Volume 2, Number 4 February 15, 1975 Amtrak Orders Keeping _________-----. I Budd Company Busy The first of 292 new stainless steel no mistaking the distinctive around the plant. Amtrak posters fill Amtrak coaches are taking shape at Metroliner design which characterizes many ofthe bulletin boards and "Am­ the Budd Company's plant on Red these new coaches being built ex­ trak #1" or "Amtrak #2" is stenciled Lion Road in Philadelphia. For the clusively for Amtrak. or chalked on many of the com­ moment there are few clues that the ponents and sub assemblies waiting to massive under frames, standing amid­ One a Day take their place in the finished st stacks of ribs, panels and strips of By late summer, according to coaches. fluted stainless steel, will soon be Division General Manager Norman At the present time about 400 Budd recognizable as railway cars. Fesmire, the Red Lion plant will be employees are working on Amtrak or­ In these early stages the ' floor turning out the Amtrak cars at the ders. Within a few weeks this number frames are still upside down for easier average rate of one every working day. will grow to about 1,100. installation of equipment which will With orders currently in force this In a faltering economy the sub­ be carried under the cars. But Budd production rate should continue for stantial orders from Amtrak are good Company managers say it will be only almost two years. news for Budd and for its suppliers as a short time before the frames will be Before September, Fesmire added, well. For while some 12,800 parts per flipped over and the side and roof all three assembly lines in the Red Amtrak car will be manufactured by panels will go on cars one, two, three Lion plant will be devoted to Amtrak Budd, 30,683 items per Amtrak car and four. equipment making it an all-Amtrak will be purchased from outside sup­ From then · on, until the fi rst car plant. pliers. rolls out the other end of the Red Lion Already, the identification with plant sometime in April, there will be Budd's newest customer is apparent (continued on p. 2., col. 1) Jacksonville eRO Passes _______---, I Two Million Call Mark quarters. At the helm of the CRO is Jack Gor­ don. Having " always been the It was a dramatic moment for Am­ and responded well to the public's manager of the Jacksonville office," trak employees when the first demand for train information and Gordon has been instrumental in all telephone call was made to Amtrak's reservations. So well, in fact, that the planning, organization, im­ new Central Reservations Office during 1974 the CRO, equipped with plementation and day-to-day. func­ (CRO) in Jacksonville on November the Automatic Reservations and tioning ofthe facility. 25, 1973, at 6:00 a.m. That call was Ticketing System (ARTS), handled "The exemplary operation of the handled within 10 seconds and, as the over two million calls. facility is a credit to Gordon and the hours rolled by, it was obvious that The new CRO replaced the first fine staff he has assembled," said things were running smoothly in the Amtrak Reservations Office, David L. Struebing, Manager-Reser­ new facility at the Century City office established on Dec. 16, 1972, in the vations in Washington, D.C. complex. Seaboard Coast Line (SCL) building. Employees were rather excited that This first Amtrak CRO, equipped 'Cream of Crop' day and were reminded of the old with the proverbial "drum" that held Steve Allen song, "This Could Be The paper diagrams, was a consolidation "When we hired we looked for the Start Of Something Big." And it was. of Miami and Jacksonville reser­ cream of the crop and we have them. vations functions. Working space was We looked for people who are Continuous Growth limited and the increasing call volume motivated to do a good job," Gordon The Jacksonville CRO has grown dictated the need for more spacious (continued on p. 2, col. 1) (BUDD, continuedfrom p. J) one roof, an area equivalent to six football fields. It stands on a site of The Red Lion plant of the Budd 216 acres of former farmland on the Company is an impressive facility. outskirts of Philadelphia. Built during World War II by the federal government to turn out the The list of railroad equipment built stainless-steel RB-1 "Conestoga" at the plant since its post-war con­ cargo plane, it was converted to a rail version in 1946 is impressive. It in­ passenger car facility soon after the cludes stainless-steel cars for many of final Japanese surrender. the famous "name" trains in the The main assembly area has, under United States-including the Metroliners-as well as self-propelled rail cars, subway cars and mass transit cars for service in many cities in the United States and other