Amtrak Board

[lordsigma12345]

https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-roo ... -nominees/

Biden announced five board nominees. If these go through there are three more.

[eolesen]

Not a single one has rail experience...

Sent from my SM-G981U using Tapatalk

[Railjunkie]

Would it be nice to have folks with some type if railroad experience running a railroad. What do these five bring to the table????? These are not your daddy's Lionel trains, the longer this type of "stuff" goes on the more I'm convinced the old timers were correct. The day is coming when you will show up to work and the doors will be chained and locked shut.
This place is like the Penn Central only Amtrak has a little bit of money.

[eolesen]

Apparently being a labor leader, disability activist, small town mayor, investment advisor and/or having a law degree makes you qualified to execute transportation strategy.

Nobody with logistics, technology or engineering. And not a single Asian or Latino that I'm aware of (most other checkboxes on the Diversity ticket seem to be punched).

Sent from my SM-G981U using Tapatalk

[lordsigma12345]

Biden has invited Senate Republicans to provide him with a slate of candidates for the remaining 3 seats which will be Republican appointees.

[JoeG]

This is a depressing list of nominees. Seems like Mr. Biden is paying off political debts rather than picking the best candidates to oversee a railroad. I guess we have a continuing bipartisan, lack of interest in Amtrak's actual improvement. The current Amtrak management has finally made its long distance trains so bad that I'm unlikely to plan any more overnight train trips. The NEC limps along and can't deal quickly or effectively with problems. It orders new Acela trainsets but it apparently takes two years to test them before they can be put in service. These are, after all, trains and not bleeding edge interplanetary space ships. We need a board of directors who can address at least some of these problems, not check obscure boxes on Mr. Biden's obligation list.

[lordsigma12345]

.The current Amtrak management has finally made its long distance trains so bad that I'm unlikely to plan any more overnight train trips.

Not trying to be a smart aleck and obviously where you spend your money as a consumer is your business but what is it you find “so bad?” I took a trip on the Lake Shore/Zephyr as recently as March and had a fine experience with really zero complaints - accommodations were adequate, staff was good, food and beverage was good. Now granted some routes are not getting priority treatment like the Texas Eagle and the experience on those routes may very will be different than what I experienced - and I’m sure there are some lousy crew members - but from my experiences I simply cannot subscribe to the view of many that things are in an across the board meltdown. Not saying there aren’t problems but they appear to be many of the same problems plaguing the transportation industry in general.

[Gilbert B Norman]

Yes Mr. Lord, I know you "lucked out" on your SPG-GRA Zephyr round trip, even if the delay to #6 @ WIP made your return "touch and go". Just as well your family was also there and gave you a lift to DEN, where you had options of the winged varietal.

Also, as I have previously reported here at the Forum, my next-door neighbors rode #5 NPV-GJC during same window as Mr. Lord's journey. The only previous Amtrak journey of his I know of was RAT-NPV in Coach ("if it's good enough for the Scouts, it's good enough for me!!).

Well, they loved it - and want to do it again!!!!

I'm silent beyond suggesting "get a Big Room" (be it assured in common with any of my neighbors, they can afford it). But I'm not placing any bets that next time will be as flawless.

Now to the Board; by now there must be acceptance the "crown jewel" - the Corridor - is never coming back. It's not Amtrak's fault but simply COVID has become the most transformative event ever for knowledge workers - and knowledge is the principal factor of production in products produced along the length of the Corridor. Amtrak will be hard pressed to fully utilize the new Acela equipment commanding fares in the "dollar a mile" range. The culprit of course is WFH and teleconferencing.

The burden will fall to this Board to formulate policy to deal with these adverse new realities. I really do not envy them and I must wonder just how much of a political reward they have been extended.

[lordsigma12345]

You aren’t wrong on any accounts - the loss of business travel on the corridor’s revenues and rethinking the business especially on Acela is going to be Amtrak’s biggest challenge of the next few years. While they have been able to get leisure ridership back up through bottom of the barrel fares that of course depresses the revenue column. Now my most recent trip down to Washington I noticed a significant uptick in ridership and fares….so we shall see how the numbers look after the summer.

[hrsn]

Apparently being a labor leader, disability activist, small town mayor, investment advisor and/or having a law degree makes you qualified to execute transportation strategy.

I've been looking over lists of past Amtrak BODs. It looks like the rules of it composition have changed over the years, but many political appointees had little to no experience in transportation. Which may explain a lot... Nevertheless, it seems now that management executes strategy and the BOD helps shape its political effects.

[StLouSteve]

A bit of topic drift from the Amtrak board to Biden's health:

The senility argument has been pushed by the right wing since before the election. The man has a speech impediment (stutter) that greatly affects his language. While no spring chicken, he does seem to have his faculties.

Back to the board...
Amtrak advocates asked that the administration fill the positions. They did. Rail Passenger Association (the former NARP) and the Unions have applauded the picks. One of them is the Mayor of Normal. If you haven't seen Normal recently, you would be astounded at the positive developments. The downtown has been entirely reimagined around the Amtrak stop with transit, bike trails and walkability. The fellow was actually a Trump pick--how about that for bipartisanship?

At least we have a board now that is not openly hostile to Amtrak. The additional picks are now up to the Republicans. The problem with selecting someone with rail background is that if he or she comes from a class one, they are likely anti-Amtrak expansion.