Texas Eagle Baggage Car removal

[Bob Dylan]

While visiting the Austin Station to pick up an AU Friend spending a couple of days in River City, the friendly Agent gave me the latest Sad/Bad News in a Long List of Service Cuts that we've been discussing over the past few years.

Th Baggage Car has been removed from the Texas Eagles and tired,shabby Cosch/ Bag Cars are once again being used for checked baggage.

This had resulted in Amtrak Rail Express Service being eliminated on this Route which had brought in a Large amount of Revenue without adding Costs except for the paperwork involved. He says no-one has been able to give an answer as to why this was done?

Other bad News was that the Quick-Track Machine @ the Station has been removed and Austin will be losing one of its agents who is being moved to San Antionio.

The Last item on this List is that effective in November the Lowest Bucket Room Charge is being eliminated and also that Rail Fares will increase an unknown % !!!

Remember the Amtrak apologists that called those who warned about the Slippery Slope " Nervous Nellies" when they warned about the Slippery Slope of cuts when they began, and are now rapidly accelerating?

Crickets!!!

 

[Rasputin]

Thanks for the warning. It is 1967-71 all over again.

 

[adamj023]

Nothing unusual in these changes as far as Amtrak is concerned. They always move cars around and are cutting costs as necessary. Amtrak won’t go back to the old days.

 

[Amtrakfflyer]

Keeps the calls, letters and emails going to your Representatives. Anderson already has a bad reputation in Congress, we can’t let the pressure up.

I see the shoe falling in one of two ways. An announcement of train offs with very little notice to catch everyone off guard or Anderson being forced to resign or being outright fired.

Yes, I know it goes deeper than Anderson but his firing would be a wake up call for Gardner and other underlings to leave the network intact and start making moves for the good of the system. The Board could throw Anderson under the bus if they get enough Congressional pressure and they see a weakened Chao and Trump administration who aren’t going to be around much longer.

The Board wasn’t anti network prior to Chao and Anderson so who knows what their views really are.

 

[TiBike]

Two bike slots are still listed as available, well into next year. So it looks like Amtrak has figured out how to carry a bike in a coach bag without incurring federal wrath. Did they install bike racks? Or did someone figure out how to use a bungee cord?

 

[jebr]

Th Baggage Car has been removed from the Texas Eagles and tired,shabby Cosch/ Bag Cars are once again being used for checked baggage.

This had resulted in Amtrak Rail Express Service being eliminated on this Route which had brought in a Large amount of Revenue without adding Costs except for the paperwork involved.

There's quite a few more expenses than just the paperwork involved, especially if offering the service requires the use of a baggage car that's not otherwise needed. Off the top of my head there's:

• The cost to maintain the baggage car, including maintenance that's needed per number of miles traveled.
• The cost to pull the baggage car (and associated luggage,) especially fuel costs.
• If there's a lot of express service to remove at a short-dwell-time stop, then there's either the cost of delaying the train to unload the baggage, or the cost of additional help to unload baggage quickly.
• If they can cut hours for station staff due to this, then there's also the additional cost that they believe they need just for express service. If they can trim staffed hours to a split shift or a single shift around the train times each day, that might allow them to cut hours/staff. (It's possible that the large express contracts would require staffing outside of those hours in order to keep that business.)

Now, whether the revenue still outweighs those costs is an open question, and I wouldn't be surprised if Amtrak doesn't truly know that cost due to their accounting issues. But it's not just paperwork that has a cost to this.

 

[Bob Dylan]

There's quite a few more expenses than just the paperwork involved, especially if offering the service requires the use of a baggage car that's not otherwise needed. Off the top of my head there's:

• The cost to maintain the baggage car, including maintenance that's needed per number of miles traveled.
• The cost to pull the baggage car (and associated luggage,) especially fuel costs.
• If there's a lot of express service to remove at a short-dwell-time stop, then there's either the cost of delaying the train to unload the baggage, or the cost of additional help to unload baggage quickly.
• If they can cut hours for station staff due to this, then there's also the additional cost that they believe they need just for express service. If they can trim staffed hours to a split shift or a single shift around the train times each day, that might allow them to cut hours/staff. (It's possible that the large express contracts would require staffing outside of those hours in order to keep that business.)

Now, whether the revenue still outweighs those costs is an open question, and I wouldn't be surprised if Amtrak doesn't truly know that cost due to their accounting issues. But it's not just paperwork that has a cost to this.

Good points Jeb, I dont have the figures on Cost vs Revenue, but the Agent told me that they did alot of Express Service and that the Yearly Revenue was Large!

