" All Aboard" (uncle) Bobby !

[NewHampshire Black Bears]

This from reuters, friday 9/12.

"White House to nominate Crandall to Amtrak Board"

IMHO, this is Extremely interesting(especially in the northeast corrider)

Any of us on here, who have been around for a while, know beyond a reasonable doubt, that (uncle) Bobby does'nt get behind ANYTHING, unless he's sure his "star" will shine bright, for all to see !!!!

I dont care how many zillion's of dollar's Amtrak has lost up to now,

1. Passenger rail, ESPECIALLY in the northeast corrider, will NEVER be dismantled.( EVEN an IDIOT, like "DUMBYA", know's it)

2. Given the BAD, and getting rapidly worse condition, of Auto congestion, on the I-95 corrider, and ALL the HORROR's of flying short to short/medium distances since 9/11, this is a "no brainer" with the right guy(s) "on board", at the top.

Even before Crandall, Amtrak has been putting together a stong frequent "rider" program. Watch that "baby", "speed up" now !!!!!!!!!

(I think the "tune" went something like this)

"RL Crandall was an engineer"
"Uncle Bobby was his name we hear"
"He had an engine, and he sure had fun"
"Choking the competition, to make his train run"

All you "short haul/northeast operators", you've just been OFFICIALLY WARNED !!

NH/BB's

(I wondered, not when, but WHERE, ol' Fang would "pop up" )

 

[TAN 767 300]

Cute poem NHBB!!

This could be quite interesting as he knows all the weaknesses of the airline business( very short haul flying into very crowded airports)

The trick would be to find a way to finally intergrate short rail to long haul air also.

My bet is that he comes up with a workable plan to "Regionalize" Amtrak..ie:
the NE corridor, a Chicago/ small midwest network, maybe a Florida deal and a Texas deal, and naturally California Amtrak.

I really think once someone that can really look at the figures, and see how much the long distance trains cost to run..the days are numbered for them

Maybe he can figure out a way to entice folks into taking the train into places such as Chicago from say Cleveland/Detroit/St.Louis in numbers that make it profitable.
He will have to find a way to get equipment and railbeds that can take a train at 125MPH...my thoughts are that if he can get travel time down to 2-2.5 hrs on 200-250 mile trips he has a winner.

Going to be fun to watch this!

 

[AC AA LA FA]

For all things that "fang" Crandall may be...he is a man with a vision of what can be for business..Amtrak..if any company right now, will greatly benefit from his leadership..I dont know what the work climate is like at Amtrak..but rest asured that any success will involve a shake up on the employees part..This should be interesting to watch play out.....

 

[NewHampshire Black Bears]

Cute poem NHBB!!

This could be quite interesting as he knows all the weaknesses of the airline business( very short haul flying into very crowded airports)

The trick would be to find a way to finally intergrate short rail to long haul air also.

My bet is that he comes up with a workable plan to "Regionalize" Amtrak..ie:
the NE corridor, a Chicago/ small midwest network, maybe a Florida deal and a Texas deal, and naturally California Amtrak.

I really think once someone that can really look at the figures, and see how much the long distance trains cost to run..the days are numbered for them

Maybe he can figure out a way to entice folks into taking the train into places such as Chicago from say Cleveland/Detroit/St.Louis in numbers that make it profitable.
He will have to find a way to get equipment and railbeds that can take a train at 125MPH...my thoughts are that if he can get travel time down to 2-2.5 hrs on 200-250 mile trips he has a winner.

Going to be fun to watch this!

Tan 767 300,

Amtrak/Crandall already has a 200 mile route, that makes the trip in(I believe) 2:45.
Downtown Manhatten to Downtown DC, on the ACELA EXPRESS.(135+ MPH).
When you factor in stops in major cities like EWR, PHL,Wilmington DE., BWI(city), BWI(airport) run in 99% of any WX., and do it in EXACTLY 2:44(I just checked the timetable), that's(IMHO) a winner.
Not to mention, you dont have to remove your JOCK STRAP for some NIT-WIT to X-RAY.

Their presently doing BOS-PVD-NHV-NYC in 3:25, and that will be cut down to under 3:00, once they get an express track from New Haven to NYC.

NH/BB's

 

[NewHampshire Black Bears]

Almost forgot, LAX-SFO, and NYC-ALB(both routes VERY HEAVY pax. numbers) are off the drawing board, and in near final stages.

NH/BB's

 

[wrx]

I agree with NewHampshire,

Crandall will take Amtrak to a whole new level. Amtrak may have paid him a ton of $$$ to get him, but it will pay off for them in the long run.

 

[JS]

I wonder what the unionized Amtrak employees think of "Fang" at the helm.