how is mr kummant doing?

[yarrow]

in my few years following amtrak there have been several changes in managment. some seemed, to me, hopeful and others less so. originally i thought mr kummant a breath of fresh air. now, i am ready to rank him near the bottom. given that amtrak managment has to abide by congressional mandates and funding as well as administration policy how do some of those on this board feel about current managment?

 

[Green Maned Lion]

I think that Kummant is not very creative. I think that Amtrak needs a lot more creativity. Overnight Rail can be a valid alternative to planes, and none of the them have done anything to try and demonstrate this. They don't advertise it, they don't run any service to utilize it, they don't even try. The only train that comes even close is the Capitol Limited. If they managed to knock an hour off its schedule, it would be a perfect example.

The Twilight Shoreliner was the perfect train to demonstrate why Amtrak needs to run sleeper service. They kill it, don't try to resurrect it, nothing. The Diner's need refurbishing more than we need the dang capstone cars. Capstones are nice, don't get me wrong, but they can cut cost out of that program to put powerplugs on all the remaining and use the money to repair the heritage diners.

The Diner/Lounge concept is idiotic. They could do a much better job handling the Coast Starlight situation. They could do a much better getting up in freight roads faces about delays. Amtrak is one of the reasons they are so profitable, they can reduce that profit a bit to run the damned trains on time.

That being said, Kummant has done a decent job with labour stuff. And he seems to be able to handle congress. I don't know if anyone could do the job better, given the climate Amtrak operates in.

 

[GG-1]

Aloha

I want to add a comment but first as I know some Amtrak Managers are user's of this board, I want them to understand my Comment. It does not appy to these individuals. And to you I appoligise to you, for your being in the middle.

Now the Comment: I feel that Amtrak management does not want to run trains, they just seem to want to appease whoever is above them, rather than find ways to make rail service better and/or profitable. Additionally I believe these same management people have forgotten their obligation to there customers, in the zeal to serve congress rather than it's true owners, US.

Mahalo

Eric

 

[Crescent ATN & TCL]

I think its not so much the president of Amtrak as it is the problems they have to work through to get anything accomplished. I think you could have someone come in with the best intentions and all of their ideas get shot down and thrown out by congress and the other powers that be.

 

[had8ley]

Well he did fulfill his promise of settling with the unions and that dated back to 2000.

 

[TransAtlantic]

Mr. Kummant has promised - and upheld - his commitment to retaining the long-haul trains, while improving the shorter-distance trains - thumbs up all around, at least as far as his own performance!

 

[transit54]

Overall, I like a lot of what he's said, and things haven't gotten substantially worse since he took over. In some areas, they have even gotten better.

I'd love to see his performance under an administration that actually cared about passenger trains. Until then, I really can't hold him accountable for failing to improve things substantially, or do anything innovative. He's so constrained: no new routes without state funding, no funding for new equipment, no spare equipment to do anything with and an aging fleet of working equipment that is ridiculously expensive to maintain. He's keeping the ship afloat, and I really can't ask him to do more than that.

 

[Joel N. Weber II]

Overnight Rail can be a valid alternative to planes, and none of the them have done anything to try and demonstrate this. They don't advertise it, they don't run any service to utilize it, they don't even try. The only train that comes even close is the Capitol Limited. If they managed to knock an hour off its schedule, it would be a perfect example.
The Twilight Shoreliner was the perfect train to demonstrate why Amtrak needs to run sleeper service. They kill it, don't try to resurrect it, nothing. The Diner's need refurbishing more than we need the dang capstone cars. Capstones are nice, don't get me wrong, but they can cut cost out of that program to put powerplugs on all the remaining and use the money to repair the heritage diners.

I would think that a good leader of Amtrak ought to be able to present Congress with all these opportunities should Congress choose to fund them. Why should we ask Amtrak to steal diner repair money from 120V outlets in coaches when Congress can steal it from the highway program instead?

I suspect also that paying an electrician to install standard outlets in a train car is somewhat easier than some of the railroad-specific problems that probably crop up with the diners. HEP is three phase 480V, the same thing used to distribute power to each floor of any moderately large office building. Some of the railroad parts may be more durable than what is used in the average office building, and the HEP connectors carrying power between train cars are probably unique to the railroads, but other than that, I don't think anything about HEP and getting it to 120V outlets is terribly strange or railroad-specific. And even if there's something railroad-specific about the outlets, Amtrak has plenty of experience doing the work at this point. The problems with the heritage diners may require somewhat more skill to figure out how to deal with.

