Vol. 6, No.8 July 1979 Galesburg Wins Award I As Station Of The Year Amtrak 's Galesburg, Illinois, sta­ necticut; and Waterbury, Vermont. scaping and easy access to luggage tion, which serves t-he Illinois and San Judging was done using a score carts and baggage floats. Francisco Zephyrs has been named sheet listing the various items to be Amtrak has two stations in Gales­ Station of the Year after close com­ rated. Points were assessed for each burg with the winning one located on petition with five other locations. item on a scale of one to five. Overall the Burlington Northern. The second The three agents who operate the station operations accounted for a facility is on the Santa Fe and serves facility-Florence Skeen, lead ticket maximum of 35 points, while general the Southwest Limited and Lone clerk, and Ruth Fogarty and Floyd cleanliness was assigned a maximum Star. Watts, ticket clerks-were brought to of 65. The top score possible, thus, The winning station was built in Chicago on Wednesday, June 6, to would be 100. 1912 to replace an 1884 structure that receive their plaque, have lunch at the Rated were the appearance and at­ was razed by fire in 191 1. well-known Cafe Bohemia and sight­ ti tude of employees, neatness o f the Amtrak leases the building from see and shop. ticket office, sales increases, security the BN and three persons are assigned Presenting the plaque, which will and accuracy of accounting. to the facility. The two-story bri ck be permanently mounted in the Cleanliness of floors, restrooms, building once ho used the railroad's Galesburg station, to the trio was windows, lights, water fountains and division offices but now is strictly a Chris Wahmann, assistant vice presi­ walls were im portant considerations passenger station. dent, operations and general man­ as we ll as trash pickup, lighting, land- Although it is large and old, the ager. Also attending the Union Sta­ tion ceremony were AI Clark, direc­ tor, stations and operations planning; C-2? Who Benefits? Who Applies? Ozzie Brookes, manager, Midwest division; Rollie Batten, manager, sta­ Amtrak's final route structure, as of October I, is yet indefinite as tion operations-west; Russ Cadieux, various plans are still being discussed in Congress, including one proposal district manager, stations; and Dave to freeze the present system. Murray, district supervisor, stations. However, if there is a cutback in the system, there will be employees Don Ulrich, assistant director, sta­ who will lose their jobs. tion operations and facilities, Wash­ While most employees are aware that there is protection provided to ington, and the man who monitored such persons, many questions have been raised regarding specific points of the contest, said, " It was another in­ that protection. teresting race. Section 405 of the Rail Passenger Service Act of 1970, the legislation "All six of the competing stations which created Amtrak, required that fair and equitable arrangements be were excellent choices by their respec­ provided to protect employee interests if they were adversely affected by tive divisions. The scoring was very train discontinuances. close all across the board and when For Amtrak employees, these arrangements are set forth in Appendix we totaled the number of points we C-2, an agreement between the National Railroad Passenger Corporation, found, like last year, that only one the Railway Labor Executives' Association, the Congress of Railway point separated the winner from the Unions and the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers. This agreement first runner-up. was certified as fair and equitable by the Secretary of Labor on October 1, "Sadly, we can only have one win­ 1973. ner. However, all five runner- up sta­ There is also an Appendix C-I containing essentially the same provi­ tions are to be commended for their sions for employees of the contracting railroads. exemplary effort." The questions and answers which begin on page 8 have been prepared by Runners-up were Birmingham, the company's labor relations and personnel department as a guide to Am­ Alabama; Flagstaff, Arizona; Fort trak employees who may be affected by the planned route restructure. Madison, Iowa; New London, Con- station has been well maintained and presents the traveling public with a pleasant environment. Most evident feature of the facility is the myriad of plants and hanging baskets that seem to be everywhere. Says Fogarty, "It all started about a year ago when the city was celebrat­ ing Railroad Days. We put up two hanging baskets by the main entry door to spruce up the place a little bit. Then we got a couple more to hang near the office and now we've got ~ Railroad Days '79 - Galesburg's Railroad Days were