This Was The Week That Was, Vol. II No. 22, 2002-03-20
Volume II Number 22 – This Was The Week That Was – An Amtrak Saga
March 20, 2002
Not much to report on this week.
- The big ongoing story is, who will be the next president of Amtrak? And, how will that person be chosen?
Some unconfirmed word is leaking out that Amtrak may not need an interim president; the board of directors may almost immediately choose a permanent successor to George Warrington.
This would be very unusual, casting aside the normal search standards and policies and going for a favorite candidate. But, lately, when it comes to Amtrak, what is normal?
The usual suspects are all still being mentioned, including current Amtrak board member Amy Rosen, current ARC member and Chicago attorney James Coston, and Minneapolis attorney Andrew Selden, author of the Selden Plan.
Ask yourself some questions, such as, how much influence will the Bush administration want to have in this process? Will the White House allow a board that was all appointed during the Clinton administration free rein to choose anyone they want?
Not likely.
Also, two of the above mentioned candidates are Democrats with very close ties to their party. Will a Republican White House turn over the keys to a huge federal program in trouble to a Democrat?
Not likely.
One other point to consider about Mr. Coston’s candidacy is his membership on the Amtrak Reform Council. There is no greater group of Americans more disliked by Amtrak as a whole (Remember Amtrak Vice Chairman Michael Dukakis’ “wacko” comment just a few short weeks ago?), than members of the ARC.
So, is it likely that the Amtrak board of directors will turn to one of the ARC members to be the next president of their company?
Not likely.
Does Mr. Coston, a good and knowledgeable man with a high interest in the success of passenger rail have a future with Amtrak? A rational person has to say “yes,” most likely as a member of the board of directors or in some similar capacity.
The bottom line is that Andrew Selden remains the most qualified candidate to be the next president of Amtrak. Anyone with less of a vision than Mr. Selden’s for the future of passenger rail will likely be doomed to repeat the many mistakes of the past 30 years.
- March 29th is drawing near. Many will recall that is the date that Amtrak has announced it will post legal train-off notices for all of the national long distance system except for Auto Train if Congress doesn’t meet Amtrak’s extortion demand for $1.2 billion by October 1st.
With George Warrington now focused on his new position at New Jersey Transit while his is a caretaker at Amtrak, will the train-off notices be filed?
The question of whether or not the notices are filed will be a gigantic game of “chicken.” Even if they are filed, they can be withdrawn at any time prior to the effective date of the train-offs.
Amtrak has taken a lot of heat from members of the House and Senate since that fateful Friday on February 1st when it announced this dastardly plan. We will all soon find out if the leadership of the company has learned anything since that day.
That’s it for now.
More to come on Friday.
