Thanks, Joe Boardman, and Good Night

[WoodyinNYC]

This was Joe Boardman's last day as head of Amtrak.

I'm sure he knows better than anyone where he could have done a little better. But from here on the far outside, it looks like he done good.

To help remember him, a partial, incomplete, and random-order listing: Amtrak's ridership up by millions; much better fare-box recovery; improved On Time Performance; electronic ticketing; on-board Wi-Fi; 70 new electric locomotives; 70 Viewliner baggage cars; another 60 Viewliners in the factory; two Talgo trainsets at work on the Cascades; 90 or so cars salvaged from the wreck yard and returned to the fleet; new diesels coming to operate on the Midwest corridor services; corporate restructuring to emphasize the growing operating surpluses on the NEC; lower losses on the LD line of business; many improvements in ADA compliant facilities; no LD trains cancelled; extended service in Virginia and Maine; good labor relations; work underway to restore service on the Gulf Coast; improved stations big and small from Seattle to Beaumont to St Paul to Waterloo (Ft Wayne); plans readied to start increased and greatly improved, Stimulus-funded services by this time next year on the Cascades, Lincoln Service, Wolverines, Piedmont, and other corridors; and more and more. This final week saw the signing of the contract for $2.5 Billion worth of new, more, and better Acela trains and supporting infrastructure.

And all without the drama of the revolving-door C.E.O.s like we saw during the years before Boardman arrived.

Of course Joe Boardman didn't do all of this by himself. He seems too modest to brag much on himself any way. But by every measure I can think of, Amtrak is doing better today than it was when George W Bush appointed him to run Amtrak, back in November, 2008. We can all thank Joe Boardman for that.

 

[Bob Dylan]

All true Woody, but in his last two years he also made idiotic promises to Mica, ran off some excellent Executives, and allowed Bean Counters to make Nickel and Dime cuts to LD Trains under the discredited policiy of cutting your way to prosperity!

Unfortunately when it comes to the Long Distance Trains,"Less for More" became Amtraks motto. This too will be part of his legacy!

 

[Thirdrail7]

Rumor has it that he's not retiring from the workforce completely. He is next in line to over CAF. *

* I just started that rumor!

 

[Ryan]

I've heard that runout as well*, there must be something to it...

*about 30 seconds ago when I read this thread

Seriously, I agree with the OP. He made a good number of good moves. Sure, there were some questionable ones in there as well, but nobody is perfect and I'm not going to fault a man for answering to the one body that provides his funding.

 

[RPC]

"I'm not going to fault a man for answering to the one body that provides his funding." Technically, there's another body of people that provides funding. They're called passengers.

 

[jis]

In terms of getting the funding from the passengers Boardman seems to have done at least as well as if not better than many of his predecessors, no?

 

[Manny T]

Does customer satisfaction with the product count?

Has that been measured before, during and at the end of the Boardman tenure?

 

[jis]

Does customer satisfaction with the product count?

Has that been measured before, during and at the end of the Boardman tenure?

I believe it is included, at least some measure of it, in every monthly performance statement. Haven't noticed any spectacular movement in it. Nothing like one would guess from the fulminations here.

Don't get me wrong. I don't like a bunch of changes made a bit. But unless it shows up in whatever metric they choose to use, how is any change ever going to take place. Certainly not just because people are losing sleep or getting high blood pressure issues on AU.

 

[JohannFarley]

I think the best way to describe boardmans tenure is such: Everyone does good things and bad things. Generally, people are more likely to remember bad things because they often have a more immediate impact than good things. I believe that overall boardmans tenure was not bad, more just meh (to use a true Internet word). It wasn't anything to write home about, but also nothing to get aggravated about either. But that's just what I think, of course others will think differently.

 

[Karl1459]

So Mr Boardman is no angel. If he was;

He was he would have gotten the 100 billion to upgrade the NEC to 200 mph, with the equipment to run at that speed.

He would have gotten congress to cough up the money for twice the number of baggage cars and viewliner sleepers. And gotten them delivered On Time and under budget.

He would have superliner 3's being delivered now. And new locomotives to pull them.

The Sunset Limited and Cardinal would be daily, 4 trains Chicago-New York/Boston. The Hiawatha and Pioneer/Desert wind, Chicago-Miami, and Denver-Dallas-Memphis-Nashville-Charlotte-DC trains would be running.

Every train would have first class parlor cars.

AND THERE WOULD BE MINTS ON EVERY PILLOW IN SLEEPERS.

The reality is Amtrak has improved in many areas. Woody touched on most of them... Though looking at the posts about onboard service, pre-Boardman was about the terrible attendants with the occasional "jewel"... Now it is mostly "average" attendants with frequent "jewels" and the occasional "turkey".

Of course some of the improvements which have in turn have resulted in regular people actually using Amtrak have also exposed some weaknesses. We can hope these get solved.

