Nixon, Volpe & Kendall on Amtrak and Railroad passenger service

Transcript (AI-generated)

This transcript was generated automatically by AI (WhisperX) and has not been reviewed for accuracy. Names and numbers are often wrong; speakers are not identified. Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.

Download transcript (.txt) · JSON data

Click a timestamp to play from that point; the page address then links to that moment (e.g. #t=125).

Besides our bill, that we think is a milestone in the kind of partnership that we can be created to solve a major public problem.

And the creation of Railpack, now Amtrak, I think is a real milestone in that

It gives us the opportunity to drop those inefficient routes where you have only six passes a day or 50 passes a day, which in some cases pay for the entity.

It doesn't say anything about all the other costs associated with revenue.

These were dropped, and we had a rather abrupt timeframe to get this job done.

I announced a basic route system in late November, and we received comments from many many people, Congress, Governments, etc.

And 60 days later, in January, I announced a final system plan, and this is the system plan which provides the basis for, of course, the specific route selections by ANZAC.

I just want to say, Mr. President, that this board of legislators, which we selected, will help some of us.

It's been one of the hardest working groups of people I've ever met, because I have dealt with two railroad men, pardon me for saying this, but dealt with one railroad, and it took me five years to negotiate a agreement with that one railroad in Massachusetts.

We negotiated a contract, so this board did, with 20-odd railroads,

That was a four-month period, which was really a major undertaking, and to be able to get the kind of men and energetic women sitting right there, who were able to get this on the road on the 1st of May, something which many times incentives and others had just couldn't be done, was a task that I think that this group was commended for, and I'm sure that you've already expressed it.

So I can, without any questions, say that we have done a fantastic job.

I'm sure we have done a great job.

What happened to the water?

It's in reorganization, my friend.

I have to say, Mr. President, that during this period of preparing for the takeover on the 1st of May, we had the good fortune, not only that in the group of dedicated people, but also having

Mr. President, actually, I don't think I've ever had more fun in my life.

I can tell you one thing, and it's perhaps looking at it, not the easiest thing to do.

We expected to put together eight of us, all of the employees of yours, all of them of equal stature, and have them row together in a boat.

I had nothing to do with it, really.

They did it quite with a job.

Perhaps on having eight people run a railroad, this is the real way to have a railroad run, but it's the best way I think that I'm going to get it started.

At least it was done that way.

Actually, I can't, and I'd like to say this right now, I can't tell you how much we appreciate the people in your staff, the people in both your staff, and the kindest assistants.

The big problem was that we had no management, except eight so-called directors who were doing the job.

All we learned how to do was to say no, to say in the reading about us, that's how we got that.

We said no to a certain group, we said no to a certain town, we said no to an awful lot of things, but we finally got none after May 1st.

We are not able to get the flexibility which the Act, which you signed, gives the directors of this corporation to do, and to have a viable railroad, which may, a railroad passenger service, which may be in service here or there, and make changes as they may come up.

And I can say this, one of our really tough problems is finding a new chief executive officer.

We knew about Roger.

I've known him ever since I worked in this building.

So beautiful.

But I struggled to get him to tell them.

We've been overlooking that.

He lives in New York now, too.

We used Catherine for bait, and we got her on board, and I'm sure it's going to be a great job.

Speaking for the incorporated, we thank you and we thank your staff.

May I, before I ask Roger to say that we've had some tremendous cooperation from every one of the members of this board.

I'd like to take a tribute to General Besson, because he has no, or somebody had to, Dave was there just about all the time, but Frank Besson was a tremendous help in this operation, because it was not only those five organizations and the experience for us there,

— 1 min 4 s with no transcribed speech —

I have everybody on the stand to have our organization first moving forward.

I guess I should ask, I just have to back it up now.

I have to get you back to all my tables.

I think we're scheduled tomorrow, but not Thursday.

But Thursday is Sunday.

I should notice, where is the office?

It was in Washington.

I'm writing.

I came down on the coach on Sunday night just to see what it was like.

And what it was like.

I think that our big job right now is to get our organization together, and I can say with confidence now that we're going to get a good group of executives running, and we're coming aboard to put their careers and states and lives into it.

And I think they all reflect an attitude which I find in talking to other people, which is the desire to have

We're in business to find out.

selling the service and so forth.

And I think that we all have a conviction that there's a place for it.

There's a role and mission problem here, just as there is in that five-sided building.

It's a question of if we render service as the public wants railroad service, then it's got to have a share of the resources that are available for transportation in this country.

