# Amtrak Board



## lordsigma (Apr 28, 2022)

Do Amtrak board members get paid?


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## lordsigma (Apr 29, 2022)

President Biden Announces AMTRAK Board Member Nominees | The White House


WASHINGTON – Today, President Biden announced his intent to nominate the following individuals to serve as members of the AMTRAK Board of Directors: David




www.whitehouse.gov





Board members announced.


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## IndyLions (Apr 29, 2022)

It’s not an encouraging group, to be honest. Mostly Northeasterners, mostly political payback.

if there’s a transportation expert in the mix there – I don’t see them…


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## Devil's Advocate (Apr 29, 2022)

IndyLions said:


> There was a Trains article on the nominations Biden made today, and it looks like a bunch of political payback with no relevant experience, and not much representation outside of the Northeast. For instance, there’s an urban housing person and an AFL/CIO person on there.. That reeks of political payback more than qualifications for nomination to a supposedly important transportation post.


I'm only two sentences in and you've already claimed political payback twice, so where is your evidence these people bought their nominations?



IndyLions said:


> On the surface, it looks like new board, more of the same.


Is Amtrak's current board full of urban housing planners, union management, and ADA lawyers or is this specious reasoning?



IndyLions said:


> How disappointing. But if Biden has proven anything, it’s that he’s a career politician. He doesn’t know any other way.


I hate it when I catch my auto mechanic secretly making a career out of vehicle repairs. It's almost as if he doesn't know any other way to maintain my sedan.


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## PaTrainFan (Apr 29, 2022)

IndyLions said:


> It’s not an encouraging group, to be honest. Mostly Northeasterners, mostly political payback.
> 
> if there’s a transportation expert in the mix there – I don’t see them…



Not sure how being named to an essentially volunteer board is payback. They have nothing to gain by serving on Amtrak's board.


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## Amtrakfflyer (Apr 29, 2022)

Coscia reappointed, another who’s an investment banker, and all from NEC save one. Horrible, absolutely horrible at first and second glance.


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## IndyLions (Apr 29, 2022)

Calm down. Political Payback - “returning a favor as payback for political support”. That’s what this feels like - but hey - it is politics after all. Nothing illegal - just disappointing.

Excuse me if the nominations of an urban housing specialist and a Union boss to a transportation post don’t get me excited.


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## daybeers (Apr 29, 2022)

I don't see any of our names...they must've posted the wrong list!


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## IndyLions (Apr 29, 2022)

Well, one qualification they definitely have in their favor (with the exception of one) is that at least they’re a different board.


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## Amtrakfflyer (Apr 29, 2022)

With the same board chair, this could be a 7-1 board in favor of NEC when all is said and done.


IndyLions said:


> Well, one qualification they definitely have in their favor (with the exception of one) is that at least they’re a different board.


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## lordsigma (Apr 29, 2022)

Amtrakfflyer said:


> With the same board chair, this could be a 7-1 board in favor of NEC when all is said and done.


I don’t think it’s necessary to pit the NEC vs the national network. Both are important and have their role


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## Amtrakfflyer (Apr 29, 2022)

Exactly! But the current board is very much NEC focused at what seems to be the expense of the Network. On the surface these nominations don’t appear to change much and more than likely keep Gardner in place. Time will tell.

Reading up on the IL appointee Koos, originally nominated by Trump (who wanted to dismantle system) he’s on the Lincoln corridor. He spoke highly of LD service when Trump appointed him. I hope it was genuine and wasn’t just posturing to get confirmed.









The Trains Interview: Chris Koos - Trains


Since 2003, Normal, Ill., business owner Chris Koos has championed downtown development as mayor of the Midwest college town situated on Amtrak’s Chicago-St. Louis Lincoln Service route. He was nominated on Friday by President Joe Biden for a spot on Amtrak’s board of directors, the second time...




www.trains.com


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## TinCan782 (Apr 29, 2022)

Finally!


https://www.usnews.com/news/us/articles/2022-04-29/biden-to-nominate-five-for-u-s-passenger-railroad-amtrak-board


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## zephyr17 (Apr 29, 2022)

Coscia was reappointed, which is a damm shame. That probably means Gardner and his team are safe


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## jruff001 (Apr 29, 2022)

Anyone who doesn't buy into the conspiracy theory of "_they_ want to kill the long distance trains" will automatically get the scorn of this message board.


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## zephyr17 (Apr 29, 2022)

Maybe not "kill".

Are ignorant about, do not understand, and pay no constructive attention to, yes.


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## jruff001 (Apr 29, 2022)

It ultimately boils down to the same thing.

If they give that same attention to the NEC (not being ignorant about, understanding, and paying constructive attention to it), balance that with the same considerations for the LD network and make decisions accordingly, they will be seen as pro-NEC / anti-LD and as wanting to kill the LD trains.


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## zephyr17 (Apr 29, 2022)

jruff001 said:


> It ultimately boils down to the same thing.
> 
> If they give that same attention to the NEC (not being ignorant about, understanding, and paying constructive attention to it), balance that with the same considerations for the LD network and make decisions accordingly, they will be seen as pro-NEC / anti-LD and as wanting to kill the LD trains.