To Joe Boardman, Thank You

 

[ScouseAndy]

Rumor has it that he's not retiring from the workforce completely. He is next in line to over CAF. *

If he did take over CAF, then the VL2 would be delivered next week, they might not have windows or any beds and he might be charging Amtrak triple what they agreed originally for the coaches to be fully fitted but he'd still get them delivered

 

[jis]

More seriously, he is staying on in an advisory role at Amtrak until the end of September.

 

[Bob Dylan]

More seriously, he is staying on in an advisory role at Amtrak until the end of September.

Will he be moving to Florida with all you NE Ex-pats, or is he going back to Upstate New York where he started out?

The other option is to become a Consultant/Lobbyist and make some Real Money as they say in Washington!

 

[jis]

He has stated before that he will be retiring to the Syracuse-Rome area of New York State.

 

[Bob Dylan]

He has stated before that he will be retiring to the Syracuse-Rome area of New York State.

Thanks jis! Wonder if the Lake Shores OTP will improve and the Empire Service Trains will get Cafe Cars?

 

[jis]

He has stated before that he will be retiring to the Syracuse-Rome area of New York State.

Thanks jis! Wonder if the Lake Shores OTP will improve and the Empire Service Trains will get Cafe Cars?

The latter is not really for Amtrak to decide. It is entirely what NYSDOT wants to pay for.

Besides west of Albany Empire Service trains already have cafe cars. It is only the Albany trains that don't have Cafe Service even though all have a Cafe Car.

 

[Acela150]

More seriously, he is staying on in an advisory role at Amtrak until the end of September.

I had figured he would stay until the 30th in some type of role as you had mentioned.

He has stated before that he will be retiring to the Syracuse-Rome area of New York State.

Thanks jis! Wonder if the Lake Shores OTP will improve and the Empire Service Trains will get Cafe Cars?

The latter is not really for Amtrak to decide. It is entirely what NYSDOT wants to pay for.

Besides west of Albany Empire Service trains already have cafe cars. It is only the Albany trains that don't have Cafe Service even though all have a Cafe Car.

And the only reason for the half cafes is for the BC seats.

 

[neroden]

He has stated before that he will be retiring to the Syracuse-Rome area of New York State.

Maybe we can get him to join ESPA and NARP.

 

[dlagrua]

We will remember Joe Boardman as the man who:

1 Lied and promised to make the dining cars profitable in two years. An impossible task but still made the promise knowing that he will be retiring and leaving the chore to the next guy.

2. For petty cuts in sleeper class amenities that would mean little in the big picture. Really now how much does ice, a newspaper, two small chocolates and a multiple meal use flower in the vase at the dining table cost? Not only did these amenities go away, the sleeper prices were jacked up considerably. Less for more.

3. For eliminating dining service on the Silver Star and cheapening the food on the CONO and Cardinal to make it barely eatable.

4. For eliminating ice cream and good frozen deserts from the dining car menus on many routes.

5. For eliminating National Train day, a key advertising and outreach promotion event. .

6.. For driving things to the drop off point in ridership by all of the above.

But above all Boardman will be remembered as a useless unprincipled political hack without a backbone, that never hesitated to lick the boots of the anti-passenger rail group in congress. Good riddance Joe, you did a terrible job. Are you happy now that you drove off many long time passengers and that the ridership numbers are now falling?

 

[Ryan]

We will remember Joe Boardman as the man who:

1 Lied and promised to make the dining cars profitable in two years. An impossible task but still made the promise knowing that he will be retiring and leaving the chore to the next guy.

Really? You know that for a fact? Pretty cool that you know him personally and he shared his retirement plans with you before announcing them to anyone else.

2. For petty cuts in sleeper class amenities that would mean little in the big picture. Really now how much does ice, a newspaper, two small chocolates and a multiple meal use flower in the vase at the dining table cost? Not only did these amenities go away, the sleeper prices were jacked up considerably. Less for more.

You're right, they mean very little. Yet you complain about them endlessly.

3. For eliminating dining service on the Silver Star and cheapening the food on the CONO and Cardinal to make it barely eatable.

What would you have the man do? Keep running 70 year old cars that were unsafe to put on the road? Left off in your diatribe is the part where he actually ordered replacements for those dining cars.

4. For eliminating ice cream and good frozen deserts from the dining car menus on many routes.

Yep. The highlight of his day was picking and choosing what was on the menus. CEOs personally decide on over tiny aspect of service, no matter how small.

5. For eliminating National Train day, a key advertising and outreach promotion event.

Key? How much money did it cost to put on? How many new riders were attracted as a result of it? You know for a fact that the cost to put the event on was more than covered by increased revenue that resulted from it?

6. For driving things to the drop off point in ridership by all of the above.

Amtrak ridership in 2008: 28.7 million (4.1 million LD)Amtrak ridership in 2016: 30.8 million (4.5 million LD)

Basic math seems to dispute your premise.

But above all Boardman will be remembered as a useless unprincipled political hack without a backbone, that never hesitated to lick the boots of the anti-passenger rail group in congress.

This is nothing more than a content free personal attack on the man's character. You ought to be ashamed of yourself.

