Amtrak Case Study

In 1993 an Amtrak passenger train went through one the worst and devastating disaters in history. The train was carrying over two hundred passengers and within an hour of the train's departure it landed in the Big Bayou Canot in Alabama. There were many injured with close to fifty fatalities.

The stockholders in this case are the employees, the customers, and the owners of the railroad lines and terminals. Some of their main interests are for-profit reasons, safety and security f the passengers.

Amtrak's corprate social responsibility begins with monitoring and ensuring the company's support of good law practices, upholding excellent ethical standards, and international "norms." To begin with the legal obligation, Amtrak must provide safe services for the passengers when they are riding. The service must also include a dependable service that will keep customers and gain potential customers. Legally, the company is responsible for this accident due to the fact that the train was traveling above approved speed and the actions of the engineers were delayed at the time of the accident.

Speaking in economic terms, Amtrak needs to train their engineers properly providing them with clear guidelines on how to operate their trains and how to act quickily in case of an emergency. They also need to provide improvements on tracking their trains. In this case there was a big issue with trying to track the exact location of where the train had derailed. This falls on the ethics side of the corporation.

On the philanthropic side it shows the concern for humanity. The company showed this action when they did charitable contributions by donating money. THe company should have paid the families of those that lost their lives in this disater. This would have been a good notion and gester of care.

I recommend that there is an investigation of the actions of the engineers. There should be corrections on how they could have reacted differently. There should also be a...