(The following story by Uriah A. Kiser appeared on the News and Messenger website on April 13, 2010.)
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The new company that will operate and maintain Virginia Railway Express trains is recruiting new employees, despite a warning from Amtrak’s top official that the new company will not be ready to take over June 28.
In an April 9 letter to Virginia Transportation Secretary Sean T. Connaughton, Amtrak CEO Joseph Boardman warned that the trainmen and engineer unions had yet to reach an agreement with Keolis, which was selected in November to replace Amtrak as VRE’s operator.
VRE fired back this week, saying that agreements have been reached, and that Keolis plans to offer a more competitive financial package to current Amtrak employees in hopes they will stay with VRE, despite internal worries that Amtrak may terminate them before the new contract takes effect.
“There are all kind of rumblings internally about how Amtrak is going to usurp [the recruitment] process. Do we think that all of the Amtrak employees will move? Certainly not, but clearly there will be some representation of workers who will come over,” said VRE spokesman Mark Roeber.
Amtrak says they need to retain their employees to remain competitive.
“To the best of my knowledge, Amtrak employees plan to stay with Amtrak,” stated Boardman in his letter. “I believe our employees are our key competitive advantage and the strongest part of what Amtrak brings to the table. I have told them I very much want them to stay with us.”
In addition to recruiting Amtrak employees, Keolis has received multiple resumes from new applicants eager to come work at VRE, said Roeber.
Boardman also asked Connaughton to closely monitor the Keolis transition.
“Amtrak appreciates the good working relationship that we have built with VRE commuters and with the Commonwealth of Virginia over the years. Amtrak has done everything possible to make this a smooth transition, short of simply handing over our employees,” stated Boardman.
Customers will benefit once the transition is complete, as Keolis crews will work solely on VRE trains—unlike Amtrak board crews who can opt to work on other trains, said Roeber.
“We are meeting every timeline, we are meeting deadline and we are meeting every checkpoint that has been set up in this process,” he added.
The $85 million contract with VRE marks the first time Keolis, a French company, has been awarded a contract to operate passenger rail in the U.S. VRE expects to save $1.2 million a year with the new five-year agreement.
Amtrak has been the sole contracted operator for VRE since the service began in 1992.