celebrated the weekend of June 8-10 this year and Amtrak Chris Wah mann, assistant vice president, operations and general manager, presents the was well represented. trophy for Station of the Year to the Galesburg staff. Left to right are Ozzie Brookes, Ruth Some 26,000 persons registered Fogarty, Floyd Watts, Florence Skeen, AI Clark and Wahmann . at the station which served as the starting point of Burlington Nor­ year. She brought back 45 plants o n hangars. These are made by Skeen thern train rides to their vario us the Southwest Limited and planted who does them at home. facilities. them in two large window boxes Although he doesn't garden or do Amtrak had two Superliners where they can get some sun. macrame, Watts, the third member of on display and a sales force team The two women tend to their plants the crew, is invaluable as a " guard" that distributed literature and virtually with religious fervor. Fogar­ to see that none are filched during the paper hats to visitors and an­ ty comes in early on Saturday morn­ night hours when he works. swered their many questions. ings to water them. TheA, each T ues­ Notes Skeen, "Our customers real­ day, when she works second trick, she ly lik e our decor. We've received them all over the place." stays late to give them another water­ many comments on how we 've man­ There are now about 85 plants of ing. She stores water overnight in aged to 'warm up' an otherwise cold various hues and shapes and two fo ur IO-gallon pickle buckets so any array of brick and wood." large cactus beds. residual traces of chlorine can escape. Previous Stations oj the Year were Fogarty went cactus shopping in Many of the hanging plants are Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and Em­ California during her vacation last ensconced in intricate macrame plant poria, Kansas. ---Runner-Up Personnel----------------------------- (Left) Flagstaff/Blake Messimer, Henry Rigg, Jr., Harry Matson and Henry Rigg, Sr. (Above) New (Above,) Water­ London/ Jim Spotts­ bury/Phil Kidney. wood, Nancy (Left) Birmingham! Stuart, Arnold Dave Wilkinson, Feibel and Craig Bob Hasty and Conner. (Right) Buford Isom. Fort Madison / Don Epperson, Bob Hays and Danny Willits. Train Travel Heavy But . ________---, I Vacation Travel Still Possible Although travel will be extremely chance of getting accommodations train's departure. This holds true for heavy on Amtrak trains this summer, include the National Limited, all trains and all types of accom­ employees should not totally despair Shenandoah, Cardinal, Montreal, modations. of using the trains for their personal Panama Limited, North Star and The best advice to employees is to travels. Pioneer. make the call to the reservations Says Phil Held, general manager, Employees are also reminded they center as early in the morning as they reservations, " There are seats must give up their seats to fare-paying can on the day they intend to travel. available on Amtrak trains every day passengers who may be standing be­ By doing so, employees will make it of the week. The trick is to pick the cause of lack of space. easier for themselves as well as for right day and the right segment of the Yet another factor that comes into customers by freeing up the lines dur­ system to travel." play is the day one wants to travel. ing normal business hours. Amtrak's reservations system is a Weekends, obviously, are tough Says Held, "One morning we "self-cleansing" one. travel days but Tuesdays and tested the system at 6 a.m., shortly If a reservation is made but a ticket Wednesdays are lighter. after the computer had been purged not actually purchased, the system Held's advice is simple. "If you of unclaimed reservations. And we will automatically cancel the reserva­ can rearrange your travel plans, do so had coach space on every train in the tion after a certain period of time. to travel on the lighter days." system. Thus, reservations are constantly be­ Amtrak employees, of course, are " Admittedly, there weren't any ing freed for new riders. bound by the 24 hour rule. They can huge blocks of seats but there How long a reservation is kept in not make reservations for pass travel definitely were some seats on every the system depends on how long prior more than 24 hours in advance of the train. " to a prospective trip it is made. For example, if a person makes a reservation over the phone between Fares Increased Over System eight and 21 days prior to his trip, he must purchase his ticket at least five A seven per cent increase on most have increased by over 58 per cent in days in advance of that trip. If he regular fares and accommodation the last six months alone. does not do so, the reservation wi ll be charges became effective July 15 .