We know we're not going out to talk about 500 miles an hour trains, or the dazzling future we're going to start in

as workmen to improve the service where it needs improving, to sell and to try a lot of things, to get the ridership up, and I think that when we do those things, and we certainly will, that we will be entitled to and we will get public support for it.

Now, we start out with advantages the railroads never had.

We've got freedom with respect to rates, we've got a losing proposition on a cash basis now, but

The railroad structure is about half the size it was when this organization took over.

The only thing we know about that structure is that it isn't just exactly right.

I mean, there are some other things that have to come off, and there are probably some things that should be put on.

And our attack on the problem is to get an organization of people that will go after this question of rioting.

We have a very intimate and a very important relationship with the railroads.

We do not operate.

We hire from the railroads.

There are 13 railroads who are members.

Pennsylvania is the biggest.

The new thing here, of course, is that we are now in a national system.

This is a form of corporate...

This is a corporate structure which, as far as I know, hasn't been tried anywhere else before.

Again, we don't know whether this is the answer, and the answer will have to come from the public.

If they ride the trains, they want the trains, well, we don't end the service.

And if that's a part of the traveling public, this form of transportation has got an average share of the resources that are available.

And so we know all the questions at the moment, or most of the questions, very few of the answers, but I'm confident that we've got two things going for us.

We've got a better structure than the railroads ever had for success.

We've got a good will on the part of the public to show me attitude.

And I think we can get a group of people around and we can have solid working relationships with the railroads which are going to improve this service.

Now, if we improve the service and the public begins to ride, we're home free.

If we made the car try and we find that they won't, well, that'll be another story and then we'll have to see what we do about it.

But I believe it's...

Let me ask you, what is the situation?

You probably don't want to hold it in this video, would that be useful?

I wonder before, suppose you're trying to make a, you're trying to make a, determine whether or not it would be useful to have it determined.

I don't know, I don't know either.

50 miles an hour, something like that, in certain places.

I suppose you just see what kind of reaction you have to that kind of transportation.

Bolling is most of the exact science, despite the upholsterings and the lines, and getting to talk to people in terms of what are you doing in this field?

That kind of research.

I'm not familiar with any of them.

I don't know whether this guy has been to us.

I don't think this bank must do a lot of Bolling.

It must be done.

You couldn't make those huge investments in those fast trains.

That's the way you want to write the narrative.

We have the capability now, Mr. President, to have central between here and New York for operating at 120 to 125 miles an hour and many acres.

Back this last week, we ran the turbo drain between here and Baltimore, and it got up to 120 and 125, and a real comfortable ride.

And the American public has shown that it will use it.

Well, the American Federal Line has proven successful, and it's more than 70-75% off these years compared to...

25, 25, or lower, in other words, that's your best call.

I suppose there's so few areas that you've got that kind of concentration.

We have two things that we can do.

See, this freedom with respect to race is not very important.

It may be a price sensitive question.

And we can experiment.

And I think we just have to try a lot of things.

Some of them may look very silly.

Some of them may have been tried and not worked before.

And...

This is a very big country.

It doesn't take a lot of people riding trains to make this a pretty good business.

But I think we've got to attack it on the basis of first letting people know that there's a service there, and it keeps trying to be competitive with other forums where it can be competitive.

And then as we discern what it is the public wants, we'll try to adjust to it.

I think if you put a...

It seems to me that in all American life today, we see, despite all of our UHBR programs and each other's duration and quality of service, I'm not speaking of speed, but that's one thing.

And I'm not speaking of safety, that's another thing.

We take those things for granted.

But I see just the grace of life.

Now, one of the reasons that the airlines did so well in the beginnings, and they're still doing so good, it is to cheer you over.

DWA comes along, and it will get better than America.

We're going to have Americans coming back, and the United States is going to have a great future.

It has great maintenance.

It allows for service in many areas.

It's come up a bit.

It's managed on the pieces and so forth and so on.

It's closed down channels.

They carry trains and so on and all the other stuff.

You come right down to it.

The general response is that the real competition there is just in terms of race.

In other words, the stewardess has to be pretty, she has to be nice, doesn't it?

And the problem is that at the present time, at the present time, it's not there.

There's been some deterioration in the ground throughout the mountain.

We have to base it on the railroads in Lausen, in Stuhlhausen, because basically the attitudes of those railroads for many years has been that you should take the cloth and take a look at it.

And you can't do it.

When you really get down to it, you need a new spirit in the railways.

The spirit has got to be one of service.

We're competing against the bus lines and the airlines and all the rest.

Maybe we take a little longer.

That is the real thing.

Riding a train.

Let me put it in another entirely different way.

More and more families are going to travel these days.

I know, of course, businessmen and women traveling is the bedrock of any kind of transportation and so forth and so on.

