Passengers wait to be picked-up after two commuter trains collided in Bridgeport, Connecticut, causing one to derail and injuring up to 70 passengers, May 17, 2013. Michelle McLoughlin / Reuters

A commuter train traveling eastbound from New York City derailed near the Connecticut suburb of Fairfield during the evening rush hour on Friday and collided with a westbound commuter train, injuring up to 60 people, three critically, officials said.

The collision of the two Metro North trains forced Amtrak to shut down service indefinitely between New York and Boston, the national railroad said.

Three people were critically injured and 60 people were transported to area hospitals, police said.

“It’s pretty devastating damage to a number of cars,” Connecticut Governor Dannel Malloy told a news conference. “These cars came into contact (and the impact) ripped open the siding of one of the cars. There is extensive damage in the front and the wheels.”

The accident occurred shortly after 6 p.m. EDT (2200 GMT), authorities said.

“All of a sudden the train started to shake a little bit … like something was bumping into it,” passenger Rowana Shepherd told CBS television. “One entire compartment from the other train was completely ripped open. The whole side was gone and people were lying in between the trains.”

The eastbound train was headed to New Haven, Connecticut, when it derailed and collided with the westbound train that was running to New York’s Grand Central Station, said Aaron Donovan, a spokesman for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA), which runs the commuter railroad.

“The head end of both trains, the front end of both trains, collided and received sustained damage. … But it was not a full head-on collision,” Donovan said.

Metro North is a commuter railroad serving the northern suburbs of New York City. It is operated by the MTA, a New York State agency. Fairfield is about 50 miles north of New York City.

The number of injured could rise because hospital officials were told to prepare to receive up to 180 patients total. Metro North trains can carry up to 300 passengers when full.

Thirty-three people were transported to St. Vincent’s Medical Center and 27 to Bridgeport Hospital, police said.

Bridgeport Hospital had two patients with critical injuries, and the others could be described as “walking wounded” with a variety of lesser injuries, spokeswoman Anita Shrum said.

One person had serious head and neck injuries at St. Vincent’s Medical Center in Bridgeport and the others had minor injuries, spokeswoman Dianne Auger said.

The cause of the derailment was not immediately known. The National Transportation Safety Board said it was sending a team of investigators to Connecticut to look into the accident.

Malloy said the collision would have a big impact on the vital rail corridor between Boston and New York City for days.

The Westport and Fairfield stations will be closed to commuter rail and Amtrak service at least through the weekend as workers repair the damage and investigators probe the derailment, he said, adding that there was no reason to believe that it was anything but an accident.

Reporting by Sharon Bernstein, David Bailey, Kevin Gray and Dan Whitcomb; Writing by Dan Whitcomb; Editing by Cynthia Johnston and Philip Barbara.

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The TWA system timetable from 1974 looks fine, but US Airways' Scott Kirby argues that TWA got "out-competed" in the territory on the map in the background. Jeremy Keith / flickr.com

Pan Am and TWA, two iconic airlines that were grounded for good in 1991 and 2001, respectively, got “out-competed” domestically by rivals such as United, American, Delta, Continental and Northwest, and that contributed to the duo’s demise.

To be sure, the reasons Pan Am and TWA went bust are complex, but US Airways president Scott Kirby, a key member of the US Airways-American Airlines transition-planning committee, seized on the weakness of the Pan Am and TWA domestic networks as the beginning of the end despite the fact that they were the “preeminent” carriers of their era.

The importance of domestic networks often gets short shrift, said Kirby during a presentation May 15 at the Bank of America Merrill Lynch 2013 Global Transportation Conference in Boston.

Kirby argued that domestic networks are “incredibly important” as a feeder to airlines’ global networks.

There is a punch line, of course.

Kirby presented a slide showing that the combined US-Airways-American Airlines would be the #1 carrier on the East Coast, #1 in the central part of the country, and #3 in the West.

Pointing to the new American’s projected East Coast dominance, Kirby said the East Coast “is the largest, most lucrative travel region in the world.”