I would happily give them the chance, but Coscia and Gardner appear not to.

As I said, I do not think there is a "conspiracy" to kill them as not care or understand the damage they are doing through neglect and bad decisions (flex dining, the Texas Eagle, not having sufficient cars to run to run the schedule, among others). I don't think the record of Coscia/Gardner's management of the National Network is defensible.


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## Amtrakfflyer (Apr 30, 2022)

What gets forgotten is Gardners past words that the network trains are bleeding Amtrak dry. His dishonesty with skewed facts and outright lies, trying to dismantle the SWC in 2018 is a great example. He was also a part of the shouting match with legislators that were trying the save the SWC in that time frame. It’s on record time and time again this guy does not support long distance trains.

It’s been said by some he’s just an incompetent baffoon but with behavior like above it can’t be more clear we have a past vocal critic of long distance trains running Amtrak. Present day has he shown anything different? Amtraks recent five year plan that states, and I’m paraphrasing “we run our network trains at the wishes of Congress” should be telling. I don’t see Gardner/Coscia and co fighting for the network trains when we have a hostile Congress. Until then the trains will limp along on life support under these two leaders in my opinion.


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## IndyLions (Apr 30, 2022)

If I remember correctly, there is a new requirement for there to be at least two board representatives (each) for LD & state supported services. While they haven’t identified which of these nominees are going to be slotted to which - it seems like they left it _to the Republicans _to nominate at least one (maybe 2) representative slotted to LD…

Forget conspiracy theories, but think about that. What does the administration care about? They made darn sure that they themselves nominated all NEC board slots, and left the Republicans to fill in the rest. That should speak volumes. (and yes - there are plenty of pro-rail Republicans)

But after all is said and done, none of that is a surprise. I think we all know that LD is the red headed step child. The way they run the trains - especially the CL, TE, Crescent, and Cardinal tells us that.

For me personally, I’m just pro-trains. I’m pro-LD, pro-NEC & pro-State Supported Services. (although I am anti-Precision Scheduled Railroading)


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## lordsigma (Apr 30, 2022)

Nothing is of course precluding Biden from nominating the remaining seats once these 5 are seated. Do the board seats for the long distance and state supported trains state that they have to be states that ONLY have such service or could someone from a state that sees two or even all three business lines represent any of the three categories? Of the NEC states: Massachusetts has all three business lines. Rhode Island has NEC only. Connecticut has NEC and state supported. New York has all three, New Jersey sees both NEC and Long Distance, Pennsylvania sees all three, Delaware has NEC and Long Distance, Maryland has NEC and Long Distance, DC has NEC and Long Distance. Note that trains that operate on the NEC that spur into state supported territory (such as the Pennsylvanian, Keystones, Virginia/Springfield MA through Regionals, Carolinian, and Vermonter) do not count as state supported when they are on the NEC mainline - a New York - Philadelphia trip on a Keystone for instance is considered a Northeast Regional trip. As a result Maryland does not see state supported service for example.


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## IndyLions (Apr 30, 2022)

lordsigma said:


> Nothing is of course precluding Biden from nominating the remaining seats once these 5 are seated. Do the board seats for the long distance and state supported trains state that they have to be states that ONLY have such service or could someone from a state that sees two or even all three business lines represent any of the three categories? Of the NEC states: Massachusetts has all three business lines. Rhode Island has NEC only. Connecticut has NEC and state supported. New York has all three, New Jersey sees both NEC and Long Distance, Pennsylvania sees all three, Delaware has NEC and Long Distance, Maryland has NEC and Long Distance, DC has NEC and Long Distance.



I don’t think that’s correct. The Trains article I read said that the Republicans will nominate the remaining seats.


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## jis (Apr 30, 2022)

IndyLions said:


> I don’t think that’s correct. The Trains article I read said that the Republicans will nominate the remaining seats.


Only the President gets to do the nominating. Republicans give their slate to the President to nominate. Trains articles can and do contain errors from time to time.


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## lordsigma (Apr 30, 2022)

IndyLions said:


> I don’t think that’s correct. The Trains article I read said that the Republicans will nominate the remaining seats.


I believe there is a requirement for a certain party split on the board. Biden is likely allowing Senate Republicans to choose three picks who he will then nominate after they indicate their selections. Correcting myself on saying 5 picks before - 2 of the 10 member board are Gardner and Secretary Buttigieg (I'm guessing he can also send a designee) who serve ex officio. I suspect a few of the pro Amtrak GOP Senators will likely have a prime role in selecting these picks.


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## TWA904 (Apr 30, 2022)

Don't these nominations need to be approved by the Senate?


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## lordsigma (Apr 30, 2022)

TWA904 said:


> Don't these nominations need to be approved by the Senate?


Correct.


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## Just-Thinking-51 (Apr 30, 2022)

daybeers said:


> I don't see any of our names...they must've posted the wrong list!


Did you apply for the position?


