Countdown to Boardman's departure

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NE933

Conductor
Joined
Aug 17, 2005
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1,107
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Queens, New York
So, we have a little less than 4 long months to go before he retires, when we (I hope) can breathe a collective sigh from his guard over a state at Amtrak that is a mess. If there can be some real leadership to step in, something that resembles promise can be over the horizon. Until then, I'll have to rely on my meds until the end of September, and pray as well.
 
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Have you ever heard the phase "better the devil you know"? The next guy (or lady) could be far far worse
That is a very good point worth keeping in mind.
I also agree with Triley that Boardman has managed to do quite a bit of good with limited resources and has managed to place Amtrak in a financially more stable situation than it has almost ever been. Yeah there are things that are worthy of criticism that he has done. But all in all it is probably slightly to moderately on the positive side in a balanced assessment of his tenure.
 
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I agree that overall Joe will be remembered as among Amtrak's best Presidents, but the last couple years has tarnished his legacy since he made foolish promises about doing away with food and beverage losses to the Mica Managers on the Hill, and let the Bean Counters run amok with their nickel and dime cuts on the LD Trains!

Enjoy your retirement Joe, you've earned it!
 
Have we all forgotten the good that he has done, with the resources he's been given?
Forgotten what, exactly? What precisely has he done that couldn't have happened without him? Boardman's legacy comes up on AU rather frequently but I'm still waiting for some examples of whatever it is he has specifically accomplished.
 
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Have we all forgotten the good that he has done, with the resources he's been given?
Forgotten what, exactly? What precisely has he done that couldn't have happened without him? Boardman's legacy comes up on AU rather frequently but I'm still waiting for some examples of whatever it is he has specifically accomplished.

There's a difference between what COULD'VE happened and what WOULD'VE happened. Anyone that has been in his position COULD'VE made a stink and attempted to order equipment. Boardman DID order equipment. Previous presidents COULD'VE have settled contracts. Boardman DID settle contracts (much to the chagrin of certain unions, I'd bet). While other presidents COULD'VE fought for more service, Boardman at least fought to protect existing service.

We'll never know what others would have actually done. Would they have taken loans and ordered new electrics or would they have followed the IGs thought process and just modified and/or rebuilt the existing fleet? Would other CEOs have used the grants to rebuild wrecked cars and tackle the infrastructure or use the money to open up some line, that would ultimately crash and burn? Previous CEOs didn't make a concentrated effort to at least attempt to recover the costs associated with grade crossing incidents, like Boardman, but they could have.

He established priorities and pushed his agenda. The agenda of someone else might not have been for new equipment, bike transportation, e-ticketing, or infrastructure repair. I've seen more track work since he took over than ever. That is because instead of deferring maintenance to save money like previous administrations, he prioritized the work. Perhaps another CEO wouldn't have done this, but we know Boardman did.

Then again, we may have better food on the train without him. We could have used a few less miles of concrete ties and all trains equipped with dining cars could have French Toast.

Only time will tell if some of his decisions helped or hurt Amtrak and once we see what the next group does when they arrive, we'll know how well (or) badly Boardman performed.
 
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Thirdrail7--

I agree with your assessment. I think 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 by the job and micromanaged by Congress and has a classic case of burnout.
 
Thirdrail, a very good and considered response. I agree with it entirely. In addition I think he made a concerted effort to put Amtrak's financial house in order and succeeded to a large extent given the constraints he is working under.
 
... 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.
 
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WoodyinNYC--

A great summary--thank you! (By the way, what were the two Virginia routes? I'm assuming NEC to Lynchburg was one, but can't remember the other one.)

When I mentioned burnout, it occurred to me that, when I was teaching, my fellow teachers who were exhibiting burnout were the ones who had the reputation for having been very good at one time. Then they got discouraged, and the burnout showed up, slowly at first, then obvious to everyone. Your summary makes me think that Boardman fits this category.
 
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?
Isn't the CZ getting an increase in ridership due to cut off cars in Reno? I would want to see if that helps long term. Plus, how would you serve Denver and Salt Lake City without the CZ?

As for the SL, hopefully they can recover from the flooding down there which has caused a lot of problems. They absolutely have to find a way to keep Houston in the Amtrak system somehow.
 
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
I honestly thought that was more on Obama for pushing through additional funding rather than on Boardman for spending it.

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,
The industrialized world already had established specs for modern diesel locomotives and passenger cars that seem to work fine everywhere else. Developing one-off American variants with special change orders just for Amtrak seems like a questionable thing for which to take credit.

