Life on the Rails

[Savonarola]

Knorr-Bremse has a long history of taking over other companies, integrating them and then laying off people by moving production to low cost countries.

Good to know, we are getting an office in Pune, India (but most rail signaling companies have an office in India, Alstom's is in Bangalore.  I forget where GE's was.)

I am skeptical about our leadership's story that this was planned as part of Alstom; since a lot of the people laid off were document control and there's nothing Alstom loved more than processes and documentation.  The cuts make a lot more sense from the Knorr-Bremse Signaling vision, which is supposed to be less process heavy.

[Savonarola]

Any news on a new signal system for Norway?

I don't have any; I don't work at Alstom anymore.  When I did I used to get daily updates on Alstom's global projects; today we get a wellness newsletter called "Brake into Wellness" (our primary product is vehicle brakes.)  It takes some getting used to, going from reading about  railways in Africa and self driving busses in France to reading about mindfulness and "Listening to your body."

I did just see a blurb about Norwegian ERTMS (European Rail Traffic Management System) system from Alstom (we're having all sorts of problems with the IT system, which is still tied to the Alstom system, so I think we were all temporarily put back on Alstom's mailing list.)  It sounds like an advanced system (as far as rail goes), which has a complete digital twin model even for the individual trains.  (I don't think Alstom has even done a digital twin for something as basic as the fiber network before, so this is a major leap forward for them.)  Since it was from Alstom, all the news was positive; has there been problems? 

[Savonarola]

From Railway Technology

Amtrak announces 450 job cuts to achieve $100m in annual savings
This decision arises amid uncertainty about future financial support from Congress.

May 13, 2025
Amtrak, the US public passenger rail provider, has announced plans to cut 450 positions as part of a strategy to reduce annual expenses by $100m.

This decision comes amid uncertainty regarding future financial support from Congress and pressure from the Trump Administration.

The company stated that the job cuts, which include a reduction-in-force process and the elimination of unfilled roles, are expected to contribute significantly to achieving the targeted savings.

The announcement follows a leadership change earlier this year, when Amtrak CEO Stephen Gardner resigned from his position "to ensure that Amtrak continues to enjoy the full faith and confidence of this administration."

Amtrak president Roger Harris is overseeing operations as the board has yet to appoint a new CEO.

Rail Passengers Association president and CEO Jim Mathews expressed concern over the proposed job cuts.

"Rail Passengers is very concerned that these personnel cuts will hinder Amtrak's ability to efficiently serve America's passengers and manage the scores of major construction projects that Congress funded through the Infrastructure Investment in Jobs Act (IIJA).

"We've particularly concerned about reports that Amtrak has laid off members of its procurement team and capital delivery team, who are playing a vital role in managing billions of dollars worth of investments that will address the railroad's crippling state-of-good-repair backlog," he said.

Elon Musk, who has led a job-cutting exercise at the Federal level, expressed the view that Amtrak should be privatised. He previously campaigned, unsuccessfully, against funding for California's high-speed rail project.

During his first term, Donald Trump consistently pushed for reductions in funding for the rail service, which received approximately $2.4bn in federal support in 2023.

In 2021, Congress approved $66bn for rail projects under the Infrastructure Investment in Jobs Act (IIJA), with $22bn earmarked for Amtrak over a five-year period, in addition to regular funding.

In March, Congress allocated $2.42bn for Amtrak, covering funding through the end of September.

Mathews stated that the IIJA signifies a significant investment in the revitalisation of the country's rail network.

He said: "If we abandon this investment less than four years after it was enacted, we will be committing to inefficient and unreliable train services for generations to come."

Amtrak reported a significant increase in ridership, surpassing pre-pandemic levels for the first time in 2024, with a total of 32.8 million customer trips, marking a 15% rise from the previous year.

Passenger revenue also saw an increase, reaching $2.5bn, up by 9% compared to 2023.

However, the rail operator recorded an adjusted operating loss of $705m for the year ending September 30, 2024, although this figure represents a 9% improvement from the previous year.

Meanwhile, Amtrak has begun major construction at its King Street Yard in Seattle, US, focusing on building a new maintenance facility covering nearly 100,000ft².

All cut positions are white collar positions, (operators and maintainers are unionized.)

This will hit us, since the capital planning and procurement people are who we deal with.  Amtrak isn't always the quickest company to work with, and this will make matters worse.  In addition to this, a number of our own layoffs targeted the project managers who had worked on the Amtrak projects, so our PMs have no experience working with Amtrak.

Historically, in the United States, the primary money-maker of passenger rail was mail carriage.  (This is why the main post office and the rail depot are almost always located next to each other.)  As part of Amtrak's charter by congress they are forbidden to carry any freight including mail; and that business has gone to our freight carriers.  For this reason, even if Elon Musk wills it, I doubt Amtrak will be privatized.  The Class One freight carriers are among our most powerful lobbies and I don't think they're willing to give up a high value/low cost part of their business.

