by Tadman
How do you think Richard H Anderson has done as leader of Amtrak for six months?
I think he downright sucks. F-minus.
At Delta, everything happens on procedure. Boarding, cabin announcements, food service. MAINTENANCE. Little is left up to on-site judgment. After six months at Amtrak, the above functions still appear to be seat-of-pants. Why is it the flight attendants read a script while the conductor or lounge car attendant babble away on the PA? There has been six months to remedy this and all it takes is a few rides to notice the problem, and a memo to all VP's directing them that within 90 days, all common tasks shall be performed according to written plan. And you know why this is so good for crews? Because if something goes wrong, now they're doing it just how management told them to. This protects both passengers and crew.
With regard to PR, it's awful. Amtrak has been in a number of high profile accidents, some their fault, some not. For God's sake, man, get out in front of this stuff and make it clear that the truck driver fouled the crosssing, it was his fault, its a serious national problem, etc... and we lose 250 people every year in these accidents. But we have seen little PR effort. We have not seen any message that the train is 17x safer than the automobile (Northwestern University numbers).
WIth regard to PTC, it appears Anderson has decided Amtrak will suspend any trains not on PTC by end of the year. This may be the single stupidest thing I have ever heard. At this point, let's just all stay home and maybe even throw out our scissors, steak knives, and turn off the hot water. Maybe we should all wear clothing with elastic and Velcro so we don't hurt ourselves on buttons and zippers.
I had high hopes but this has been a big goose egg. I'm curious who was behind Delta's success because I love Delta.
I think he downright sucks. F-minus.
At Delta, everything happens on procedure. Boarding, cabin announcements, food service. MAINTENANCE. Little is left up to on-site judgment. After six months at Amtrak, the above functions still appear to be seat-of-pants. Why is it the flight attendants read a script while the conductor or lounge car attendant babble away on the PA? There has been six months to remedy this and all it takes is a few rides to notice the problem, and a memo to all VP's directing them that within 90 days, all common tasks shall be performed according to written plan. And you know why this is so good for crews? Because if something goes wrong, now they're doing it just how management told them to. This protects both passengers and crew.
With regard to PR, it's awful. Amtrak has been in a number of high profile accidents, some their fault, some not. For God's sake, man, get out in front of this stuff and make it clear that the truck driver fouled the crosssing, it was his fault, its a serious national problem, etc... and we lose 250 people every year in these accidents. But we have seen little PR effort. We have not seen any message that the train is 17x safer than the automobile (Northwestern University numbers).
WIth regard to PTC, it appears Anderson has decided Amtrak will suspend any trains not on PTC by end of the year. This may be the single stupidest thing I have ever heard. At this point, let's just all stay home and maybe even throw out our scissors, steak knives, and turn off the hot water. Maybe we should all wear clothing with elastic and Velcro so we don't hurt ourselves on buttons and zippers.
I had high hopes but this has been a big goose egg. I'm curious who was behind Delta's success because I love Delta.
The new Acela: It's not Aveliable.