Last year I had the nice experience of trying the famous AMTRAK in California. I am really not a fan of trains but this was special, the crew working on the train were all very happy and service minded and the fellow passengers were very talkative. The view from the train window was more or less fantastic from start to stop. I can understand why previous vice president Joe Biden always chose AMTRAK ahead of flights.
I decided to write a longer blog post about AMTRAK, hope you all will enjoy it.
In the period between the md-19th century and early 20th century, intercity travelers used rail as a means of transport. Throughout history, privately owned companies that ran cargo trains were the owners of passenger trains as well. In 1929, there were about 65,000 passenger cars that operated. There was a diminish in the passenger rail popularity followed by doubtful recoveries and pullbacks towards the end of the 20th century. Between 1920 and 1934, the rise of the automobile caused a dramatic fall in the rail passenger revenues. During the same period interstate, bus companies were the greatest beneficiaries as many travelers shifted to the automobile. Nevertheless, improvements in rail services and enhanced diesel powered trains such as Flying Yankee, and Pioneer Zephyr saw the rise of railroads in the 1930’s. Despite the improvements, there was a decline in traffic, and by 1940, about 67% of passenger miles in U.S was held by railroads (Thompson,1925).
In the period between the md-19th century and early 20th century, intercity travelers used rail as a means of transport. Throughout history, privately owned companies that ran cargo trains were the owners of passenger trains as well. In 1929, there were about 65,000 passenger cars that operated. There was a diminish in the passenger rail popularity followed by doubtful recoveries and pullbacks towards the end of the 20th century. Between 1920 and 1934, the rise of the automobile caused a dramatic fall in the rail passenger revenues. During the same period interstate, bus companies were the greatest beneficiaries as many travelers shifted to the automobile. Nevertheless, improvements in rail services and enhanced diesel powered trains such as Flying Yankee, and Pioneer Zephyr saw the rise of railroads in the 1930’s. Despite the improvements, there was a decline in traffic, and by 1940, about 67% of passenger miles in U.S was held by railroads (Thompson,1925).
On the break of World War II, passenger traffic surged due to the restrictions on automobile fuel and troop movements. The end of the war saw the rejuvenation of the neglected and overworked fleets which were often luxurious and fast trains. This sparked the last major revival of the passenger train travel. However, the postwar revival was short-lived as there were 45 percent fewer passenger trains in 1946 than the available trains in 1929. Continued decline In passengers and trains brought about huge losses incurred by trains although only a few of them made profits. Railroads claimed an aggregate loss on passenger services of higher than $700 million by mid-1950’s as rail deficit had appeared as early as 1948.
By 1965 the passenger trains were 85 percent fewer than trains in 1929 which was represented by only 10,00 rail passenger cars. The gross decline saw passenger service provided on the only 120,000km of track. Railway post office incomes which had provided aid for the remaining trains came to an end in the 1960’s (Stover and John, 1997).
Passenger rail decline in the United States was a result of complex circumstances. Until 1920, the only practical means of intercity travel was the use of rail although the industry was subject to labor inflexibility and government regulation (Phyllis, 1999). Through private funding, railroad companies constructed a vast and comparatively efficient transport network. This was a development which happened by 1930.
An unprecedented competition for freight and passengers with automobiles followed when the federal government commenced the construction of the national highway system. This competition was profoundly felt by the passenger rails because the government road and airport building programs offered heavy subsidies to trucks, buses, and aircraft. In 2007 the amount of track in the U.S was 226,427km compared to the peak of 409,177 km of track in 1916. The primary function of some rail routes was to aid the shipping of stock into the railroad companies. As the railroad’s finances deteriorated, they became the first to be abandoned to spare money on taxes. Some rights of way were demolished although others were turned into rail trails as they were taken over by state authorities.
