NEW AMTRAK CEO: William J Flynn

[Greg Moore]

That is somewhat reassuring.

But I do wonder as others have mentioned, why the seemingly sudden change?

I do hope this bodes well.

[Gilbert B Norman]

I have also learned that Amazon Air "dry leases" their aircraft to several different airlines, one of which is Atlas. A "dry lease" is where an uncertified aircraft owner or lessee, enters into an agreement with a certified carrier to operate their aircraft. Apparently Jeff "wants it this way" and long-term; you know Unions and all those things he so "adores".

[superstar]

Anderson was never planned to be a long tenured CEO. Coscia seems to be making it clear that the board sees Flynn as their leader well into the future.

[gokeefe]

Correct. That being said these carriers choose to specialize in the field and they are quite good at what they do. I've flown Delta homebound and aside from the stewardesses sharing the German bread and cold cuts they had picked up on their way in it was just as good as "Anonymous Airlines".

I can't emphasize enough that I think experience with the federal government as your primary customer is a really good background for this job. Anderson got a lot done. The reservations changes were perhaps the "finishing touch". Amtrak will reap those additional profits for decades to come and we will all benefit from improved capacity and better trains.

Now they move on to the next guy for the job who has some very interesting years ahead of him. Amtrak has been on a really good run lately. The Board, CEOs, senior management and political supporters have all been very consistent.

Now just imagine if "Middle Class Joe" goes all the way ...

[eolesen]

Anderson has placed plenty of people into the planning and finance groups at Amtrak, so his influence will last quite a while.

Interestingly, Flynn is older than Anderson, but he's the long term pick?...

[Gilbert B Norman]

I don't blame Mr. Anderson one bit for "pulling the pin". He doesn't need the misery dumped on him by "the Critters" when he wanted to "scalp the Chief" in that he (Amtrak) was confronted with solely maintaining a 350 mile stretch of road that the Class I owner would otherwise abandon. Nor did he need the advocacy/experiential community chomping at him to provide service amenities that had outlived their usefulnes, I'll say, sixty years ago.

While I'm not much of a rider anymore - especially after my "institutional" Auto-Train experience reported upon at the AT topic, it appeared Mr. Anderson was making progress in the areas of on-time performance, safety - passenger and employee, and was "getting the ball rolling" with equipment replacement. That he was unable to successfully address the biggest infrastructure concern - the Gateway Tunnels - must rank as the biggest disappointment of his tenure.

Finally, hope no one is pinning their hopes on a return of the."Century" or "Super", or even the Pacific Parlours, from an incoming management drawn from an air freight carrier.

[mtuandrew]

Interesting choice. We’ve had professional railroaders and airline chiefs, so I guess it’s good that this guy has experience with both. He also knows how to get what he needs from government.

I’m still giving him side-eye, mind, but will withhold further judgment until he deserves it.

[pateljones]

Good luck to this new gentleman. And thank you to Mr Anderson. I think think Mr Anderson achieved very good results for Amtrak and his changes improved Amtrak. Now we will see what Mr Flynn achieves.

[bostontrainguy]

For what it's worth:

Flynn comes from a railroading family. His father was a Conrail engineer; his uncle, an Amtrak engineer; and his brother, an Amtrak conductor and local union chair.

From Railway Age

[east point]

I take Umbrage on the statement Anderson has improved on time service. He has had absolutely no influence on NS to improve its OTP. The Crescent is actually getting worse south of CLT.

[Greg Moore]

Between my experience last year on the Crescent, reading about it this year, and their so called "improvements" in the dining car, this is the first year Southwest got my dollars for my annual trip to Atlanta. So yeah, can't see Anderson did much on that front.

[David Benton]

Wick Moorman was as railroad as you can get , and I'm not sure he accomplished alot.

[Rockingham Racer]

Wick Moorman was as railroad as you can get , and I'm not sure he accomplished alot.

True, but then: he wasn't around long enough to do so.

[mcgrath618]

For what it's worth:

Flynn comes from a railroading family. His father was a Conrail engineer; his uncle, an Amtrak engineer; and his brother, an Amtrak conductor and local union chair.

From Railway Age

I hate to be that guy, but do we think perhaps Mr. Flynn will therefore be more accommodating to excursions on Amtrak rails?

[mtuandrew]

I hate to be that guy, but do we think perhaps Mr. Flynn will therefore be more accommodating to excursions on Amtrak rails?

Flynn strikes me as a “if the money’s there, I’m there” kinda guy. You’d have to be, to send commercial airliners into war zones. Private car owners can’t be THAT much worse than warlords, can they?