I realize that Cuts are the current Amtrak Mantra, but feel that the only real needs for Big Cuts are the Mica Food and Beverage Mandates!

Nickel and Dime cuts are a fools game, especially in Non-Profit Organizations!

Deja vu, it's the 1960s again, with Amtrak following the Class I's "Run 'em off" and Train-off Plans!

 

[Ryan]

Nickel and Dime cuts are a fools game, especially in Non-Profit Organizations!

What Non Profit Organization are you talking about?

 

[Amtrakfflyer]

Along with the food mandate the “for profit” farse needs to end as well.
Replace it with reasonable language “ Amtrak will run trains in an efficient manner”.

 

[Bob Dylan]

What Non Profit Organization are you talking about?

Any Government or Qusai agency, but Amtrak in this case!

 

[F900ElCapitan]

The baggage car has actually been missing for quite some time now. I took a video of the TE arriving FTW on January 17th and it was missing the car. There might also be another reason for it, they have had to modify operations and train locations on the platform in FTW. With the addition of the TEXRail trains to the TRE and Amtrak, the platform gets busy, so they have been parking 21 as far down (south) the platform as possible on track 2, doing this barely clears a crossover from 1 to 2. This allows the TRE trains to also use track 2 while the TEXRail is dedicated to the track 1 platform. Without a platform extension, I don’t think they could access the baggage car without driving some sort of cart in the gravel.

Now removing the lowest bucket for sleepers...that sucks! I’m glad I got my tickets for a trip to San Luis Obispo (at low bucket) next June.

 

[Ryan]

Any Government or Qusai agency, but Amtrak in this case!

Except for the part where it isn't.

The Act requires that Amtrak be operated and managed as a for-profit corporation

 

[F900ElCapitan]

So, I’ve been doing some checking and it looks like the lowest bucket for bedrooms has been eliminated. I can’t find any at 11 months out or 5 months. I do still see a similar low bucket price for roomettes, we’ll have to see if that lasts.

 

[frequentflyer]

The baggage car was hit or miss on the Eagle. On the various railcams sometimes you see it and sometimes you don't. The elimination of the cheapest bucket must mean the demand is there without. With the list of checked baggage cities shrinking I am not surprised there is no need for a baggage car. Hope Temple keeps their agent, but I fear those days are coming to a close.

 

[Thirdrail7]

I think this post can use some clarification.

While visiting the Austin Station to pick up an AU Friend spending a couple of days in River City, the friendly Agent gave me the latest Sad/Bad News in a Long List of Service Cuts that we've been discussing over the past few years.

Th Baggage Car has been removed from the Texas Eagles and tired,shabby Cosch/ Bag Cars are once again being used for checked baggage.

This had resulted in Amtrak Rail Express Service being eliminated on this Route which had brought in a Large amount of Revenue without adding Costs except for the paperwork involved. He says no-one has been able to give an answer as to why this was done?

The baggage car on the Eagle has been gone for most of this year. In the summer, they cut out express to certain locations to conserve space for luggage. It was supposed to end in September. However, they have extended it. It is as F900 described.


Additionally, there are many factors to consider. Jebr mentioned some but what about the fact they added baggage cars to the Pennsylvanian, which brought service to stations that haven't had it since the Broadway Limited and Three Rivers stopped running? They've also deployed baggage cars to pinch hit on the axle count trains. While some may think this is a bad idea, it has freed up coaches that can generate revenue and accommodate passengers. That seems to be a reasonable trade off especially since I doubt the express would generate as much a paying passengers.

The Last item on this List is that effective in November the Lowest Bucket Room Charge is being eliminated and also that Rail Fares will increase an unknown % !!!

!

So, I’ve been doing some checking and it looks like the lowest bucket for bedrooms has been eliminated. I can’t find any at 11 months out or 5 months. I do still see a similar low bucket price for roomettes, we’ll have to see if that lasts.

I was under the impression that the sleeping car charge would no longer generate the lowest coach bucket fare.

 

[F900ElCapitan]

I think this post can use some clarification.


I was under the impression that the sleeping car charge would no longer generate the lowest coach bucket fare.

From what I understand the “rail fare” portion of a sleeper car is always the lowest “value” bucket (not “saver”). Then the accommodation charge is added which has it’s own bucket levels. It’s these buckets where I’m not seeing the lowest anymore. For instance, I’ll use this as an example because I watch the DFW area to Chicago fairly closely, there used to be a low bucket bedroom fare for two people from Fort Worth to Chicago around $650, now the cheapest fare I can find is coming in at $742, which is what used to be the next low bucket +1.