Government regulation
A populist rate settling scheme was introduced by the federal government between 1910 to 1921. The railroads had proved unsuited of functioning as a cohesive network during World War I. As a result, the Government temporarily nationalized the rail industry. In the 1920’s, many unprofitable and redundant lines were deserted due to the profit stagnation I this period, and most of the passenger facilities fell into a cycle of deferred maintenance. For this reason, many passengers have driven away from these services either due to the evident less appealing services or higher fares. Meanwhile, automobile and U.S Highway such as Lincoln Highway witnessed a rise in popularity and this in effect ate away local rail passenger traffic. Railroads power to realize profits on more sparsely populated lines was hindered by factors such as the increase in labor costs.
Beginning in the late 19th century, the primary regulatory authority affecting railroads was the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC). This commission took the front position in rate-setting, which occasionally hampered the railroads potential of realizing profits in the passenger market. In the 1930’s trains were much faster but there still wasn’t developments made in safety systems and signaling that would prevent accidents. As a result, in 1946 there was a horrific Naperville disaster, and 1950 other collisions were also witnessed in New York. Following the Naperville train disaster, the ICC issued an order which called for railroads to introduce automatic train control, automatic train stop, signaling within four years when the trains were at a speed of 80 mph or faster (Wallace,1950). This technology failed to take effect outside the Northeast which led to placing a speed limit of 79 mph which is still in force today in the United States. In 1958, ICC carried out a process known as “train-offs” after it was given the authority to permit or decline adjustments and elimination of passenger routes. ICC operated at a slow tempo since some routes needed beneficial pruning and this delayed action by several months. When the commission ordered for adjustments, it placed emphasis on the merging of the profitable routes with unsuccessful ones. This resulted in a slow and unpopular service replacing the fast and popular rail service (Joe and Howes, 2004).
The commission grew more demanding of corporate mergers. Mergers which the railroads had intended to develop stalled for many years. Examples of these mergers include the merger of the Western railroad and Lackawanna into the Erie Lackawanna Railway, and Pennsylvania Railroad and New York Central Railroad into Penn Central. When the ICC finally approved the mergers in the 1960’s, deteriorating equipment and station facilities, slower trains had taken effect. The mergers failed at maintaining these railroads passenger train service due to the shift of passengers to automobile and air modes. Erie Lackawanna, however, was mostly a freight railroad and was never a hauler of passenger and neither were its predecessor roads. The Penn Central merged into two large struggling railroads, and this became the major cause of failure. The two separate management structures had little integration of the former New York Central system and Pennsylvania Railroad. The greater cause of the Penn Central failure was the huge overhead costs of operation more than any actions taken by ICC (Daughen, Joseph, and Peter, 1971).
Taxation
Railroads equally carried a significant tax burden. An excise tax of 15 percent of the World War II era lasted until 1962. The local government saw rail facility as a source of property tax revenue instead of providing the needed support to this service. An extreme example is the Great Northern Railway which possessed a 0.34 per cent of the estate in Montana. The rail service was appraised about 90% of all school taxes in the county. More than other industries, the railroads are taxed higher, and the rates vary in different states.
Labor related issues
Trade unions had an inflexible relationship with railroads and faced antiquated work laws. The rules did not match with the technological changes that were happening. Unions balked attempts to adjust the existing 100 to 150 mile work days despite the fact that the average train speeds had doubled. The average work days of the railroad workers were reduced by half from 5- 7 hours in 1919 to 2-3 hours in 1959. Consequently, the railroad economic performance reduced by 42% per mile.
Subsidized competition
There were new hurdles that subverted the dominance of the passenger rail. Adding to this was internal and governmental pressures which did no help. The government put money into the development of government-owned terminals and air traffic control systems and the construction of highways.
Freedom increased individualization and convenience of automobile travel as automobiles had become more attainable. In response to this, the government started to develop a non-profit system of roads not subject to taxation utilizing the funds from fuel tax funds and its treasury. The for-profit rails developed earlier using government land grants, and corporate capital was transcended by highways. All told between 1921 and 1955 governmental entities, utilizing taxpayer funds and in reply to taxpayer requests, funded more than $93 billion worth of road, building, and maintenance. As the Jet Age approached in the 1950’s, affordable business aviation grew. After building urban and suburban airports, governmental entities financed the building for easy entry to the airports and also offered air traffic control services.
