Awe shucks....give the man some credit and even more a real capital budget to ward off the effects of deffered maintenance all across Amtrak. Wait till the other political party takes over. We are all going to wish that good ole Joe was back
Well, as far as Mr. Boardman's time as Amtrak chief is concerned...
That same "Railpace" "Amtrak News" section has a three pages of Amtrak woes, I won't waste everyone's time with a line-by-line recitation, but they include embarassingly bad on-time performances, locomotive breakdowns (both new and old units, by the way), catenary failures on the North East Corridor, rules violations by head-end crews, and so on.
Maybe it's not all Joe Boardman's fault, but the military has a saying:
"The man in command is responsible for everything his organization does or fails to do!"
I suppose the best, fairest way of evaluating Boardman's tenure as Amtrak chair would be to examine Amtrak's perfomance just before he took over and how it is now, using a variety of appropriate metrics. Off hand my impression is that the number of passengers carried has increased substantially.
C&NW, CA&E, MILW, CGW and IC fan
Firelock76 All this could be moot anyway. According to a short blurb in my latest action-packed edition of "Railpace" Joe Boardman may be stepping down by the end of the year to be replaced by Amtrak Board Chairman Anthony Coscia, former chairman of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. It's in the October "Railpace" in the "Amtrak News" section, page 12.
All this could be moot anyway. According to a short blurb in my latest action-packed edition of "Railpace" Joe Boardman may be stepping down by the end of the year to be replaced by Amtrak Board Chairman Anthony Coscia, former chairman of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.
It's in the October "Railpace" in the "Amtrak News" section, page 12.
Interesting! I wonder if Tim O'Tool might be in the mix somewhere.
For or those not familiar with him he is a former Conrail lawyer, around 2000 he went over to the UK to head up the London Underground. In 2009 he left LUL and returned to Philly. Scuttlebutt in the UK railway community was that he was angling for the Amtrak job. When Boardman got it he returned to the UK, Scotland actually, to head up the FIRST group. First has a number of railway Train Operating Companies in the UK, First Great Western perhaps the most visible. In addition they are the operator of a number of local bus systems. In the US they are most visible with their FIRST STUDENT school bus operations, but also own Greyhound.
Don spoke at a seminar at the Sand House Gang group at North Western University several months ago. At that time he was very critical of Boardman almost to the point that I thought was inappropriate. I felt that there was something else going on but I have no clue what it would be.
I've been reading Don Phillips' work for years and have always enjoyed it. Bitter? I don't think so. He strikes me as someone who cares deeply about Amtrak and wants it to succeed, and I can understand his frustration. This last column strikes me as a forcefully swung 2 X 4 to the back of "someones" head to get his attention, since nothing else seems to be working. Will it work this time? Probably not.
At any rate, I don't know Mr. Boardman so I can't even begin to guess what makes him tick, but I get the impression he enjoys the politicking a lot more than he does running Amtrak.
I have heard Don Phillips speak at a NARP-RailPAC (Rail Passenger Association of California) meeting and he did not strike me as bitter. If anything, his comments indicated some level of research about the topics in question, and I thought his points were well presented.
Anyone who knows Don Phillips knows that he is an old style reporter - he checks the facts with numerous sources and then writes it based upon the facts presented. His writing in Trains is more editorial in nature, but he still writes based upon what he sees and hears. Having had the pleasure to be involved with several of his research efforts over the past several decades, I can tell you that what he writes about is what he has researched, and this research has been going on for several years.
Boardman has been in charge for quite a few years and so he is accounatble for Amtrak's performance, which no fair judge would say is good. At best, Amtrak appears pretty mediocre now, at worst, an underperforming, irrelevant operation plagued by old thinking..
I think Don Phillips has a good point. Boardman's main streingth seems to be to menauver sussessfully in Washington, and describe Amtrak's real needs realistically. But he is not a good operating man nor one who seems to inspire operating people to perform at their best. We have yet to see any real results from his vacation visit with David Gunn. Pehpas we will, and things will change for the better. Certainly the improved amenities on the Hoosier State show some spunk that seemed to be lacking earlier.
schlimm BaltACD Since being let go by the Washington Post, Mr. Phillips has become a increasingly bitter old man. Since it's been 11 years since that occurred in a dispute over content, I'd say that "increasingly" has been a pretty gradual slope.
BaltACD Since being let go by the Washington Post, Mr. Phillips has become a increasingly bitter old man.
Since being let go by the Washington Post, Mr. Phillips has become a increasingly bitter old man.
Since it's been 11 years since that occurred in a dispute over content, I'd say that "increasingly" has been a pretty gradual slope.
Yes, as I recall Phillips telling it at the time, in his Trains column, he quit rather than submit to generalization of his beat away from purely transportation. And he did then work for several years as correspondent for the international edition of (I believe) a New York paper. I think Phillips swings kind of wildly sometimes, but it doesn't smack of bitterness to me.
Never too old to have a happy childhood!
Did you catch the last paragraph of the column? Trains let Amtrak have a rebuttal. Never saw that before in Trains. But, that column was pretty personal.
-Don (Random stuff, mostly about trains - what else? http://blerfblog.blogspot.com/)
Surprising Trains took such a critical stand for once against a leading railroad figure but I would have to agree with the columns conclusions. We need a new head of Amtrak, the current one is rudderless and clueless. Even more apparent to me with his "Amtrak America" branding on the new Viewliners and the new paint scheme. Really? Less than a 200 car order and youir going to launch a brand with it?
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