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Boardman: Amtrak won’t push for daily ‘Sunset’
Well now we know where Amtrak’s head man stands re. long distance passenger trains- he obviously wishes they would just go away!
Mr. Boardman is not a leader nor is he a visionary. And that is sad. He may be on a mission to pass the Corridor trains over the states in toto. So the flyover states and the votes of their congresspeople become irrelevant.
I don’t know if it will work, but it may well be the strategy–assuming Mr. Boardman has any kind of strategy.
Let’s hope the Amtrak board asks for his resignation…soon!
It’s time for Boardman to step down and bring back Bill Crosbie and by any luck, ask David Gunn to come back one more time to right the ship
Joe Boardman needs to go. Amtrak needs David Gunn or a Graham Claytor type to run the show. Not even trying to negotiate with UP on a daily Sunset is a disgrace. Same for the Cardinal, no discussion of daily operation. Not even a connection from the Texas Eagle to Houston?
No future with no additional equipment.
Indiana
Maybe a bit “off topic”, but do the South Carolina Republican primary voters know that Mitt Romney wants to shut down Amtrak? No more Silver Star. No more Silver Meteor. No more Palmetto. No more AutoTrain, passing thru, or stopping, in the Palmetto State. He is of “my party”, but is clueless, methinks.
Amtrak always cries the ‘blues’ when it comes to having enough equipment, but they always seem to come up with the cars and locomotives for promotional and PC ‘tours’. Uncle Joe doesn’t have a clue! What would Disney say if they couldn’t get a dedicated consist? Silly, methinks.
I think you folks should look at the political realities and stop wishing for unrealities. I too would love to see Amtrak expand and grow- challenge Union Pacific’s incomprehensible charges for making the Sunset daily and increase routes- but financial and political reality is what Boardman is dealing with and for that I cannot fault him. I hope he is firm on keeping the long distance trains in place- and does not sell them out along with the communities they serve- Amtrak’s America as it has been termed.
Political reality is that despite “The People” firmly voting for Amtrak service with their pocketbooks, the Congress always has their own agenda in mind and that is serving themselves rather than their constituents. Politics is not about truth and what’s best for the people you serve- I will leave it for you to fill in the rest.
I love passenger trains and feel they should have a growing place in our transportation system. I don’t care that they lose money, because I know the money lost (as with highways) is far offset by the commerce and mobility they enable (the bigger picture if you will).
Without solid transportation policy, without leaders who are truly interested in citizen’s transportation choices, future mobility, and competitiveness along with the environment, you will never see progress for Amtrak, not with David Gunn running the show or anyone else. Instead you will continue to get John Mica/John McCain style political grandstanding; ideological nonsense and babble from so-called think tanks and pundits, and a preponderance of ignorance due to generally poor media reporting on true transportation costs in general.
It will never get better-
Face it folks- Amtrak’s failure is really America’s failure-
I think folks need to stop dreaming of unrealities and take a fact check on what Boardman is dealing with. I would love to see Amtrak increase capacity on exisiting routes, expand into new routes and push back against the likes of Union Pacific, but funding has to come from somewhere and Union Pacific has deep pockets; Amtrak does not.
I hope Boardman remains steadfast on keeping and improving existing long distance trains, but until the idiots in the district actually have a transporation “plan” or a clue as to a balanced transporation system or interest in acknowledging the fact that Americans have been voting for Amtrak (long distance trains included) with thier pocketbooks and want more, I am afraid things will remain as they are.
The Sunset east of NewOrleans was lost from the start in 2005. Politics, in the form of a Florida Congressman saw to it never coming back. As for Amtrak, it is useless now unless you live on the NEC, and like someone else, I resent having to pay for service I cannot use so some other state lives in luxury. It is time to shut down Amtrak and let the private operators pick over the carcass.
That the man charged with running Amtrak would make these statements is outrageous. He needs to resign. Since he forced Crosby out, operations have spun out of control; witness last summer. Over the past 8 weeks half of Amtrak’s senior leadership has resigned or taken early retirement. It seems people are voting with their feet and now we know why. He is clearly a government administrator, not a business leader. When you factor in all the costs, the NEC is just as big a loser as any other train in the system. In fact most of the NEC costs are below the rail and we keep pumping billions into that 450 miles of track running every conceivable train to every possible NE destination. What would happen if they put 10% of that effort into other corridors around the country. This is just more evidence that Amtrak headquarters needs to be moved to Chicago, where management with a more balanced view of the country will result. Conrail management had the same NE bias. Amtrak has the legal authority to tell UP what it is going to do, but seems to have no spine. They should just tell UP we are coming, get out of the way or see you in court. The UP can’t call Dick Cheney any more. This is the story of the year in the passenger train world. I complement Bob Johnston and Don Phillips for uncovering the truth about this CEO. Trains should pursue this story further. We should all be calling our congressmen and the administration demanding this guy’s removal. The head of Amtrak should be a leader and cheerleader for the passenger train. And all this from a guy who doesn’t fly. How does Boardman expect to get anywhere if the national system collapses?
Boardman needs a new job.
Mr. Boardman’s response concerning U.P. does not sound good. Maybe, he plans to keep Beech Grove open, so that the long distance cars can be converted to commuter cars at that location. Maybe, the Cardinal will be the" last man standing," since they use it to deadhead cars from all points to Beech Grove. Hmm!
I would like to see it mandatory that all politicians have to travel Amtrak for 1 yr. and all airline travel for them be allowed only in an emergency. Perhaps the politicians would then get some understanding of those who by monetary misfortune have to travel Amtrak as they can’t afford any other way.
In a sentence in my previous comment, I meant to write that driving is the only thing I can do and accomplish travel within the day. Also, at the end, the one cost is the $700 million UP mentioned for daily service.
I also meant to add that if Amtrak worked closely with the Dallas/Ft. Worth commuter trains, plus looked into the southern route, if they were smart enough to do the equipment move I mentioned, this would then give rise to exploring the corridor down through Bryan-College station to restore Houston-Chicago service with the Eagle, with ample connections via the service between SAS and NOL to get to LAX or AUS or what not, and the commuter train to connect between Dallas, Fort Worth, Arlington, etc. Personally, I’d actually run the corridor and then send the Eagle to NOL while sending the acquired Flyer equipment and provide service to Galveston, once again providing more service to more communities, no extra equipment needed, and the only costs being the stations and track lease. Again, if daily would be too much, tri-weekly it could be until something could be done.
I think a better candidate for daily service is the ‘Cardinal’. what’s the holdup to initiating that?
I know it is a pipe dream, but it sure would be nice to have the Sunset back as when the Espee ran it in its prime, with PA’s on the point. Remember seeing it many times in my home town as a kid in Texas.
Boardman is a bureaucrat.
His favorite word is “can’t.”
Again Amtrak is committing a major disservice to California and all other communities along the Sunset Route. It openly admits it would lose less money on a daily Sunset, which everyone wants, and would result in much higher ridership.
Amtrak is a sell out to the NEC. Western taxpayers should get a rebate, or break Amtrak into regions so the West can do what it wants, and clearly is very good at, per the San Joaquins and Capitols.
It is bad enough I have to drive 113 miles to get to the nearest Amtrak stop (ON THE Texas Eagle ROUTE). I would ride much more than I do “if revenue and ridership on the triweekly Los Angeles-New Orleans Sunset Limited could be increased dramatically by re-deploying its equipment as part of a daily Chicago-Los Angeles Texas Eagle.” Tri- weekly necessitates I laying over on return trips adding to my expense and inconvenience. Please keep beating on UP to be reasonable instead of just greedy!