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## AmtrakMaineiac (Apr 30, 2022)

IndyLions said:


> Don’t get your hopes up. There was a Trains article on the nominations Biden made today, and it looks like a bunch of political payback with no relevant experience, and not much representation outside of the Northeast.


I guess I'm having a hard time seeing an Amtrak board appointment being political payback. I mean this isn't like being appointed ambassador to Luxemburg. At best it would be a line on a resume.


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## John Webb (Apr 30, 2022)

There is room for optimism. Nominee Chris Koos in a Trains interview spoke fondly of his earlier years of riding long distance trains. he lives in, and is mayor of, the not-on-the-NEC town of Normal, Ill. He had this to say in the interview: "I will be a strong voice for the long-distance trains; they are critical".


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## neroden (May 1, 2022)

The Koos and Capozzi nominations are excellent. Capozzi has been heavily involved with organizations which have worked for decades to make Amtrak accessible (with Amtrak management kicking and screaming the whole way). Koos was involved in getting upgrades to the station at Normal and advocating for better service.

The Coscia nomination -- are you kidding me? The man has amply proved his inability to do anything useful for Amtrak. He's had 12 years of ignoring Amtrak's problems and refusing to lift a finger to fix the simplest things (like ingredients lists for the food). Advocates have to oppose his renomination.


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## neroden (May 1, 2022)

AmtrakBlue said:


> Samuel Lathem - labor


I really don't understand why they couldn't have found someone from the labor movement who wasn't an AUTOMOBILE worker, but I'll keep an open mind. Maybe he isn't that into autos?



> David Capozzi - ADA


Will be excellent



> Chris Koos - "currently serves on the Advisory Board of Transportation for America and is Vice Chair for Passenger Rail with the US Conference of Mayors.”


Will be excellent



> Robin Wiessmann - financials


FWIW, she was most recently working in public housing finance, and people in public housing are often heavy users of public transportation, for financial reasons. Also was involved in "Environmental Financing Advisory Board". May have genuine support for getting people onto trains and off of car dependency.


However, Coscia is unqualified. He's been on the Board for 12 years and has done a demonstrably bad job, failed to provide oversight of management, and been very bad at hiring new management. (Boardman was hired *before* Coscia was on the Board.) It's ridiculous to renominate him.


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## jis (May 1, 2022)

neroden said:


> I really don't understand why they couldn't have found someone from the labor movement who wasn't an AUTOMOBILE worker, but I'll keep an open mind. Maybe he isn't that into autos?
> 
> 
> Will be excellent
> ...


I have noted the error in reappointing Coscia even to RPA. Maybe we should start a signature campaign among RPA Council Members to try to get the RPA to do something about it.


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## Amtrakfflyer (May 1, 2022)

Procedural question? Last time around Trump nominated Koos and some other people that were extreme anti Amtrak nominees. They had holds put on them from Senator Moran as I recall. Most, if not all like Koos never got a vote and in effect just went away.

Evan Stair has an article out requesting everyone contact their Senators to reject Coscia‘s nomination. My question is, if a vote never comes up or a hold is placed on his nomination does he go away like others in the past or is he still an active, yet term expired board member as he is today?


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## MikefromCrete (May 1, 2022)

I have to agree with Neroden. Koos will be an excellent appointment. He has been very active in promoting Amtrak service to his town and should be a good voice for the outside the Northeast Corridor operations. 
Lathan and Capozzi will represent labor and handicapped ridership and Weissman seems competent. But, again, all are Northeast Corridor residents. Hopefully they will be able to see beyond their residency.

Reappointing Coscia is a big blunder. He's compliant with most of the big errors Amtrak has made in the past few years. He does not deserve a reappointment.

So, it look like Coscia and Weissman will represent the NEC on the board, Lathan organized labor, Capozzi handicapped riders and Koos state supported routes.
That leaves the two national network reps and one more state supported routes rep up to the Republicans. Heavens knows who they will come up with. Hopefully not the anti-Amtrak types that Trump tried to nominate. 
I must say I'm basically dissatisfied with the overall appointments, but particularly with Coscia.


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## MARC Rider (May 1, 2022)

MikefromCrete said:


> I must say I'm basically dissatisfied with the overall appointments, but particularly with Coscia.


You said pretty much positive (or at least neutral) things about all of the appointees, except Cosica, and thus, you're "basically dissatisfied?" That doesn't make sense.


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## MikefromCrete (May 2, 2022)

I would have like to have seen more people with a railroad or even hospitality background, but at least the nominees seem competent and I don't see any anti-Amtrak fanatics among them.


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## Amtrakfflyer (May 2, 2022)

Almost universal opposition and outrage from all the normal pundits except RPA interestingly enough.









U.S., Amtrak: The sadness of President Joe Biden’s Amtrak Board of Directors nominees; it’s time to go in a different direction for those who want a national system


By J. Bruce Richardson, Corridor Rail Development Corporation; May 2, 2022 Just about everyone knows the old saying, “be careful what you wish for, because you might just get it.” Late last week th…




corridorrail.com


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## Devil's Advocate (May 2, 2022)

Amtrakfflyer said:


> Almost universal opposition and outrage from all the normal pundits except RPA interestingly enough.