“This network,” he added, referring to the reach of the new American, “without question will be the strongest domestic network in the country.”

It’s not as if United and Delta are about to roll over and play dead, however.

United, for one, argues that it likes its competitive position in relation to the new American Airlines despite “overlaps” in Chicago, Dallas, Houston, Los Angeles and New York.

Nervousness subsiding

On other merger-related matters, Kirby conceded he had been “nervous” about how the transition would go with American executives “given how we got here.”

He was referring to American’s initial reluctance to consider a merger with US Airways.

“We are working [together] quite well so far,” Kirby said, confirming he believes the merger will get completed in the third quarter, pending Department of Justice approval.

Kirby said the merged airline would get off to a quick start in producing $1 billion in expected synergies, pointing to the brisk financial performance of the merged America West and US Airways in their maiden quarter together despite operational difficulties.

Shamelessly copying Delta

The new American looks at the success of the Delta-Northwest Airlines merger as a case study in a successful merger integration, said Kirby, without mentioning the disastrous United-Continental integration.

“We’ve tried and shamelessy copy some of the things that they’ve done,” Kirby said, referring to how Delta and Northwest opted to transition to Delta’s larger reservations system rather than the reverse.

He said the transition team is studying Delta’s steps and is implementing an “adopt and go” strategy.

“We know we won’t be flawless, but we think we will do pretty well, and we’ll minimize the bumps,” Kirby said.

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In the A4A’s crosshairs is the recent CBP agreement with Abu Dhabi Airport to establish a preclearance facility at the airport.

At a briefing today on its summer travel forecast, A4A displayed a slide showing that Abu Dhabi Airport ranks 80th in average daily passenger arrivals in the U.S., with 573 passengers per day, compared with airports such as London Heathrow, Toronto, and Tokyo Narita, the top 3, with each sending more than 10,000 passengers per day to the U.S.

Yet, although London Heathrow and Tokyo Narita don’t have a preclearance facility (Toronto does), Abu Dhabi, with direct Etihad Airways service recently announced to Washington Dulles Airport,  is getting a preclearance operation.

Then came the dig at CBP, with the trade group stating: “CBP has a huge opportunity to better align its resources and improve the travel experience for the 90 million airline customers who arrived at U.S. airports in 2012.”

A4A, which represents Alaska, Allegiant, American, Delta, Hawaiian, JetBlue, Southwest, Spirit, United and US Airways, noted that the average wait time in the U.S. at customs was one hour in 2012, and that maximum wait times, conservatively speaking, were “as high as three hours.”

In a follow-up question from Skift, A4A spokesperson Katie Connell, stated:

“Using U.S. taxpayer dollars and resources, DHS has agreed to the establishment of a preclearance facility in Abu Dhabi that would allow passengers traveling from Abu Dhabi into the U.S. to be pre-cleared for entry into the U.S. by U.S. Customs and Border Protection in Abu Dhabi (versus when they arrive in the U.S.) to the benefit of a foreign government and a single foreign airline competitor. Our point/position is pretty simple: customs lines have been and remain an ongoing issue for our customers who are traveling into the U.S. from around the world and continue to wait in exceedingly long and completely unacceptable lines at many of our own U.S. airports.

 

“DHS needs to focus its resources and U.S. taxpayer’s dollars on fixing the long customs lines our passengers endure here in the U.S. first before considering opening preclearance facilities in other countries, particularly those that are not served by a single U.S. carrier. We have started a campaign, DrawTheLineHere.com to allow the public to voice their opposition to such an agreement as it negatively impacts the U.S. economy, its travel and tourism, and the global competitiveness of the U.S. airline industry.”

The United Arab Emirates may be an emerging market, but A4A is arguing that the DHS and CBP have their priorities misaligned because there are just not that many passengers traveling today from Abu Dhabi to the U.S.

The A4A is challenging the right of the DHS to enter into such agreements.

