Havre losing Amtrak ticket agents Friday

Havre and Shelby’s Amtrak ticket offices are set to close, Havre’s closing Friday, with many residents of the region members still opposed to the decision.

The Havre and Shelby communities have made efforts to voice their concerns including contacting Montana’s U.S. Sens. Steve Daines and Jon Tester and U.S. Rep. Greg Gianforte.

In turn, those members of Congress have sent letters and made attempts to contact the president and CEO of Amtrak, Richard H. Anderson.

All three said they have not had any response.

Gianforte told the Havre Daily News he will continue to work on the problem.

“Access to reliable rail service along the Hi-Line is critical to Montana, particularly those who live in our rural communities. Amtrak should ensure it has an infrastructure in place that serves Montanans who depend on the Empire Builder,” he said in a statement to the Havre Daily. “My staff worked with (Havre) Mayor (Tim) Solomon to help ensure that a representative from Amtrak was able to participate and hope we can find a solution.”

Solomon said Wednesday he has recently contacted Amtrak Director of Government Affairs Robert Eaton, who told him nothing has changed and Amtrak still plans to close the Havre ticket office Friday.

The members of the congressional delegation all have said Amtrak needs to rethink its scheduled destaffing.

“Amtrak owes the communities of Havre and Shelby — my constituents — answers to very serious concerns about the reported plans to close ticket counters and eliminate all staff from both stations,” Tester wrote in his most recent letter, May 24, to Anderson.

Tester also sent a letter May 8 of this year and has called Anderson’s office but has yet to hear a reply, Tester spokesperson Marnee Banks said.

Daines and Gianforte sent a joint letter to Anderson May 25.

“Rural Montana relies on Amtrak and the Empire Builder to remain connected to the national transportation network,” they wrote in the letter

Amtrak announced in April that they would be destaffing their stations in Havre and Shelby effective the start of June, giving a little more than a month for the communities and employees to react to the decision.

Havre resident Josie England said that she has been riding Amtrak for years, mostly during the winter. She said she has used the phone system for Amtrak and the system is not user-friendly.

“By the time that I got to where I wanted, I forgot what I was going to do. It’s hold the line for this, hold the line for that, dial this, dial that,” England said, adding, “Here, you walk into the ticket office, they help you right away. They take care of your luggage, they talk to you. It’s a different feeling.”

Havreite Mark Stolen also said he has been a repeat customer for Amtrak over the years, riding to the west coast around six times a year, purchasing a ticket for the sleeper cars.

Stolen said he travels for medical reasons and during the winter Amtrak is sometimes the only way out of town. Stolen added that “things aren’t going to work as smooth as Amtrak is trying to say.”

He was also concerned with the baggage assistance. He said that after the ticket office is closed passengers will still be allowed to carry on four bags each that weight up to 125 pounds, but besides that being a lot of weight for the elderly and disabled to carry, it will be inconvenient for the conductors and passengers due to a lack of space to store them.

In an email sent to Havre Daily News Marysue Davis voiced her concern for the Amtrak ticket office closing. Davis, 57 and a lifetime resident of the Hi-Line, said she suffers from a speech impediment which make is difficult to use the automated system.  With the library closed Sundays — her only computer access is at the public library — she would be unable to buy a ticket to leave town that day if an emergency occurs and she needed to leave town on that day without a ticket agent, she said.

She added that with the winter the Hi-Line has just had, she would have been stranded here up to eight months if there had not been a ticket agent.

Davis said her deceased sister was a Malta resident and a quadriplegic and blind, and the fact that the Malta station is unstaffed and made it difficult for her sister to travel.

“It was nearly an impossible situation, Davis said. “There are people who depend on the ticket agents to help with the various jobs they do.”

“I believe, too, it would be unlawful to discriminate against the handicapped people,” she said.

The changes may be a result in the current management having little experience with railroad operations, former Havre and Cut Bank resident Mark Meyers of Oregon, Rep-At-Large for the Railroad Passenger Association said in an article in the Cut Bank Pioneer Press.

“Amtrak management in general is currently lacking sufficient historical and institutional knowledge of railroad operation,” Meyers said.

Former President and CEO of Amtrak Joe Boardman has also voiced his concerns with the current management.

“I am concerned that the Amtrak Board has begun to set their policy based on what we might call a ‘Hedge Hog’ as opposed to ‘Hedge Fund’ approach,” Boardman said in an email to Trains Magazine published in an article in the magazine. “Meaning that the board sees an opportunity to ‘Hog’ all the Federal Assistance to complete the Gateway Plan; Procure new city-pair ‘Train Sets’ operating off the NEC to the Southern big cities like Charlotte, North Carolina and Atlanta and others; and shortening more routes in order to transfer more cost to the States while abandoning the National purpose of Amtrak.”

Boardman added, “Worst yet, it’s being done without a ‘public policy’ process. Amtrak is not really a ‘private business,’ it is a ‘state owned enterprise.’”

Tester wrote that only having one station in Montana staffed with ticket agents year-round — Whitefish — and another staffed seasonally — East Glacier — will cause problems.

“The other 10 stations spanning the state end-to-end — a distance more than 450 miles — would be left without any in-person representatives,” Tester said in his May 8 letter to Anderson. “I am concerned that the proposals put forward would place an undue burden on rural Montana and undermine our economy and way of life.”

“Havre and Shelby have long been reliable, committed partners  of Amtrak. … These ticket agents provide far more service than simply ticket sales, such as baggage assistance, assistance to passengers with special needs and helpful information about the local communities for those visiting from outside the region. The impact the loss of these jobs will have on the local communities cannot be overstated,” Gianforte and Daines wrote in their letter.

Tester said in his second letter to Anderson, “I urge that Amtrak engage these communities as soon as possible. Until then, any decisions about staffing should be suspended.”