The author mainly seems to be outraged about Coscia, which I think most of us can get behind, and the Amtrak board being NEC-centric, which has been the case for a long time now. I like the proposal of splitting Amtrak into interstate and corridor management internally but nobody ever promised that would happen and it was always going to be a long shot. My advice is to tell your Senator you do not believe Coscia has demonstrated fitness for this important position and you do not want his nomination approved. By focusing our efforts hopefully we can get him nixed and move on to the next battle.


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## neroden (May 2, 2022)

I'm talking to people I know within RPA: I'm making the point that I don't doubt Coscia's *good will*, but he's spent 12 years on the Amtrak Board, including many years as Chair, while Amtrak screwed up more and more extremely basic things -- stuff that should have been easy to fix, but somehow wasn't fixed.

We're talking not enough Red Caps to support handicapped customers at Chicago Union Station; no ingredients lists for the onboard food; no timetables. Failure at basics. 

This shows a failure to provide oversight of management.

The buck has to stop somewhere.


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## lordsigma (May 2, 2022)

I’m not a huge fan of Coscia - but I have mixed feelings about expending a significant amount of political capitol opposing him given its probably fairly unlikely he’s going to get blocked and if you rail against him too much and then he gets in anyway it’s probably not worth burning bridges - there’s going to be two NEC reps no matter what happens and as they sometimes say about the devil you know…. In my opinion it might be better to instead focus on the effort of lobbying the Amtrak friendly GOP senators to try to get 3 decent national network representatives with the remaining 3 picks. Biden’s Democratic picks were always going to include the two NEC picks and frankly I’m not all that surprised Coscia is one of those two.


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## neroden (May 2, 2022)

That's certainly one point of view. I personally am not so much for the "NEC vs. LD" tempests-in-teapots.

I'm mostly concerned about the block-and-tackle management failures. 

If we can get enough reps with the remaining picks who will *bother to provide management oversight* to make sure the basics *actually get done*, then Coscia may become unimportant. That would be OK.


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## west point (May 3, 2022)

Not confirming Coscia might send an important message to the rest of the board. Big brother is watching.


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## IndyLions (May 3, 2022)

Saw a tweet tonight from RPA with a petition link attached. They were trying to promote a more balanced geographic makeup of the board.

Sorry I don’t have a link to the tweet handy…


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## Deni (May 4, 2022)

MikefromCrete said:


> I would have like to have seen more people with a railroad or even hospitality background, but at least the nominees seem competent and I don't see any anti-Amtrak fanatics among them.


Hospitality background is a good point, have there been many board members with that background before? The hospitality-centered area of Amtrak seems to be what generates a lot of complaints and ill-will toward the organization, especially on long-distance routes. Getting someone from, say, the cruise industry could be a big plus for trying to fix what ails much of Amtrak's onboard experience.


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## Amtrakfflyer (May 4, 2022)

Cruise or even hotel and or restaurant industry. Hotel would check both boxes for accommodations and food as most hotels offer various dining options.


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## jis (May 4, 2022)

lordsigma said:


> I believe there is a requirement for a certain party split on the board. Biden is likely allowing Senate Republicans to choose three picks who he will then nominate after they indicate their selections. Correcting myself on saying 5 picks before - 2 of the 10 member board are Gardner and Secretary Buttigieg (I'm guessing he can also send a designee) who serve ex officio. I suspect a few of the pro Amtrak GOP Senators will likely have a prime role in selecting these picks.


Gardner does not have a vote though. He is a non-voting member. See:









49 U.S. Code § 24302 - Board of directors







www.law.cornell.edu





BTW, the RPA petition can be found at:









Tell President Biden to make the Amtrak board a priority!


Sign the petition and join the Rail Passengers Association in its call for a clearer picture of President Biden's Amtrak Board nominees’ vision for the national network.



www.votervoice.net


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## Devil's Advocate (May 4, 2022)

Thanks for the link. 





Signed and sent.


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## Amtrakfflyer (May 4, 2022)

If what Evan Stair is reporting is true the Board will have a legal quorum after this batch of nominees. So if the White House doesn't nominate anyone else they could be complicit in circumventing congresses wishes and allowing this NEC focused Board free reign. I wouldn’t count anything out of the realm of possibilities yet. The Coscia reappointment is just mind-boggling, why?


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## Steve4031 (May 4, 2022)

I signed it and wrote an email to Durbin, my senator in Illinois.


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## John Webb (May 4, 2022)

Signed.


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## Amtrakfflyer (May 4, 2022)

Biden’s Amtrak Board nominations lack qualifications demanded by Congress: Analysis - Trains


WASHINGTON — In theory, any organization’s board of directors must possess enough expertise in the business it oversees to analyze and pass judgement on whether management’s policies fulfill the organization’s goals. In Amtrak’s reauthorizing Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act enacted last...




www.trains.com













Passenger association, union applaud Amtrak board nominations - Trains


WASHINGTON — The Rail Passengers Association and a major union reacted positively to nominations by President Joe Biden to fill five positions on the 10-member Amtrak board of directors. “America’s passengers asked President Biden to make the Amtrak Board a top priority, and he did,” Rail...




www.trains.com





mixed messages from RPA. Comment section on those articles are good as well.


