is really the only reason that federal funding to Amtrak can be justified. That is: the whole county should get service because the whole country pays for it.
I'm not so sure that is a solid justification, given Amtrak's limited coverage. But I would suspect the whole thing could be broken up into regional carriers along the model which Japan Railways did to successfully privatize their operations more than two decades ago.
You could put a passenger car or two on long-haul freight trains in some of the sparsely populated markets. Replace the full service dining car with vendors at selected stations which sell box lunches while the train is stopped. That's the way they still do in in Japan . . . and in America a century or so ago, back in the day when the trains ran on time.
“Amtrak is making money on its heavily traveled Northeast Corridor between Boston and Washington, serving mostly commuters, executives said.
But money-losing, long-distance routes are a drag on the bottom line, Amtrak say. “
here is my brilliant unique solution—— ready——
Keep the profitable ones (Northeast Corridor)
cut the losing long distance ones
i know i know how can such a brilliant plan emerge from a mere mortal’s mind
I’m with you on all three Jim. On Planet Lurker there would be no AMTRAK.
The only reason for the money-losing routes is to please Congressmen by maintaining Amtrak routes thru their districts.
I.e., they are a boondoggle.
And this ought to be a no-brainer for the GOP House. Kill 'em all. Nobody's going to miss them. Except Willie Greene.
And it's not like Amtrak is a luxury line. A friend of mine who has twice taken Amtrack from Indianapolis to California and back has told me about the lack of temperature control in the miniature cabins, the extremely rough track in places (throwing people back and forth as they attempt to walk through a car), the frequent delays and mechanical problems, poor food, poor service, etc. All of the people who work on the train are very nice, but they're clearly operating with insufficient funds--yet the travel is very expensive.
This is news?
On the other hand, the Northeast Corridor trains, at least the new ones like Acela, are really very nice, far more pleasant than the plane, faster than driving and reasonably priced (not to imply they are cheap, but they are reasonable.)
Susan apparently does not understand that Amtrak is a government agency.
I'm all for trains that make a profit and satisfy the customers' needs!
Dagny Taggart could get them straightened out.
“Correct. Why does Amtrak need to be saddled with unionized workers?”
It’s called The Railway Labor Act, and it’s been in effect since 1926.
Railroad workers on the major railroads — even in “right-to-work” states — are unionized by the power of federal law.
The reason the RLA came into being was actually for the benefit of railroad _management_, and NOT for the unions. At the time, there were so many “wildcat” strikes, that the entire industry was being disrupted. The RLA was enacted to “get the unions under control” of the government, not to help labor.
The RLA actually serves as a RESTRAINT upon the unions, by prohibiting strikes and job actions unless and until a carefully constructed “pathway” has been followed. It’s a long, difficult process for a union to strike on a major railroad today. Very rare.
And, since the 1970’s, the unions have continually LOST power on the railroads, as operations have been streamlined, work forces cut, and certain crafts eliminated.
On Amtrak, the unions went no less than EIGHT YEARS without getting a raise (other than very small cost-of-living increases). This was because they couldn’t strike due to the constricts of the RLA.
When the timeline finally got close to where a strike was going to be possible, the RLA provides that the president can step in to prevent it, by invoking something called a “Presidential Emergency Board” that reviews the demands of both sides and issues findings and recommendations.
As it happened, the union that represents the engineers on Amtrak had agreed to an offer by Amtrak (after that 8-year delay), that was relatively meager and concessionary. The rank-and-file engineers rejected the proposal in an election. Only then was the PEB called. And — AMAZINGLY — the PEB recommended that engineers receive the FULL “back time” for all eight years, plus wage increases that were relatively equal to what the freight engineers (non-Amtrak) had received through the years.
I know these things because I work there (you’d be surprised to discover that a lot of the older guys can be quite conservative, union aside).
And who was the president who appointed the board members that gave the workers such a raise? Why, no less than G.W. Bush himself!
When guys at work were badmouthing the Republicans, I told them that President Bush gave us more than any democrat ever had done! That kind of stuff goes right over their heads, in many cases.
But one thing’s for certain:
You’re not eliminating the unions on the mainline railroads. I’ll go so far as to say that management _prefers_ dealing with the unions there, because it’s a carefully structured system that actually works for them and keeps things rolling pretty smoothly, again, under the Railway Labor Act.
You might also be interested to know that airline personnel are governed by the RLA, too!
Just sayin’...
Then discontinue the long distance routes! Sheesh! How much is the idiot running Amtrak getting paid? He/she should be fired. I want the job. I bet it pays well.
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