A message from Bob Andrews,
Executive Rail's President
Friends:
During this challenging time, I wanted to take a moment to let you know what’s going on at Executive Rail and our parent company, The Catalpa Falls Group, LLC.
First, since our operations are based in the northeastern part of the United States, we have voluntarily suspended our transportation services in order to help stop the spread of the Coronavirus.
Secondly, like the rest of the country, we’re doing all we can to practice good personal hygiene habits, maintain social distancing, and work from home. While certain activities do require us to go into the field, in these limited cases, we are employing best practices to protect the health of our employees, contractors, and vendors.
While these are challenging and uncertain times, we are totally confident that there will be an end to this global crisis, and America’s indomitable spirit, creativity, and tenacity will see us through. We also believe that once this significant period of stress is over, and life returns to normal, America will need stress relief, and a critical part of that stress relief will take the form of vacations and leisure travel. In that spirit, Executive Rail is working every day so that when our clientele is ready to take a train excursion, we will be ready to answer the call. Amongst our current initiatives:
We are on track to complete our Domestic Strategic Plan this May. In January, Executive Rail retained Temple University’s Fox School of Business and Management’s Fox Management Consulting Practice (Philadelphia, PA) to assist us in developing a Strategic Plan so that Executive Rail can best serve its domestic market. Fox has provided us with a team of five professional MBA students, a project executive, and a lead professor to conduct the necessary research. Many of you have just received a survey from the Fox School and we are thankful to everyone who responded - your input is invaluable!
We are on track to complete our International Strategic Plan this May. In January, Executive Rail partnered with American University’s Practicum on Issues of Multinational Enterprises (Washington, D.C.). In this partnership, American University is providing two professional graduate students and an adjunct professor to help Executive Rail form a strategy to expand its international clientele. The team is concentrating on the demographics of the rail tourism market of the United Kingdom, Germany and France. Our strategic goal is two-fold. First, we are looking for ways to attract international clients who would like to come to the USA and ride Executive Rail, and second, we are looking for exciting rail-oriented venues for our USA clients who would enjoy an international trip to ride the trains and see the wonderful venues of the UK and Europe.
We are on track to acquire an Amtrak-approved and historically significant bedroom car. The acquisition of this car is well-suited to our Pennsylvania Railroad equipment portfolio and can be placed into service right away. The good news is that with this new bedroom car, along with the Catalpa Falls, Executive Rail will be able to accommodate groups of 30 overnight passengers as early as this summer (presuming, of course, the country has returned to normal by then).
We are on track to acquire a “Day Parlor Car”. Many of our prior guests have mentioned that they would like to have a car with an “open floor plan” so that they can co-mingle with their fellow passengers. The Philadelphia to Pittsburgh route is an example of a “day trip” where our prior guests have expressed a preference for this “open” floor plan. We’ve located the perfect car for this!
We are on track to program the renovation of former Pennsylvania Railroad sleeping car Chippewa Creek. In January of this year, The Catalpa Falls Group moved the Chippewa Creek from its prior long-term storage location at the Western Maryland Scenic Railroad in Ridgeley, WV to the Midwest Railway Preservation Society (MRPS) in Cleveland, OH. We are extremely pleased to have entered into a strategic partnership with the MRPS and are excited about working together to renovate the Chippewa Creek.
We are on track to program the renovation of our passenger cars located at the Great Lakes Central Railroad in Owosso, Michigan.
We are on track to continue forging our relationship with three potential rail-tourism strategic partners, all of whom will provide exciting opportunities for their clients through Executive Rail.
As you can see, the future remains bright, promising, and exciting for Executive Rail. We’re busy, we believe our strategic planning is sound, and despite the current crisis, we are proceeding to prosecute our agenda with an overarching spirit of optimism.
In the meantime, if you have future travel needs or have any questions about how Executive Rail can best serve you, please do not hesitate to reach us through our contact page.
At Executive Rail, we’re still on track!
Sincerely,
Robert C. Andrews, Jr., P.E., M.Sc.
Managing Partner & Chief Engineer
The Catalpa Falls Group, LLC