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.),
Perhaps PTC might have been a better focus. Hindsight is 2020 but the improved safety of PTC has been well understood for decades now. It's not perfect obviously, but a major wreck with numerous fatalities and life altering injuries can't be undone by adding a few more MPH here and there. Here on AU we're apt to blame the media for calling Amtrak unsafe but honestly I think Amtrak brought this on themselves by having a solution that hadn't been fully implemented.

who has brought the order for new Acelas to this:far from announcement of the contract,
Out of everything with which Amtrak is involved the absolute last thing I'd ever worry about is continued funding for premium services along the NEC.

who worked so hard to improve on time performance and farebox recovery,
Can you elaborate on whatever it is Boardman himself did to improve on-time performance, keeping in mind that he's also presided over some of the biggest operational meltdowns in Amtrak's history.

who has come farther toward restoring Gulf Coast service than we dared hope,
Farther than we dared hope? From what I could see thousands of people dared to hope for an actual service with an actual train running an actual schedule.

who presided over almost 8 years without any LD trains discontinued (has Amtrak EVER had 8 years straight with no such cutbacks?)
Would Boardman be able to unilaterally discontinue a given LD route even if he wanted to?

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.
Why do you believe that none of these are within Boardman's control to improve or correct?

Probably Boardman's greatest disappointment was the derailment and fatal crash in Philadelphia a year ago, after he'd spent his years emphasizing safety.
Or maybe it simply put the lie to his previous claims of being safety focused. Honestly Amtrak's safety culture sounds like it suffers from a severe case of casual cowboy logic at the moment.

Nonetheless, all in all, a record he can be proud of and we should be grateful for.
We should be grateful? I ride Amtrak less today than at virtually any time in the last ten years. The reduced amenities and deteriorating service standards coupled with even worse scheduling are running me off. That's not something for which I feel the need to be grateful.
 
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who presided over almost 8 years without any LD trains discontinued (has Amtrak EVER had 8 years straight with no such cutbacks?)
SL East/Three Rivers/truncating Palmetto was 2005 so it's been 11 years running now. I believe between 1981 and 1994 there was nothing cut although there were reroutes of the BL/CL around 1990 away from Ft. Wayne.

To me the better questions would be either a) When will they bring back something they cut? b) ) When will they start a new one? You can say if nothing is added and nothing is cut it's as good as it was but you can also say it's as bad as it was. When was the last time Amtrak added a LD train or improved service on one? The last LD train I know that was started that still exists today is the Capitol Limited but you can argue that was just a reroute or replacement for the Broadway so that doesn't really count as improving the LD system meaningfully.

I don't believe LD travel is dead. Sure more people travel from New York to Philly than to Chicago or Florida but there's still quite a significant ridership long distance as well.
 
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I honestly have mixed opinions of Joe. Even now having worked with some Amtrak employees engineers and conductors. More so Engineers during qualifying runs.

But I think that he has had enough of the job. He has zero left in the tank and right now, it's nothing but serious fumes. I have talked to many Members off forum and through PM on their opinion of Joe.

One thing another member and I agree on is that he is simply spent and that instead of saying to Moron Hill "NO THIS IS WHAT WE NEED"! It was simply, ok you want a reduction in food cost? Let me cut a diner.

I think that once 188 happened he knew he would never hear the end of issues relating to it. Part of the job is to go to the Capitol and tell them "Hey we need this funded and now!". CNN took a "tour" of the Hudson River tubes and how they are falling apart.. He goes to CNN to make it known to the public. Capitol Hill knows but he's not making it an issue to be addressed as far as I'm concerned.

Now as far as what I've seen from Employees. When 188 happened Joe was noticeably saddened. That was one thing I noticed about him during the press conferences he was at. Talking to employees since the beginning of the year and even more so after the incident with 89, the Employee Morale is low and some have said it's an all time low. Truthfully I'd believe it. When the Unions sent the letter to Boardman regarding the company practices and close call reporting and some other serious things. It brought some things to light to me that showed to me he needs to be replaced.

Where he has my support. He secured 2 major equipment orders in his tenure. 1 being the ACS project which is almost complete. My opinion having ridden in the cab of these units. They are a great piece of equipment that Siemens did a wonderful job on and Amtrak should be proud of this unit. While their are always teething issues, I hope that the ACS units turn out to be just as reliable as the GG1 and AEM-7's.

He also got eTicketing to go systemwide without major issues. From the conductors I've talked to they love the iPhone Scanner. Of course their are some of the older guys who couldn't get use to it without issue simply cause they had the "If it ain't broke don't fix it" opinion.