In other news, the A4A projects that U.S. airline passenger numbers will hit 208.7 million in the June through August period in 2013, the highest market since 2008, and a 1% increase from 2012. Most of the increase comes from international passengers, with their numbers rising 2.5% to 27.4 million passengers, a new record.

The passenger growth, the A4A says, is driven by a healthier economy, including “improved” financial condition of U.S. airlines.

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The Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) Science and Technology Conference held in the Hofburg Palace in Vienna, Austria. Marianne Weiss / Flickr

The number and frequency of meetings held by international associations, and the business travel they generate, is on the rise. The International Congress and Convention Association estimates that the number of conventions increased by more than a thousand to 11,150 meetings in 2012.

Europe is the most popular destination for international meetings with 12 out of the 20 top countries and 14 out of the top 20 cities located in the region; however, ICCA spokesman Mathijs Vleeming tells Skift that European destinations are slowing giving way to a rise in popularity of Asian destinations.

“We do see that there is a trend of the market share of European countries as meeting destinations are declining at the cost of meetings taking place in Asia Pacific, though” says Vleeming.

The greatest growth in an international meetings market took place in Copenhagen. The Danish capital hosted 137 meetings in 2012 earning it the eighth spot on the list, 39 spots higher than it ranked in 2011.

Vienna played host to the most international conferences (195) in 2012.

ICCA CEO Martin Sirk attributes the growth of the international meetings market to three factors:

1. the necessity for international associations to meet on a regular basis
2. the growth of science, healthcare, and technology sectors that such associations are commonly affiliated with
3. the increased economic strength of certain regions, especially Asia and Latin America, stimulating the growth of regionally rotating association meetings

These international groups likely live online via newsletters and chat boards making annual or semiannual conventions the only time that a large number of members come together; thus the conventions begin to serve as the lifeblood of the organization and pinnacle in the annual activity of each.

U.S. cities’ missed opportunity

The U.S. has been the top ranked country in terms of meeting numbers for more than a decade, but not a single U.S. city made it into the top 20 in this year’s list.

ICCA pegs the country’s success on the sheer size of the U.S economy as well as the proliferation of U.S. associations organizing conferences, but blames individual city marketing organizations for not identifying the lucrative sector.

“U.S. cities have an opportunity to make huge progress in the growing market of international association business, if they decide to proactively focus on this sector,” opined Vleeming in a 2011 post.

ICCA is made of 950+ suppliers responsible for the handling, transporting, and accommodating international meetings from 88 countries, making it no surprise that it advises destinations and companies involved in the international meeting sector to tap into this growing niche market.

The ICCA database does not include all association meetings taking place worldwide. All association meetings in the ICCA Association Database must rotate between at least “three countries, attract at least 50 participants, and be held with a certain frequency.”

ICCA country and city ranking measured by number of meetings organised in 2012 are below:

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The discounter said its board boosted the quarterly dividend to 4 cents a share from 1 cent a share, to begin with the payment on June 26 to shareholders of record on June 5.

The company said its share buyback authorization was increased to $1.5 billion from $1 billion.

Southwest also said it plans to buy 10 pre-owned 737-700s airplanes to be delivered in 2014 and 2015, and it made changes to some existing aircraft orders. The carrier said it would be the first customer to take the 7 series of Boeing’s upcoming 737 MAX plane in 2019. Southwest has an all-Boeing fleet.

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After a Boeing battery fix, United Airlines plans on reintroducing 787 Dreamliner service with its six aircraft beginning May 20. / United Airlines

United Airlines CFO John Rainey said today allegations that the airline engaged in anticompetitive behavior last month when Virgin America debuted San Francisco and Los Angeles service from Newark Airport were “absolutely false.”

Answering questions after making a presentation at the 2013 Bank of America Merrill Lynch Global Transportation Conference in Boston, Rainey said United lowered its fares and added supply in Newark because New York-San Francisco is an important market for the airline. He didn’t mention Virgin America by name.

