Transcript Slide 1

Amtrak’s State
Supported
Business Line
Suzanne Fike,
Business Controller,
State Supported
Services
The State Supported
Corridors Business Line
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State
Maine
Indiana
Massachusetts
Michigan
Connecticut
Oklahoma
Vermont
Texas
New York
Wisconsin
Pennsylvania
Washington
North Carolina
Oregon
Virginia
California
Illinois
CCJPA
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Responsible for Operating Agreements with
eighteen states partners representing 29
short distance routes across the United
States.
Record FY 2013 ridership of 15.4M
Five routes had ridership of 1M+
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Pacific Surfliner (2.6M)
Capitol Corridor (1.7M)
Keystone Corridor (1.4M)
San Joaquin (1.1M)
Empire Service (1.0M)
Five other routes had ridership in the 500K1M range
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Cascades (845K)
Hiawatha Service (838K)
Newport News Northeast Regional segment (623K)
Lincoln Service (597K)
Downeaster Service (541K)
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Amtrak State-supported
services
Riders
Amtrak State-supported Service
Ridership, 1998-2013
18,000,000
16,000,000
14,000,000
12,000,000
10,000,000
8,000,000
6,000,000
4,000,000
2,000,000
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• Section 403(b) of the 1970 Rail
Passenger Service Act
authorized partnerships to
operate trains:
– Amtrak ran the service
– State could “pick up the tab”
for costs associated with the
service
– Allowed addition of service
without incurring additional
Federal subsidies
Fiscal Year
Ethan Allen
Albany-Niagara Falls-Toronto
New Haven-Springfield
Empire
Hiawatha
Illini
Heartland Flyer
Pacific Surfliner
Capitol Corridor
Adirondack
Washington-Lynchburg
Hoosier State
Pennsylvanian
Carolinian
Special trains
Vermonter
Downeaster
Keystone
Chicago-St. Louis
Wolverine
Illinois Zephyr
Lake Country Ltd.
Cascades
San Joaquin
Blue Water
Washington-Newport News
Kansas City-St. Louis
Pere Marquette
Piedmont
Washington-Norfolk
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First “403(b)” train inaugurated
within months
• Almost 100% ridership growth
over the past decade
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The Amtrak System,
2014
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The Amtrak system – statesupported services and the NEC
The national system is more than just connectivity – it
supports sizeable resource, experience and knowledge bases
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Areas of responsibility
Midwest
Bruce Hillblom
West
Jeff Snowden
(acting)
Northeast
Caroline Mael
South
Jay McArthur
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PRIIA 209 Implementation
Issues
• Equipment Capital Working Group
– established in SEP 2013 to build a straightforward work plan that will be used to
develop a 5-year Capital Investment Program (CIP).
– The CIP for Amtrak Equipment Deployed in state supported services is drafted
and being prepared for presentation to the Next Generation Equipment Board.
• Operating Cost Working Group
– Need to establish clear definition of route cost versus support fee to allow for
proper placement of costs within these two categories.
• Performance Standards Working Group
– Not required by PRIIA
– One size does not fit all
– Language has been drafted/data based standards have been identified and can
be implemented in FY15 Operating Agreements.
Main focus for the past year has been to implement and resolve outstanding issues
identified during the annual negations of FY2014 Operating Agreements
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Feasibility Studies for
State Partners
• California Coast Daylight
• Illinois
– Trans Illinois
• Rail Option
• Thru-way Bus Option
– Additional Frequencies (Carbondale)
– Implementation of New Services (Moline and Quad City)
• CREATE Project
– Improve congestion CHI Terminal
– Amtrak participates on the Management Committee
• Indiana Gateway
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2013 Partner Satisfaction
Survey
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64 of 150 surveys returned and included 22 pages of significant issues or
concerns including:
– On-Time Performance
– Transparency, accuracy and timeliness of information and/or invoices
• We were not prepared for 209 invoice implementation.
• We are working to provide the States with support
documentation/information that meets State requirements but does
not violate Amtrak’s confidentiality clauses. (Host RR and Fuel)
• Established quarterly reconciliations
• Standardized Reporting
– Over 250 reports were being provided to State Partners in OCT
2013 from a variety of sources.
– March 2014 States began receiving standardized reports
developed from a single data and delivered by a single point of
contact
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2013 Partner Satisfaction
Survey (continued)
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Inconsistent Customer Service
– Over the past year Amtrak has been developing a comprehensive
Customer Service training program.
– Beginning in the spring of FY2015 Amtrak will launch this training to
every employee
– Front line supervision will be trained first so that positive behavior can
be reinforced as the program is rolled out to all crafts including
mechanical.
Marketing – Better Communication of Marketing Campaigns/Initiatives
– State Marketing Advisory Council concept was introduce to all State
partners in July 2014 and will be implemented this fall.
– Web based marketing tool that will allow States to customize templates
with local branding for route marketing.
• October/November 2014 annual Partner Satisfaction Survey
– Additional smaller survey for annual operating agreement negotiation
process
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Timely Customer Satisfaction
Surveys Coming in FY15
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CSI/eCSI
– OCT 2014 replace CSI with eCSI
– Amtrak has fielded CSI and eCSI in parallel during FY14 to understand
our options, costs and benefits
– 18,500 Monthly CSI surveys were mailed out compared to 56,000 eCSI
emailed.
– Time from trip to survey for CSI was 2 to 6 weeks while eCSI was 3 to 9
days.
– CSI respondents are heavily weighted to older travelers (77% are over
55)
– Based on ridership profiles the age distribution for eCSI is much closer
to Amtrak customer.
– As expected, overall satisfaction scores for eCSI were lower (77%) than
CSI (82%)
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Benefits of replacing
mailed CSI survey
• Shorter time between trip and survey receipt: email
significantly reduces the average number of days between the
trip and when the customer receives the survey.
• Respondents more representative of Amtrak customer:
Age profile of customers responding to surveys offered
through email more accurately represent our ridership
profiles.
• Reduce turn-around time: Email significantly reduces the
time between the month of travel and completion of the report
for that month.
• Additional research possible: An email methodology
provides a tool for additional, unrelated market research that
is inexpensive and that can be implemented quickly.
FY15: replace CSI mail methodology
with eCSI email methodology
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