 

[jis]

^** LIKE **^

 

[Ryan]

Bitten by the page break!

 

[Woodcut60]

He has stated before that he will be retiring to the Syracuse-Rome area of New York State.

Thanks jis! Wonder if the Lake Shores OTP will improve and the Empire Service Trains will get Cafe Cars?

 

[dlagrua]

We will remember Joe Boardman as the man who:

1 Lied and promised to make the dining cars profitable in two years. An impossible task but still made the promise knowing that he will be retiring and leaving the chore to the next guy.

Really? You know that for a fact? Pretty cool that you know him personally and he shared his retirement plans with you before announcing them to anyone else.

2. For petty cuts in sleeper class amenities that would mean little in the big picture. Really now how much does ice, a newspaper, two small chocolates and a multiple meal use flower in the vase at the dining table cost? Not only did these amenities go away, the sleeper prices were jacked up considerably. Less for more.

You're right, they mean very little. Yet you complain about them endlessly.

3. For eliminating dining service on the Silver Star and cheapening the food on the CONO and Cardinal to make it barely eatable.

What would you have the man do? Keep running 70 year old cars that were unsafe to put on the road? Left off in your diatribe is the part where he actually ordered replacements for those dining cars.

4. For eliminating ice cream and good frozen deserts from the dining car menus on many routes.

Yep. The highlight of his day was picking and choosing what was on the menus. CEOs personally decide on over tiny aspect of service, no matter how small.

5. For eliminating National Train day, a key advertising and outreach promotion event.

Key? How much money did it cost to put on? How many new riders were attracted as a result of it? You know for a fact that the cost to put the event on was more than covered by increased revenue that resulted from it?

6. For driving things to the drop off point in ridership by all of the above.

Amtrak ridership in 2008: 28.7 million (4.1 million LD)Amtrak ridership in 2016: 30.8 million (4.5 million LD)

Basic math seems to dispute your premise.

But above all Boardman will be remembered as a useless unprincipled political hack without a backbone, that never hesitated to lick the boots of the anti-passenger rail group in congress.

This is nothing more than a content free personal attack on the man's character. You ought to be ashamed of yourself.

An employee is any business is judged by their RESULTS. The man at the top must take responsibility for ALL decisions made by those under him and in many cases guides the policy, right? Rather than going line by line and providing a rebuttal to your comments, I will just focus on two. Joe Boardman promised to make the dining cars profitable in 5 years. Then he retires shortly thereafter. I guess you feel that was a coincidence, but any man who promises to make dining cars profitable is ignoring 80 years of railroading history where dining cars always lost money. Even an imbecile knows that so why was that promise made????

The second is National Train Day. It may be hard to judge the net gain from this event but any business needs to advertise. Thousands of people attended those events so did it bring attention to passenger rail service?????

In closing i will say that I do not judge anyone personally. I just gave a critical opinion on Joe's business performance.

 

[Thirdrail7]

An employee is any business is judged by their RESULTS. The man at the top must take responsibility for ALL decisions made by those under him and in many cases guides the policy, right? Rather than going line by line and providing a rebuttal to your comments, I will just focus on two. Joe Boardman promised to make the dining cars profitable in 5 years. Then he retires shortly thereafter. I guess you feel that was a coincidence, but any man who promises to make dining cars profitable is ignoring 80 years of railroading history where dining cars always lost money. Even an imbecile knows that so why was that promise made???

The second is National Train Day. It may be hard to judge the net gain from this event but any business needs to advertise. Thousands of people attended those events so did it bring attention to passenger rail service?????

In closing i will say that I do not judge anyone personally. I just gave a critical opinion on Joe's business performance.

While you can't please everyone, I do know that people do and say certain thing under duress. One of the conditions of funding was to eliminate food losses. Other people have said similar things like Amtrak will be profitable. This is what often happens when you have to answer to a demanding Congress. So, he made an effort to start curbing losses. Sometimes, that is better than just maintaining the status quo, particularly when it pisses people off.

As for train day, it is not like he canceled it immediately. It ran for years and l personally thought it had grown stale long before it was canceled. How many times can you show people the same thing? Additionally, there are cheaper ways to advertise. From an outsider, I can appreciate national train day. From an insider, I can appreciate why it had to go. It was extremely expensive (remember, some hosts charge by the axle), it took up valuable space ( and some areas charged for hosting the events) and took cars out of service (every car on display was not in revenue service...in some cases, for days). That doesn't even include the administrative aspects (coordinating movements, the entertainment, working with the private car owners, the excursions, security/police.) While a great deal of employees at the event were management "volunteers," plenty of people supporting the even were not "volunteers!"

I don;t know how much internet ads and television spots cost, but I'm sure you could have produced a great deal of them for what NTD costs....and they'd repeat!

When your fleet is dying of old age, hard usage, derailments and collisions and you're in a constant cash crunch, you have to prioritize. Showing off your decrepit fleet may not be at the top of the list.

Additionally, appeasing the person who is in the position to give you money may be at the top of the list, which brings us back to your first point......