Ok you UP fans and employees, What can you tell us about Amtrak’s new president and his exploits on the UP?
…This should be interesting…Didn’t know we now have a permanent fellow on the job. Hope he is someone who desires to help make the operation better and some incentives for folks to ride. Trouble is…believe everyone is restricted by budget.
Welcome to the forum Mathew…
Thanks I was here before under ralphm, but only today have I been able to get logged on with the new Trains pages. Its been irritating.
This article from last year was emailed to me yesterday. Kind of a boomer. Should be interesting to see how long he sticks with Amtrak.
Profile: Alex Kummant
"By Gregory Meyer
June 01, 2005
Crane’s Chicago BusinessAlex Kummant has a self-confessed “emotional tie to big stuff in industrial
settings.”In a pipe mill he has shouldered a sledgehammer. At Union Pacific Railroad,
where he managed regional operations for four years, seeing engines charge
across the Great Plains gave him goose bumps. Until this year he was
president of Bomag, a German manufacturer of steamrollers and other hefty
machines.Earlier this spring, Mr. Kummant, 44, moved to Chicago to take up a new job:
executive vice president and chief marketing officer at heavy equipment
maker Komatsu America Corp.“You just have to have a certain appreciation for the scale and mass of
these businesses,” he says in a phone interview from Vernon Hills, the
Japanese company’s North American headquarters. He anxiously awaits a turn
in the high seat of a Komatsu excavator.This lover of large things arrives at a transitional time for Komatsu. Known
best in North America for colossal mining and quarrying machinery, the firm
is paying more attention to the smaller stuff. It was only in 1997 that the
American operation started selling compact construction equipment, such as
the toy-like skid steer loaders often seen hauling dirt or concrete on
construction sites. “One of our goals as a company is to grow that product
line,” Mr. Kummant says.
He has quite an impressive educational resume! First rate engineering colleges and a top notch MBA.
Not a career railroader, but seems to be a “nuts and bolts” guy.
He sure seems to be well qualified to run a company of Amtrak’s size. The only real unknown is his political savy…
I also wonder if his UP connection will make matters better or worse for the UP hosted trains?
His wife, Kathleen Regan Kummant, is a former senior executive with the Santa Fe and BNSF railroads.
I think the question should be how will he get along with the Secretary of Transportation. You could have seen all the trouble Gunn had coming just by who held the appointment.
…From above post…“German manufacturer of steam rollers”…?? Still…?
The following is from the UTU site yesterday.
(Kummant, who held several senior executive posts at UP from 1999-2003, including vice president, central region, in Kansas City, is married to a former BNSF Railway executive, Kathleen Regan, who was vice president, automotive, and vice president business development for BNSF until her 2004 departure from BNSF. Both are contributors to George W. Bush’s presidential campaign, as is Amtrak Chairman David Laney. The three once resided in Dallas, Texas, suburbs.)
The complete item can be found at:
http://www.utu.org/worksite/detail_news.cfm?ArticleID=30173
Note that the item is an Associated Press report filed 8/29 with inserts, including the paragraph above, made by the UTU editor.
…Alex sounds like a fellow with toughness and coming to a job ready to get the job done…but the political side…??? Time will tell.
His first order of business was to sue all the model train manufacturers for making unauthorized models of Amtrak equipment.
And the battle is joined…[sigh][banghead]
Lets hope he can do some good for Amtrak and its customers, and not just be someone in charge of rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic…[zzz][zzz][zzz][4:-)][8]