Amtrak Corporate Organization

[gokeefe]

As far as I can tell ... We've never had a topic for this but we probably should. Here's to hoping for civil discussion for many pages to come.

This is the article which caught my attention:

To increase organizational effectiveness, improve service to its 31 million customers and position itself for an even more competitive future, Amtrak has announced several management and organizational changes.

Effective immediately, Amtrak President and CEO Wick Moorman reduced by half the senior management team into six direct reports:

Operations – Scot Naparstek, chief operating officer
Marketing and Business Development – Jason Molfetas, executive vice president
Finance – Jerry Sokol, chief financial officer
Law – Eldie Acheson, general counsel and corporate secretary
Administration – DJ Stadtler, chief administrative officer
Planning, Technology and Public Affairs – Stephen Gardner, executive vice president
“Since joining the Amtrak team in September, I’ve been impressed by the dedication and passion of our employees and leadership team,” said Moorman. “This new structure aligns with our focus on improving the way we do business, modernizing and enhancing the customer experience, and investing in the future.”

I'm trying to figure out if this does away with the "business unit" approach for Long Distance, State Supported and NEC implemented under Boardman.

[Ken W2KB]

>>>improve service to its 31 million customers<<<. Rather deceptive number. Amtrak does not have 31 million customers. This is the number of all boardings for travel in a year. Many, probably a rather high percentage, are passengers who ride many times a year and are counted for customers each time they do ride. Also, anyone who travels to a destination on one day and returns on another is counted twice in this number.

[gokeefe]

Given Mr. Moorman's lifelong railroad career I found myself wondering if anything other than geographic organization of operations was simply an unthinkable state of affairs.

[SRich]

a centralized organisation supporting the different Amtrak divisions. If the overhead is low and idem to management functions , it should be working

[John_Perkowski]

He's been the successful president of a major railroad. I think he has a clue.

[markhb]

From the linked article:

To strengthen focus on safety and service delivery, train operations will be managed regionally through three general managers and supported by Mechanical, Engineering, Network Support, Police and Security organizations.

So I don't think the three business units are going away, they're just consolidating some of the sharable services.

[AgentSkelly]

I still remember when there was the regional divisions of Amtrak....which used to like to blame each other...

[gokeefe]

He's been the successful president of a major railroad. I think he has a clue.

Never doubted that. As a student of management I'm curious why he's choosing to make a change to the organizational structure. It's not as if Amtrak is a failing organization right now. They're doing better than they ever have on certain key business metrics. In operational metrics like safety the record is mixed.

[gokeefe]

This very last part was surprising:

These changes arrive before Amtrak plans to relocate its headquarters. After 30 years in Washington Union Station, Amtrak is looking to move its main offices to another location in Washington D.C.

[F-line to Dudley via Park]

This very last part was surprising:

These changes arrive before Amtrak plans to relocate its headquarters. After 30 years in Washington Union Station, Amtrak is looking to move its main offices to another location in Washington D.C.

They own it. If they think they can make more money leasing out swank office space like that rather than occupying it themselves, and that their administrative functions can be served just as well leasing/owning considerably less-swank real estate elsewhere in town...then they've got a profit motive for it. Having all of corporate HQ'd there was always more symbolic than truly mission-critical. It's not like the yardmaster is being asked to telecommute from Landover. Desk jockeys and upper managers are eminently portable inside a city with saturation transit coverage. If somebody's willing to pay them some of the highest rents in an extremely high-rent town for that space, they'd be crazy not to do it.

[Gilbert B Norman]

According to Wiki, Union Station is owned by the non-profit Union Station Redevelopment Corporation, but an 84-year lease of the property is held by New York-based Ashkenazy Acquisition Corporation and managed by Chicago-based Jones Lang LaSalle. The physical plant is owned by Washington Terminal Company, which is 99.99% owned by Amtrak (some minority interest is playing "stick in the mud").

Amtrak owns outright the Chicago Union Station Company, and their building has six floors of vacant office space. While there are plans to redevelop CUS with a 25 story atop the so-called Great Hall (it was built with caissons that can support such a structure; as that what was planned during 1920 until "politics got in the way"), those seem to be going slow at present. So who knows, maybe Amtrak HQ could come out here - and maybe get Washington out of their hair (well, a little bit).

Now so far as the organizational shake up goes, there's a new Sheriff in town writing a new script for the "Who's On First" skit.

[gokeefe]

Desk jockeys and upper managers are eminently portable inside a city with saturation transit coverage. If somebody's willing to pay them some of the highest rents in an extremely high-rent town for that space, they'd be crazy not to do it.

I completely agree. Office space that close to Union Station and the Capitol is about as pricey as it gets.

[MACTRAXX]

Everyone:

After reading GBN's post about Chicago Union Station office space being available this makes
me think of something similar that I was told about back around the year 2000 or thereabouts:

Amtrak moves its Corporate Headquarters from Washington to Philadelphia with the exception
of its Government Affairs/Relations office and staff.

30th Street Station or another location (I recall that Amtrak once had floor space in the former
PRR Suburban Station Building) could be Amtrak's new headquarters in a city that has available
office space for more then likely much less cost then remaining in Washington.

Would a move to Philadelphia (or Chicago) be practical today for Amtrak's corporate staff?

MACTRAXX

[gokeefe]

The whole point is not to occupy valuable downtown office space. 30th Street Station would be the same mistake just different town. Same with Chicago Union Station. I'm guessing Amtrak is going to go somewhere deeper into the Northeast side of Washington.

[Greg Moore]

I've been thinking about this a bit.
First, I've got to say I've been lucky enough to be inside the offices at WAS once. What was really cool was seeing the top of the domes over the outer "walkway". They're brick domes exposed on the inside. Basically.

Anyway, while economically it may make sense, I think it may be a bad idea.

Amtrak is, first and foremost a railroad. And I think it's important that the workers, especially management never forgets it.
The crafts know it because they leave and breath it every day. But the feeling I get from time to time is that management sometimes is a bit too remote from the actual operations. Being in a building where you can feel the rumble, look out your window and see the trains and more helps lessen that. Move away to a remote office and you may soon forget what your primary business is.

It's just a thought.