NY Times: Anderson out, William Flynn in

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Cool! From passenger airline to freight and high density passenger aircraft leasing operation :p That should work out well ;) His experience as President and CEO is with Polar Air Cargo and Atlas Air, which he has recently retired from.
 
Yeah and Altas is basically slave to Amazon,{ just put one one the water landing at Houston } he got caught snoozing when he order new 767 jet freighters from Boeing to support the Amazon deal by not ordering when Boeing suggested and their delivery dates ended up behind a Big FedEx order
 
Well this leaves me with some questions:

Was there a "no confidence" vote by the board against Anderson (or something similar)?
Was Anderson's term intended to be this short-lived all along?
Will Flynn's railroad experience (whatever extent that is) help or hurt Amtrak?

o_O
Being that Anderson was on a short term contract with bonuses over base pay, I don't think Anderson's tenure was ever meant to be long term. Anderson was the turnaround specialist, this guy is probably the long term pick. As a former CSX executive and background in transportation, he seems qualified to take Amtrak into the next era.
 
Who knows what may change now?

In the Glass Half Full Dept., Flynn's freight rail experience might give him significant insight into how freight and pax rail could co-exist better -- potentially improving OTP.

In the Glass Half Empty Dept., this might just be a further nail in the coffin for LD pax trains, as his CSX experience may bleed over to Amtrak in the form of train-killing.

Inquiring minds want to know: Was the Trump administration in any way involved in the selection of Flynn?
 
Who knows what may change now?

In the Glass Half Full Dept., Flynn's freight rail experience might give him significant insight into how freight and pax rail could co-exist better -- potentially improving OTP.

In the Glass Half Empty Dept., this might just be a further nail in the coffin for LD pax trains, as his CSX experience may bleed over to Amtrak in the form of train-killing.

Inquiring minds want to know: Was the Trump administration in any way involved in the selection of Flynn?
While Trump may have some influence on the pick via the Transportation department, this is a largely the same board that chose Anderson.
 
As I had mentioned earlier, Anderson's contract ends this year so it was potentially likely that he would leave and a new CEO would come in. Looks like the potential has become reality. Heck if I was Anderson I'd take my bonus and run too. :)
 
Glad to see the end of Anderson, who has been a disaster for long-distance rail travel. But since basically the same board picked Flynn, I am not sure whether to be optimistic about any improvements going forward.
 
It looks like the new guy is taking a salary. Don’t know whether to be hopeful or not, but as others have mentioned it’s the same board that gave us Anderson.
 
To me this feels like Anderson was brought in to do the dirty work of a turnaround. This is now the guy who will be the long term guy who will build off that foundation. Being that this is the same board who appointed Anderson, I don't think there will be any significant changes to the course Amtrak is now pursuing.
 
My hope is that as a former VP of strategic planning at CSX, he knows how to speak "freight railroad" which would definitely help Amtrak's corridor vision. Otherwise this guy seems like your classic cost cutter.
 
I knew him as a sales director at CSX before being promoted to other positions and eventually head of Merchandise Service (sales and marketing). He left in 2002. He can certainly 'speak railroad' but not sure what skills he brings as far as passenger rail or transit. Apparently that's no longer important but he should be an improvement over Anderson.
 
I knew him as a sales director at CSX before being promoted to other positions and eventually head of Merchandise Service (sales and marketing). He left in 2002. He can certainly 'speak railroad' but not sure what skills he brings as far as passenger rail or transit. Apparently that's no longer important but he should be an improvement over Anderson.
Completely agree, but that isn't a high bar.
 
Anyone know if Gardner will still be with Amtrak? That guy was also a leading voice behind cutting long distance routes in favor of Corridor routes that for all practical purposes cannot be expanded much over a region, but perhaps within a state with state funding.
 
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