countries in the world. It is only fitting that as this country begins the massive job of rebuilding and modernizing its intercity passenger train system to meet the The characteristic Outing and curved roof line changing needs of the 1970's and are evident here as James McMaster of the 1980's, the Budd Company's Red Lion Budd Company checks application of a length plant will play a significant role. of paneling to roof members. Henry Lowrie picks out a roll of stainless steel Budd Company Marketing Manager Sam Madeira has a visito.r feel the thickness of a collision post; a destined for use in one of Amtrak's new high­ foil two inches to meet new Federal Railroad Administration safety recommendations. The post will performance coaches. be part of Amtrak Car No.4. (JACKSONVILLE, continuedfrom p. J) said. agents do for us. I've been with the "Incidentally, some of these calls Gordon has excellent qualifications railroads for many years and I've are new to Amtrak because reser­ for his job. In Amtrak's formative never seen anything this good." vations for Southern Railway trains days, he was on loan to the company have been integrated into the ARTS from the Seaboard Coast Line network. Therefore our agents have Call Count Railroad and was assigned to the become quite familiar with the "reservations task force." He has had The office is presently staffed to operation of the Southern Crescent," extensive experience in passenger handle 6,000 calls per day, or 42,000 a Gordon said. sales and service with the SCL. week. Actual daily counts vary bet­ Gordon's conclusion in a recent in­ ween five and seven thousand. Like terview fits the congenial atmosphere Jacksonville Sales Manager other reservations offices, J acksonviIIe of the reservations office. He said: Michael B. McElveen said, "We're experiences its peaks and valleys. "We are very proud of our installation real proud of the reservations bureau. Before Christmas it handled up to and extend a true Southern invitation It's amazing the good job that the 10,000 calls per day. to any of you to come and visit us." 2 Changes In Railroad Retirement Law Congress has enacted legislation to provisions of the previous law for before the changeover date of Jan. 1, restructure the railroad retirement several months after the changeover 1975 will still continue to receive at system beginning Jan. 1, 1975. The date and arrange for payment of the least the same amounts of railroad legislation was based on recom­ increases due some survivors at a later retirement and social security benefits mendations negotiated by a joint com­ date. they were receiving before the change­ mittee of railroad management and New formulas are provided which over. Also, employees retiring after labor representatives. That committee over the long term are expected to ef­ changeover who were fully vested for was formed at the direction of fect substantial cost savings. The new both railroad retirement and social Congress to propose a plan that would benefit structure will be in the form of security benefits before the change­ put the railroad retirement system on a two-tier type system; the first tier is over will receive an additional amount a sound financial basis. The new law is essentially a social security benefit in the tier II portion of their annuity, intended to remove a number of in­ based on an employee's combined generally referred to as a "windfall" consistencies from the previous law social security and railroad retirement amount. and to preserve the existing equities of credits. There is the possibility of a tax career railroad employees. This benefit will increase .refund for some employees for 1974. To this end, the Railroad automatically at the same time and in Employees who worked for both a Retirement Act of 1974 represents a the same way as regular social security railroad and non-railroad employer in completely restructured system and benefits are increased. The second tier the same year may, under certain cir­ introduces a two-tier type benefit is a staff type annuity based on cumstances, receive refunds of excess along the lines recommended by a railroad service only; it also includes a social security taxes. Automatic re­ Presidential Commission on Railroad schedule of future cost-of-living in­ fu nds at retirement, or death, may be Retirement. creases. made if an employee's earnings, One of the most important changes taxable under both railroad The U.S. Railroad Retirement made in the railroad retirement retirement and social security law, in Board emphasizes that the provisions system effects a gradual phase-out of any year after 1950 and before 1975, of the new law are extremely com­ dual benefits.