Interview (9/5) with Amtrak CEO Richard Anderson on CBS This Morning

[desertflyer]

Richard Anderson was interviewed on CBS This Morning. I thought it might be of interest here.

 

[Hotblack Desiato]

Interesting, but he doesn't really say anything new. Of course, I wasn't really expecting him to say anything new, because there isn't really anything new to say. Lots of general statements that have been repeated for a couple decades at least (need to focus on the infrastructure; challenges due to freight railroad ownership vs. dedicated ROWs in other parts of the world; comparing subsidies of other modes of transportation in this country).

 

[me_little_me]

So what is he going to do about the issues he directly controls like employee service consistency on trains, clean restrooms, running out of food on trains, etc?

Other things require congress, states and freight railroad funding and/or cooperation.

 

[mfastx]

Interested in what he was referring to when he mentioned the "interior of the trains". Does he mean there will be renovations there or just making sure they're clean?

 

[KmH]

http://discuss.amtraktrains.com/index.php?/topic/71433-amfleet-i-interior-refresh/

 

[me_little_me]

Interested in what he was referring to when he mentioned the "interior of the trains". Does he mean there will be renovations there or just making sure they're clean?

Clean? They are clean when they come out of the shop. So why would they need cleaning along the way when the attendant can just lock them and mark them as out of service until the car is back in the shop?

 

[mfastx]

Clean? They are clean when they come out of the shop. So why would they need cleaning along the way when the attendant can just lock them and mark them as out of service until the car is back in the shop?

Not quite sure what you're referring to here.

 

[Ryan]

He’s claiming that Amtrak employees are lazy and avoid doing their job by closing restrooms rather than clean them.

 

[mfastx]

He’s claiming that Amtrak employees are lazy and avoid doing their job by closing restrooms rather than clean them.

Ah okay. They should have more supplies on board, once I was on a train where a sink was clogged in like FL and they couldn't get a plunger until DC.

 

[Green Maned Lion]

That's an old lazy employee trick- ensure that the tools to do a job one does not want to do are not available during the period where they are responsible to do it.

I am not saying that all Amtrak employees or union employees are lazy. But union culture can and does allow infuriatingly lazy (both to customers and other employees) to survive in a circumstance where I would not only fire them, but call my other business friends for a blacklist heads up.

And I am not inherently anti union. Non union office building culture is even worse.