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## Devil's Advocate (May 4, 2022)

Amtrakfflyer said:


> Comment section on those articles are good as well.


Which of those comments best represents your position on this topic?


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## jis (May 4, 2022)

RPA's position as far as I can tell is that it is a good thing that finally the President has got off his rear end and nominated some, while RPA is not quite happy with the bunch he has nominated because they do not quite jive with what the intent of the legislation was. Both of which I tend to agree with.

Contrary to what many seem to wish, it would be counter productive for an outfit like the RPA to go guns blazing breaking down all communication channels. Of course that would be very satisfying for an immediate Adrenaline rush, but it would prove to be counter-productive in the long run and probably not produce the desired result in the short run either. Just IMHO of course. But then there are many state ARPs and other groups who do not have as much at stake in terms of maintaining continuity of cordial relationships, who can try the other approach, and if it succeeds - great. If it does not then not as much is lost that is not salvageable or worked around overall.

Incidentally, while it is distressing Coscia's nomination does not surprise me in the Democratic slate. I also doubt that Democrats will enthusiastically oppose him, and the way these things work, some quid pro quo gets worked out and any few vote deficiencies will most likely be made up by some number of Republicans. The only way to block it is to get a Senator to put a hold on it.

Also those who think that the President will be enthused about canning Gardner are not familiar with Gardner's path to this job. He was a Legislative Assistant to Biden's colleague Tom Carper from DE (not to be confused with the Carper that was on the Amtrak Board and Chaired it for a while). He also served on the staff of Dan Inouye (HI) and Jay Rockefeller (WV) the latter two as Senior Professional Staff on the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, when PRIIA 2008 was legislated. His connections with both the legislative and executive branch are deep. Immediately after that he moved to Amtrak, pretty much in charge of the NEC.


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## Amtrakfflyer (May 8, 2022)

New Amtrak Nominees May Overbalance Board Towards Northeast Corridor







www.enotrans.org





“For this reason, and because all five of the new nominees appear to be Democrats (the maximum allowable number, per the statute, from any one political party), it is unlikely that the Senate will move this batch of nominees unless and until the status of the other three (Republican) slots is resolved. It is not known if either Moreland or Beall, or both, want to be nominated for another term, or if the Administration would offer that, if they did.”


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## TheCrescent (May 8, 2022)

PaTrainFan said:


> Not sure how being named to an essentially volunteer board is payback. They have nothing to gain by serving on Amtrak's board.



I served on an oversight board for a transit system in a mid-size city (overseeing rail and bus operations).

It gave me one more thing on a resume that has opened some career doors in related fields.

I also met some people who have been useful in my career.

It wasn’t hugely beneficial but it can be somewhat beneficial. If I wanted to work in the transit or real estate development space, it could have been quite useful. And it gave more transit experience than the Amtrak board members have.


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## TheCrescent (May 8, 2022)

How do people get considered for the Amtrak board? For example, Anthony Coscia is a lawyer at a midsize NJ firm. Is he a major Democratic donor?

I have plenty of board experience and some transit experience (as a Republican) and a background similar to Coscia’s (but with a degree from a school higher up in the US News rankings.

How do I get nominated; do I just send my info to my senator? To be a Republican nominee, would I have to show that I insist on shutting down Amtrak (which I could never do)?


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## jis (May 8, 2022)

TheCrescent said:


> How do people get considered for the Amtrak board? For example, Anthony Coscia is a lawyer at a midsize NJ firm. Is he a major Democratic donor?


If you were Chairman of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey and before that the New Jersey Economic Development Authority, I think you would stand a very good chance.


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## TheCrescent (May 8, 2022)

jis said:


> If you were Chairman of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey and before that the New Jersey Economic Development Authority, I think you would stand a very good chance.



So we have Port Authority personnel in charge of Amtrak?

The same agency that gave us NY-area airports?

There’s no hope whatsoever then.


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## jis (May 8, 2022)

Well PANYNJ is also ostensibly the outfit overseeing the Gateway Tunnel project, consistent with their charter.


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## MARC Rider (May 8, 2022)

People are under a lot of misconceptions about the purpose of a board of directors. For one thing, it's purpose is not to micromanage Management and force them to restore daily long-distance trains, and bring back the Sightseer lounges and more capacity on the Texas Eagle and Capitol Limited. Or force the Amtrak CEO to eliminate Flex dining and have cooked to order food on all the trains. Or even lower sleeping car fares. Their oversight, such as it is, is done at a much higher level. So anyone that thinks that a new board will usher in some sort of golden age of long-distance rail travel is living in fantasyland. At a high level view, the whole point of government financial support for passenger rail is to get cars of the road. The vast majority of cars and miles driven in this country are in large urban areas. Thus, it is obvious that the main focus of government support for passenger rail is for regional service in metropolitan areas and intercity corridors linking such metropolitan areas. Long distance service, one or two trains a day serving mostly sparsely populated areas are clearly a secondary interest, and they are mainly maintained as part of a political deal to gain support from Federal Representatives and Senators representing these sparsely populated areas. That doesn't mean that these long-distance trains don't have real benefits, it's just that these benefits are at a secondary level to the main mission of Federal government support of passenger rail -- getting as many cars off the road as possible.