Importantly, Rainey said United reallocated capacity from other routes without increasing overall capacity because the airline did not want to “upset the applecart.”

Maintaining so-called “capacity discipline” is key for many airlines as they want to keep airfares high.

In fact, Rainey indicated that United expects its fleet count to remain relatively flat over the next five years, and long-term capacity growth would be almost undetectable at less than 1%.

On other issues, Rainey said:

• Well over two years after the United-Continental merger closed,  the two airlines’ maintenance systems, as well as some collective bargaining contracts, have not been integrated.

• United will tweak its frequent flyer program to enable members to use their miles on additional non-air offerings, and the airline plans to more sharply differentiate classes of service.

• The airline likes its competitive position in relation to the American Airlines-US Airways merger. Despite “overlaps” in Chicago, Dallas, Houston, Los Angeles and New York, when you consider United’s product offerings and the breadth of its network in the Pacific, Europe and Latin America, “we like where we stand in that game,” Rainey said.

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Jim Davidson got the entrepreneurial bug as a kid peddling his father's greeting cards in the neighborhood. Today he paddles against the stream, trying to change things up.

Farelogix CEO Jim Davidson learned persistence and salesmanship from the imperfect contents of a blue suitcase that he lugged door-to-door in his Elmira, New York, neighborhood at age 8 with his dog, Lucky, at his side.

It was the 1960s and Davidson’s father, a pressman at Artistic Greeting Cards, would bring home birthday-card rejects that got battered or mangled when they got fed through the plant’s folding machine.

The elder Davidson, also named James, instructed his son that “you have to keep going back to make the deal,” and the kid-entrepreneur wouldn’t take no for an answer when peddling his product in the neighborhood.

“I would wait a couple of days if they said no and go back again,” Davidson recalls. “That instilled a lot of the spirit that you just keep doing.”

An instigator and proud

Davidson has done a lot of “doing” in the intervening years, and as one of the people trying to jostle the status quo in an-often recalcitrant travel industry, he’s going to need that persistence and drive.

CEO of Miami-based Farelogix and, somewhat counterintuitively, former head of Amadeus North America, Davidson is providing technology to help airlines change the way they sell tickets and other flight products to their customers, and along the way he’s had some well-chronicled run-ins with Sabre and some travel agencies that deeply desire to blunt new ways of doing business. (Other big travel agencies work with him, but they are reluctant to go public.)

Davidson’s Farelogix and many airlines want to personalize the way airline tickets are sold to frequent flyers, and he gives a verbal headshake as he realizes that even the hardware industry — meaning companies that sell screwdrivers and lawnmowers, not computing equipment —  can seem like a beacon of enlightenment compared with the travel industry because of the conservative forces stifling progress.

The Lowe’s app tracks purchases so customers don’t have to remember the color paint they bought previously, Davidson says. “When a hardware company outpaces us, we’re in real trouble. Now Lowe’s is making us look bad.”

Lightning striking again

Davidson, a Miami resident who’s married with two adult children, often serves as a lightning-rod in the travel industry. He’s actually the kind of guy you’d enjoy downing a few brews with in a South Beach restaurant, but with a bunch of bobble head videos slamming the powers that be to his credit, many of his detractors would rather throw beers and darts at him.

Critics sometimes roll their eyes at the mention of his name, arguing that he’s in the pocket of the evil airlines. Davidson and his supporters, they charge, are trying to render comparison-shopping for a flight across different airline sites as difficult to decipher as airport codes to a neophyte.

“One of the things I learned from my father is that none of this is personal and when it is personal, you cross a major line,” Davidson says.

A fun-loving and affable guy, albeit very annoying to his entrenched competitors, Davidson is nothing if not passionate about his views and where he thinks the travel industry needs to be heading.

It all stems from the journey that took Davidson from Elmira, and selling his father’s skewed greeting cards, to facing off against travel industry heavyweights who tried to put Farelogix out of business.

