Wick Moorman on new president? Haven't seen anything....

[west point]

Why make any comment that will get some one angry no matter what is said ?

 

[afigg]

Trains magazine has posted a short interview article on Wick Moorman that is of interest. He makes it clear that he is not planning on a long tenure as CEO.

Moorman: Amtrak CEO tenure will be short. Not behind a paywall (at the moment). Some excerpts:

Moorman’s goals at Amtrak include making the company highly efficient, developing a stronger safety culture, and finding the right executive to lead the company over the long term.

“Amtrak’s not broken. There are things to be fixed,” Moorman says, likening the railroad to an old house that needs tender-loving care but not radical change.

“Think of me as the plumber,” he says.

Rolling stock and LD trains comments:

The railroad needs to focus on its product, which is tired and frayed in places due, in part, to its aging equipment and belt-tightening that led to coaches being cleaned less frequently, Moorman says.

Replacing the railroad’s worn fleet of P42 locomotives can be done relatively quickly. But there’s no quick solution to replacing Amfleet I and II equipment, which needs a funding source and a new design. “We want to nail down what the cars should look like first,” Moorman says.

The replacement for Acela Express train sets, announced in August, will be a game-changer for high-speed rail in the Northeast Corridor when delivery begins in 2021. “It’s going to be a better product in every way,” Moorman says.

Long-distance trains are the system’s “political glue” and are essential for underserved areas of the country, Moorman says.

The Siemens Charger contract and production line makes placing a large order for P-42 replacements a relatively simple process if Amtrak were to get capital funding as part of an infrastructure spending boost.

 

[jis]

I believe only the Acela surplus has been collateralized for the Acela RRIF loan. This, if true would imply that there are the NER surpluses still around to collateralize a possible RRIF for Amfleet I replacement, if the whole thing has not been eaten up in some way by the ACS-64 order and its payments.

At present I would not hold my breath of the new administration's infrastructure spending boost, until we get a better idea of how much of that smoke and mirror and how much is real. The new leadership taking shape within the incoming administration and the incoming new Congress, as it gets in place, will give a better indication of what might actually happen. Meanwhile we have to keep the pressure on our representatives through letters and calls.

 

[Palmetto]

Concerning spending on anything, that occurs in the legislative branch, not the executive. Obama found that out in short order. His high speed rail plan got fairly well derailed.

 

[neroden]

Concerning spending on anything, that occurs in the legislative branch, not the executive.

Except in the DoD, where they routinely spend money which was neither authorized nor appropriated, thanks to completely nonfunctional accounting systems. But that's another scandal...