WASHINGTON — Amtrak spent at least $23.2 million on unnecessary leases of office space, and could have made at least $6.8 million in additional revenue through better management of its property, according to a report from the Amtrak Office of the Inspector General.
The report found Amtrak needed better data on its office space, citing as an example two buildings in New York City where the Amtrak offices had vacancy rates over 50 percent. “With better data, we estimate that the company could have avoided up to $2.8 million in lease costs on one of the buildings through December 2020,” the report states.
It also states that Amtrak needs a formal process for decisions on leased office space. Amtrak’s facilities group “seeks input from departments on the need for lease extensions, but departments are not required to develop a business case or other formal analyses to support that input. This has led to costly lease extensions … that exceed the company’s needs as well as missed opportunities to generate revenues.” As an example, it cites the Club Acela lounge in Boston, which it says is more than twice the size needed and will cost the company at least $2.8 million for unneeded space over the life of its lease.
And it finds the company needs a long-term facility plan, which could help in space utilization and making sure office space fits the company’s long-term goals. It cites the planned construction for $9.6 million of a temporary police building at Washington Union Station “without fully assessing potentially less costly options, such as accommodating some police functions in a nearby building it already owns.” Amtrak is also spending $4.9 million for excess office space in Washington and $3.1 for excess space in Boston, the report says.
The full report is available here.
Not just Amtrak. Dept of Defense has crazy policies of getting rid of surplus properties, then offsetting any gains with leases and new building… granted, congressional meddling drives many inefficiencies
$23 Million on unnecessary office space, yet passengers on some trains have to eat box lunches, cold dinners, etc!
Over $23 million wasted and nearly $7 million squandered and this is just one aspect of the waste that is being exposed. If the all of the waste system wide could be identified,it would probably be astounding. Just think of the new equipment that could have been purchased with this waste of money, or the new services that could have been initiated. Or better yet,how much less of a subsidy would have been required for Amtrak to operate if this waste and all of the other undiscovered waste was eliminated? Amtrak is in dire need of new management that will act responsibly and eliminate waste and corruption and be truly interested in operating a world class passenger rail system!
sorry to hear this, a poor misuse of funds. Would rather see them have less empty space lying around and spending more on the trains to keep them running, keep decent meals even if it is not a fancy dining car, but something more than a cold sandwich. And I wonder what kind of inflated salaries “prop head” and his crowd get paid for trying to take down the trains.
What else would you expect from a government bureaucracy? As others have stated, its time to either abolish Amtrak or take away its monopoly. However, the Amtrak unions will fight it tooth and nail so its highly unlikely you can get it through the House right now.
As for those who say its due to downsizing, I doubt it based upon my experiences over the years with all types of government contracts. My overall impression was far too many government employees couldn’t even be considered as “mediocre”.
Amtrak has great difficulty managing its space and money. Watch the platform work at La Plata, MO which has been going on for over a year. A three week job that is out of control. As stated below, most likely the people who should have managed the money were downsized for additional lawyers.
Quoting the renowned business guru Ralph Kramden, “a mere bag of shells.”
This was probably someone’s job at some point, which was most likely downsized or offered into early retirement, with no proper replacement.
This is a good example of why governments should not operate commercial enterprises. Amtrak does not have any direct competition in most markets. Accordingly, it does not have any compelling drivers to do things better, faster, cheaper with the operative word being better.
Amtrak should be privatized. This probably would mean the elimination of the long-distance trains, but their demise would be little noticed by the public. They are used by less than one percent of intercity travelers.
An independent system operator could be established to take control of the NEC corridor’s infrastructure, as well as other corridors perhaps, and the corridor could be opened to competing operators. Competition would eliminate much of the waste associated with a monopolistic enterprise, especially one owned and operated by the U.S. Government.
No surprises here.
The waste described above is probably just ‘the tip of the iceberg”. Anything affiliated with government also seems to be connected to graft and corruption. This is all the more reasons to try and encourage the private railroads to take control of the passenger business on their own rails with the temptation of incentives offered to them that would entice them to consider doing so.
This looks more like a hit piece.
Amtrak PD has valid reasons for wanting to stay close to where their PD does a lot of their work within easy walking distance. Keeping space available for expansion is also a good idea.
The Boston Acela lounge is roughly 70x 100 ft(7000 sq ft). That not a lot of space. What do they want for a lounge a telephone booth? It should be a relaxing, and uncrowded space. Away from the maddening crowd.
I took a quick scan and will look closer this evening. These are just first impressions.
Enjoy the journey…
Amtrak doesn’t give a sh**, Their mindset is we are a govt agency, just like all govt agencies, they dont care about that. Year after year after this and all govt agency have this report, and nothing is ever done, govt employees RARELY get fired, nobody gives a ****!
Oh, so what? New Jersey Transit blew millions on un-needed office space first! Quite a big to-do over that up North a year or so ago. Amtrak, you’re behind the curve!
Class 1’s don’t want to handle their own passenger trains but…..Perhaps they should look at some form of open access passenger slots for an operator such as BL/VTUSA to operate corridor service..
@Mr_Roger_Williams said it well. Amtrak is slow to expand its route structure. And, it has not restored the routes that were eliminated. Like so many government agencies, it is laden with bureaucracy.
Railways need incentives to return to operating passenger trains. Building and maintaining the infrastructure upon which these trains would run also benefit freight operations. Additional tracks to separate passenger trains from freight trains would allow faster more efficient operations for both.
Airlines would not be so solvent if they finance their own infrastructure and traffic control.
Mr. Pins: LOL!