His family, which also included five sisters, moved to Dallas and later Amarillo, Texas. Get the newest photos, videos, stories, and more from Trains.com brands. Anderson revealed that on Thursday, March 19, Acela ridership was down 99%, Northeast Regional service was off 94%, and long-distance trains, which have yet to see any frequency cutbacks, were off 64% from the average this time of year. If the documents misrepresented the facts, management would have to answer to the Amtrak IG as well as the DOT IG. the current situation. And given the amount of cash burn we have, Im certain the long-distance network is going to be very different longer term. "Please stay safe and know that your health and well-being and that of our customers is always my priority.. I actually respect Mayor Pete. He was succeeded by former Chairman and CEO of The Home Depot, Francis Blake. Amtrak Mission, Vision & Values Amtrak Mission & Values Amtrak Mission: Delivering intercity transportation with superior safety, customer service and financial excellence. He has been Assistant Vice President Policy at the Association of American Railroads; a White House appointed chief of staff at the Surface Transportation Board; and Director of Public Relations for the United Transportation Union. Unless Amtrak can begin to expand its offerings, it will simply continue to limp along on the public dole. William J. Flynn will take over as president and chief executive on April 15, succeeding former Delta Air Lines chief executive Richard Anderson who has run Amtrak since July 2017. that unpaid leave, uncompensated reduced hours and early retirement be taken to lead an enterprise in severe peril, Andersons background is prototypical. In 2017, Amtrak sharply curtailed the amount of information publicly disclosed in its Monthly Performance Report (from 66 pages in August to 7 pages in September). Executive Vice President, Capital Delivery. Mr. Anderson said he believed that Amtrak is now seen by its customers and elected officials as a trusted agency that invests wisely and operates at a high level of customer service.. I think Gardner has finally gotten it into his little head that if he touches the national network, he will be out in the street looking for a job. the end point of the coronavirus is.. Given all that we have read in both this article and the comments that accompany it, putting even one more dollar into the Amtrak bank account it is a BIG mistake. Amtrak, Struggling to Keep Trains Running, Chooses a New Leader, https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/02/nyregion/amtrak-ceo-william-flynn.html. Amtrak: Past, Present, Future, available from Simmons-Boardman Books, 800-228-9670, www.transalert.com. Richard Norman Anderson (August 8, 1926 - August 31, 2017) was an American film and television actor. Rather than collecting specific data that would clearly show what costs would disappear if, say, the Southwest Chief were eliminated avoidable costs, in the parlance of Congress 2005 directive allocation protocols permit Amtrak to use measurements it already has or believes it can estimate. Under current directives, which provide no incentive for revenue gains (because the companys regional marketing positions have been eliminated), what Amtrak manager would advocate for the venue change? For example, Amtrak claims that the percentage of costs allocations has decreased from 80 percent to less than 50 percent. As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. Accountability is a something that no longer exists. Amtrak documents received in mid-October revealed only that both men were eligible to receive up to $500,000 in annual bonuses, based on goals specified in written memoranda they agreed to with the Amtrak board of directors. There are plenty of others motivated by what Mr. Shigley above describes. It is calculated by type of asset, such as a Viewliner or locomotive, and the amount shows up as an expense charged against the route to which it is assigned. that would like to take over our services. Nothing has challenged Amtrak as Amtrak treats these as a capital expenditure rather than showing them as part of operating expenses. It has led to sharply reduced food service on the Lake Shore Limited, Capitol Limited, and Silver Star; curtailed excursions and carriage of private cars; eliminated revenue-growth initiatives, other than ticketing penalty fees and periodic internet-based fare sales; and threatened the Chiefs future. When the good times again rollbefore COVID-19 Amtrak was reporting record revenue and ridershipthe objective is that Amtraks almost 20,000 employees will rejoice that jobs and healthcare benefits were preserved. has COVID-19. [8] On October 11, 2016, Anderson announced his retirement from the Board of Directors effective on the same day. The emphasis on belt tightening is a response to the Amtrak Performance Tracking methodology, which in turn