In any event, I completely agree that the Twilight Shoreliner ought to have sleepers. I'm contemplating a future trip from Boston to DC, and I suspect I'll end up taking the Acela, but I think my real preference would be for a Viewliner roomette on the Twilight Shoreliner. (I'll probably have more of an opinion about this after my Lake Shore Limited trip.)

I'm kinda confused about why you think knocking just an hour off the Capitol Limited would make it perfect. The northwest bound train departs DC at 4:05 PM, and it arrives in Chicago at 8:40 AM. I think my preference would be to board an overnight train no earlier than about 7:00 PM, to maximize what I can do during the day in my departure city. #67's depature from Boston at 9:45 PM is even better; I seem to recall spending most of the day at work before boarding it when I took it last summer.

 

[Green Maned Lion]

Because if it departs at 5:20 and arrives at 8:55, you get it running within normal business hours. Thats why.

 

[Steve4031]

I think Green Mane Lion has a point with overnight trains on certain routes. They work in Europe . . . remember the post about those German night trains. But if you want to have these trains be used by business men, then they have to be more reliable. Adjusting the schedule of the Capitol Limited is only a first step. You also have to have absolute assurance that CSX and Norfolk southern could get the thing over the road on time every time. That won't happen until there are significant infrastructure improvements.

Other routes that would be possible might be Chicago Toronto, NYP Toronto, and NYP Montreal. In the case of NYP to Toronto and Montreal you are doubling frequencies, which increases ridership. In the case of Chicago to Toronto via Detroit, 2 frequencies a day could be implemented.

Of course, I do not hold current Amtrak management accountable for this because these services require new equipment, and that might be a while off.

Now one of the biggest boondoggles of this century as far as I am concerned is what has gone on in the Chicago to St. Louis corridor. Several years ago significant portions of the line were upgraded to 110 mph capabilities. Not one train has ever operated at a speed over 79 mph on this route because they have screwed around with trying new signaling technology rather than using a proven method. I am beginning to wonder if this will ever happen. When my students ask for an unattainable privilege, my

when hell freezes over comment" is "that is not gonna happen until after the high speed trains start running to St. Louis. And since they haven't ordered the equipment, you can forget about it"

 

[AlanB]

Now one of the biggest boondoggles of this century as far as I am concerned is what has gone on in the Chicago to St. Louis corridor. Several years ago significant portions of the line were upgraded to 110 mph capabilities. Not one train has ever operated at a speed over 79 mph on this route because they have screwed around with trying new signaling technology rather than using a proven method.

To be fair, no revenue train has ever operated over 79 MPH on that route. They did run a few test trains, which is when I believe things started to unravel for them.

 

[rtabern]

Maybe I'm a little swayed because I'm a big Trails and Rails buff here... but I think they should think about hiring full-time Trails & Rails tour guides for the 5 western trains (Empire Builder, Zephyr, SWC, Sunset Limited, and Coast Starlight).

While this is a very far-fetched idea in a day and age when Amtrak is trying to cut positions, I think it would actually be beneficial in the end... possibly.

I mean from my experiences passengers get so much more out of their trips when they know what they're seeing out their windows.... hence they would be more likely to come back and take another trip. I see it on the Empire Builder when I'm doing my regular runs in the summer. And on other routes. I have a great story to share. I found an old Trails and Rails script for the Sunset Limited through West Texas... I printed it out and brought it with me on my recent trip on 421 out to Los Angeles. I was reading it (just to myself) in the lounge car and I think the conductor saw it -- he asked if I had a PA key on me (I did) -- and he said -- Hey, if you want to read the script over the lounge car's intercom... "go right ahead". So I actually narrated all the way from Del Rio to El Paso.

When I came back upstairs at El Paso, the whole lounge car errupted into a round of applause. What a cool feeling -- not just the applause -- but knowing I helped educated the passengers and they appreciated it. On that particlar run of 421, we were bused from Tucson to LA due to a freight derailment. Two old ladies pulled me aside and thanked me for what I did... saying it took their minds of the long bus ride up ahead.

I think Amtrak isn't taking full advantage of the positive nature of Trails and Rails. We only really go 4 months out of the year.

But wow, how cool would that be? Full-time narrators in the lounge cars?

I know, I know... I'm dreaming. But darn, I'd be the first one to apply for that job.

Plus, besides doing narration, I think we serve as a good PR tool for Amtrak and the Park Service. Whenever I'm on the train, I always talk up Amtrak and try and get people to take sleeping car trips out west. I'm always like, "If you like the Empire Builder, you have to take the Zephyr out to San Francisco."

