C
csxbap
Guest
Although David Gunn is already well known for being accesible and frequently seen on the property, it was none the less a surprise for me to meet Mr. Gunn this past Friday while onboard the Vermonter. As a railroader not employed by Amtrak, I was able to conversely freely on a wide range of topics while riding between New York and Springfield. While I did not use the opportunity to have a gripe session about service issues (since we all know the real problem is funding), I did ask about a few Amtrak operations and thought everyone might be interested in the responses from Mr. Gunn. On the topic of the lack of tables in the cafe on the Acela (supposedly to discourage people from hanging around), Mr. Gunn felt that the handful of plastic stools was indeed a waste of space and a proper eating area would be better. On the topic of the flimsy Continental breakfast (as opposed to a real quality breakfast) on the Autotrain, Mr Gunn noted the difficulty in feeding that many people prior to arrival, especially since people would be more likely to linger in the diner if a good breakfast was served. None the less he agreed it wasn't the best send off for passengers after paying alot of money to ride that train. I asked about the extreme of operating the Palmetto with no diner etc., and he said it was a priority to restore this train back to a regular sleeper/diner operation. On the subject of the Twillight Shoreliner, I bemoaned the way too early arrival times in both Boston and Washington which is aggravated by passengers having to get off when nothing is really open in either city at 6am. Mr Gunn noted that he had experienced this first hand traveling to Washington and said there was little sleeper ridership between DC and Newport News so schedules should have more consideration for Boston to DC. I noted the solution for most of the history of railroading was allowing passengers to stay on board in their rooms after arrival in Boston...say untill 8am. Not only was this always done years ago, but I noted it seemed most feasible when I've noted the train still at the platform 90 minutes after arriving in Boston...i.e. there seems to be no rush to send the train to the yard anyway. Mr Gunn agreed with me and noted as far as he was concerned the train is the "Owl" and should be called that...to which I heartily agreed as it was such an institution for so many years on the New Haven RR (Yeah I know...the DC to Boston run was actually the "Federal" on the NH but the "Owl" ..NY to Boston...was the best name for the overnight runs). Watching a train at New Haven in the "lava lamp" scheme, Mr Gunn noted he would like to see that paint scheme gone as soon as possible. We covered other topics of course but let me just say what a pleasure it was to meet such an unprentenious and down to earth leader (he even carried his own lunch...a sandwich in a Hershey's tin box). I'm convinced we've got the right man at the helm of Amtrak now and the first good President since Grahm Claytor.