Looking from a high level, I think that Amtrak's major challenges are ensuring safely and reliable on-time performance, establishing schedules and frequencies that make train travel a reasonable and attractive alternative to driving, and a good state of repair for both the rolling stick and the Amtrak-owned infrastructure. Plus they need to be able to kick butt of the host railroads in order to ensure a lot of the list above. The level of on-board service, while it has some importance, is pretty far down on the list and certainly not worth expending funds that could be used to make the trains run safely and reliably on attractive schedules.

Go to the Web and take a look the board of directors of any large corporation. You may find a few subject matter experts on the board, but I would say that most of them are financiers of some sort or another. That makes sense, because corporations in a capitalist economy require capital, and it's a smart idea to have people at a high level who have access to that capital. A government-owned company like Amtrak is in a different situation. They need people on the board who can interact with the political echelon to ensure that the company gets the government support it needs. Not only Federal financial support, but also from state governments. Now they can't have 50 board members, one from each state, but they can have people who are familiar with politics at both the state and local levels, and people who know and have good personal relations with the elected officials who control government purse-strings and set other policies relevant to the operation of Amtrak. I suspect that, whatever people may think of Mr. Gardner and Mr. Cosica, they have those qualities in abundance.

Finally, I'm not sure why people believe that if a board member happens to come from a state through which the NEC passes, that their only interest about Amtrak is going to be "taking care" of the NEC at the expense of all of the other service Amtrak provides. I realize that in our federal constitutional system, our national legislators are extremely parochial, but that's not necessarily true of all of the types of distinguished people who are appointed to boards of directors. If there's evidence that some of these people are going to be biased in a way you don't like, than point out that evidence, not the irrelevant fact of where they happen to live.


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## neroden (May 8, 2022)

Most large corporations have "sinecure" Boards of Directors who are appointed by the CEO in order to act as yes-men, and who have absolutely no competence at all at ANYTHING related to the business. They are selected for their worthlessness and corruption, and their willingness to sign off on the CEO robbing the stockholders blind. They are given bribes in exchange for this. I say this from 30 years of experience in stock investing.

This is a bad model to follow.

Consider, intead, boards of charitable organizations. They also provide high-level oversight, they are also focused on fundraising, but they usually actually *do their jobs*. And they care about whether the charity is reputable, because that affects fundraising.

Mr. Coscia has managed to supervise the process of Amtrak alienating its regular supporters through rampant stupidity. This isn't an accomplishment. Amtrak has picked unnecessary fights with pretty much every other transit agency during this time. It's made enemies of disabled people. All completely unnecessary. And incompetent.

The new disability-community advocate on the Board will probably make a big difference, and I strongly support his nomination.


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## TheCrescent (May 8, 2022)

Amtrak is owned in part by BNSF, which is owned by Warren Buffett. In for-profit companies, investors often fill multiple board seats.

Why aren’t they begging him to be on the board?

In my job, I handle board of directors matters for multiple for-profit corporations. Agreed that it’s not the board’s job to micromanage but the board’s role is to approve (1) material decisions by the company and (2) hiring, firing and pay of senior management, and the board should be kept informed of company financial information, customer trends, projections and other key information.

If Amtrak had experienced transportation-industry leaders filling its board, that would help.


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## Just-Thinking-51 (May 8, 2022)

TheCrescent said:


> How do people get considered for the Amtrak board? For example, Anthony Coscia is a lawyer at a midsize NJ firm. Is he a major Democratic donor?
> 
> I have plenty of board experience and some transit experience (as a Republican) and a background similar to Coscia’s (but with a degree from a school higher up in the US News rankings.
> 
> How do I get nominated; do I just send my info to my senator? To be a Republican nominee, would I have to show that I insist on shutting down Amtrak (which I could never do)?



Did you apply?
The Biden transition team had a web site for people to apply for jobs in his administration. There was a spot for the Amtrak Board. To get a slot now you might need a US Senator to recommend you. Or do both.


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## TheCrescent (May 8, 2022)

Just-Thinking-51 said:


> Did you apply?
> The Biden transition team had a web site for people to apply for jobs in his administration. There was a spot for the Amtrak Board. To get a slot now you might need a US Senator to recommend you. Or do both.



Thanks for mentioning that; I wasn’t aware that such a site existed. My political views probably exclude me from being considered by Trump or Biden, but maybe in 2028.


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## Devil's Advocate (May 16, 2022)

The more I see of the Gardner era the more I think it's best if he was replaced with someone more motivated and aggressive. This is the time to be making hay while the sun shines but instead we have short trains, high fares, limited frequencies, and suspended routes. I realize that low wage part time jobs are very hard to fill right now but these careers come with living wages and excellent benefits so what’s the excuse?


