I hope that everyone had a nice holiday season. Now that travel is starting to pick up again, we wanted to send you an update on various issues that affect private car operations.

Organizational Changes

I am pleased to announce that Holly Adimari has joined our private car team effective February 1, 2004. Holly was most recently working in CNOC as a Crew Management Representative and prior to that assignment, as Manager of Mail & Express. She brings over 25 years of railroad experience to her new position. Having worked throughout the Northeast Corridor and in National Operations, Holly has developed the knowledge and skills to deal with the diverse operating issues that we face on a daily basis. I am sure that each of you will join me in wishing Holly good luck and extend your full cooperation in assisting her in her new role. Holly can be reached at 302-683-2064.

Movement Request Acknowledgement

Effective February 1, 2004 we have added a new step to the private car movement process that will benefit private car owners/operators and Amtrak. Within 72 hours of receipt of your movement request, we will send an acknowledgement of receipt of your movement request. If you have sent in requests prior to February 1st, we are currently catching up and we will send you an acknowledgement by February 15th.

Charter Requests

As a reminder, if you are looking to operate a charter train on Amtrak, your initial request must be sent to Bill Ladd – Director of Charter Services, 30th & Market Sts., Philadelphia, PA 19104. Bill’s phone number is - 215-349-2978. We work closely with Bill and his staff in the approval process but please remember, Bill and his staff are the first point of contact.

Tariff

The Private Car Tariff is currently being reviewed by Amtrak’s Legal Department. Once all of the issues are resolved, it will have to be reviewed and approved by various Amtrak officials. The process is on-going and we will keep you advised of our progress. It is our desire to finalize these steps within the next 30 – 60 days.

FRA Waiver Granted

The FRA has granted the requested waiver by AAPRCO, which will now allow 2 direct release cars in an otherwise graduated release train, and allow them to be placed anywhere in the train, instead of only at the rear. The ruling is broad enough to cover all cars, by any owner, in such a train. The waiver is for 5 years. (I have attached a copy of the waiver for your perusal in this e-mail).

Train Service Adjustments

The International

As many of you know, effective with the timetable change this April, the International will no longer operate. This train will now operate to Port Huron only.

FY ’03 Private Car Operational Review

Attached you will find some statistics from last fiscal year regarding private car operations. As information, Amtrak’s fiscal year runs from October 1st every year through September 30th of the following year. For private car moves, this is defined as cars moved per segment. As an example, a car that operates CHI – OAK is one move. A car that travels the same route but has a layover at Denver is defined as two moves due to the two segments traveled.

FY’ 03 Private Car Moves

Jan  43
Feb   59
Mar  64
Apr  99
May  161
Jun  139
Jul  154
Aug  100
Sep   133
Oct  226
Nov  111
Dec  69

Total - 1358

FY’ 03 Private Car Miles

Oct  114,075
Nov  51,649
Dec  19,971
Jan  22,481
Feb  24,914
Mar   46,422
Apr  80,052
May  65,881
Jun  82,402
Jul  82,846
Aug  36,300

Total - 734,869

FY’ 03 Private Car Revenue

Jan  34,551
Feb  35,846
Mar  65,717
Apr  113,247
May  101,038
Jun  115,877
Jul  106,649
Aug  53,638
Sep  144,630
Oct  141,361
Nov  75,282
Dec  27,554

Total - $1,015,391

Top Ten List - Mileage and Revenue

Listed below are the top ten owners/operators for mileage traveled and revenue generated. Congrats to those listed below and thank you all for traveling with us over the past year(s). We hope to see more of you in 2004!

Owners/Operators - Mileage

1.Roger VerBeeren
2.Dave Hoffman
3.Dean McCormick
4.Karl Cooper
5.John Kirkwood
6. David Rohr
7. Colorado Rail
8. Lovett Smith
9. Jack Heard
10. A.O.E

Owners/Operators - Revenue

1.Roger VerBeeren
2.Dave Hoffman
3.Dean McCormick
4.Karl Cooper
5.John Kirkwood
6. David Rohr
7. Colorado Rail
8. Lovett Smith
9. Jack Heard
10. A.O.E