Resolutions for Council Consideration on October 21, 2018

Resolutions Submitted For Consideration At The Council Of Representatives Business Session Being Held On Sunday, October 21, 2018 At The Hyatt Regency Miami

Pertinent Section From The Rail Passengers Association/NARP By-Laws:

Article VI - 9. Resolutions. In order for a resolution to be considered by the Council of Representatives it must be (a) submitted by a Representative in good standing, and (b) no more than 180 words in length. Upon receipt of the proposed resolution, the Secretary shall confirm that the resolution is no more than the maximum word count and if not compliant, inform the proposer of such fact. If the proposed resolution is more than 180 words in length, the proposer may cure by reducing the length of the proposal and resubmitting same as long as this is accomplished no later than thirty (30) days prior to the start of the Council of Representatives meeting. If the proposed resolution is compliant with this Section 9 of Article VI, then the resolution shall be placed tentatively on the business meeting agenda, subject to the resolution being seconded at the meeting in order to be discussed, in which case the Secretary shall notify the proposer of such tentative assignment. The Secretary shall attempt to notify by e-mail all Representatives of the proposed resolution as soon as practical. The foregoing requirements shall not apply to resolutions proposed by the Board of Directors.

Submitted by John Owen – 8/9/18

Be it resolved that the Council of Representatives of the Rail Passengers Association (National Association of Railroad Passengers) supports the expansion of the Amtrak national network and the restoration of passenger rail service as follows:

1. Extension of the Hoosier State Train from Indianapolis to Louisville, Nashville, Decatur and Birmingham over the former Floridian route.

2. Extension of the Kansas City Mules (Missouri River Runners) from St. Louis to Indianapolis over the former National Limited route.

3. Extension of the Heartland Flyer from Oklahoma City to Newton, KS on the former Lone Star / Texas Chief Route.

4. Restoration of the Broadway Limited Route from Chicago to New York via Fort Wayne

Submitted by John Owen – 8/9/18

Be it resolved that the Council of Representatives of the Rail Passengers Association (National Association of Railroad Passengers) shall create a Youth Council to encourage young people to become future leaders for passenger rail in the United States.

This group will have the power to elect a chair and co-chair from within the group.

Their focus will be as follows:

1. Promoting rail service at Universities, High Schools, Middle Schools

2. Organize student trips aboard passenger trains

3. Booths at Thomas the Tank events

4. Work with tourist lines and museums

5. Various promotions such as county and state fairs and festivals

Whereas, In recent weeks Amtrak has finally taken bold steps to try to deeply reduce its food service losses as required by law, in a way that is commendably not founded on degrading the customer experience, by using its long-existing right to fully outsource that service; and

Whereas, This planned change additionally offers an unprecedented opportunity to eliminate the archaic, abusive job conditions, and also sweep away the dysfunctional employee culture, that have afflicted American intercity passenger train food service for many decades;

Resolved, That the Rail Passengers Association commends Amtrak on this long-overdue initiative; and in addition urges that any resulting contract incorporate a complete redesign of Amtrak food service jobs, using more frequent crew changes, and the interlacing and overlapping of shifts, to eliminate the abnormally high shift lengths, substantial sleep deprivation, and excessive time away from home that have traditionally marred much American intercity passenger train food service work; and further urges that any resulting contract require that the contractor have, and continue to have, a nonunionized workforce that excludes all former unionized railroad employees.

Submitted by M. Paul Shore – 9/19/18

Whereas, From 1971 to the present, Amtrak stations of all types and in all locations have been filled with conditions that are unhelpful and even harmful to customers, such as inaccurate, misleading, confusing, or missing information, malfunctioning basic systems, and physical items in such poor condition that they are best removed rather than left in place; and

Whereas, Most Amtrak employees, both managerial and nonmanagerial, have historically been too apathetic, too convinced that these conditions are unimportant, and/or too incapable of imagining how the stations are perceived by inexperienced train travelers to be motivated to make improvements;

Resolved, That the Rail Passengers Association urges Amtrak to hire a rail-inexperienced outside firm to conduct four-times-yearly inspections of all staffed stations and twice-yearly inspections of all unstaffed stations, using standards developed by representatives from Amtrak management, the Amtrak Customer Advisory Council, and the Rail Passengers Association, recording deviations from those standards, immediately performing any easily made corrections, and compiling recommendations for other corrections, giving special attention to ones requiring only minimal expenditures of time, money, and effort.