Amtrak Celebrates Third Anniversary
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Volume 1 No.2 May 1, 1974 Amtrak Celebrates Third Anniversary Amtrak at three! We have been capability to direct and maintain by railroads themselves had become working hard and looking ahead to Amtrak's trains over a system much national in scope. The country invited this day ever since that first day in May more extensive than anything under the traveler from coast to coast; but on 1971 when only a handful of people the management of one railroad. Or we new paths of concrete, not on rails of began the task of revitalizing the should not overlook the efforts of a steel. national rail passenger system. At this Legal staff which has had to help bring It is still true that long-distance milepost in the short life-span of this order out of endeavors which in many railroad passenger service is not corporation, it is worthwhile to look cases have been milestone achieve profitable in the usual sense; but there back at some of our most striking ments, and equalled by the efforts of a are two fundamental goals of any achievements. Labor Relations group who have dealt corporation and they are to make a Here is a tally of some of the key with union negotiations which would profit and to exist. After three most happenings that are now in place and have tried the patience of Job and the eventful years, Amtrak exists and effective: wisdom of Solomon. And yet all of thanks to the fo resight of able men who • Nationwide computerized reserva- these things have been done in such a realize the necessity to put the National tions, ticketing and information manner that when the energy crunch Railroad Passenger Corporation to system .. brought sharp increases in ridership, gether, the traveling public has found , • Over 8,000 employees now work far beyond even the most optimistic during the most troublesome hours of ing for Amtrak .. five year projections, Amtrak was able the fuel shortage, it had another • Over 1,000 cars modernized and to handle the demand and continue its option when the going got rough. refurbished at a cost of more than im provement of the system. There were many times during the $63,000,000 ... It is worthwhile to look back a little first two years when Amtrak's op • 50 brand new diesel locomotives further. It was the coast to coast ponents and those who lacked patience with another 126 to follow by the railroad system which had opened this or vision were prepared to attend the mid-summer peak load time ... vast country to passenger travel and last rites. And yet the public, the • 57 new Metroliner-type cars al commerce in the first place. And then Government and Amtrak's own dedi ready on order, nearly doubling the fleet after one hundred years of spectacular cated band of workers turned the of 61 now on hand .. development, the Federal government corner somewhere during those busy • A new nationwide timetable list pumped more than 60 billion dollars days. Recent legislation has strengthen ing all Amtrak routes in one con into an unparalleled super-highway ed Amtrak's position and replenished venient publication and a renovated network so that Mr. and Mrs. America its finances and has put teeth into some fare structure with a single tariff could travel in their automobiles to see ofthe directives essential to the effective publication .. and enjoy this beautiful and boundless operation of the national passenger • A training program which has country which railroads and railroad system. And then the gasoline shortage already processed more than 6,000 men had done so much to help build. added impetus to an already gradual personnel ... In the ensuing " age of the auto ridership increase and brought a • A station take-over and upgrad mobile", railroads were all but aban healthy 25% increase in gross revenue ing program as extensive as the doned by the passengers they had once as Amtrak for the first time topped the Amtrak network itself ... served so well. 200 million dollar per year mark in and the list could go on. So Americans traveled by automobile 1973. Now for Fiscal Year 1974, the Perhaps as unique and momentous on their new freeways and 87% of all company expects to gross $224.8 as anything mentioned above has been intercity travel was, by 1970, performed million. the development of an operational in the family car. The revolution begun Few people recognize and fewer understand the nature of the task which LATE BULLETIN confronted our management team as it picked up the pieces of a dying industry and began to revitalize the scattered At press time President Nixon has nominated six persons to the Amtrak Board of Directors. See details on page 5 col. 3. Continued on page 2 col. 1 1 get Amtrak service including reserva tions information, ticket cost and even automatic mailing--all for his credit card number. To those employees who recall the first hesitant year of operation and the thousands upon thousands of calls which were lost or turned away while individual manual service averaged 15 to 17 minutes per call, this new system is perhaps the single most revolutionary achievement in Amtrak's first three years. Not far behind on the list of notable achievements has been the intricate and laborious take-over of thousands of railroad employees from supporting railroads across the country. This too has been completed and for the first time, most on-board crew personnel are Amtrak's Northeast Centralized Reservations Center located at Bensalem, Pa. is one of five new computerized Amtrak reservations and information centers. on the Amtrak payroll directly. This process, in no small part due to the efforts of the Vice President for ANNIVERSARY-continued from page I Personnel and Administration, Mr. K. A. Housman and members of his staff, ground up with the purchase of two and tattered bits of the little that such as Nathaniel Tutt, Gloria Tate and massive Control Data 3500's, an remained of passenger service. But by Nate Fossett, along with the Central infinitely complex systems analysis the very nature of this quasi-Federal Regional Personnel Manager, Val program and eventually a total facility corporation, akin to COM SA T and the Racich and the Western Manager, conversion which has taken more than U.S. Postal Service, Amtrak's very Chris Slater. This work will continue 18 month to omplete and- install-. - existence was going to depend-in-a--Iarge until the remaining groups of railroad Now, for the first time in the history of measure on the skill of these top men in passenger-related employees have all passenger rail travel in th,is country, a weaving a fabric out of what Congress been brought into the Amtrak fold. would fund, what the private railroad traveler may dial one "toll-free" long corporations would support, what the distance number from anywhere in the In the effort to run a better railroad American public would demand, and country to anyone of five centers and and to run it safely and on-time, the what innovative marketing practices would produce in the way of ridership. This was a course which had to be set over uncharted seas and which was beset with major pitfalls at every turn. As time goes on, it may very well be that ---..------ the most notable achievement of the first three years of a non-too precocious railroad system named Amtrak, may be judged to have been the signal success of this unique management team in bringing the whole thing to fruition in spite of the nature and severity of the obstacles which stood in the way. Among the major achievements which have made Amtrak what it is today, is the new, nationwide com puterized reservations and information system, (see Amtrak NEWS, April 15, 1974). Of the original railroads which made up the Amtrak system, none hOad invested time and money in any Fifty of Amtrak's new SDP·40F diesel locomotives currently are in service on Western routes. One successful, system-wide computer hundred additional locomotives are on order from General Motors. facility. Amtrak had to begin from the 2 company began by putting its money been equally responsive to the unique where the most immediate require needs of this developing organization. ments were. The first passenger loco Under the direction of Earl Adamson motives, power units ordered solely for and Richard Shurtz much has been passenger service in more than a done in-house and even more with the generation, were ordered and more than use of outside contract help including 50 of them are already in service. These the type of specialized assistance which big new diesels will be joined by more is characteristic of the airline industry than 100 more as almost all long-haul in the field of customer relations. (This trains are pulled behind Amtrak-owned will be the subject of a later and more equipment. Other locomotives have comprehensive article in a subsequent been ordered for the all-electric opera Amtrak News.) Suffice it to say here tions along the Northeast Corridor and that the more than 6,000 people who will be placed in service as soon as they Amtrak's new Jacksonville station opened have been through Amtrak training come available. As a bonus of this January 3. facilities to date represent a true action, it has been found that these new cross-section of the Amtrak employee In conjunction with the development locomotives use up to 250/0 less fuel than manpower pool.