Railroad roots for the guidance counselor

People in the travel industry would be shocked to learn that Davidson started his career as a guidance counselor, working with underprivileged kids, after earning a masters in business administration from Western Carolina University in 1979.

Davidson’s grandfather was a railroad engineer, and the grandson at one point wanted to land a career in the railroad industry, but wiser minds talked him into pursuing opportunities in other parts of the transportation industry.

Instead, he ended up working at OAG in Chicago in the late 1980s after having written a college thesis and making a presentation to Piedmont Airlines executives about the hub-and-spoke system, and where the airline should focus expansion efforts.

Davidson became president and CEO of Amadeus North America in 1998, but left two years later when a business school friend faxed him a picture of $1 million check, the proceeds from a startup. It wasn’t just about the money, though.

“He told me you got to get into this Internet thing, but Amadeus wasn’t very interested in the Internet,” Davidson says.

Push came to shove

Davidson says what some many perceive as his combativeness, “grows out of necessity.”

In 2005, Davidson was hired as president and CEO of Toronto-based travel distribution company Farelogix and, like Lebron James, he took the company and his talents to Miami. The necessity to fight came about as Farelogix was providing airline data to large travel agencies, and then Sabre terminated an agreement that imperiled the survival of Farelogix by cutting its access to the Sabre system.

Sabre played bully when it perceived a threat, however small, to its market clout.

“No one likes getting stepped on, and getting stepped on sometimes brings out the best in people,” Davidson says. “When we decided no one was going to come to our rescue, we decided to take it [the fight] on ourselves.”

A humongous carphone in a Subaru

An early adopter of technology, purchasing clunky carphones for a Subaru, fax machines and mini-laptops, Davidson is a bundle of seeming contradictions.

He was en route yesterday to Washington, D.C., and then to Capetown, South Africa, for an IATA conference after speaking with Skift, but the travel industry veteran hasn’t taken a real vacation in years.

“Ten years ago I took a two-week vacation,” Davidson recalls. “I got so far behind at work that I got freaked out.”

Although he takes long-weekend getaways, sometimes for a self-appraising “think,” Davidson lives in one of the cruise capitals of the world, and has never taken a cruise. He did dine once on docked cruise ship with Carnival Cruise Lines icon Bob Dickinson, its former longtime CEO, but that doesn’t count toward a cruise-sailing credit.

What went wrong?

What does count is Davidson’s sometimes-frenetic efforts to nudge the travel industry forward. But, how did things get so stale?

“On the whole, our industry doesn’t attract the fresh talent,” Davidson says, noting that the airlines are struggling with merchandising to passengers and sometimes don’t have the personnel to get it done. “We tend to swirl a lot and we don’t tend to bring fresh talent into the industry.”

Part of the problem is that the airlines, which tend to drive industry trends, were struggling for so long that they didn’t have money to reinvest.

Then there’s the dominant players, such as Sabre and Travelport, that have asserted control over the distribution marketplace, in Davidson’s view. “This has probably inhibited outside investment from coming into the market,” he says.

But, with airlines becoming profitable and putting resources into improving the customer experience, Davidson “sees, in fits and starts, how things are opening up.”

On the course and seldom off the record

And, that keeps Davidson motivated and going.

There are parallels in all this with Davidson’s golf game. As with almost everything, he doesn’t mind being politically incorrect, and he rarely backtracks or takes a reporter off the record.

Davidson says he plays golf a couple of times per month, and “sucks at it,” adding, “I have a woman’s high handicap.”

He knows there are certainly plenty of women who can kick his butt in golf, but he won’t withdraw the quote.

“I move along,” Davidson says of his time on the links. “I don’t spend time looking for a lost ball that clearly is not findable.”

And, that’s reassuring in some ways because by implication, Davidson wouldn’t waste his time trying to change an industry if he thought it wasn’t changeable.

Fore!!

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Rick Piccolo, president and chief executive officer of the airport, told his Sarasota Manatee Airport Authority board Monday morning that the two sides are talking again.