Loss of U.S. Mail contracts
Most postal services were conveyed on passenger rain until 1967 in the U.S. Many passenger trains were kept economically viable due to the mail contracts. In September 1967, the Postal service shifted its first class mail almost completely to airplanes, cheaper freight trains, and trucks. This move, in turn, ended mail as a source of revenue to passenger trains as it ended up subsidizing planes instead. Passenger trains such as Santa Fe, Burlington, NW, Pennsylvania and NYC applied for discontinuance of most of their routes as a result of continued support and to some extent investment in rail passenger service. Santa Fe applied for a discontinuation of 33 of the 39 services in September that year wishing to continue its Texas Chief(Chicago- Houston) and Super Chief(Chicago- LA) but in a somewhat low rated form and the interurban San Diegan service. Long distance traffic dropped from 100 million to 25 million within a year, and in 2015, Amtrak exceeded a quarter of the 1967 patronage despite the fluctuations that have been witnessed over the years. In 1968, only two rail postal vans were in use providing services to the Northwest communities (Glischinski, 2008).
The end of the passenger rail seemed to come to and end in the late 1960’s. There were bankruptcy filings followed by requests for termination of services. In 1969, the Pullman company turned insolvent, and in the following year, Penn Central which was a dominant railroad in the Northeastern U.S also became insolvent. At this point, a few in the government desired to be kept liable for the downfall of the passenger train as it now looked that the passenger rail financial hurdles were bringing down the whole industry.
President Richard Nixon signed a law on the Rail Passenger Service Act that was passed by the Congress in 1970. One of the components of the bill sought government financing to guarantee the continuity of passenger trains. A hybrid private entity the National Railroad Passenger Corporation (NRPC), was conceived to receive taxpayer funding and run the intercity passenger trains. Railpax was the initial brand name for NRPC but changed its name to Amtrak shortly before the company started operating (Harold, 2000). The provisions contained in the bill were the following;
- There was a requirement for railroads that did not join the NRPC to operate their passenger services until 1975 but had to seek ICC consent for any adjustments to the service.
- After May 1971, Only railroads chose by the Department of Transportation (DOT) paid by for by NRPC using federal funds held the obligation to operate intercity passenger service.
- Any railroad running intercity passenger service was to join the national system since they could contract the NRPC.
- Bases on the intercity passenger losses, participating railroads bought into the NRPC.
- Any railroad running intercity passenger service could negotiate with the NRPC, thereby join the national system.
Only six of the twenty-six railroads that operate intercity passenger service in 1970 refused to join Amtrak. The expectation of the involved parties was that the experiment would be short-lived. Many Washington insiders and the Nixon administration had a different view about this experiment. They viewed it as a political means for the Congress and the president to offer passenger trains as the last hurrah as called for by the public. Following the decline in public interest, they expected Amtrak to slowly disappear. In 1974, the Fortune magazine’s exposure of the manufactured mismanagement, the chairman of the Burlington Railroad pointed out that the account was subverting the system to take down Amtrak. There was hope that government interference would be short although it was expected that Amtrak would soon fund itself. Despite the critic’s imagination, Amtrak has operated longer due to the popular support it has received (Nice, 1998).
The Rainbow era in the 1970’s
In 1971, Amtrak officially commenced its operation. However, they did not receive rights of way or rail tracks at its inception. Having inherited the all previous routes, Amtrak pruned almost half the passenger rail network. Amtrak operated only 182 of the 364 trains that operated previously. The programs were maintained with only small adjustments made from the Official Guide of the Railways. Several routes were made freight only including Grand Truck Western Railroad’s Chicago to Detroit, and the ex-New York Central Rail road’s Water-level route across New York and Ohio. There were headaches created by the reduced passenger train schedules. (Hilton, 1980).
