posted
Gene Skoropowski, managing director of the Capitol Corridor uses e-mail to keep in touch with his customers. Here's an example, an apology and detailed explanation of why the morning trains were delayed. His no-spin honesty is refreshing. How many other businesses, of any type, make such an effort to keep their customers informed?
quote:CC Rail Mail E-Newsletter-- Service Update for October 2, 2006
What happened to today's morning trains #525, #527 and #529?
It all started shortly after midnight in Sacramento when a locomotive maintenance person could not re-start a locomotive that had recently been shut down for the night. That locomotive was scheduled to operate as train #525 in the morning. In order to try to have a train operating on or close to train #525's schedule (#525 is the heaviest patronized train in the morning), train #518 from Oakland, which normally turns around to become train #527, was turned around immediately in Sacramento Station as train #525, and left Sacramento only 9 minutes late on train #525's time. It was about 22 minutes late arriving in Emeryville, but that was the best we could do given the situation (which could have been much worse, and #525 much later).
To try to get train #527 on its way to San Jose, a second locomotive was added to train #520 in Oakland to be added to the delayed train set in Sacramento so train #527 could operate to San Jose. That was the good news.
The bad news is that taking this locomotive off train #520 and attaching it to train #527 took more time than anticipated, and train #527 left Sacramento for San Jose after train #529 left for Oakland. Train #527 was 1hr 19min late leaving Sacramento and arrived at San Jose 1hr 37 minutes late. Train #527 left Sacramento 21min late and arrived at Emeryville 22min late(which means it was not further delayed en route).
I extend an apology to all our riders who were delayed by this morning's operational problems. This is the first mechanical snafu of this type we have had in some time, and I wanted you to know why this occurred. Today's delays were not due to freight traffic or congestion, and Union Pacific dispatchers did everything they could do to help Amtrak move the trains to their destinations once they were ready to go.
Sometimes Mondays just start the week off wrong. Here's hoping that it is uphill from here on. I keep telling myself that I-80, I-680 and I-880 don't operate perfectly every day either.
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How does a person this striaghtforward and honest keep a job in a government bureaucracy?
Posts: 2808 | From: Olive Branch MS | Registered: Nov 2002
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quote:Originally posted by George Harris: How does a person this striaghtforward and honest keep a job in a government bureaucracy?
By running the Capitol Corridor efficiently and effectively, he keeps the bean nay saying politicians at bay. The NRPC could learn a thing or twenty from him.
Posts: 2649 | From: California's Monterey Peninsula | Registered: Dec 2000
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There was a long running but all too true joke in one project that I was on that too much competence in what you did was a disqualification. You would find yourself shifted to work in an area you did not understand well and be replaced in your old position by someone that did not have a clue. This was regarded as primarily a function of a technically ignorant and incompetent top managemetn that did not want to be shown up.
Posts: 2808 | From: Olive Branch MS | Registered: Nov 2002
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posted
It does seem odd, but the Capitol Corridor Joint Powers Authority seems to be one government organization that gets things right. JPA's are interesting animals. They operate independently of any central government authority, but their boards are composed of members of every governmental area they serve.
The Transportation Agency for Monterey County (TAMC) has been a JPA for the last decade, and it too has shown a noticable improvement in public responsiveness since becoming independent of the county government. When it was the Monterey County Transportation Commission it was a more political animal. I think it distances the members from the political whim du jour sufficiently that they can better plan for the long term and operate more efficiently.
Anyway, nobody of any political persuasion can argue against the CCJPA's proven success. They are now boasting that they have as many trains each day between Oakland and Sacramento as there are between Boston and New York on the NEC (though it is still far less than Caltrain runs between San Jose and San Francisco). Mr. Skoropowski has overseen double digit ridership increases every year for the last several years, increased farebox recovery with every new train, careful management of costs to enable more trains to run without increasing costs, good relations with UP, and more.
My only complaint with the CCJPA is their reluctance to consider any expansion south of San Jose, even while desiring to expand east to Reno. I think extending the Capitol Corridor to Salinas or Monterey within their existing framework would be much more cost effective than starting up a new train from Monterey to San Francisco with a new agency.
Posts: 2649 | From: California's Monterey Peninsula | Registered: Dec 2000
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posted
Mr. Toy, I'm not surprised at your words of commendation for Gene Skoropowski. While Gene was at SEPTA and he and I both were on the NARP Board, we sometimes disagreed; but I have great respect for him and his refreshing openness, which I suspect was not appreciated at SEPTA.
-------------------- John Pawson Posts: 137 | From: Willow Grove, PA | Registered: Dec 2005
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