Railway labor costs offer a great opportunity for change that will benefit intercity rail passenger operations. Work rules have long been cited as a major obstacle to reduction of operating costs. Three major areas of concern are wages and hours, craft and territorial boundaries, and manning levels.
Considerable criticism has been leveled at operating employees. The target is that wages are high for hours worked: as pay has increased, work hours have shrunk. This is in large part because train crews have traditionally been paid on the base of a 150-mile day, or what was roughly eight hours of train travel in 1870. Within the past decade new contracts have extended the average run for train personnel but reduced the number of runs per crew per month. While the number of crew changes on a long-distance train may be one third less than 10 years ago, the total number of employees for that train on an annual basis has not changed. Many train crew members only put in between 25 and 30 hours per week. Inequities also exist between locomotive crews and train crews. An effort must be made to increase work hours closer to a 40-hour week.
Craft and territorial jurisdictions for different activities have been a major obstacle to increased productivity. Gradually, improvements are being made but much remains to be done. Train crews are often restricted from making simple repairs when problems occur on the road, resulting in having to bring in electrical or mechanical specialists from some distance at considerable expense. Road crews are frequently limited from switching cars in and out, or making simple electrical connections, necessitating the introduction of specialist staff for these activities. Fortunately a breakthrough in new agreements is taking place on a small scale. For example, road crews can now handle switching of the New York and Washington sections of the Broadway Limited at Pittsburgh, eliminating the need to bring in a three-man switching crew for the job. A run-through agreement between Southern Pacific and Santa Fe train crews reduced labor costs and saved those trains from probable extinction in 1980. Problems linger, however. Switching out of cars at intermediate points that would improve equipment utilization and allow for more efficient mail and express handling is often not done because of high costs resulting from the requirement to employ a separate crew for the job.
Manning levels on passenger trains have been little changed since the late 1800s. The basic crew consists of engineer, fireman, conductor, and brakeman. Many trains have an additional brakeman. Although firemen were eliminated from freight and switching operations in the 1960s, and by law on commuter operations in 1981, they still form part of the crew on intercity passenger trains. Most European railroads operate with one man in the locomotive cab and one or two trainmen. The comparison may not be too equitable since signal systems and automated train control are more widespread and sophisticated in Europe, and ticket collection activities simpler. Even so, some staff reduction is possible on U.S. trains, particularly where signal systems are reliable.
On-board-service staffing levels are very high on American trains. Amtrak has recently succeeded in making dramatic cuts in food service personnel. Unfortunately, the quality of food service has also deteriorated, not because of smaller staff but because of unfortunate policy decisions and poor management practices. European dining cars offer fully cooked meal s to as many as 56 patrons at a sitting with a staff of four to five. The traveler in an Amtrak dining car seating 48 will find it takes a staff of three or four just to deliver prepackaged microwave meals. Few European trains have coach attendants, while U.S. operating procedures call for one attendant per coach on long-distance trains. Some reduction in personnel is clearly possible.
Greater flexibility in function is necessary for both on-board service personnel and station staff. There is no reason why the same person cannot make up beds in the sleeping car during the morning and help serve meals in the dining car at noon and evening meals.
Labor productivity of train crews and on-board staff could be increased by at least 20 percent by work rule adjustments achieved through contract negotiations.
Rail road labor in the United States has declined from more than 1 million in 1940 to less than 400,000 today. Implementation of Amtrak 90 would provide for about 36,000 new jobs at Amtrak by 1990. Some 8,000 of these would be at stations, servicing centers, yards, and repair shops for such activities as track maintenance and dispatching. Administrative tasks, reservations, and other management-related support would increase by about 1,800. The remaining positions would be in train operations and on-board services. Considerable employment growth would also take place among car and locomotive builders, subcontractors, suppliers, etc.