“We reinstituted contact with them, all we’re doing is talking,” Piccolo told the Herald. “It’s a good exercise for both. Good for us, good for them.”

Southwest’s AirTran service left SRQ airport in 2012, and the airport started a Do You SRQ? marketing campaign to have passengers and organizations pledging to use the airport and its carriers, basically nixing Southwest out of the equation.

While Piccolo is still pushing that pledge, internal talks between the two sides to resume service in some manner are ongoing.

“What applied a year ago may not apply today, and may not apply five years from now,” Piccolo said. “We’re very gracious, looking forward to continuing the dialogue.”

Despite the loss of AirTran, passenger traffic decreased just 2.6 percent in 2012, according to Piccolo’s annual report.

“We recovered about 60 to 65 percent of total passengers that AirTran took away,” Piccolo said.

So far, passenger count is down 14.4 percent through one-third of the year, and Piccolo expects that number to improve during the summer, ending around 11 to 12 percent down. The full-year additions of JetBlue service to New York and Boston should improve those numbers.

Financially, the airport is doing well thanks to its conservative fiscal approach, according to the report. A surplus of $821,000 was rebated to the airlines, and the airport had a net of $2.4 million from operations in fiscal 2012. That stood as an increase of $735,000 from fiscal 2012, according to the report. The airport is on track to be debt free in August 2014, paying off its terminal built in 1989, and has been operating on a pay-as-you-go basis save for the $150 million bond for the terminal.

“I think our conservative financial management has strategically placed the airport in a strong position to weather the economic storms and we are better positioned than most airports from a financial perspective,” Piccolo wrote in his report. “The Southwest announcement is a prime example of how the prudent fiscal policies positioned SRQ to weather the volatile swings in aviation with a minimal impact on airport facilities, services, and staff.”

Several improvements are expected to help the airport in the coming years. A customs inspection facility continues to progress, and the airport hopes to advertise bids to construct the areas this year.

A new air traffic control tower is designed and the airport hopes the FAA will fund construction, but sequestration budget cuts in Washington stalled those talks. The state and the airport have both committed $4 million each to the tower, which is estimated to cost a total of $12 million to $15 million, Piccolo said.

The tower would be relocated to the southwest part of the property to allow about 40 acres to be developed for hangars and other real estate development, Piccolo said.

The airport is also hoping to finalize regulatory approval for its customs, which when completed would help lure international carriers, Piccolo said.

The $2.5 million facility is designed to handle 130 to 150 passengers during a peak hour, which is fine for narrow-bodied aircrafts, but European carriers use larger planes, so the facility needs to handle 250 to 300 passengers in a peak hour if it wants to attract carriers like Monarch, he said.

Seventy percent of the construction cost is funded through grants, he said.

The authority released its annual performance evaluation for Piccolo on Monday, and the chief executive officer received a near perfect score save for one incomplete grade.

Piccolo earned 250 points out of a possible 300 points on his annual evaluation. Newly appointed board member Dr. Peter A. Wish declined to grade Piccolo because Wish only attended one meeting.

“I don’t feel I have enough information to make my evaluation,” Wish wrote in his review. “From what I have observed so far about Mr. Piccolo’s performance, I am very impressed.”

Wish was appointed by Gov. Rick Scott in February to replace former board member Bob Waechter, who quit the board in December after he was accused of felony identity fraud and improper campaign contributions relating to allegations he purchased Visa gift cards in a Republican political rival’s name and donated those funds to a Democratic fund.

Piccolo is graded on 10 areas: business development, relationship with board, financial management, public image, staff development, community relations, strategic planning and goals, leadership, job and industry knowledge and regulatory compliance.

Charles Schelle, business reporter, can be reached at 941-745-7095. Follow him on Twitter@ImYourChuck. ___

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On a broader scale, the new engines displayed Monday could well be viewed as emblematic of the improving financial health of Amtrak, which has long been dependent on subsidies from an often reluctant Congress.