Problems such as redundant facilities and deferred maintenance were inherited by Amtrak with train stations resulting from companies that served in the same region. Amtrak was tasked with rerouting passenger trains into just one union from the seven train terminals in Chicago. Due to the absence of track links to take trains from New York to Penn Station, Amtrak had to finance the maintenance of both Grand Central Terminal and Penn Station. However, this problem persisted until the Empire Connection was constructed in 1991. Some large stations had a huge upkeep which was unjustified, and this forced Amtrak to abandon them. On the other hand, the making of Coast Starlight Los Angeles- Seattle was an instant success (John, 2001).
The Rainbow era is a term that described the early years of Amtrak which cites the organization of the locomotives and rolling stock adopted by Amtrak. The arrangement comprised of a wide mix of color designs from their previous proprietors. The rolling stock formed the multicolored comprise of early Amtrak trains. Amtrak started buying some of the equipment it had hired, including1290 passenger cars, more than 250-second-hand locomotives. By 1975, Amtrak’s rolling stock began appearing as it had painted on most Amtrak equipment the official Amtrak color scheme (Wilner, 1994).
Before long, the chance for Amtrak to acquire rights of way had presented. In the early 1970’s, Congress passed the Railroad Revitalization and Regulatory Reform Act of 1976. This was after the bankruptcy of few northeastern railroads including Penn Central who were the owners of the Northeast Corridor (NEC). The law granted the shift of the parts of the NEC not held by the state to Amtrak, although the initial intent of the law was aimed at the building of Conrail (Puentes, Robert, Tormer and Kane, 2013). On April 1, 1976, Amtrak took most of the NEC. ( The portion in Massachusetts is managed by Amtrak but owned by Commonwealth. The Connecticut Department of Transportation and Metropolitan Transportation Authority owns the route from New Haven to New Rochelle as the new Haven line.) This line helped the railroad generate revenue as it became Amtraks jewel. The expense of running and managing the corridor was baffling despite NEC ridership and revenues being higher compared to the other segments. Amtraks federal subsidy was a result increased. Some years later there was the transfer of the short route segments to Amtrak as they were no longer needed for freight services.
Just as the first decade and the present day, Amtrak has faced financial problems, but it did find a small success in building trade. Factors such as strikes which disrupted airline operations and fuel shortages raised automobile and airline travel costs highly discouraged competing transport. Amtrak became more relevant in the American transportation needs due to the investments made in Amtrak’s equipment, track, and information. Between 1972 to 1981, Amtrak’s leadership grew from 16.5 million to 21 million.
In 1982, William Graham Claytor, who was a retired Southern Railway head became president. There was a disastrous financial period witnessed during the Carter administration which led to Claytor retirement so as to lead Amtrak. Claytor endured a good relationship with members of Congress and John H. Riley the leader of the Federal Railroad Administration despite frequent encounters with the Reagan administration. Claytor used short term debts to funding operations. Uncertain government aid from 1981-2000 led to the stagnation of the ridership at about 20 million passengers annually. In 1993 Claytor was succeeded by Thomas Downs. Amtrak’s goal was still “operational self-sufficiency.” Years of underfunding and a serious cash crunch that Amtrak suffered in the mid-1990’s had brought about a large overhang of debt. During Downs reign, Amtrak received $2.3 billion tax refund after the Congress included a provision in the Taxpayer Relief Act of 1997. Also, Congress also constituted a glide path towards financial stability but excluded railroad retirement tax act payments.
In 1998, George Warrington became president and was obligated to make Amtrak financially self-sufficient. Financial plans were put in place, and there were expansions into express cargo work and passengers became guests. However, these plans failed. The developments in express freight delivery met competition from other transportation operators like the Trucking industry. There was a delayed delivery of the trainsets for the upgraded Acela Express service, which was anticipated to be a good source of income.
