RailPAC Alert: Kummat Announces agreement with Union Pacific



Below is a copy of a letter to Amtrak empolyees from President Alex Kummat

April 17, 2007

Dear Co-workers,

Last week, I testified before the Surface Transportation
Board about the effects on Amtrak of constrained freight
railroad capacity, and the need for public investment in
the nation’s railroad infrastructure. With all of the major
freight railroads represented, it was important to convey
to the STB Amtrak’s perspective on this issue; last year,
our long-distance train OTP was 30%.

I’m dedicated to strengthening the relationships with my
counterparts at the host railroads, because changes have
got to come from the top. To that end, we’ve reached
agreements with CSXT and UP that hold promise for
some of our trains.

Last year, Auto Train OTP was 17% and the service frequently
arrived over two hours late. To combat this, we
agreed to add an hour to the schedule (starting April 2) in
return for CSXT’s commitment to deliver 80% on-time
performance on the new schedule. We’re watching this
closely; but since April 2, we’ve had a number of 100%
days. We are now closer to meeting our passengers’ expectations
and it sure beats 17%.

In addition, as part of a new agreement with UP, they’ve
committed to bring slow orders into compliance with our
contract on all routes by this summer. The one exception
is the California Zephyr route, where major track work
will span three years, beginning this summer. The contract
also provides a legal enforcement mechanism to ensure
that UP maintains these reduced levels of slow orders
over the next six years. While UP engineering forces
undertake the track work on the Zephyr route, UP and
Amtrak have agreed to temporarily lengthen the train’s
schedule; the time will be removed as slow orders are
eliminated.

It is clear to me that OTP problems are beginning to be
recognized by policymakers at the state and federal levels.
In the end, it’s a matter of grinding it out issue by issue, at
the senior management level and at the front lines. I
wouldn’t, however, lose sight of the significance of our
progress so far and I intend to keep pushing forward.

Sincerely,

Alex Kummant

Source: Amtrak This Week employee newsletter