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BOARDMAN TO RETIRE
Mr. Boardman has been doing a good job of bringing Amtrak into greater efficiency and return on revenue. The Northeast Corridor became profitable when naysayers said passenger trains can never be profitable again.
I hope Mr. Boardman’s successor will be at least as good as he is. His retirement in September 2016 will be exactly two years after mine as a librarian.
The Northeast Corridor is NOT PROFITABLE. Any claim that any enterprise is “profitable” without considering the cost of investment in physical plant is specious. Amtrak has “convinced” the uninformed among the media and the unwashed among the public that “the Northeast Corridor is profitable” when even above the rail, only the Acela Express services are not losing money…the Regionals still operate at a loss. As a whole, the enormous cost to maintain and invest in the physical plant far exceeds the revenues from train operations on the Northeast Corridor. If there is a measure of Boardman’s success, it is in promulgating an untruth. In World War II this was referred to as “The Big Lie (German: Große Lüge).”
Boardman’s administration has seen the Amtrak-promoted (through its 'friends in Congress) cast-off of non-Corridor shorthaul trains to where Amtrak’s status in their operation is as a contractor, with the States and Joint Powers Boards dictating service levels, schedules, equipment and standards. The Diesel locomotive fleet is in a poor state of repair. The order for much-needed new equipment for the Eastern overnight trains are far delayed and as the Superliner fleet ages and dwindles, Boardman has seen fit to deny the need for replacements.
There is good fortune in this announcement. Amtrak under Boardman will likely be unable before September 2016 to do itself more damage by ridding itself, even only partially, of the National Network, often referred to with the encouragement of Boardman’s media relations organization as “the money-losing long-distance trains.” But there is always the possibility that a successor will be even worse.
Wow! Eight years at the helm of Amtrak. Is that a record? I think its second only to W. Graham Claytor, Jr. who served for 11 years. Well we can all heap complaint after complaint on Boardman but given the hand he has been dealt with by Congress, I think he has done a pretty good job.
Ben T
Wick Moorman should be rested and ready by then!
Joe Biden as president of Amtrak? You’d need an interim for a couple of months, but that’s not unprecedented. He’s well respected in Washington and could do a good job getting the railroad higher on the priority list than it is now in Congress. He’s also not one to sit around and do nothing, and he’s very much a train guy. I’m not saying it’s likely, but it’s an interesting possibility.
I have been fan of Boardman and followed his career from his being in charge of the transit system here in Broome County, NY, through his work with NYDOT and Commissioner of Transportation to head of the FRA for Bush before becoming president of Amtrak. He’s not always delivered what I, and others, expected or wanted. but of all previous presidents, I think he had learned good operational skills which coupled up to his political environments to give him the expertise to be in that seat. No, not the longest serving but a longevity in the political system to be admired. I’m sure he is anxious to return to the family farm in Upstate NY before jumping into any new experiences and I wish him the best of luck.
I truly admire Joe for his military service, but as Amtrak’s “Bunker Boardman”, not so much. My Xmas wish is for David Gunn to announce that he would be ready to return. Ain’t much for a guy like him to do on Cape Breton Island. “Helicopter Joe”? No way. He prob’ly has to have his grand kids set up his Lionels around the tree.
Boardman stayed about five years too long. His performance in earlier jobs may have brought him to the top job at Amtrak, but things haven’t gone well since then. Perhaps it’s being a member of the Obama Administration where things haven’t gone well either.
Will Mr. Moorman please stand up, please stand up.
I hope before he leaves, he & Amtrak start the process of procuring new diesel locomotives, the Genesis are beginning to look past their prime, show their age and the tiny rust spots are getting bigger. Procuring new baggage, sleepers, coaches etc is fine and great however they will move behind a locomotive. I think its time. PS, Amtrak please dont buy ugly locomotives, again.
The good news is that at last the Boardman era is going to end. We can pray he is not replaced by another NEC obsessed chief, with little or no interest in the national rail passenger system. The bad news is we must wait 9 more months.