But when you consider your competitors, let's take the highways.

Your real competition there in terms of services is the fact that on the highways today, you have an increasing number of very good places for people to stay and to eat.

When the kids are in, I mean, they're just sitting cool, holding a belt, and the kids, when the signings are out, they break their backs and so forth, so it's rather fun to get in your car and drive down with the kids and so forth.

I can remember when the train was that way, no more.

It's lousy, it's terrible.

Oh, there are a few exceptions.

I know, I've seen them at Medicine Island, and I see somebody come on, generally speaking.

The attitudes for us is that, well, this is sort of a die industry anyway.

We can't be competitive.

You're damn lucky to be on the train.

I can tell you that you can have the fastest trains in my group.

You can be very fast.

You can be very safe.

And safety, of course, is what making the train offers more than anybody else.

That should be emphasized.

But in terms of getting that, the whole emphasis in the last 30th century is going to be on the quality of service.

That's the real difference.

People can get places, but what is the quality?

Here we've got to talk to some of our union people.

They've got to realize that, sure, they can hunch up the weights and rest fine, but the real effect

More and more families are going to travel these days.

I know, of course, businessmen and women traveling is the bedrock of any kind of transportation and so forth and so on.

But when you consider your competitors, let's take the highways.

You have competition there.

In fact, on the highways today, you have an increasing number of very good places for people to stay and eat.

When the kids are in it, I mean, it's just living cool, it's all about when the kids and the signs are out, and they break their backs and so forth, so it's rather fun to get in your car and drive down with the kids and so forth.

I can never walk the train the same way, no more.

It's lousy, it's terrible.

Oh, there are a few exceptions, and I know, I've seen them in Tennessee now, and I see somebody coming out, generally speaking.

The attitude was to us that said, well, this is sort of a die industry anyway, and we can't be competitive, and you're damn lucky to be on the train.

I can tell you that if you can have the fastest trains in my group, you can be very fast, you can be very safe, and safety, of course, is what making the train offers more than anybody else.

That's what we have to say.

But in terms of getting that, the whole emphasis in the last 30th century is going to be on the quality of service.

That's the real difference.

People can get places, but what is the quality?

Here we've got to talk to some of our union people.

They've come to realize that, sure, they can punch up the wages and the rest fine, but the real impact is, these are people who serve people, who serve these various people in the transportation medium.

They've got to realize that they're in competition with a lot of other people who are trying to do a better job

So maybe some family wants to come from Boston down to Washington, to Washington, which is more likely, for a holiday, so they can drive, maybe they can take the train, and so forth and so on.

Whether that experience in training is going to be a puzzling experience or just getting on, it's a big, big gap.

The ticket seller is, of course, doing it the way they used to do it 50 years ago, standing in line, no help with the baggage and so forth and so on.

You compare it with an airline.

It's very intimidating.

I think, of course, the Lord, but I've just seen one who's brought many, many people.

I think a lot more people can ride the train once it comes to the city.

I think it's the quality of service and the fact that it has deteriorated.

And the people that work for Railroads, generally, they want the public to have an advantage.

And they do.

I've been on enough trains to know.

Now there are some that don't.

The western world is trying to do a little of that out there.

I think one of the reasons is just some of them have remained highly competitive.

It's the fact that when they break in their backs, some of those guys don't get it from the service side.

Mr. President, the word that she used, grace, is something that unfortunately the lack of grace seems to have permeated the great name of society.

We realized this when we first went to work on it.

I recall mine had customs.

Austin Tobin told me that the board of New York, or he was sending all of his people who had to do with the public to brain schools and to courtesy schools.

And he suggested maybe we try it at customs.

And I suppose there is that approach, but...

We, when we first started talking about the job which we had in front of us, the work which we do, the service that I think, courtesy and gratitude, the attitude of people, the attitude to me, what do you get on the camera, what do you read, feel at home for that.

I'm really convinced, I take the airlines, I bring them along, I don't take them over, but I describe them, and I would deliberately take them along,

where I just knew that they cared for me more.

And it varies.

Perhaps one of the worst lines in terms of passenger services in the Northwest was

I think they've improved a little since then.

One of the reasons was that they've been in competitions.

You went to Minneapolis no way to go except Northwest, and they didn't care what they went to.

They believed in lousy services, terrible food, and all the rest, and so on.

Now, they made money.

Now, as the competition comes up, it changes.

I personally have been to many meetings at a time now,

The airlines, of course, they're having to fight back.

Our mobile travel is not pretty quite as pleasant as it once was because of the traffic jams.

But...

