CHICAGO — Is it possible for a career airline executive tapped to become Amtrak’s new Long-Distance Services Business Development Vice President to leverage a passenger train’s unique attributes into a better product than his predecessors did?
Trains News Wire caught up with the man in that position, former Sun Country Airlines and MLT Vacations marketing executive Larry Chestler, at Chicago Union Station just before he boarded Amtrak’s Cardinal on Oct.1, the first day the train began offering the latest, entree-in-a-bowl iteration of “contemporary” dining, designed to cut onboard labor costs [see “Analysis: ‘Evolving’ menu on tap for all eastern overnighters,” Trains News Wire, Sept. 17, 2019].
On the job for only a few weeks, Chestler freely admits, “(I’m) still too new to have a clear sense of the dynamics of our linear route structure and the ‘peakyness’ of some of the segments; what demand is driven by people riding all the way through versus others riding portions of the route.” Up to that point, the Portland, Ore., native had only ridden the Coast Starlight and one other Amtrak long distance train.
“The role I’m stepping into as the commercial leader is take all of the elements and look at what (the trains) need to be more successful — whatever that definition is,” says Chestler. “My team should have enough knowledge about the traffic use and customer base of (each) train and what its role is in the national network to be able to clearly advocate what it brings.”.
Pricing and inventory management “are very vital levers,” he believes, but “going forward I think part of my job is advocating on behalf of long distance routes.” That said, he added, “my role is not to be siloed on long distance [because] other parts of the business aren’t my competitors or rivals, they’re my partners.”
Chestler says he is “keenly interested” in understanding how passengers connect between the inter-regional, state-supported, and Northeast Corridor trains. He got a taste of how important that revenue is when visiting Chicago Union Station’s Metropolitan Lounge at about 1 p.m., when it was packed to capacity with mostly sleeping car passengers transferring from eastern long distance and Michigan Wolverine arrivals to Empire Builder, California Zephyr, Southwest Chief, Texas Eagle, and Midwest corridor departures.
Although one purpose of his trip to Washington, D.C., was to observe how the new food offerings were served and being received by passengers, Chestler would spend the night in an extra-wide coach seat of the train’s business class section. This is something Amtrak managers at all levels almost never do, but all roomettes and bedrooms in the Cardinal’s lone sleeper had been sold out weeks in advance.
A second Viewliner sleeper hasn’t been available because a car damaged in the February 2018 Silver Star collision has yet to be repaired and Amtrak has only one of 25 Viewliner II sleeping cars — with a different room configuration — on the property.
“My trip was an enlightening experience—not a great night of sleep for me in the business class seat,” Chestler emailed Trains News Wire after the journey, “but it was good for me to experience the product as the majority of our customers do, in a seat.” He adds, “The flexible dining food service was well-received by our customers and the onboard staff did a nice job delivering the product. I met some nice fellow travelers, and enjoyed the scenery through West Virginia.”
He also revealed that the deployment of a Viewliner II diner on the triweekly train’s two sets of equipment won’t take place “for the time being” because Amfleet II lounge cars, “are the most suitable for this service given the configuration of the cars and the Cardinal’s passenger volume.”