25% of New Hires are Vets!! I respect that... I always feel that the Vets should get a decent paying job or career. But to the flip side of that if you have applicants that have T&E experience and the job for grabs is T&E and you have 2 jobs open give one to the T&E applicant and the other to the Vet. I have heard that to pass Amtrak Training's for Conductor, you must know your signals Verbatim. If you hire a T&E employee who worked for a Class I they can teach non railroaders coming in the ropes. Signals aren't easy. But I can almost repeat all NORAC signals verbatim.

I think that Amtrak looking for New Hires should have more open houses. And not just for the vets. But extend invitations to the following categories of new hires, "Off the Street" "VETS" "External T&E Employees" "Internal employees". As related to this Amtrak in the past 9 months had 2 "Online Career Fairs" where one could talk to a recruiter for a few minutes. I'd like to see more of those and more of an open house.

I honestly feel like we could be walking into another Warrington-Gunn situation. I hope that whoever is the successor brings back credibility to Amtrak.

I did hear that Joe wanted a hand in picking his successor. IINM the board has told him that will not happen.

Now I'll wait till he actually is out to give a final grade of Joe.

FTR... I wrote this entire post while under the extreme influence of Ambien.. I'll come back to check this post to see if anything is messed up with it in the morning. Night :p

Edit: While I did mention I had taken Ambien, which was true.. I don't remember making this post. :eek:
 
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I fear the House leaders' idea ... 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?
... how would you serve Denver and Salt Lake City without the CZ?

As for the SL ... absolutely have to ... keep Houston in the Amtrak system somehow.
I'm not suggesting that the Sunset or the Zephyr should be cut. (Someone else around here campaigns against certain trains, but not me.)

I am saying that Amtrak's haters come up with hit lists from time to time. The Sunset is usually on these lists. Because of its 3-days-a-week schedule, it has higher costs and low ridership. It ends up with the largest (loss) per passenger. The Zephyr makes the lists because its total operating loss is larger than any other LD train.

I'd keep those trains, and invest to improve them. But the haters would chop them with a bloody axe.
 
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I'll repeat that the scenario I want to avoid is a Tom Downs (career history of massive budget overruns and incomplete projects). That's what Amtrak needs to avoid right now. Anything else Amtrak can probably survive...
 
Joe Boardman impressed me as another Bush conservative political hack that always did everything that was best for his career. He will best be remembered for his quote "we will make the dining cars profitable" and by sleeper passengers that pay more and no longer see a newspaper, ice, dinner chocolates, a couple of flowers on the table, and a reduced food menu. Twenty cent bottles of water are now rationed out. He was quick to capitulate to congress and lied that he could make the dining cars profitable; a feat that has never been done in the history of railroading! What he should have said is how many federal highways do we have that are making money? Instead of challenging, he surrendered. Now that Joe Boardman is riding it out to retirement, he leaves the mess that he made to the next guy. Hopefully the new appointee will have a better idea how to run Amtrak.
 
Challenging the establishment would put his career in jeopardy, don't you think? That's just the way it is these days. He's sorta in the same boat as the career politicians are these days in the public's mind's eye: personae non gratae.
 
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People have unrealistic romantic ideas about what an Amtrak CEO can do. Even Claytor was not able to really do what some were expecting of Boardman, and the one case of outright defiance of Congress and the Board that is known, actually got unceremoniously dumped by the wayside. So the question to ponder is, is it better to stick around and do the best you can? Or is it better to make such a nuisance of yourself that you are let go and then can have zero influence on what happens next.

A short story from India in the 70s. The Indian Railways is ostensibly run by the Railway Board, the Chairman of which is a Secretary in the Government of India reporting to the Railway Minister, and the one who sort of runs the entire edifice. One Chair decided in the '70s that the Minister was an idiot and he was going to single handedly fix the railways.So without approval from the Minister he went off and published a new timetable for trains and set off in his Saloon to make it happen. Within a few days he found that the new timetable had been rescinded, there was mysteriously no locomotive available to hook his Saloon upto any train, and he was no longer anything on the Railway Board, let alone a Chair.

Moral of the story is, no matter what fancy title you have, a bureaucrat is a bureaucrat, and lives or dies by code of bureaucrats. If you deviate too much you have to go and look for a different job. Amtrak's CEO is a bureaucrat in the US Federal Government structure, and that is not going to change until the chartering articles of Amtrak are modified drastically. The SCOTUS has even made it clear that the appointment of the CEO and Board Members must follow established government bureaucratic procedures. So no amount of moaning is going to make an iota of difference. you can take a pick between relatively mediocre or completely hopeless, by the nature of the being.
 
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