An obscure, but not meaningless example of Boardman’s inability to tell who is a friend and to say thank you–he never once appeared at, nor spoke to, a NARP Board/Council meeting, although he did show up for NARP’s Congressional cocktail parties. Whatever one may think of NARP’s effectiveness (and I think a lot of it–even as a frequent critic), it is incredible that Boardman never took the time to say thank you to the only effective lobby for his company.
Perhaps we can hope the SILVER STAR will get one of those new diners Boardman suddenly seems to want to actually get delivered (albeit three years late) at the November 2016 timetable change. It won’t happen sooner, because Boardman is still trying to justify a train-off of #91 & 92, by running them for 31 hours from New York to Miami with only a snack car manned by a single overwhelmed employee, with a menu that is typically exhausted of most sandwich choices after the first lunch in each direction. This because of his failure to stand up to Congressman John Mica’s bullying about food service losses, and his (hopeless) promise of food-service profitability within five years. Now he will be gone before the day of reckoning comes.
Good bye!
i thought that Boardman had a plan to add 1 additional coach to each of the 20 Acela Express sets to increase capacity - instead of complete replacement.
Alas Boardman cancelled that plan in favor of all new sets. Not that both couldn’t have been used and the funding for the new sets is still not firm. It is expected the existing sets will continue after (someday long after Joe) the new units arrive–poossibly making more stops or limited to selected parts of the Corridor. For example a twice hourly service might be offered NYP-WAS with the new sets covering a much faster limited stop service and the existing units making stops at points like Trenton and Wilmington.
The existing ACELA sets were supposed to have had 2 more cars in each train-set as originally conceived, (another First Class car and another Business Class car), but in an earlier pre-Boardman example of Amtrak’s institutionalized pessimism those cars were cut from the final order. ACELA First Class is probably Amtrak’s most profitable single business line–so you’d think they would have wanted more of it–but the eternal Amtrak fear to take any chances prevailed (again pre-Boardman) and the added capacity was foregone.
“the dining cars are in the climate chamber,” So, where in the production process is the climate chamber testing? Is that before or after the interiors are added, at the beginning or end of the production process? Hopefully, it doesn’t indicate pre-production de-bugging design work.
It would be interesting to know how closely the Viewliner I diner, Indianapolis, as reconfigured, resembles the production Viewliner IIs. If it is close, you would think that the new design would have been pretty well vetted, since the Indianapolis was on the road, in regular service for something like 2 years.
Just remember Mr. Fowler, If it wasn’t for the ‘high density’ passenger traffic demands of the NEC, there probably wouldn’t be adequate passenger numbers from NYC and Boston to warrant the operation of the ETHAN ALLEN or the VERMONTER or even the DOWNEASTER for that matter. Just ask Bernie, how he gets to his place !
I just cannot let let Gene Poon’s comment go unrebebutted. Your interstates are not profitable but I don’t think you would want them shut down. I’m not sure if the San Joaquins and Capitals are profitable either when you consider that theyoperate on tracks that Amtrak California does not own and therefore is not responsible for maintenance.
Mr. Fowler, I’m confident that your knowledge of the NEC equipment short comings are probably correct, but you referred to Joe Boardman being replaced by " another NEC obsessed chief ". Well, sounds to me like you might be the one who’s obsessed with the NEC ! Not to say that’s necessarily a bad thing.
Just got an idea, lets blame all these short-comings of the NEC on former President George W. Bush and the Democrat controlled Congress, but please don’t put any of the blame on Amtrak’s good friend, Vice-President Joe Biden !
Joe Biden isn’t Amtrak’s friend anymore, since Air Force-2 and Marine helicopters became available.
The bottom line is that nothing is profitable in the realm of transportation. No airline could fly and make money without the public subsidy of FAA and government owned and subsidized airports. The real cost of a ticket would drive everyone to other forms, if available. Ditto highways.
The historically dirty little secret is that in the glory days of passenger rail, freight revenue subsidized passenger service…and railroads wished to maintain a high profile of quailty, hence great dining car food, etc.
The fact of the matter is that the nation faces another moral debate: will we do the right thing…in this as in so many others?