This Week at Amtrak 2006-09-28
- The end of the federal government’s and Amtrak’s fiscal year is just hours away. Looks like Amtrak survived another year to live and provide passenger rail service for another day. Fiscal Year 06 will be remembered as the year that fortunately for Amtrak, former President and CEO David Gunn was shown the door, and a new chief steward of Amtrak appeared on the scene less than a month before the end of the fiscal year.Most notable for FY 06 was the complete absence of the Sunset Limited operating east of New Orleans. Amtrak told its unions the train was not discontinued, but was unable to operate due to a lack of station infrastructure and right of way. CSX solved the right of way problem by releasing the track east of New Orleans to Jacksonville on April 1st for use by Amtrak. The station facilities smokescreen is just that - smoke and mirrors. If Amtrak has the internal will to operate this train, which the State of Florida contributed $7.5 million to in 1992/93 to upgrade infrastructure and build station facilities in Florida’s panhandle, the train will be running. So far, the public or other interested parties have not heard any reasonable excuses, beyond the dog eating Amtrak’s homework, for the train not to be running.
- New Amtrak President and CEO Alex Kummant continues to strike a positive note as he communicates with his employees. Here is what he had to say in the internal employee newsletter, “Amtrak This Week” on Monday:
September 25, 2006
Dear Co-workers,
Just wanted to share with you some news on a couple of fronts. We’re closing the fiscal year in a solid financial position — we will have exceeded our ridership and revenue targets, having carried 24.4 million passengers and earned over $1.3 billion in ticket revenue.
As for the new fiscal year that starts Oct. 1, the board of directors approved our budget for FY ‘07 last week. Because Congress has not yet voted on our FY ‘07 appropriation, we will likely move forward based on what they call a Continuing Resolution until an appropriation is approved by both houses, just as we did last year.
I’ve already met with some members of Congress and my relationship-building with Capitol Hill continues on Thursday, when I’ll be testifying before the House Railroads Subcommittee.
I want Congress to know that I am committed to advancing passenger rail and Amtrak’s future. And I want to share with them what I’ve learned about the progress Amtrak has made in the last couple of years toward rehabilitating our Northeast Corridor infrastructure. I’ll make sure thvestment (tracks, ties, signals) the company has used the capital money you have appropriated to them wisely and strategically to update the NEC. In the coming years, I think we will have to do a better job of explaining the importance of these capital investments to you because this valuable work has durability and demonstrable benefit. In fact, the work we have done has allowed us to reduce slightly the Acela service travel time between New York and Washington by 5 minutes in our new timetables.
To me, having been on the outside, I have always wondered why the Amtrak debate is so emotional and at times acrimonious. It really needn’t be, especially now. At a time of high oil prices, growing highway and airport congestion and record rail freight volumes, problems which beset and constrain our transportation system, we should be embracing rail and developing it as quickly and as responsibly as we can. We should get beyond the debate of a few hundred million dollars of operating costs and begin to realize the potential rail passenger service has to offer with the right level of investment and a clearly defined federal policy.
I know many of you travel back to your district every weekend because you feel it is the most effective way to keep in touch with the views of the people you have been elected to represent. Just like you, I intend to roam about the system. I will be on the trains, in the shops, on the platforms and at the stations. I find the best ideas, often times, are the ones given to you by those that are out there doing their jobs every day. This is something my Dad learned when he worked large engineering projects in steel mills and something he instilled in me.
In closing, let me assure you that I believe in rail passenger service, and believe in Amtrak. I have a lot to learn, but I learn quickly. In the coming weeks, I intend to shape and hone my immediate and near-term goals and objectives, as well as get around and meet with many of you personally, and I encourage you to offer me your counsel and advice. In that vein, it is my hope that today begins a long and constructive relationship.
What a refreshing and positive change from the normal “the sky is falling” style of communication from the Amtrak Executive Suite.
- For those of us who relish a touch of the bizarre, read this letter from the United States Department of Transportation’s Inspector General’s office to the Amtrak Board of Directors:
Office of the Secretary of Transportation
Office of Inspector GeneralSeptember 26, 2006
The Honorable David Laney
Chairman
Amtrak Board of Directors
60 Massachusetts Ave, NE
Washington, DC 20002Dear Mr. Chairman:
On October 25, 2005, House of Representatives Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman Don Young asked Congressman Richard Baker to lead a working group to evaluate information from the Government Accountability Office (GAO), the Amtrak Inspector General, and the Department of Transportation Inspector General regarding Amtrak’s management and performance. This request was prompted, in part, by issues raised in the October 2005 GAO report, Amtrak Management: Systemic Problems Require Actions to Improve Efficiency, Effectiveness, and Accountability.
In March 2006, the Majority Members and the Democratic Members of the Amtrak Working Group issued separate reports summarizing their findings. The Democratic Members of the Amtrak Working Group included among the recommendations in its report the following, “Our investigation indicates that some of the deficiencies cited in the GAO report represent a failure of Amtrak’s Board of Directors. Accordingly, we intend to request that the DOT IG conduct an investigation of whether the Board of Directors is adequately carrying out its legal and fiduciary responsibilities.”
On April 25, 2006, the Democratic Members of the Amtrak Working Group formally requested that our office undertake this investigation. They cited concerns that Amtrak’s Board of Directors has not exercised sufficient oversight of the corporation or held management accountable for results and whether the Amtrak Board’s expenses are appropriate.
As a result, our office plans to conduct a review of how Amtrak’s Board of Directors carries out its responsibilities. In addition, we plan to review the Board’s expenses from Fiscal Year 2002 to the present as requested. The objectives of this review are to determine (1) the rules, procedures and authorities under which the Board operates, (2) whether the Board has followed established processes and procedures, (3) whether the Board has set long-term goals and performance objectives for Amtrak, (4) whether the processes and procedures that the Board follows are sufficient for ensuring oversight of, and requiring accountability from, Amtrak management, and (5) whether the Board members’ expenses comply with corporate guidelines and whether those guidelines are sufficient to ensure prudent use of corporate resources. The results of our review will aid in identifying whether potential reforms to improve the Board’s performance are needed.
The work will be carried out in Washington, DC. The Program Director for this review is Mitchell Behm, and Debra Mayer is the Project Manager. If you have any questions or need additional information, please call me at…
Sincerely,
David Tornquist
Assistant Inspector General
for Competition and Economic AnalysisWell, we know Amtrak continues to be a political football, but it’s tough to figure out the motives behind this request by the minority Democrat members of the Amtrak Working Group in Congress. Are they trying to harass the current Amtrak board because they had the good sense to fire David Gunn? Are they mad and jealous someone else is playing with what they consider their oversized Lionel train set? Are these the same Democrats who are members of the party which, in the Senate, torpedoed the nominations of two highly prominent and even more important, highly qualified Democrats to serve on the Amtrak board?
Interestingly, the majority of the time the Amtrak board will be audited will be the time when the board was under the control of the departing members which were nominated by the Democrat Clinton Administration. Can anyone figure this one out?