21st century
After the employment of capital advances in the NEC and increase in fuel costs in the21st century, ridership increased as a result. In the late 2000’s, the startup of the high-speed Acela Express yielded considerable publicity and resulted in ridership gains. Nevertheless, in early 2000 Amtrak was unable to cut sufficient other expenditures or add enough express freight with the aim to break even. Congress granted funding and discharged Amtrak from the requisite. In a 2002 election, David L. Gunn took over as president replacing Warrington. Gunn argued that the promise to make Amtrak financially self-sufficient was not a possibility in the short term due to the structure of the economy of the country. Airports, Highways, and traffic control all need a large funding to construct and operate. The funding would come from Aviation trust fund; Highway Trust Fund financed by road taxes and highway fuel, user fees and general taxation as well. Gunn strived to carry off deferred maintenance and dropped most freight express business (David, 2002).
During Bush administration, a plan to privatize parts of the national passenger rail system and spin off other parts to partial state ownership” aggravated discrepancies in Amtrak’s board of directors. Gunn was fired towards the end of 2005 and was replaced by Alexander Kummant who was devoted to running a national rail system and similar to Gunn was against the idea of placing a separate ownership of the Northeastern corridor (Mathew, 2005). He felt that the long distant routes were on par with national sparks and the sale would prove irreversible. In 2006, Amtrak sought $1 billion funding from the Congress but was unsuccessful. Early 2017, Amtrak served 25 million passengers that year and employed 20,000 individuals in 46 states which represented the highest figures since 1970. Politico noticed a key issue: “the rail framework incessantly works in the red.”
An example has risen: Congress supersedes reductions requested by the White House and appropriates enough subsidies to shield Amtrak from diving into insolvency. However, Amtrak advocates say, that is insufficient to settle the framework’s troubles (David, 1996).
At the end of 2008, Kumar was replaced by Joseph H. Boardman. Three years later Amtrak declared its intent to launch a project called the Gateway project which was to build a section of a high-speed rail from Penn Station in a budget estimated to cost $13.5 million. In December 2013, Boardman was branded “Railroader of the Year” by Railway Age magazine. He was noted as the second longest serving president of Amtrak since its inception 40 years back.
On May 7, 2011, Amtrak marked its anniversary with celebrations across America on National Train Day. This day was also a special day for Amtrak as they launched a commemorative book entitled Amtrak: An American Story was published, and a documentary was created. A 4oth anniversary exhibit train and four commemorative locomotives toured the country. The train welcomed about 85,000 visitors as it toured 45 communities. The train included three refurbished food service car and ex-Santa Fe and was powered by DE Genesis. Four Genesis locomotives had been painted into retired Amtrak paint schemes: No. 156 was in Phase 1 colors, No. 66 was in Phase 2 colors, No. 145 and No. 822 were in Phase 3 colors (822 pulled the Exhibit train),[55] and No. 184 was in Phase 4 colors. Amtrak further started offering residency program for writers in 2014.
In a letter to employees in September 2015, Boardman told employees of his intention to leave the following year. A week prior he provided an update to Amtraks’s board of directors regarding his decision. The board of directors took effective measures and named Charles Wick Moorman the former CEO of Southern Railway. Unlike the previous requisite by law to run a national route system, Amtrak was no longer required to do so although it is advisable to operate such. Out of the 48 contiguous states, Amtrak is present in 46 of them. Amtrak services are in three categories: long-distance service, short-haul corridor service outside the Northeast Corridor, and short-haul service on the Northeast Corridor.
Two of the systems use diesel locomotives while the service on the Northeast Corridor between Philadelphia and Harrisburg, as well as between Boston, and Washington is powered by overhead electric cables .The frequency of services in the routes vary from weekday service several times an hour on the Northeast Corridor to three days a week trains on the Sunlight Limited. Amtrak also has a bus service that connects train stations.