governs how much states pay to tap Amtrak resources to run trains. In need of about $1 billion in supplemental funding to battle an unprecedented drop in ridership, Amtrak has now taken aggressive" steps to cut the pay of top staff and other measures, the company confirmed Saturday. Amtrak also would be on the hook for almost $400 million in construction costs for Relateds Hudson Yard skyscraper project. We have a strong foundation to build upon because you built it. The quest to stem the sources of red ink has been blessed by Amtraks board of directors and orchestrated by CEO Richard Anderson and Executive Vice President and Chief Commercial Officer Stephen Gardner. A spokeswoman for Atlas said that Mr. Flynn would remain the companys chairman. Get great snapshots of railroading history in Art Petersons newest book. He retired as Delta's CEO effective May 2, 2016, and was executive chairman of the Delta Air Lines board of directors for an additional five months. Setting up a real accounting system would require a lot of work that many would rather not do. It took him two months in office to start blabbering what President Kamala Harris told him to blabber. But there will be no pink slips for now, which elsewhere in America are darkening family futures as did locusts Flynn, 66, has been a successful leader across multiple modes of transportation, including rail, maritime and aviation. BNSF reopens track at site of Wisconsin derailment (updated), Unifor ratifies contract with Canadian National, Driver of truck in accident that killed NS conductor pleads not guilty, Two Metra lines disrupted as Amtrak locomotive derails at Chicago Union Station. Tuesday afternoon rail news: With William Flynn set to take over Wednesday as Amtrak president and CEO, outgoing CEO Richard Anderson sent a message to employees today thanking employees for their efforts during his tenure and in the face of the ongoing COVID-19 outbreak. repair. Its Northeast Corridor service is running about 40% of normal weekday schedules, including Northeast Regional and Acela services. The key is whether the mistakes materially affect the companys financial statements and cost allocation outcomes. Amtraks accounting system and management priorities mitigate against that. E.g., New Orleans-Florida, Chicago-Florida, Los Angeles-Las Vegas-Salt Lake City. Richard Anderson CEO / President - - The average Amtrak executive compensation is $230,927 a year.The median estimated compensation for executives at Amtrak including base salary and bonus is $232,242, or $111 per hour. [1] At Northwest, Anderson was initially charged with labor relations and government affairs. Yes, Amtrak families will feel financial pain, beginning Instead of investing in rail infrastructure we will be borrowing at the federal level to pay current and future retirees in the states and localities. Last week, the company reported an operating revenue of $3.3 billion for fiscal year 2019 a 3.6% increase over the last year. Flynn has agreed to completely forego his annual salary from the outset. Amtrak generates revenues from private cars by charging operators to haul the cars either behind regularly scheduled trains or on their own special moves. furloughs. Related CEO Stephen Ross is a major Trump donor, and along with Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner, according to Vanity Fair magazine, is a significant user of a controversial federal program (EB-5) granting foreign nationals permanent visas in exchange for substantial equity investments at low interest rates. With so many costs allocated either Amtraks cost accounting is completely flawed and/or there is too much overhead, probably both. Amtrak has to balance meeting passenger needs with a $40 billion backlog on necessary repair investments, Anderson says. His parents died of cancer when Richard was 20 years old. As Trains was preparing this report, the Rail Passengers Association issued a white paper titled, Amtraks Route Accounting: Fatally Flawed, Misleading, and Wrong. We highlight some of its findings such as a snow-removal charge for a station in Florida. We recognize these actions have a serious impact on our employees and their families, he said in the message. Imagine a real business that was frequently selling out but wouldnt add capacity because extra sales would cost it money. In 2015, he received compensation of more than $17.5 million. He did comedy scenes on a "screen test"-like TV series called Lights, Camera . In a letter Friday, Pennsylvania lawmakers turned to top congressional leaders for help, noting the financial impact of the outbreak on SEPTAs operations will be devastating.". Click the start your search button . [10] Anderson assumed the title of President on July 12, 2017. His most prominent roles were as CEO of several large companies in the transportation industry: Northwest Airlines (20012004), Delta Air Lines (20072016), and Amtrak (20172020). put on hold owing to their criticality to keeping trains moving, and principal Amtrak is a proud National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE) Conference sponsor! Social distancing measures taken by state and local officials, including Gov. through a lot of tough times with Amtrakfrom host railroads that want to put If we did default on our countries debt (I am using we because it is our country)the damage would make the COVID virus look like a common cold. town hall meeting to lay out a survival plan whose core is to avoid involuntary Among the challenges Amtraks chief executive has to navigate is that other railroads are the biggest users of Amtraks infrastructure in and around New York. A total of $3 million in electric-traction maintenance costs were assigned to non-Northeast Corridor routes. WASHINGTONAmtrak Chief Executive Richard Anderson is stepping down after three years and will be replaced by the former CEO of Atlas Air Worldwide . Unlimited Members, sign in to enjoy sitewide access. Is the current BoD and its Chair Anthony Coscia the only people capable of sitting on that body? That pair of single-track tunnels poses one of the greatest threats to Amtraks service and to transit in the metropolitan area and throughout the Northeast. Richard H. Anderson (born May 2, 1955) is a retired American lawyer and business executive. As less people travel due to the coronavirus, Amtrak has "taken aggressive measures to cut costs to minimize employee and service impacts. The expense burden has become Amtraks justification for systemwide cost cutting. . Amtrak now projects losing $1 billion in revenue through "[7], On February 3, 2016, Delta Air Lines announced Anderson would retire as CEO effective May 2, 2016, and assume position as Executive Chairman of the Delta Air Lines board of directors. voluntarily; and an end to all overtime. Wilner earned undergraduate and graduate degrees in economics and labor relations from Virginia Tech. In part, this was because in striving to achieve a glide path to self-sufficiency, as then-President George Warrington promised, its reporting systems lost track of expenses and the money coming in to pay them. Top 10 Salaries. One way to reduce costs is to eliminate all customer costs: advertising, salesmen, support, service, Since Amtrak has no incentives to increase sales that is what will happen. $59,612 - Starting salary (during Academy training and first year) $84,331 - After one year. designing a new tunnel a decade away. Anderson was born in Galveston, Texas, to Hale Anderson, an office worker for the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway, and Frances Anderson, a medical receptionist. The biggest is a long-overdue acquisition of new cars and locomotives. Daily ridership is down 90% while future bookings are down 85% year-over-year, according to Amtrak. The Long Island Rail Road and New Jersey Transit carry the bulk of daily users of Penn Station, which New Yorks governor, Andrew M. Cuomo, wants to expand by annexing a block of Midtown Manhattan. Why Sign In? Amtrak, which has lost vast sums of money for decades, is expected to report its first operating profit this year. The companys management employees now face temporary salary reductions including a 100% reduction for its CEO effective until at least Sept. 30, or the end of its fiscal year, according to an internal memo from Stephen Gardner, senior executive vice president and chief operating and commercial officer. Mr. Anderson has increased ridership and revenue while doing some airline-style cost-cutting, such as reducing food service on trains and implementing penalties for ticket changes. But exactly what expenses comprise that hefty long-distance tab remain a mystery. Subscribers, sign in to access exclusive content. Amtrak CEO Richard Anderson speaks to attendees at the National Association of Railway Passengers during a conference in Chicago, Thursday, Nov. 2, 2017. The change will come as Amtrak struggles to keep trains running through the New York region on tracks, bridges and in tunnels that are in desperate need of repair and upgrades. Airlines are turning toward the federal government seeking a steep bailout, while plummeting ridership and service reductions for public transportation are likely to be a lasting pain point for agencies across the country. Implementing a voluntary time off program for non-union employees, or reducing weekly hours to 32 hours per week and asking for voluntary retirements. Vice President, Government Affairs and Corporate Communications. Both white papers can be found at Amtrak.com, About Amtrak, Amtrak Facts, Stakeholder FAQs. Throughout Amtrak, short- and long-term management bonus incentives are tied to slashing expenses. Those numbers will worsen as more the future, and to assure they do, the day-to-day struggle continues to keep Northeast Boarding or deboarding for individual stations and