New Amtrak CEO promises massive housecleaning

[sportbiker]

WASHINGTON - New Amtrak President Joseph Boardman says many Amtrak managers do not know whether to believe that Amtrak actually has a future, and that anyone who cannot make the transition from a survival mode to a growth mode will have to find another job.
Boardman said in an interview that shortly after leaving the top spot at the Federal Railroad Administration last Thanksgiving to take over Amtrak, he discovered that the passenger rail system is in worse shape than he thought, and that some people in Amtrak headquarters in Washington are, in effect, burnout cases. He would not be specific about numbers, saying he has still made no final decisions about how many people will have to leave because they cannot make the transition from survival to growth.

Much more here.

From Trains Newswire via Seattle Transit blog.

 

[RRrich]

I am a retired High School Teacher. The school system from which I retired had had 6 Superintendents in 10 years - or was it 10 in 6 years - I can't remember but I know it is no longer certified by the State.

Each of the Soups took office with words like those quoted above.

Been there, done that, bought the Tee shirt, have the video.

Talk is cheap - results are what counts.

 

[amtrakwolverine]

let see if his bite is as bad as his bark.

 

[Steve4031]

I am a retired High School Teacher. The school system from which I retired had had 6 Superintendents in 10 years - or was it 10 in 6 years - I can't remember but I know it is no longer certified by the State.
Each of the Soups took office with words like those quoted above.

Been there, done that, bought the Tee shirt, have the video.

Talk is cheap - results are what counts.

You work in the Chicago Public School system? LOL Its the same thing with principals here.

 

[RailFanLNK]

Even though I'm a hourly worker and most of the times the people getting the "ax" are supposed to be folks that I don't desire, I find it "political" alot of times on the "housecleaning" quote. Anywhere there is dead weight wether its management or hourly. I just find it humorous that this "soundbite" can get so much airplay and then sometimes the people kicked out the door weren't the problem in the first place.

 

[had8ley]

David Gunn came on board and almost immediately started throwing people from the trains; the biggest name I can remember was Stan Begley. He told Begley to cut off the Product Line Managers. What does Begley do to appease a lot of his cronies? He bulletins the exact number of cut off jobs as new jobs, with a different name. Gunn fired his shot, booted Begley, but eventually it was too much for one man to handle. We see trivial things like the "Weakly Specials" that have pretty much ignored for over a year. I just wonder what else Mr. Boardman has uncovered that has been a major factor in Amtrak's weaknesses? I had heard that our roving boy wonder that served as a previous president was regarded as a Roman Emperor and would rather dine than plan. One upper manager told me he got the impression from this past leader that cruise control was the best way to fly. Good luck Mr. Boardman: there's a lot of catching up to do!

 

[Larry H.]

David Gunn came on board and almost immediately started throwing people from the trains; the biggest name I can remember was Stan Begley. He told Begley to cut off the Product Line Managers. What does Begley do to appease a lot of his cronies? He bulletins the exact number of cut off jobs as new jobs, with a different name. Gunn fired his shot, booted Begley, but eventually it was too much for one man to handle. We see trivial things like the "Weakly Specials" that have pretty much ignored for over a year. I just wonder what else Mr. Boardman has uncovered that has been a major factor in Amtrak's weaknesses? I had heard that our roving boy wonder that served as a previous president was regarded as a Roman Emperor and would rather dine than plan. One upper manager told me he got the impression from this past leader that cruise control was the best way to fly. Good luck Mr. Boardman: there's a lot of catching up to do!

Wow buried near the end of that article it says that the "restrictions" on dining car personnel has been ended by the new administration. ITS ABOUT TIME. Overall its the first really half way encouraging thing that I have seen. I do write my congress man as so many suggest here. I recently again wrote to Durbin and my parting thoughts were that something must be done to return dining and lounge services to the kind of service that long distance passengers deserved. Maybe after years of notes from myself and others it has helped?

 

[Ryan]

Good catch, Larry!

The staff member said that meaningless restrictions enacted under Republicans, including harassment such as limits on the number of dining car staff numbers, were wiped off the books and he is sure that such restrictions will soon be eased by Amtrak.

 

[had8ley]

Pipe dream of the year~ a Weakly Special ticket from New Orleans to Orlando on the Sunset.

 

[wayman]

Pipe dream of the year~ a Weakly Special ticket from New Orleans to Orlando on the Sunset.

NOL-ORL on the Sunset is absolutely free this week! They just don't actually list this special on the Weakly Specials page--it's like the "Secret Menu" at In-and-Out Burger, you just have to know it's on sale

Unfortunately, this week the sale happens to coincide with the temporary suspension of the route. Try again next week!

 

[Joel N. Weber II]

It would be really interesting if someone could get Boardman to go on the record in the next week or two explaining what he believes the challenges to restoring the Sunset Limited east or its replacement actually are.

 

[saxman]

Pipe dream of the year~ a Weakly Special ticket from New Orleans to Orlando on the Sunset.

NOL-ORL on the Sunset is absolutely free this week! They just don't actually list this special on the Weakly Specials page--it's like the "Secret Menu" at In-and-Out Burger, you just have to know it's on sale

Unfortunately, this week the sale happens to coincide with the temporary suspension of the route. Try again next week!

