Amtrak Alert!

AMTRAK LOGOAmtrak service is disrupted due to a different transportation service. Since I have relied on Amtrak for about 4 years now, I would be worried if I lived in the New York/Boston area. While Amtrak is more of a long distance passenger service for commuters, many still rely on the service on a weekly basis. Now, because of a collision between two Metro trains in the New York/Boston area, Amtrak service through out this route is limited for an unknown amount of time. Amtrak offers transportation to areas that many other public transportation does not. Therefore, this collision has created a conflict for Amtrak that is currently out of the company’s control at this time.

Through reading Business Week’s article, “Connecticut Commuter Crash With 700 Passengers Curbs Amtrak (2),” readers are able to see that the reasoning of this crash remains unknown. While the service disruption of train transportation was of course not caused by Amtrak, the demand of their customers may stray beyond the halt of the rail line. Since the investigators of this situation are still deciding the reason for this crash, many customers may be worried that this rail line is an unsafe one to travel on. While Amtrak offers alternate routes, their service alert page mentions that those customers who feel uncomfortable to use the services are available for a refund. Therefore, the lack of demand for Amtrak goes beyond the disruption of their services. Is Amtrak under a threat due to safety of their customers?

Focusing on how the collision affected Amtrak as a company required me to think about the bottleneck in project management situations, as the term was even mentioned in the article! The Metro train accident served as a bottleneck in Amtrak being able to operate between two different locations. As discussed in class, when there is a bottleneck situation, there is a backup in the process of creating a product or continuing a service. In the case of the Metro train collision, Amtrak is currently not able to operate between New York and New Haven. Therefore, not only is the business affected financially, continuous customers of Amtrak are required to reroute their trips and may find a new means of train service. While the situation was out of Amtrak’s control, this bottleneck brings Amtrak’s quantity and efficiency to a lower level. While the train company and its customers have already been greatly affected, the article also mentions that investigations similar to this train accident take several months to come to a close. Do you think Amtrak will be affected until investigation is over? Will customers be hesitant to take this route through Amtrak until investigations are over?

As mentioned earlier, more information on this collision and its affect on Amtrak can be found here.

6 thoughts on “Amtrak Alert!

  1. I think that the biggest issue for Amtrak will be customers viewing the train service as unsafe. If the investigation proves Amtrak was not at fault for the accident, customers will be more likely to return to the company. An investigation of such length could lead to many customers finding alternative routes, and it is possible that they will not return to Amtrak after the investigation.

  2. As you mentioned with the bottleneck, they are indeed in a tough position right now. I think they are also in a very advantageous position in that people who ride Amtrak probably do it regularly and Amtrak might be the most effective mode of transport for them. During this reconstruction period those customers who are affected will obviously have to find another way to get to where they need to be and the key here will be if they find that the alternate mode is more effective or not. If so then Amtrak could be in trouble finically for that area.

  3. It all depends on how the investigation ended. If it the fault of Amtrak, than customers will continue to be hesitant to ride on the Amtrak even after the investigation is over. All throughout the investigation, Amtrak’s business will slow down because customers will not feel safe until they what had caused the accident. The train accident is a unfortunate bottleneck for Amtrak because it was unexpected and they can not easily get rid of this event from their history.Amtrak will have to manage to keep customers using their service even after the case is over. That will require convincing their market that their services are safe and reliable. Amtrak will have to market themselves more and manage to keep their customers.

  4. I think in general Amtrak has been in trouble lately due to the decline of profits and inconsistency of the service times. This is just to add to it. This will have a negative image in the customers minds and Amtrak will need to focus incredibly hard to keep the customers coming back. They need to focus on their problems and fix them to increase customer satisfaction of the service. Like said in class customer requirements are everything and Amtrak will not have to work even harder to correct their flaws.

  5. I enjoyed this article because I have been hearing good things about Amtrak before this unfortunate event. I was following the high speed rail lines offered right here out of Chicago going towards both St. Louis and I believe they were working on the rail traveling to Detroit. I was excited to hear that the rail system was being revitalized and improved. With the high speed rail and tickets cheaper than flights I think customers will continue to flood union stations around the country. Amtrak needs to highlight what they do well and customers are more forgiving when they are presented a great deal.

  6. I found this article very interesting. It is hard to believe how a negative event that seems to be out of the company’s control can result in a shattering of their reputation and loss of customer demand. I think that until the investigation is over, the company will lose a lot of customers which means losing a lot of money. This has a negative impact on the overall success of the company. Even after the investigation, some customers may still be concerned with safety issues and find alternate means of transportation. This bottleneck effect can be very harmful to Amtrak as an entire company. Since Amtrak is a national rail road service a lot of potential customers all over the US might chose to drive longer distances or take public transportation instead of Amtrak. I think to improve their situation, Amtrak should put more funding, time and effort into the safety of the services they provide. If the company fixes their issues they may become even more successful and regain their customers; loyalty and trust.

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