I hope that I am encouraging more Amtrak ridership... a big reason my why I do T&R.

But I know what the answer is --- Amtrak is filling up coaches and sleepers to capacity almost without a narrator on-board... so why do we need to spend the extra money to have someone like that on the train. *sighs*

 

[AlanB]

I think that Kummant is not very creative. I think that Amtrak needs a lot more creativity. Overnight Rail can be a valid alternative to planes, and none of the them have done anything to try and demonstrate this. They don't advertise it, they don't run any service to utilize it, they don't even try. The only train that comes even close is the Capitol Limited. If they managed to knock an hour off its schedule, it would be a perfect example.

Amtrak is indeed advertising its overnight train service, perhaps there could be a few/many more ads, but they are indeed advertising. They aren't advertising specific routes to my knowledge, but again they are advertising overnight runs.

The Twilight Shoreliner was the perfect train to demonstrate why Amtrak needs to run sleeper service. They kill it, don't try to resurrect it, nothing. The Diner's need refurbishing more than we need the dang capstone cars. Capstones are nice, don't get me wrong, but they can cut cost out of that program to put powerplugs on all the remaining and use the money to repair the heritage diners.

First, just to be clear Mr. Kummant didn't kill the sleeper on the Twilight Shoreliner. That was done before he was given the job.

Second, the Capstone program has been dead for several years now. In fact I believe that program died under George Warrington, long before Alex Kummant took over the reigns of Amtrak.

Third, as much as Amtrak needs working single level diners, I can't fault anyone for wanting to invest money in a 30 year old car, rather than money in a 60+ year old car. The ROI on refurbishing an Amfleet car with new cushions and electrical outlets is probably 5 to 10 times greater than the ROI on refurbishing a 60+ year old dining car.

The Diner/Lounge concept is idiotic. They could do a much better job handling the Coast Starlight situation. They could do a much better getting up in freight roads faces about delays. Amtrak is one of the reasons they are so profitable, they can reduce that profit a bit to run the damned trains on time.

Here I agree, the CS was handled very badly. Additionally, while I understand the motivation, I still vehemently disagree with the entire Diner-Lite, Diner-Lounge, CCC, SDS concept. The first rule of business is "one must spend money to make money." No one has ever cut their way to prosperity. Cutting services, simply decreases revenue, and therefore nothing is gained and the problem isn't solved.

As for delays, shortly before Alex took the reigns of Amtrak, Amtrak did indeed get up in the face of UP. A very threatening letter was sent to UP. The result of that, Amtrak added three hours to the CZ's run time under a structured agreement with UP that would see improvements to the line, and a graduated elimination of those three hours over a few year's time. Major improvements in time keeping were made to the CS, prior to the current problems, such that the CS's OTP improved measurably. And thanks to the added 3 hours on the CZ, OTP improved there too, considerably from where it had been. Heck even the poor old Sunset, where frankly even I have to admit UP is having their own troubles and loosing big bucks because of various issues, OTP is better than it was 2 to 3 years ago. Yes there is still room for major improvements in OTP on the Sunset route, but it is still significantly better than just a few years ago.

That being said, Kummant has done a decent job with labour stuff. And he seems to be able to handle congress. I don't know if anyone could do the job better, given the climate Amtrak operates in.

Agreed. He promised that he'd put this issue to bed, and it looks like he has done so.

 

[AlanB]

Personally, I think that the jury is still out on Mr. Kummant.

I like the fact that he has stated that long distance service must continue to be part of Amtrak and a national system. I dislike his major focus on State supported corridors. I'm not suggesting that this isn't important, it is. But I don't believe that this should be the only focus for expansion of Amtrak. Amtrak needs to be looking at all aspects of passenger service.

Things like, what can they do to improve/speed up service on the NEC? What can they do to speed up/improve existing State sponsored runs? What can they do to get new State sponsored runs? What can they do to get certain States to start paying more for runs within a state that should be sponsored by the state? What can they do to get more State sponsored commuter runs, like MARC & CalTRain? What can they do to get repair work for Beech Grove and Bear, from commuter agencies? And what can the do to improve/increase long distance service?

Yes, I realize that's a very tall order. But that is exactly what a president should be looking at and encouraging his staff to provide to him. Focus on just one element is never good. Perhaps focusing on all of that at once might be too much, but to me it looks like they are only focusing on what guarantees that they won't loose any money. Amtrak's mission isn't to run trains that don't loose money, despite what some in Congress and the White House might believe.