More than 31 million passengers rode Amtrak in the 2012 fiscal year, generating a record $2.02 billion in ticket revenue. Amtrak said it will be able to pay back a $466 million federal loan for the locomotives over 25 years using net profits from the Northeast Corridor line, where ridership hit a record high last year for the ninth time in 10 years.

“The new Amtrak locomotives will help power the economic future of the Northeast region, provide more reliable and efficient service for passengers and support the rebirth of rail manufacturing in America,” Amtrak President Joseph Boardman said in a statement. “Built on the West Coast for service in the Northeast with suppliers from many states, businesses and workers from across the country are helping to modernize the locomotive fleet of America’s Railroad.”

Robert Puentes, a senior fellow in the Brooking Institution’s metropolitan policy program, said Amtrak isn’t the same organization it was a few years ago, relying on federal handouts.

“Even though Washington is mired in debt and dysfunction, Amtrak is reinventing itself,” Puentes said.

The new engines will be used on the Northeast Corridor between Washington, D.C., and Boston and on Keystone Corridor trains that run between Philadelphia and Harrisburg, Pa. Three were unveiled Monday before being sent out for testing. The first is due to go into service by this fall, and all 70 are expected to be in service by 2016.

Amtrak awarded the contract in 2010 to Munich-based Siemens AG, which has made a big investment in the American rail industry over the last decade. The company makes about one of every three light-rail vehicles in North America and is building light-rail vehicles for Minneapolis, Houston and San Diego at the Sacramento plant where Amtrak’s locomotives are being produced.

Among the improvements in the new locomotives are computers that can diagnose problems in real time and take corrective action and a braking system capable of generating 100 percent of the energy it uses back to the electric grid, similar to the way a hybrid automobile’s motor acts as a generator when braking, according to Michael Cahill, CEO for Siemens Rail Systems. That could produce energy savings of up to $300 million over 20 years, the company estimates.

The locomotives also feature crumple zones, which are basically cages built onto the front end of the train that can absorb impact from a collision. The new models will be the first in North America to use them, in compliance with new federal safety guidelines, Cahill said.

The locomotives, called Amtrak Cities Sprinters, are based on Siemens’ latest European electric locomotive and will replace Amtrak equipment that has been in service for 20 to 30 years and has logged an average of 3.5 million miles.

Simply having the same type of locomotive in operation should cut costs, Amtrak spokesman Steve Kulm said. Amtrak now uses three locomotive models, requiring slightly different maintenance, parts and training.

“Now, we will have one model, one inventory and one training program, and all that will help efficiency,” Kulm said.

About 750 people are employed at Siemens’ Sacramento plant. The locomotive project also involves Siemens plants in Columbus, Ohio, Richland, Miss., and Alpharetta, Ga.

The ripple effect spreads farther. As a condition of the Department of Transportation loan, the majority of the products and materials used to build the locomotives must be made in the U.S. As a result, some lighting parts are coming from Connecticut, the driver’s seat from Wisconsin, insulation from Indiana, electronics from Texas and hydraulic parts from California. In all, 70 suppliers in 23 states are providing components, Siemens said.

Amtrak must still seek federal funding for a long list of planned and ongoing improvements, including replacing sections of pre-World War II electrical systems on the Northeast Corridor that cause regular disruptions. The fact that Amtrak has reduced its debt by 60 percent over the last 10 years and its federal operating subsidy to 12 percent could make it an easier sell.

“Ten years ago we were in a tougher spot,” Boardman, the Amtrak president, said last week. “Now Amtrak on the Northeast Corridor is in a much healthier position. We’re trying to maximize that, to the extent we can, to pay for what we should pay for on the Northeast Corridor.”

Copyright (2013) Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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The alliance, which has 19 airlines as members, has introduced a dedicated portal on its website which can be used by delegates to book discounted air travel to events.

Skyteam’s Global Meetings product is free to use and is available for events which have 50 or more attendees travelling by air from at least two countries, excluding the host country.

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