This Was The Week That Was, Vol. I No. 19, 2001-09-14
Version XIX - This Was The Week That Was
September 14, 2001
- This was the week that none of us want to ever go through again. This was the week that our collective national consciousness wished had never happened.
But, it did.
We are all coping with the events of this week in our own way, and will continue to do so for a long time to come.
This was a week that has changed our national landscape forever, and, at the same time, presented some amazing gifts to passenger rail.
The time following September 11th is a time of nonpartisanship, pulling together, and rallying behind George W. Bush, our president. Congress is reacting positively to his leadership, and the American public is pronouncing his guidance as sound.
In a time like this, we’re all supposed to pull together, rally around our leaders, and be as patriotic as possible.
It has been a challenge to know what to write about this week, making sure the proper chord is struck, making sure no unintentional flippancy creeps in, and making sure whatever is said is said in a respectful, somber way.
Therefore, I am going to say what I think is the single most patriotic thing I can say after the events of last Tuesday, September 11, 2001: The senior management of Amtrak needs to be replaced immediately, at the soonest possible moment.
Amtrak has a new found popularity in a nation that has been deprived of its air transportation system. Suddenly, old, reliable rail transportation has a cachet of safety, being close to the ground, and reliable for reaching its intended destination.
Why change senior management, now?
Because, many of the ones that are in place today are incapable of running the company under the demands that Amtrak will have on it in the foreseeable future.
These same managers that brought us the continually, problem plagued Acela with hundreds of millions of dollars in cost overruns, a reduced national system, and near bankruptcy of a system that has been the beneficiary of over $20 billion in the past 30 years are incapable of operating an Amtrak that must be running at peak performance.
Now is Amtrak’s moment to shine, be in the national spotlight. Now is the time, thanks to two wrecks in three days, that Amtrak has officially slipped below minimum level requirements of available equipment to run the daily Intercity system.
With just two weeks to go before the next fiscal year, Amtrak is struggling to keep creditors at bay until the next bundle of hundreds of millions in cash comes on October 1st. Reports today of high ridership and income thanks to the grounding of the national air system cannot be sustained for long with the national system equipment situation deteriorating quickly. On the NEC, confused passengers looking for their old friend Amtrak are finding Acela instead, with significantly higher prices and a split identity.
We all know Amtrak is already the single largest carrier between Washington and New York City. With the new security conditions imposed on the air shuttle, and the lengthy closing of Washington Reagan National Airport, Amtrak has an opportunity to significantly and permanently grow its NEC business. Will they accomplish this with well thought out ads, or the ads that some have labeled bewildering and bizarre and barely related to train service?
It would be easy to go further with a rehashing of many more reasons to replace the Amtrak senior management, but the bottom line is that most in Amtrak senior management are not up to the task of running the company under present conditions and under future growth opportunities nationwide. Someone else with a better vision is desperately needed in these roles.
- The other issue which must be addressed immediately for the national good is the location of someone who has the desire and ability to form a new, national membership organization dedicated to national passenger rail causes.
This must be someone who is more comfortable dealing with the true power brokers in Washington instead of dealing with Amtrak executives. This must be someone who seeks the respect of the Amtrak senior management instead of their friendship. This must be someone who wants an organization that is there to accomplish a highly visible list of goals instead of creating a near-puppet organization the takes financial handouts, member train riding discounts, and other perquisites from Amtrak senior management.
This new organization must find as a leader someone who has the fire and brimstone that Tony Haswell had over 30 years ago when he founded his national organization. This new organization must have its basis founded on principles, not principals.
This new organization must be ready to help maintain the momentum for passenger rail on all levels, not just be a “yes man” for Amtrak senior management.
- The word is out on Amtrak’s approach to the Young bill, offering $71 billion for new high speed rail projects in our country. This thoughtful and carefully crafted bill is being targeted by Amtrak and its minions for destruction because they don’t understand the best parts of the bill. They are seeking to defeat something because they don’t understand their true benefits of the bill.
The Biden/Oberstar bill, S. 250 in the Senate, is the original $12 billion HSRIA bill that will greatly benefit Amtrak by giving Amtrak stewardship of the funds from the bill. It is a thinly disguised bailout bill for Amtrak, and does not offer enough meaningful money for any other entity than Amtrak to begin to make high speed rail in this country work.
The Young bill specifically prohibits Amtrak from participating in the bill, except as a contractor for state service that may have been born as a result of this bill. The Young bill offers help to all major players in the rail industry except Amtrak.
That’s why Amtrak doesn’t want the Young bill to pass; it’s afraid it won’t have a bailout as a result if the Biden/Oberstar bill is killed and replaced by the Young bill.
The truth is, the Young bill is the best thing that could happen to Amtrak.
The Young bill takes everything into consideration, including the freight railroads for funding.
It allows Amtrak to be dealt with openly, honestly, and - most importantly - separately. The Young bill treats Amtrak as the important issue it is, without attaching Amtrak to some other bill where funding comes in obliquely through a back door and becomes a slush fund.
The Young bill allows Amtrak to stand on its own, be recognized as the important part of out domestic transportation system that it is, and be dealt with accordingly.
The Biden/Oberstar bill is the one that needs to be killed, because it has been supplanted by a far superior bill. The Young bill will address most of the nation’s needs, and still leave room for Amtrak to be treated as an adult, rather than a stepchild which must receive its allowance grudgingly from on older sibling.
Anyone trying to kill the Young bill in favor of the Biden/Oberstar bill is sadly misdirected and out of tune with the Bush administration. It will not be surprising if S.250 is withdrawn in favor of the Young bill.
Certainly, the Young bill can stand scrutiny, and probably some minor modifications. But, it is the best effort yet to address the passenger rail problems of our country. Those who think otherwise need to seriously reexamine their commitment to the advancement of passenger rail.
That concludes this week. After viewing the myriad of images live on television of last Tuesday and following calamity, I have involuntarily wept so many times I have lost count. Hopefully, the worst is past, but we all must be prepared for a long, emotional siege. We must also fervently hope that Amtrak, which has been handed an even greater gift than the 1973 oil embargo, will be up to the tests it will have 24 hours a day, all across our majestic nation.
Bruce Richardson
Jacksonville, Florida