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## zephyr17 (May 16, 2022)

Devil's Advocate said:


> The more I see of the Gardner era the more I think it's best if he was replaced with someone more motivated and aggressive. This is the time to be making hay while the sun shines but instead we have short trains, high fares, limited frequencies, and suspended routes. I realize that low wage part time jobs are very hard to fill right now but these careers come with living wages and excellent benefits so what’s the excuse?


Unfortunately, President Biden just renominated Gardner's godfather Anthony Coscia to the Board. So I am afraid Gardner isn't going anywhere, although I wholly agree with your post.

The whole Board needs to be replaced, Coscia especially.


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## west point (May 16, 2022)

zephyr17 said:


> Unfortunately, President Biden just renominated Gardner's godfather Anthony Coscia to the Board. So I am afraid Gardner isn't going anywhere, although I wholly agree with your post.
> 
> The whole Board needs to be replaced, Coscia especially.



Maybe most of the voting board. Amtrak needs some board members that dwell deeply into its operations. Need to be paid full time. Learned that when I was on a board. Unfortune, but only full time Amtrak employees can take the time. Board members are only part time. If I was on the board would take time and not be limited to anything on Amtrak. I Would need unlimited access and report only to Congress or SEC of transportation.


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## Amtrakfflyer (May 17, 2022)

Today’s email from RPA. I found the tone of it a bit more aggressive (passive aggressive maybe) which was nice to see. The “Amtrak Joe” remark could almost be taken facetiously.



​
Early in April, the Rail Passengers Association called out the Biden Administration for not making the Amtrak Board a priority. Someone must have read our emails (!!!) because late on Friday, April 29th, five individuals were nominated.

The Rail Passengers Association applauds the White House for finally announcing a slate of Amtrak Board nominees. It just took 15 months into the Biden Administration and the end of every single Amtrak Board member's term before the individuals were named. Unfortunately, two of the five individuals display no clear affiliation with or advocacy for, portions of Amtrak’s service running outside the Northeast. So that’s why your Rail Passengers Association is calling for a clearer picture of these nominees’ vision for Amtrak’s future.

I am repeating myself – the time is long past for “Amtrak Joe” to make the Amtrak Board a priority for his Administration. The Association is working with the White House and Capitol Hill to make sure our questions about this slate of nominees get answered.


​

Rail Passengers believes the White House missed an opportunity to appoint an Amtrak Board that would speak for communities served beyond those in that region. Amtrak’s trains run throughout the U.S. Southeast, the Southwest, our northern border with Canada, and the Pacific Coast. _*Where are the nominees speaking for those communities?*_



​
*Donate today!*


​
With Determination,
Jim Mathews
President & CEO


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## zephyr17 (May 17, 2022)

Well, I just did my part. I submitted the following to my Senators, Maria Cantwell and Patty Murray, opposing the re-nomination of Coscia. Hopefully, since Amtrak just directly screwed their constituents, they will pay a bit more attention:


"I am writing you in reference to President Biden’s re-nomination of Anthony Coscia as Chair of of the Amtrak Board of Directors.

The reappointment of Chairperson Coscia to the the Amtrak Board is not in the interest of rail passengers generally and particularly not in the interest of your constituents in the State of Washington.


 Under the leadership of Mr. Coscia and Mr. Gardner (Amtrak CEO) Amtrak has _flatly ignored_ a statutory Congressional directive to return all services to the frequency they had Pre-COVID as a condition of funding. Even now, certain trains will not resume daily service until September. Their excuses, lack of personnel and lack of equipment, directly reflect on Amtrak’s executive management’s inability to even maintain their existing fleet. Amtrak had sufficient equipment to run daily service pre-COVID, and has lost only a few cars in the meantime to wreck damage. The equipment shortage is due to to lack of maintenance.
While not running service daily is a flat violation of a specific directive of the U.S. Congress, signed into law by President Biden, they further violate the _spirit_ of the law by running short trains in peak times, such as last summer’s Empire Builder that had only ONE Chicago-Seattle coach, so they did not have sufficient capacity to meet demand. The intent of the directive was so Amtrak could provide necessary transportation services to the public as a public service, that Amtrak management and Chairperson Coscia appear unable or unwilling to fulfill.
Recently, under Mr. Coscia and Mr. Gardner’s leadership, Amtrak recently announced they were unable to resume Amtrak Cascades service to Vancouver, BC until at least December 2022. The reasons, again, were lack of serviceable equipment and personnel, which is reflective, at this point, of gross management failure. Washington Department of Transportation Secretary Robert Millar released a public statement that “Amtrak’s lack of support for the Amtrak Cascades service cannot continue and Amtrak’s plans to delay the re-start of Canadian service for seven months or more is not acceptable to WSDOT and ODOT,” (Seattle Times, May 15, 2022).
I urge you to oppose the nomination and work with President Biden to find a candidate is willing to oversee an Amtrak management team that can both effectively manage the current system, which the present management team seems unable to do outside the Northeast Corridor, and grow environmentally friendly passenger rail service nationwide.

Respectfully,"


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## jruff001 (May 18, 2022)

neroden said:


> Most large corporations have "sinecure" Boards of Directors who are appointed by the CEO[.]