The frequency of services in the routes vary from weekday service several times an hour on the Northeast Corridor to three days a week trains on the Sunlight Limited. Amtrak also has a bus service that connects train stations.Northeast Regional and Acela Express are the two most popular and frequently used services running. The NEC runs from Boston to Washington through Philadelphia and New York City. In the fiscal year of 2013, of Amtrak’s 31.6 million passengers, the NEC services accounted for 11.4 million. The short-haul corridors in California are the most popular service outside of NEC. These comprise Capitol Corridor, Surfliner, and San Joaquin which are extensively reinforced by a network of buses. In the fiscal year 2013, trains accounted for 5,627000 passengers
Northeast Regional and Acela Express are the two most popular and frequently used services running. The NEC runs from Boston to Washington through Philadelphia and New York City. In the fiscal year of 2013, of Amtrak’s 31.6 million passengers, the NEC services accounted for 11.4 million. The short-haul corridors in California are the most popular service outside of NEC. These comprise Capitol Corridor, Surfliner, and San Joaquin which are extensively reinforced by a network of buses. In the fiscal year 2013, trains accounted for 5,627000 passengers all together.
Empire Service is also a popular corridor that operates between New York and Toronto, and in 2015 carried around 1,538,000 passengers. The other one is the Keystone Service from New York to Harrisburg, through Philadelphia and this route accounted for 1,343,000 passengers that same year. NEC has four of the busiest by boardings which comprise: Penn Station, Union Station, 30th Street Station, and South Station. The other two are Union Station(Los Angeles) and Union Station(Chicago) (Mathew and Phillips, 2006).
Efficiency
Compared to commercial airlines, Amtrak is 30-40 percent more energy effective per passenger mile. However, the exact figures for specific route are dependent on load along with other variables. Amtrak’s diesel trains are less efficient compared to the electrified trains in NEC and can sustain energy gained from regenerative braking back to the electrical grid. Regarding safety per mile, passenger rails compete with other modes. Amtrak’s one-time performance is calculated differently from the airline’s one-time performance. If a plane arrives within 15 minutes of the schedule, then it is considered one-time. Amtrak utilizes a sliding scale, with trips under 40 km regarded as late if they are behind schedule for more than 10 min and up to 30 min for trips over 887km in length.
In 2005, Amtrak had a 0.116 kg of carbon dioxide emissions per passenger kilometer. This is like an automobile with two individuals, around four times the regular US motorcoach, and around eight times a Finnish electric intercity train or completely stacked fifty-situate bus, and roughly twice as high as the figure in UK rail. It is, nevertheless, around 66% of the crude carbon dioxide discharge of a long distance residential flight.
Intermodal connections
In downtown areas, most Amtrak rail stations are connected to local public transport. Amtrak shares codes with United Airlines and offers service between New Haven, Philadelphia 30th St, Stamford and Wilmington. There are special codes used to assign these intermodal routes. Furthermore, Amtrak serves air stations at Oakland, Baltimore, and Milwaukee. Amtrak also extends many of its routes through coordinating Thruway motorcoach service.
On-time performance
Amtrak trains operate on tracks controlled and run by privately owned freight railroads outside the Northeast corridor and stretches of track in Michigan and Southern California. Under the federal law, the freight rail operators are obligated to provide dispatching choice to Amtrak trains. Some freight rails roads are known to be skirting these rules. Consequently, passengers wait for traffic to clear the track and this usually takes long hours. In 2008, strict rules regarding train priority took effect following investigations on the railroads dispatching practices. For this reason, Amtrak saw a rise in the one-time performance from 74.7% to 84.7% in just a year. For instance, Missouri River Runner was Amtrak’s best performer as it saw its performance shoot from 11% to 95%. Economic downturn accompanied this improved performance leading to the lowest freight traffic volumes since 1998 (Loving and Rush, 2009).
Ridership
In 1972, Amtrak in its first full year of service carried 15,848,327 passengers. In 2016, Ridership reached a peak of 31,272,790 which was double the number reached in 1972.
Guest Rewards
Guest rewards are Amtrak’s loyalty program that is like the frequent-flyer-programmes of most airlines. Members collect points by riding Amtrak and can redeem them for discounted tickets and sometimes free tickets.
Commuter services
In conjunction with regional and state authorities in California, Amtrak through various commuter services serves an additional 6.1 million passengers.
