Coscia, Koos, and Szabat confirmed for Amtrak Board

Coscia, Koos, and Szabat have been confirmed for the Amtrak board. This was the compromise to deal with the geographical issue. The other appointees are withdrawn for now.

Disappointing. Let’s hope the other nominations can be made asap. If there is an administration change along with a change in senate control next year we could see the restructuring of Amtrak similar to what Anderson tried to implement. We already know Coscia , Szabat and Gardner would be in favor of it.

I don't know anything about the political goings on within the Amtark board...
But I have watched Chris Koos at a business level and a community service level for decades. He will be an outstanding addition to the board.

Amtrakfflyer said:

Disappointing. Let’s hope the other nominations can be made asap. If there is an administration change along with a change in senate control next year we could see the restructuring of Amtrak similar to what Anderson tried to implement. We already know Coscia , Szabat and Gardner would be in favor of it.

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While I’m not going to outright defend Coscia, Coscia and Gardner are not going to support a wholesale attack on Amtrak’s annual accounts. They were conceivably on board with a much flawed plan to reshape the network during Anderson’s tenure but I think it was just a flawed vision - not a heartfelt ideological hatred of long distance routes and their customers. Gardner had a hearing earlier this year with some of the do nothings in the house and I was pleased with most of his responses to the typical sniping at Amtrak. Just because people may have dumb ideas doesn’t mean they’re in on a big massive conspiracy or that they can’t sometimes be right also. Certainly I agree that the board needs some new blood to try to deal with some of these recurring operational issues - but at the same time I’m not really that worried about a big conspiracy. Coscias reappointment, whatever your opinion, was likely inevitable. No one else on the board is seeking reappointment and there was likely a desire in the administration to have one holdover for continuity.

Unfortunately one of the biggest problems here and what has been a real lost opportunity is the lack of urgency by the politicos on this issue and inability to get the powers that be to prioritize filling out this board. Amtrak’s board hasn’t been at “full strength” in years and has long expired people that do not even really want to remain on it but just continue to do so there’s someone. This limited advancement of 3 names is going to require a couple of the other expired board members to stay even longer until they are replaced. And it’s not just Biden’s fault - they have not been able to get senate leadership to see this as a priority. Senate leadership is typically very involved in these types of picks and usually the leader opposite the president’s party informally has the last word on recommended nominees for the party opposite the president. It just simply has not been prioritized resulting in just these 3 picks. This being the compromise, while it is keeping the board within the law, is far from ideal so the board will continue with multiple vacant seats and expired members who probably wouldn’t mind being done.

Trains' Newswire had this quote from Senator Moran:

The vote came after U.S. Sen Jerry Moran (R-Kan.), who had been one of those placing a hold on the nominations over concern about the geographic issue, said in a statement earlier Tuesday that the White House had “committed to comply with the law and will be sending the Senate nominees that better represent all passenger needs. Upon that commitment, I intend to advance the Amtrak board of director nominees this week, so they can get to work bolstering our entire nation’s rail system.”

Hopefully the other picks will be selected as soon as possible.

Ironically the person who I have heard make the most outright hostile statements about the national network and long distance passenger rail is Wick Moorman and for some reason he tends to get a pass from some because he was a “railroader.” It seems some people feel the need to classify him as “one of the good ones” for that reason even though he never seemed far off from Anderson, if at all. In fact he’s even the person that called Anderson to hire him. I’ll give him credit for addressing the NYP mess he inherited but he didn’t seem otherwise much far off from those that succeeded him.

Moorman is a weird one, something happened, what we will never know.

Moorman is on record as saying the LD network basically breaks even above the rails before Congress as CEO. Fast forward a year later while Anderson was CEO, Moorman made the extremely hostile comments on that interview/podcast that were completely opposite of comments while CEO.

Well it is possible he believed that they break even above the rails but also agreed with Anderson’s plans to break it up. I think Moorman’s primary concern in that context was warning that simply ceasing a long distance route altogether would not save as much money as people may think especially in areas where there are overlapping corridors and it would shift overhead to other routes. Remember the hostility they all had and the desire to break up was more about wanting to run primarily day running services (other than the “experiential” flagship runs as Anderson called them) and not serving places in the middle of the night (along with cutting costs) than an ideological hatred and desire to end the network altogether. I actually do understand the desire to serve some places they serve at zero dark thirty during the day Charlotte - Atlanta being the ultimate example they always used, but the way to do that is to add frequencies. Not to mess up the one you already have. Anderson’s plan of running adjoining daytime routes instead of end to end overnights was very airlinish and he was probably just too stubborn to realize why it wasn’t workable. It’s easier to reconcile those two things when one realizes peoples points of view are rarely black and white - and tend to be shades of grey. It’s not a good and evil thing not even with Anderson - it’s more about perceiving a problem and having a flawed solution to it and being too stubborn to see why the solution isn’t workable and detrimental to the network. Moorman May have had a railroad background but he didn’t really have a passenger background so he probably doesn’t get why it wouldn’t have worked either.

lordsigma said:

actually do understand the desire to serve some places they serve at zero dark thirty during the day Charlotte - Atlanta being the ultimate example they always used

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Don't forget all those Ohio cities, and Omaha, and North Dakota and all across Kansas, and San Antonio. And also Columbia, SC. I'd also include Fayetteville, NC and Charleston, SC, except that they have an additional train, the Palmetto that serves them in daylight. On the other hand, if people in Fayetteville and Charleston want to go to Florida, they're stuck with middle of the dight departures and arrivals.