Amtrak's mission is to provide train service to the citizens of the United States of America.

 

[oldtimer]

Well he did fulfill his promise of settling with the unions and that dated back to 2000.

He did not settle the labor situation as he said he would. His deadline for settlement was many months prior. The settlement only came about after the unions ask the National Mediation Board to be released and were as the talks have had no progress for years.

The settlement came about from a Presidential Emergency Board that was appointed only after the unions set a strike date. This board appointed by GWB was stacked in managements favor but when all the facts were presented to the board by both sides the board had to recognize that Amt. Labor Relations was stonewalling any progress for years and said so in the final report. Amtrak failed to substantiate any of their outlandish demands. The company and the unions settled on an agreement that was very much like the freight railroads. If Kummant is going to make a shakeup he should start at Labor Relations. All they have done for th past 8 years was to drag morale down, while the mid and low level management kept on kicking the employees around.

I have my Nomex on Flame Away!

 

[AlanB]

Well he did fulfill his promise of settling with the unions and that dated back to 2000.

He did not settle the labor situation as he said he would. His deadline for settlement was many months prior. The settlement only came about after the unions ask the National Mediation Board to be released and were as the talks have had no progress for years.

The settlement came about from a Presidential Emergency Board that was appointed only after the unions set a strike date. This board appointed by GWB was stacked in managements favor but when all the facts were presented to the board by both sides the board had to recognize that Amt. Labor Relations was stonewalling any progress for years and said so in the final report. Amtrak failed to substantiate any of their outlandish demands. The company and the unions settled on an agreement that was very much like the freight railroads. If Kummant is going to make a shakeup he should start at Labor Relations. All they have done for th past 8 years was to drag morale down, while the mid and low level management kept on kicking the employees around.

I have my Nomex on Flame Away!

Well since the PEB didn't have the power to impose a settlement, Alex still get's some credit for at least following their recommendations, prior to being ordered by Congress to follow those recommendations. And that would have only come after an actual strike had occured, if then.

And for the record, I'm actually a bit surprised that the PEB did come down so heavily in favor of the union workers. Yes, Amtrak dragged out these talks far too long, largely not Alex's fault either. But some of Amtrak's demands weren't outlandish IMHO. And sooner or later, Amtrak workers are going to have to deal with those demands. The world is changing and Amtrak's worker's can't continue to expect that their little part of the world can't or shouldn't change.

The point of contract negotiations is for give and take from both sides. This was a lopsided, landslide victory for labor. I'm not suggesting that all that they fought for was wrong, it wasn't. But when one side sweeps the table, that isn't good for anyone in the long run. And labor basically gave up nothing and got rewarded for it, in terms of raises. At the very least, the unions should have allowed for rule changes that would make it easier to weed out the bad apples, or at least force them to become good apples.

 

[had8ley]

Perhaps the 8 years of foot dragging on Amtrak's part brought about such a lop-sided victory for the crews?

 

[had8ley]

Well he did fulfill his promise of settling with the unions and that dated back to 2000.

He did not settle the labor situation as he said he would. His deadline for settlement was many months prior. The settlement only came about after the unions ask the National Mediation Board to be released and were as the talks have had no progress for years.

As you may know, the Railway Labor Act is a crap shoot at best when it comes to negotiatons with labor usually coming out on the losing end (compared to the Section 6 notices that they file.) Amtrak probably would have settled some time ago if they had known what the PEB was going to recommend. On the other hand I'm sure there were labor specialists (lawyers) who were counseling him to hold out in an effort to gain some give backs from labor. In turn, he could have ignored the PEB findings and where would Amtrak be today? True, the president would have called everyone back but how many people would a strike run off? Amtrak provides a service; they manufacture nothing and the American people are the first to squawk when something doesn't operate to their liking. I would not want Amtrak to die for lack of ridership.

 

[Sam Damon]

Personally, I think that the jury is still out on Mr. Kummant.
I like the fact that he has stated that long distance service must continue to be part of Amtrak and a national system. I dislike his major focus on State supported corridors. I'm not suggesting that this isn't important, it is. But I don't believe that this should be the only focus for expansion of Amtrak. Amtrak needs to be looking at all aspects of passenger service.

I think Alan's bringing up some very valid points. I agree with him totally the jury is still out on Mr. Kummant. Keep in mind it is very easy to sit in one's pajamas at the computer and armchair quarterback, "What should be done at Amtrak." It is a very different reality to actually have the gig, and make things happen.