Lines
Amtrak owns 730 miles comprising of 1,186 bridges (including the famous Hell Gate Bridge) consisting of 42.5 miles (68.4 km) of track, and 17 tunnels consisting of 29.7 miles (47.8 km) of track. In places like New England, Amtrak renders track maintenance, leasing tracks, and regulating train journeys. More often, these tracks are rented from local or regional governments. Moreover, Amtrak owns the lines below. (Mike, 2011).
- Empire Corridor. 11 miles between Spuyten Duyvil, New York, and New York Penn Station. Amtrak leased the 94 miles between Schenectady, New York and Poughkeepsie, New York, from owner CSX. Furthermore, the whirlpool rapids Bridge and short approach segments near it areas well owned by Amtrak.
- Northeast Corridor: the northeast corridor between Boston and Washington through Philadelphia, Baltimore, New York and Newark is owned by Amtrak while closely working together with several regional and state commuter agencies. The Metropolitan Transport Authority and Connecticut Department of Transport own the route between New Haven, Connecticut, Northeast corridors, and New York.
- Philadelphia to Harrisburg Main Line: This line runs from Philadelphia to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Signal and track improvements were completed in October 2006 following the investment partnership with Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. This advances would allow all electric service with trains reaching a top speed of 180 km/h.
- New Haven-Springfield Line: Amtrak owns the 60.5 miles (97.4 km) line between New Haven and Springfield.
- Chicago–Detroit Line: Amtrak acquired the west end of the former Michigan Central main line from Conrail in 1976.
- Post Road Branch: 12.42 miles (19.99 km), Post Road Junction to Rensselaer, New York
Amtrak owns a station and yard tracks in New Orleans, Los Angeles, New York, Chicago, Orlando, Oregon, Saint Miami, Florida, and Oakland. Amtrak further owns New York Penn Station and Chicago Union Station Company. Amtrak has 99 % of 30th Street Limited and 99.7% interest in the Washington Terminal Company.
In the present day times, Amtrak faces various imperative work issues. In the region of benefits financing, due to confinements initially forced by Congress, most Amtrak specialists were delegated “railroad representatives, ” and duties to the Railroad Retirement framework have been made for those workers. Nevertheless, in light of the fact that the span of the commitments is resolved on an expansive basis instead of with reference to the business for whom the representatives work, a few critics, for example, the National Association of Railroad Passengers, keep up that Amtrak is sponsoring cargo railroad benefits by as much as US$150 million/year (BINNEWIES, 1975).
As of late, endeavors at changing traveler rail have addressed work issues. In 1997 Congress discharged Amtrak from a preclusion on contracting for work outside the partnership (and outside its unions), opening the way to privatization. Since that time, huge numbers of Amtrak’s representatives had been working without a contract. The latest contract, approved in 1999, was primarily retroactive (Pucher, 1999).
Given the structure of railroad unions by occupation, starting in 2009 Amtrak has 14 separate unions to consult with. Besides, it has 24 different contracts with those unions. This makes it hard to roll out significant improvements, rather than a circumstance where one union consults with one manager. Previous Amtrak president Kummant took after a helpful stance with Amtrak’s exchange unions, discounting arrangements to privatize extensive parts of Amtrak’s unionized workforce.
In late 2007 and mid-2008, however, real work issues emerged, an aftereffect of a question amongst Amtrak and 16 unions regarding which representatives ought to get medicinal services benefits. The debate was not settled rapidly, and the circumstance heightened to the point of President Bush announcing a Presidential Emergency Board to determine the issues. It was not quickly fruitful, and a strike was debilitated to start on January 30, 2008. Amidst that month, notwithstanding, it was reported that Amtrak and the unions had settled and January 30 go without a strike. In late February it was declared that three more unions had worked out their disparities, and as of that time it appeared to be far-fetched that any more issues would emerge sooner rather than later.
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Amtrak, Richmond, California.
References
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Welsh, Joe; Bill Howes (2004). Travel by Pullman: a century of service. Saint Paul, MN: MBI. ISBN 0760318573. OCLC 56634363.