I would be surprised, but in terms of the railroads, and I only mention this because I know you're going to take care of it, you're going to have safe roads, and you're going to have efficient ones, and they're going to be as fast as possible, and that's all good.

But I think that the real complications...

Which is the attitude.

It's an attitude that's got to not only weigh on those recipes.

You ever try to eat some television tips?

That's what we have to do.

We've got to get a spirit.

And if I were talking, I'd focus years and years, and I hate to put personal plans over things that are not just sometimes delicious.

But that's what we really need.

They've got to take the best thing they can do, and what I really wish, is to get a feeling of real respect.

If you're in the industry, you ought to be proud of it.

You know, some of those people on some of those competing airlines, see, they've just become proud to be an RV hostess, or a PWA girl, or so forth and so on.

They stick their chest out.

The kind of ads, the roads on the railroads that I have,

It's fun to ride the train, you know.

It's fun because we're glad to have you.

And we're going to give you a better service if you can have your own.

A better service if you can get Howard Johnson to do your own job.

Believe me, they'll do it.

And also, there's this other thing.

People are drowning more and more and more.

They get tired of doing it the same way.

Once you've driven from New York to Washington in a car, next time you pick the train, you know, you hear the sign, you see a big billboard, next time pick the train.

That's fine.

But that means you get on the train and somebody kicks you around.

Next time I'll drive you a car.

I'm the first one to admit that the unions have run off too much business off the trains and the railroads.

I've ridden trains that represented people.

I've had old conductors that make you think they're doing you a favor by letting you ride with them.

If you didn't do it, I could ride that though y'all.

You're not going to change that overnight.

No, I wouldn't say that.

I was in St. Louis the other day and a conductor came to me and...

He found out during our schedule that the train was leaving Kansas City about five minutes before the train got in to California.

And he yelled at the train five minutes for 17 passengers that tied the fire mode.

Now, that don't feel very good either.

You know it?

They said they wanted to leave on time.

They left without anyone telling them to.

But it can be done.

Now, hang on.

They had what's called a glamour course.

And they gave it to the people that operated the train system over there.

Oh, I'm glad.

A glamour course is the nickname for it.

I don't want a glamour course.

That's what they nicknamed it.

That's what they made the people feel like they wanted it.

And when you call up for a reservation, some old man acts as a phone, goes off somewhere, has a couple of calls, and you're waiting on the other end of the line, you're not going to call the second time.

All of this is going to take time, but I think it can be done.

I know the train is rough working, but I remember years ago, before you were a lady, and a couple of people were going to receive some thanksgiving day, and my wife and I wrote a poem in the supper.

which was a great train at that time.

And it was a great experience.

It was a fine train.

But second, they were highly competitive.

I must say, everyone, from the moment you got on that train, the guys sold, the people, the conductor, the people that served in the place, they all were proud to be in that train.

Everybody felt like they were on a holiday.

And then,

And let me say, I don't mind about banking the railroads.

There are plenty of airlines that are having problems today, mainly because their services become lousy.

They get back, they got the only line.

I've named two or three because I don't want to get them in trouble.

I won't name any, particularly a railroad I haven't ridden in 50 years.

But I do know this.

I do know that the great opportunity is that we can really get across to our business people.

The business people have got to understand the management side of it.

That the real competition is the quality of life, the quality of service.

You can get your cost down, you can speed up, you can get your efficiency up, but you finally come down as a human relationship.

And if you can make people think they've had a good experience in their road, you've got to provide.

You know, like all of us, when we go back, you go back to the same hotel.

It may not be the newest hotel in town.

It may not have the most modern plumbing and so forth, but you like them because they treat you nice.

And I know some of the best train hotels in the world, I won't name them, but I used to stay in them for years and such.

I would go near the places, because they treated you so badly.

And, well, anyway, that's the course of the state.

I want to leave for all of you, the little drink that some of you may have, is that we always give the people who serve beyond the fall of duty a drink.

So that your wives know that you have been trained.

And Dr. Washington, this is a little bolder than that.

You already have him on your secretary.

Make sure you tell your wife.

Thank you a lot.

We'll try to carry the message to Garcia.

I can't go see you Thursday.

Roger that a lot.

Thank you.

Thank you very much.

Nixon, Volpe & Kendall on Amtrak and Railroad passenger service

AI Summary

Audio

NARA Description

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Transcript (AI-generated)

Also recorded on June 8, 1971

Cite this conversation

Nixon, Volpe & Kendall on Amtrak and Railroad passenger service

AI Summary

Audio

NARA Description

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Transcript (AI-generated)

Also recorded on June 8, 1971

Related conversations

Cite this conversation