What? This is not how large (publicly traded) corporations work at all.


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## zephyr17 (May 18, 2022)

jruff001 said:


> What? This is not how large (publicly traded) corporations work at all.


Well, in many cases, the CEO and executive management have a great deal of input on the BOD slate proposed to the shareholders, along with sitting Board members, and the shareholders generally passively approve that. In cases where there are some really big shareholders, they get their candidates for some seats. But except in cases where there is a large group of organized minority shareholders that propose their own candidates, it is a pretty, shall we say, clubby, process.

Look at the mess at Boeing and then look at their board turnover. Meet the new boss, same as the old boss. While former CEO made such a mess the Board couldn't ignore it, the Board went on to appoint a finance, MBA, Jack Welch acolyte, clone of the outgoing CEO.

While what Neroden said may not be precisely technically correct, it is a pretty accurate shorthand in most cases.


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## jruff001 (May 18, 2022)

zephyr17 said:


> Well, in many cases, the CEO and executive management have a great deal of input on the BOD slate proposed to the shareholders, along with sitting Board members, and the shareholders generally passively approve that. In cases where there are some really big shareholders, they get their candidates for some seats. But except in cases where there is a large group of organized minority shareholders that propose their own candidates, it is a pretty, shall we say, clubby, process.
> 
> . . .
> 
> While what Neroden said may not be precisely technically correct, it is a pretty accurate shorthand in most cases.



I don't disagree with this part. Shareholders elect the BoD. The BoD appoints the CEO. Not the other way 'round. Corporate Governance 101.

I was responding to a post that said the CEO appoints BoD members. If that was "shorthand" for some nefarious plot that could otherwise subject these corporations to some pretty expensive litigation, it should have been stated or at least implied somehow. Otherwise I want to know which corporations these are so I can buy their shares, start some legal action and profit.


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## MARC Rider (May 18, 2022)

jruff001 said:


> Shareholders elect the BoD. The BoD appoints the CEO. Corporate Governance 101.



The only problem with this theoretical formulation is that most shareholders either don't bother to vote in corporate elections, or vote the recommended slate of candidates. Most shareholders are less interested in micromanaging a company than the board of directors. If the company is mismanaged to the point of losing its value, the shareholder will just sell their shares. Especially if you're a small shareholder, where your vote doesn't mean much anyway. Maybe some large shareholders take a more active interest in how a company is run, and they might even be listened to. This situation give management plenty of opportunities to install a compliant Board.


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## jruff001 (May 18, 2022)

MARC Rider said:


> The only problem with this theoretical formulation is that most shareholders either don't bother to vote in corporate elections, or vote the recommended slate of candidates. Most shareholders are less interested in micromanaging a company than the board of directors. If the company is mismanaged to the point of losing its value, the shareholder will just sell their shares. Especially if you're a small shareholder, where your vote doesn't mean much anyway. Maybe some large shareholders take a more active interest in how a company is run, and they might even be listened to. This situation give management plenty of opportunities to install a compliant Board.


I don't disagree. But this is not what I was responding to.


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## zephyr17 (May 19, 2022)

jruff001 said:


> I don't disagree with this part. Shareholders elect the BoD. The BoD appoints the CEO. Not the other way 'round. Corporate Governance 101.
> 
> I was responding to a post that said the CEO appoints BoD members. If that was "shorthand" for some nefarious plot that could otherwise subject these corporations to some pretty expensive litigation, it should have been stated or at least implied somehow. Otherwise I want to know which corporations these are so I can buy their shares, start some legal action and profit.


Boards do appoint CEOs, but the CEO's are frequently very influential in selecting the "preferred" slate of candidates. Which is the slate that get elected to the board by largely passive shareholders.

CEO's often have a very influential role in who gets on a board, that is how it actually works on the ground. And that is what it is shorthand for.


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## zephyr17 (May 19, 2022)

TheCrescent said:


> Amtrak is owned in part by BNSF, which is owned by Warren Buffett. In for-profit companies, investors often fill multiple board seats.
> 
> Why aren’t they begging him to be on the board?
> 
> ...


The stock that Amtrak issued to the railroads that joined it in 1971 is a preferred stock without voting rights. It was issued on the off chance that if Amtrak ever turned a profit the initial stakeholders would get some. It was basically a fig leaf at best and does not confer, nor was ever intend to confer, any control or oversight of the NRPC. That control is basically vested in the US Government appointed board.

PS, Cincinnati based American Financial Corporation, the corporate successor to Penn Central and owner of PC's Amtrak shares sued Amtrak about lack of financial performance and control. They lost. While I don't recall that much about it, I am pretty sure the courts held Amtrak is owned and controlled exclusively by the US Government. To my recollection that was the sole attempt to get any return off Amtrak stock. The railroads themselves pretty much wrote it off as useless Day One (American Financial is a holding company primarily of insurance companies, never remotely involved in railroading).

BNSF is not a partial owner of Amtrak. They are entitled to a share of Amtrak's profits, should there ever be any. That's it.


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