There's a quote I recall from The Peter Principle, at least in the edition I read:

I do not control Russia; 10,000 clerks do, attributed to Czar Nicholas I of Russia.

Kummant faces similar issues in making good things happen at Amtrak. Amtrak as a corporate entity has some serious issues. Even so, some good things have happened under Mr. Kummant's watch, such as some LD train advertising of late. While Kummant's current policy strategems of getting states involved in intercity passenger train service promotes dual federalism far too much for my taste, it does have the virtue of keeping the public interested in passenger rail as a transportation option.

IMO what Kummant does with Amtrak under the next presidential administration will be how history will judge him as Amtrak's chief executive.

 

[daveyb99]

I think that Kummant is not very creative. I think that Amtrak needs a lot more creativity.

How can AMTRAK get creative when they spend most of their days dealing with delayed trains and passengers.

The first things Kummant should do it get Congress to force the host railroads into MAKING AMTRAK ON TIME.

 

[Green Maned Lion]

Au contraire how could they not?

Creativity is what allows people building phone-cheating devices and computer motherboards in their parents garage turn their project into a communication revolution. Creativity is what allows a man failing at the oil business to decide to sell the sludge in his trucks as cheap heating oil and establish a petroleum empire. Creativity is what allows a generally mundane author to use a website to make his book a good seller.

Creativity can often be the saviour of adversity.

Can you figure out who the people I listed above are?

Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak - Apple Computer, Leon Hess - Amerada-Hess, Max Barry - Jennifer Government

Creativity is using what you have the ways you can use them to do the best you can do. Amtrak seems more willing to simply try to fight to keep things as close to the way they are as possible.

 

[meatpuff]

As you may know, the Railway Labor Act is a crap shoot at best when it comes to negotiatons with labor usually coming out on the losing end (compared to the Section 6 notices that they file.) Amtrak probably would have settled some time ago if they had known what the PEB was going to recommend. On the other hand I'm sure there were labor specialists (lawyers) who were counseling him to hold out in an effort to gain some give backs from labor. In turn, he could have ignored the PEB findings and where would Amtrak be today? True, the president would have called everyone back but how many people would a strike run off? Amtrak provides a service; they manufacture nothing and the American people are the first to squawk when something doesn't operate to their liking. I would not want Amtrak to die for lack of ridership.

had8ley, with regard to the labor agreement, I believe Mr. Kummant did what he had to do, as you kind of allude to. In other words, he had to drag it out and wait for the Presidential Emergency Board to make the decision for him. He could not have acted any other way.

There is no excuse for the eight years those Amtrak workers went without a contract, but Kummant can only be held responsible for barely a year of that when he was in charge. Only 15 months after he took office the issue came to a head with the threatened strike in January. Now, as he said publicly at the time, Mr. Kummant has a fiduciary duty as the president of Amtrak, essentially the same as the CEO of a public company has to its shareholders (especially as Congress styles Amtrak as a quasi-governmental organization). And Kummant knew very well that Amtrak could not afford to pay for the contract that the workers wanted, particularly the demand for eight years of back pay. That money does not exist. I mean, they could find it if they slashed half the national network until 2010, but that's the only way. Now how can he, just personally, sign that labor contract that would half-shut down Amtrak and say that he is fulfilling his duty? Even if he could see past any ethical dilemmas and sign it, he would probably be fired (wouldn't you want him fired?), and Congress would be up in arms about how Amtrak refuses to behave like a private company that must make the hard decisions.

So the strike was threatened, PEB got involved, you know what happened. But now it's not Amtrak's fault. So now Congress next fiscal year will see, gee you're asking for $200M in extra funding because of this one-time charge for back pay. But oh, the PEB ordered it so you didn't really have any choice. In my view Amtrak probably won't get blamed and is far more likely to get the extra funding they need to pay this on top of what they need to keep operating normally. So, everyone wins: Amtrak, Mr. Kummant, Amtrak's workers, the traveling public, Congress who will not be blamed for killing a government service. Except the American taxpayer, but as a taxpayer I am happy to pay our government workers a fair wage - just also do wish someone would have insisted on changing the most antiquated work rules, as Alan says.

Don't complain, it's like the old analogy about how you're best off not touring the sausage factory, if you want to enjoy your yummy sausage! This is part of the bargain so long as Amtrak is funded the way it is. I do credit Kummant for getting this issue buried, but I also credit him for merely being in office at the time this issue was resolved for him.