It is free this week! The small print says your responsible for providing your own transportation. :lol:

 

[had8ley]

It would be really interesting if someone could get Boardman to go on the record in the next week or two explaining what he believes the challenges to restoring the Sunset Limited east or its replacement actually are.

There's probably going to be a line to ask that question. Perhaps we'll find out just what Mr. Boardman is made up of right out of the gate!

 

[AlanB]

It would be really interesting if someone could get Boardman to go on the record in the next week or two explaining what he believes the challenges to restoring the Sunset Limited east or its replacement actually are.

There's probably going to be a line to ask that question. Perhaps we'll find out just what Mr. Boardman is made up of right out of the gate!

Well with a study underway, I suspect that he'll just wait for the study to be completed before doing anything. But who knows, maybe he'll surprise me and just restore it once we start getting some of the damaged equipment back on the road.

 

[Crescent ATN & TCL]

Amtrak needs to fire some of the idiots in management. Maybe we finally have the man who's not afraid to do it.

A while back I was talking to a conductor on the MEI-NOL section of the Crescent. He said his manager wasn't even aware the train cross Lake Pontchartrain. Apparently she had never ridden the train in the whole time shes been working as manager.

He said she was required by one of the past Amtrak presidents to take the train from NOL to WAS for a meeting. When the train started to cross the lake she exclaimed "Wow, I never knew the train crossed the lake, This is beautiful, I may have to do this again."

Now please tell me how you can manage something that you don't even have basic knowledge about?

 

[haolerider]

Amtrak needs to fire some of the idiots in management. Maybe we finally have the man who's not afraid to do it.
A while back I was talking to a conductor on the MEI-NOL section of the Crescent. He said his manager wasn't even aware the train cross Lake Pontchartrain. Apparently she had never ridden the train in the whole time shes been working as manager.

He said she was required by one of the past Amtrak presidents to take the train from NOL to WAS for a meeting. When the train started to cross the lake she exclaimed "Wow, I never knew the train crossed the lake, This is beautiful, I may have to do this again."

Now please tell me how you can manage something that you don't even have basic knowledge about?

This sounds a bit like an urban legend, but there is a need to get more management people on the trains, so they understand what the company is really all about.

 

[had8ley]

Amtrak needs to fire some of the idiots in management. Maybe we finally have the man who's not afraid to do it.
A while back I was talking to a conductor on the MEI-NOL section of the Crescent. He said his manager wasn't even aware the train cross Lake Pontchartrain. Apparently she had never ridden the train in the whole time shes been working as manager.

He said she was required by one of the past Amtrak presidents to take the train from NOL to WAS for a meeting. When the train started to cross the lake she exclaimed "Wow, I never knew the train crossed the lake, This is beautiful, I may have to do this again."

Now please tell me how you can manage something that you don't even have basic knowledge about?

This sounds a bit like an urban legend, but there is a need to get more management people on the trains, so they understand what the company is really all about.

It is a very true story because I know someone who heard her utter those words on the train. It certainly seems that my tirades have some merit because I posted this exact story about a year ago. I can supply the person's name and phone # for Doubting Thomases.

 

[transit54]

Amtrak needs to fire some of the idiots in management. Maybe we finally have the man who's not afraid to do it.
A while back I was talking to a conductor on the MEI-NOL section of the Crescent. He said his manager wasn't even aware the train cross Lake Pontchartrain. Apparently she had never ridden the train in the whole time shes been working as manager.

He said she was required by one of the past Amtrak presidents to take the train from NOL to WAS for a meeting. When the train started to cross the lake she exclaimed "Wow, I never knew the train crossed the lake, This is beautiful, I may have to do this again."

Now please tell me how you can manage something that you don't even have basic knowledge about?

This sounds a bit like an urban legend, but there is a need to get more management people on the trains, so they understand what the company is really all about.

I wouldn't actually be surprised if this was true. I work in public transit and one of the benefits of the job is a free transit pass on all our routes. Out of about twenty administrative employees, I'm probably one of four that commutes regularly using the system, and only of 1-2 people who commute on it daily or use it weekends/nights/other times outside of going to/from work. We normally have two people who work in the front office, dealing with the public, taking calls and answering questions about our service. One day both of them were out, so they rotated employees from other departments down through the front office. I went downstairs to empty my mailbox and listened to them answer calls. One woman from finance picked up the phone, and I heard her say, "You're at the airport? Hm.... [flips through bus map/guide, missing the Umall/Airport page] ...I don't think we have a bus that goes to the airport." Now, our second highest ridership route is called the Umall/Airport! I quickly interrupted her to explain we did, in fact, regularly service the airport. This sort of thing happened a few more times till I went back upstairs. It amazes me that people can work for a transit agency and know next to nothing about the system. Now, my department has to ride all the routes, but that's because I work in operations.

So it wouldn't surprise me in the least if an Amtrak manager had never stepped foot on a train she was in charge of - I'm sure she wasn't this conductor's immediate supervisor, but she probably had some paperwork pushing job that never required her to actually get out and know the system.