WASHINGTON — The Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee will hold a hearing next week on three nominees for Amtrak’s board of directors, as well as a member of the National Transportation Safety Board.
The hearing will be Wednesday, June 21, at 10 a.m. ET, the committee chair, Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), announced. It will be live-streamed on the Committee’s website, and the Twitter feed and Facebook page of the Democratic majority.
The three Amtrak board nominees to be considered are Anthony Coscia, the current Amtrak board chair; Chris Koos, mayor of Normal, Ill.; and Joel Szabat, a former military officer who was previously President Donald Trump’s Assistant Secretary of Transportation for Aviation and International Affairs.
These three are among six nominees advanced by President Joe Biden; both Republican and Democratic senators have objected to the makeup of the group, in large part because it does not meet a “geographic diversity” requirement under the Infrastruture Investment and Jobs Act [see “Senators challenge Northeast Corridor tilt of Amtrak board nominees: Analysis,” Trains News Wire, April 26, 2023].
Coscia is among existing board members whose terms have expired, but they continue to serve until a new board is confirmed by the Senate. Koos was first nominated in 2020 by Trump but was never confirmed; Szabat is a recent Biden nominee.
Also to be considered is the nomination of Alvin Brown as a member of the NTSB. Brown, a former major of Jacksonville, Fla., was first nominated in August 2022 to fill the seat formerly held by former NTSB chairman Robert L. Sumwalt, but the Senate did not act before the end of its term. He was renominated in January of this year.
The committee needs to take into consideration how much if any experience these people have with railroad operations. While it is good to have people represented from around the country. It is more important to make sure they have the ability to make decisions based on Amtraks mission to serve the whole country. Amtrak was founded to serve more than short haul routes between major cities. The long distance trains serve many smaller towns that have no nearby air service and sometimes not even bus service. Amtrak is vital to serve these people. Also to get political support from rural state representatives this view is needed. Amtrak provided some of its best overall service when we had people with railroad experience leading the company. Think Graham Claytor, and David Gunn. They made sure there was good customer service and tried to get new equipment for Amtrak. Many of the problems we are experiencing today is because of the narrow view of the old board focusing on cost cutting. Thus causing the problems with short consists, no good dining or lounge service on long distance trains. A well run system of both long distance trains as well as shorter routes state supported or not will help raise the overall revenue for Amtrak. The shorter run trains can feed the longer distance trains and the long distance trains can help fill seats on some of the shorter regional trains.
Absolutely, 100%. Anything less is just politics and a continuation of the recently failed policies, excessive cost cutting and salary excesses of Amtrak leadership.
We need leaders who understand the requirements of the Amtrak Charter and how to fix the problems that arise with vision and understanding of the needs of passenger railroad service, not airline or bus service. Anything less is an affront to the American tax payer and the traveling public.
And I still say that the NEC and LDT should be separated as business units and run on their own budgets. Not the funny money accounting now in place to charge LD trains part of the NEC expenses so they can be run as cheaply as possible. That needs to stop immediately!
Good analysis, John.
The proposed statue in Washington Union Station dedicated to Amtrak’s Board of Directors is a suit shrugging his shoulders while looking at his watch.
So much for all the past rhetoric of “Amtrak Joe,” who failed to even ensure the marginal gesture of appointing Board members with a distinctive geographic diversity. From Secretary of Transportation to the FRA Administrator, nobody appreciates the fact that Amtrak cannot even competently put consists together for its current fleet of LD trains. Who is demanding from the current Board to know how Amtrak intends to service and maintain its new equipment acquisitions?
Congress should be concerned not so much about geographic desirability of a Board, but rather, how proposed Board members have a demonstrable CV to hold management accountable; to know when their is a skunk at the table; to verify the alleged skills of hired corporate management. Such a Board should report on a timely basis to Congress when trains operate with abbreviated consists; reason; impact on revenue. If corporate management learns how its Board is knowledgeable and cannot be fed BS, Amtrak might progress.
Otherwise, count on it being the same old, same old until the inevitable defunding.
Things will remain the same and not get any better until Amtrak gets experienced railroad people who know how to operate a railroad and what Amtrak needs to grow and improve as well as have a healthy and robust pr and ad campaign promoting rail travel across the country. We dont need demographics or diversity as a priority in hiring new people to the Amtrak board. It will help but the real issue is having people that will get Amtrak running in the right order and direction and not just stay focused on the Northeast Corridor. Get rid of all the political hacks and bumblers and hire and appoint real railroaders to run Amtrak.
Just one other note One step in the the right direction was made when Andy Byford was hired by Amtrak and with his mamagement skills and experience , it will make a difference. However it is going to take plenty of Andy Byfords to be hired and appointed to turn Amtrak around and make it a credible and respectable form of travel and transportation, not the present so called board of directors or any future novices that these politicians will appoint.
Joseph C. Markfelder
Yeserday, this forum posted “Summer travel by Amtrak: tips and challenges.” giving travel tips on travelling by rail when seats are hard to find. The forum notes that AMTK 29-30 has ONE coach WAS-CHI and is already sold out most days. Even in the days just before Amtrak, B&O 5-6 did not run with only one coach, and at that time Penn Central was offering service NYP-PHN-CHI and NYG, BOS-CHI.
In addition, Amtrak’s Board is required to comply with the Infrastruture Investment and Jobs Act.