by Tadman
So it seems like there are a number of best practices moving forward.
One is from the WSDOT forumula - get your own brand and get out of the Amtrak brand. The Amtrak brand is pretty bad away from the coasts.
Two is from NNERPA - have a local management with high degree of autonomy in the driver seat. Amtrak management doesn't care about Michigan or Maine. They care about NEC, then getting votes in flyover states, then whatever else they are being paid to do.
Three is from California and NCDOT - have your own rolling stock that meets your needs. Not only does this help the local operation, it advances the state of the art nationally in passenger stock without making one big bet. The Surfliner is a great piece of equipment for regional service. The Talgo is market neutral. Imagine if they had bought 400 Talgo cars rather than 6 sets. Once you have that local management and a dedicated fleet, the local management can show up occasionally to the layup yard and make sure the dedicated equipment is clean and presentable. A guy like Graham Claytor or Joe Boardman is never going to cruise by the Pontiac layup to check on the Wolverine. But the CEO of Wolverine Rails LLC, sitting in his or her office at the Cadillac building, can pop over for five minutes and do some MWA.
Four is from Michigan - make iterative and meaningful physical plant improvements. The connector in Detroit near the station between GTW and NS/Amtrak was a small project but cut 10+ minutes off the schedule. We learned a lot of lessons (I hope) from the NWI third main farce. Perhaps a local Wolverine-Rails LLC owned by Michigan DOT and managed by a few former railroaders and hospitality folks would've had a better shot at working with NICTD without the Washington/Amtrak relationship baggage.
Five is from Indiana - if you're going to privatise a service or contract it out, pick a partner that hasn't burned a lot of bridges. Bring all the parties to the table well ahead of time and get agreement. This is contracting 101. When we do a join project, I sit down with our partners and make sure our scopes line up, but don't overlap. I make sure they understand our wiring diagrams. I don't think anybody did that with Iowa Pacific. An Amtrak-unfriendly contractor showed up out of the blue with questionable and unknown equipment on day one. Of course it didn't work. I still don't know why they didn't at least borrow an employee from NICTD to examine those passenger cars in advance.
Six is also from Indiana. Consider how low-drag your stations can go. I know we like palaces here, but are the necessary? South Shore trains terminate at a 10-track underground station in Chicago and South Bend Airport. Bigger intermediate stops have indoor waiting, ticket machines, and clean bathrooms. Smaller stops have a shelter and wheelchair lift. The state of repair and cleanliness is pretty good.
One is from the WSDOT forumula - get your own brand and get out of the Amtrak brand. The Amtrak brand is pretty bad away from the coasts.
Two is from NNERPA - have a local management with high degree of autonomy in the driver seat. Amtrak management doesn't care about Michigan or Maine. They care about NEC, then getting votes in flyover states, then whatever else they are being paid to do.
Three is from California and NCDOT - have your own rolling stock that meets your needs. Not only does this help the local operation, it advances the state of the art nationally in passenger stock without making one big bet. The Surfliner is a great piece of equipment for regional service. The Talgo is market neutral. Imagine if they had bought 400 Talgo cars rather than 6 sets. Once you have that local management and a dedicated fleet, the local management can show up occasionally to the layup yard and make sure the dedicated equipment is clean and presentable. A guy like Graham Claytor or Joe Boardman is never going to cruise by the Pontiac layup to check on the Wolverine. But the CEO of Wolverine Rails LLC, sitting in his or her office at the Cadillac building, can pop over for five minutes and do some MWA.
Four is from Michigan - make iterative and meaningful physical plant improvements. The connector in Detroit near the station between GTW and NS/Amtrak was a small project but cut 10+ minutes off the schedule. We learned a lot of lessons (I hope) from the NWI third main farce. Perhaps a local Wolverine-Rails LLC owned by Michigan DOT and managed by a few former railroaders and hospitality folks would've had a better shot at working with NICTD without the Washington/Amtrak relationship baggage.
Five is from Indiana - if you're going to privatise a service or contract it out, pick a partner that hasn't burned a lot of bridges. Bring all the parties to the table well ahead of time and get agreement. This is contracting 101. When we do a join project, I sit down with our partners and make sure our scopes line up, but don't overlap. I make sure they understand our wiring diagrams. I don't think anybody did that with Iowa Pacific. An Amtrak-unfriendly contractor showed up out of the blue with questionable and unknown equipment on day one. Of course it didn't work. I still don't know why they didn't at least borrow an employee from NICTD to examine those passenger cars in advance.
Six is also from Indiana. Consider how low-drag your stations can go. I know we like palaces here, but are the necessary? South Shore trains terminate at a 10-track underground station in Chicago and South Bend Airport. Bigger intermediate stops have indoor waiting, ticket machines, and clean bathrooms. Smaller stops have a shelter and wheelchair lift. The state of repair and cleanliness is pretty good.
The new Acela: It's not Aveliable.