[Savonarola]

From The Star

Metrolinx quietly drops Deutsche Bahn, Aecon from multibillion-dollar GO expansion project

Deutsche Bahn, the German national rail company, and construction firm Aecon had been contracted to run and maintain GO Transit this year.

The province's transit agency has dropped Deutsche Bahn, Germany's national rail company, and Canadian construction company Aecon Group from its multibillion dollar GO expansion project less than two years after they were contracted to operate and maintain the GO train network.

The two companies were supposed to take over the operations and maintenance of GO rail and UP Express for a 23-year term starting on Jan. 1, though a handover was never announced. Metrolinx Spokesperson Andrea Ernesaks said "both teams worked closely toward this goal," but added that "the parties are working on an amicable settlement to end the partnership."

Metrolinx confirmed that the partnership had been severed after receiving questions from the Star.

French company Alstom will continue to oversee maintenance and operations of the GO system, Ernesaks added.

"Metrolinx is committed to providing a safe, reliable transit service, with more than 120,000 people relying on GO Transit and UP Express every day," she said in a statement to the Star.

Ernesaks did not answer questions about how much the contract with Deutsche Bahn and Aecon was worth or how much had already been paid out.

Deutsche Bahn and Aecon did not respond to requests for comment before publication.

Deutsche Bahn and Aecon, in a joint partnership, had won a contract to operate and maintain the province's GO train network back in January 2024, as part of a broader consortium of companies, ONxpress Transportation Partners, that would design, build, operate and maintain an extensive expansion of the province's central commuter rail service.

The design and construction portion of that contract, led by Alstom, Aecon and Spanish construction company FCC Group was billed at an estimated $1.6 billion.

The GO expansion plan would effectively transform GO from a commuter railway into an all-day, two-way transit network, with service every 15 minutes or better on core parts of the network, including the Lakeshore East and West, Stouffville, Kitchener, and Barrie GO lines. It would enable projected annual GO ridership to reach more than 200 million by 2055, and is seen as crucial to meeting future transportation needs of the rapidly growing region.

GO expansion, previously known as regional express rail, is the province's single largest transit project and was launched under the Ontario Liberals, and expanded under the Ford government.

Back in 2020, companies had warned Metrolinx and Infrastructure Ontario about the public-private procurement model used for the GO expansion projects with concerns about how much financial risk they were being asked to take on. The documents warned that changing course could delay procurement for the expansion, documents obtained by the Star showed.

The article seems to mix two projects; the daily maintenance and operation of the existing Go Transit trains (currently done by Alstom) and the Go Expansion project (which I had worked on.)  Deutsche Bahn and Aecon were part of the consortium for the Go Expansion project (in fact we had worked out of a Aecon office during the bid.)  This would eliminate half the consortium.

I did have the opportunity to stay with Alstom, but I would have had to move to Toronto.  I wondered if I had made the right choice by staying with Knorr-Bremse.  It looks like I may have.

[mongers]

The article seems to mix two projects; the daily maintenance and operation of the existing Go Transit trains (currently done by Alstom) and the Go Expansion project (which I had worked on.)  Deutsche Bahn and Aecon were part of the consortium for the Go Expansion project (in fact we had worked out of a Aecon office during the bid.)  This would eliminate half the consortium.

I did have the opportunity to stay with Alstom, but I would have had to move to Toronto. I wondered if I had made the right choice by staying with Knorr-Bremse.  It looks like I may have.

Good to know Sav, rail networks need talented people to keep the wheels turning signals working.

Back in blighty the yesterday saw the first service run by the 1st newly re-nationalised railway company, South Western Rail; some 6.30am service in Surrey, inevitably it was a rail replacement bus. 

 

[Baron von Schtinkenbutt]

I wonder if re-nationalization means next time I'll be able to buy a ticket ahead of time without being a UK resident.

[Crazy_Ivan80]

I wonder if re-nationalization means next time I'll be able to buy a ticket ahead of time without being a UK resident.

But it'll still be a bus ride apparently...

[mongers]

I wonder if re-nationalization means next time I'll be able to buy a ticket ahead of time without being a UK resident.

I'll stick my head out and say not likely, after all how else are we to maintain the world's most complex ticketing system. 

A new one I've found makes a good example, if I'm traveling from a local station here to Weymouth in Dorset and it's after midday,I can buy a "Super Off-peak return" for under half the price of the "off-peak, return"; something like 11 quid vs 25 quid.

But catch that same train, to the same destination, but a couple of stops down the line at Bournemouth, you'd think it would be a bit cheaper? 

Nope much more expensive because you can't buy a "super off-peak" ticket at that station, you have to still buy the standard ticket or try and get two "evening out singles"

Why on earth is a common ticket type not available at some stations on the same railway line, when they're just 3 miles and 54chains apart?

[Josquius]

I've heard at the moment it's less renationalisation and more unprivatisation.
It's going to remain shit for a bit longer but stuff is going on in the background (apparently).