Amtrak’s board of directors has extended Joe Boardman’s contract as president for two additional years. Boardman, who turns 65 in December, will remain at Amtrak’s helm until at least November of 2015. That’s fine with me. It’s good to keep the revolving door of the executive offices from spinning around so often. Some continuity will do Amtrak good.
But will what’s good for Joe Boardman be good for Amtrak’s customers? Only if Boardman, now that he’s secure in the job, does the hard stuff.
Lately he’s been beating the drum for the 15 long-distance train pairs, arguing that they’re what connects the country. He’s even gotten the California Republican who heads the rail subcommittee of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee to agree these trains really matter. I’m all for that, but words are words, Mr. Boardman. It’s easy to say how important the long-distance network is to the country in news conferences or before Congress. What he’s not done is go to bat for these trains with the freight railroads over whose tracks they run. That’s where it really matters
Three of the long-distance routes are hot buttons now, and so far as anyone knows, Joe Boardman fiddles while they fester. One is the New Orleans-Los Angeles Sunset Limited, which Union Pacific said could be run daily if Amtrak were to fork over close to $1 billion for infrastructure improvements. How did Boardman respond to this? He gave up with a whimper, blaming his marketing department for even proposing a daily Sunset! In exchange for a two-year moratorium on bringing up this matter again, UP agreed to some schedule changes for the twiweekly Sunset.
Amtrak’s board of directors also approved a daily Cardinal between Chicago and New York City via Cincinnati. This, too, seems to have stalled out without any meaningful involvement between Amtrak and CSX.
Finally, there’s the possibility that the route of the Chicago-Los Angeles Southwest Limited will be severed between Kansas City and Albuquerque in 2015. Amtrak or the states through which the train runs must cough up $100 million or so to fix the tracks in Kansas, Colorado, and New Mexico by then or the route will be unsustainable. The three states have said, in a joint letter, get lost. The alternative of running on the BNSF Railway freight route via Amarillo, Tex., would cost about as much, to help pay for closing some single-track stretches, BNSF has informed Amtrak’s staff.
I don’t believe for a minute that what BNSF Railway, CSX, and Union Pacific are saying is their final answer. None of them has yet been engaged at a high level by Amtrak, meaning Joe Boardman.
In an interview with me a year ago, Boardman said he’s tough enough to do the hard things. To which I now say: You’ve got breathing room, Joe, so prove it. — Fred W. Frailey
Our community is FREE to join. To participate you must either login or register for an account.