... we have seen two Joe Boardmans--the one who started his job with energy and a good attitude and did try to do some good, and the one we have now, who has been beaten down ... and micromanaged by Congress and has a classic case of burnout.
... Maybe we have seen two Joe Boardmans--the one who started his job backed by a supportive Congress that voted to put $12 Billion into higher speed passenger rail, and the one we have now, beaten down by a different Congress that has tried to block his efforts at almost every turn.
Everything that Thirdrail7 said. And more.
Will Boardman be remembered as the Amtrak president who got about 90 wrecks rehabbed and put to work,
who placed the order for 130 Viewliner IIs,
who ordered 70 electric locomotives,
whose team helped develop the specs for new generations of diesel locomotives and passenger cars both single-level and bi-level, ready if a different Congress votes to buy needed equipment,
who worked with Virginia to extend service on two new and popular routes,
who worked with Michigan, Illinois, Washington State, North Carolina, New York and Connecticut to upgrade routes where Amtrak will run much faster trains starting next year,
who has consistently pushed for a State of Good Repair on the NEC along with a bunch of projects to make it faster (campaigning for new bridges in Connecticut, New Jersey and Maryland, for new tunnels in Baltimore and under the Hudson, undercutting to improve the roadbed and new catenary to improve speeds and reliability, etc.),
who has brought the order for new Acelas to this:far from announcement of the contract,
who worked so hard to improve on time performance and farebox recovery,
who has come farther toward restoring Gulf Coast service than we dared hope,
who presided over almost 8 years without any LD trains discontinued (has Amtrak EVER had 8 years straight with no such cutbacks?)
Boardman's biggest disappointments seem well beyond his control:
the cancellations of major corridor expansions in Ohio, Wisconsin, and Florida,
the CAF Viewliner II order so much delayed,
the Nippon Sharyo bi-levels order so much delayed -- postponing the date when Amtrak gets back 80 or 90 Horizons for use elsewhere,
the failure to interest Congress in modernizing, much less expanding, the fleet of equipment.
Probably Boardman's greatest disappointment was the derailment and fatal crash in Philadelphia a year ago, after he'd spent his years emphasizing safety.
Nonetheless, all in all, a record he can be proud of and we should be grateful for.
A few months ago a couple of leaders of the House sent a letter to Amtrak's Board asking that the next president be someone with the vision to transform the company. Boardman had the vision to transform Amtrak, but due to Congress crazies he didn't have the budget to do it.
I fear the House leaders' idea of a transformation of Amtrak is to swing the bloody axe again, chopping off the
Sunset Ltd and the
California Zephyr to start, then the loss of their connecting passengers will weaken the
Coast Starlight, the trains at the Chicago hub like the
Cardinal, and the
Texas Eagle at San Antonio. So where will the bloody axe chop next?
I dread that, depending on the election in November, we'll look back at Joe Boardman's term as Amtrak's Golden Age.