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[QUOTE]Originally posted by smitty195: [QB] Thank you, train lady, for having a mature and thoughtful conversation. Yes, I tend to be somewhat down on Amtrak in the last year or so. I thought Kummant would be a shining star at Amtrak, as I rode with him from Los Angeles to Seattle on his first long-distance train trip. Seemed like a reasonable guy, level-headed, and came from a railroad (UP). At public presentations, his words made sense and things looked pretty good. I stayed in contact with him, and he was always very cordial and answered my questions. But probably, oh, about a year or so ago, I saw Amtrak doing some of the dumbest things I've ever seen them do. (Note to City of Miami: If the word "dumb" offends you, I apologize. You might want to stop reading now). When I started to notice lots of things changing that most passengers would not notice (but observant and frequent passengers would notice), I started to get the feeling that something was going on internally at Amtrak. About 6 months ago, I said that I think Kummant will be gone in very short order---because nothing was making sense. Some conversations I had with mid-level managers in DC about things also did not make sense, and I received some of the screwiest answers you could possibly imagine. With the internal strife I was picking up on, combined with what I was witnessing on the line-level of things (riding trains), that confirmed for me that something was absolutely, positively going on within Amtrak that wasn't good. They waste an INCREDIBLE amount of money, and there is almost zero accountability for it. And the thing that really blew it over the top for me was what I like to call "the re-launch that wasn't a re-launch" of the Coast Starlight back in June. Amtrak's flaws, mis-management, and shining examples of the left hand not knowing what the right hand was doing were on blatant display on that trip. I had contact with a manager in DC, and his response back to me was laughable---absolutely laughable. It showed that he was not connected with ANYTHING going on within his company in any way. It was amazing. To add insult to this, the on-board manager (who, by all appearances, is a nice man) didn't seem to think that the re-launch was all that bad. Pages and pages of flaws pointed out to Amtrak, and they thought it wasn't bad? If Amtrak were a fully private company without government aid, they would have folded long ago as people just won't put up with this type of stuff for very long (look at the airlines and long-distance bus companies). I believe that Amtrak has a lot of potential, and the immediate fix is NOT to throw a bunch of money at them. I've seen how Amtrak wastes money----they would mismanage it so badly---of that I am convinced. What Amtrak needs to do first and foremost is begin holding their employees accountable. They need to ask them to do a little bit of work, and make them stick to it. No more disappearing attendants (translation: hanging out in the crew car drinking coffee, watching their DVD player, or chatting on the cell phone for hours). No more filthy, disgusting restrooms. No more excuses in the dining car of, "We ran out of (fill in the blank)". By the way, there is a secret to that "we ran out" scam. Truth be told, half the time they didn't really run out of whatever it is that they claim to have run out of. What actually happens is that the Chef does not want to open an entire carton of that particular entree when only one or two people will order it. He would rather just serve what's already out and heated up. Yes, this is true...not made up. Once Amtrak has their managers and their line-level employees under control, then let's talk about seeing if Amtrak can be responsible with a windfall of government handouts to improve the system. [/QB][/QUOTE]
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