by trip length, Estimated diesel power and electric traction usage factors. Richard E. Anderson, 72, was charged with two counts of first-degree sexual assault. Sign-up for email today! some 40% of the seat capacity will be pulled from consists, he said, which will We have a great team. and passenger rail come from conference registrations, sponsorships and But that work would not lessen the need for new tunnels, which would provide redundancy and increase capacity, he said. The Silver Star and Silver Meteor still call at a facility miles from the center city, bereft of convenient rental-car or public-transportation connections. of the crisis. In addition to a suspension of the 401K match, reduction to management pay, and its incoming CEOs deferring his salary, Amtrak is ending all non-safety-critical hiring; cutting discretionary travel, professional fees, and advertising spending; and deferring non-priority capital expenses," according to the companys statement. Flynn, who has been with Atlas Air Worldwide Holdings AAWW.O, for 13 years, has also held senior roles with CSX Transportation, Sea-Land Services, Inc, and GeoLogistics Corp. Amtrak said Monday it is on pace this year to achieve operational break-even for the first time in the companys 49-year history eve as it invests billions in new high-speed Acela trains and other capital assets. (Assuming they can get past the partisan debates and arguments about how many trillions of $$$ to spend on Corona Virus bailouts). future paychecks, no healthcare benefits and no jobs. How it accounts for revenue and expense is just a big game played on a giant game board. Snow removal equipment? An advocate and harsh critic of former Amtrak president Richard Anderson, whose fingerprints are all over what Stephen "NEC" Gardner continues to inflict, was two seats away from Anderson on a recent Delta Airlines transatlantic flight. if it is deemedessential that the new policies be articulated immediately, mr. flynn should step in early to do so. Take Miami, where last May Brightline launched service from a new downtown complex. Isnt it amazing that the total amount of federally supported rail capital investment in our lifetimes, plus Amtrak and local operating subsidies for Amtrak and local transit from the federal government, is about five minutes worth of the corona virus bailout. Because Amtrak has many activities and types of expenses, says Volpes latest methodology summary, from September 2017, Amtrak Performance Tracking uses 45 different allocation statistics. These include: Identifying these metrics provides a roadmap of how otherwise amalgamated costs, including over $1 billion in general and administrative expenses, are to be assigned to each train or operation. Judging from the ridership figures above the Acela should be the first to go.. down 99% poor performer even before the outbreak. transportation system recovered fairly quickly, Anderson said, in contrast to Don't miss this look at the history of America's most influential builder of locomotives. Georgiette Morgan-Thomas heads on the platform at Penn Station in New York to board the Amtrak #89 train which leaves at 5:51 a.m. May 3, 2019. It is designed to make management look like they are managing by offering a bewildering mix of numbers that their government masters most likely cannot fully grasp. 5th Paragraph: The quest to stem the sources of red ink has been blessed by Amtraks board of directors and orchestrated by CEO Richard Anderson. [1] Anderson, who had never considered a career in the aviation industry, accepted the position at the urging of Ben Hirst, a neighbor who worked at Continental as a legal counsel.[2]. Most of the critics of Amtraks accounting dont have access to the company books and, even worse, are not accountants. Emotions run strong when the long-distance network is Rev. We I dont see this country return to normal in our lifetimes, let alone, CURTIS, as you advocate, doing some good. Actor: Paths of Glory. Anderson says Amtrak will meet the commitment in current labor agreements calling for a 3.5% wage increase July 1, but encourages labor leaders to consider delaying (not canceling) it until Amtrak riders return. News & Reviews News Wire Amtrak CEO tells employees of ridership drops, pay cuts, other plans NEWSWIRE, Capital spending slashed, long-distance capacity to be reduced; other changes still possible. Thats reality, and we best face reality and make the very best we can, be calm about it, do what we have to do, and position Amtrak to come back strong when we are on the other side of the pandemic.. As America increasingly is sheltering in place, losing unprecedented numbers of jobs and retirement savings, fearful of COVID-19, and facing a stress level unfamiliar except to those who have endured war zones, Amtrak and its workforce face only unpleasant choices if the railroad and their jobs are to survive. As for Amtrak, yes, they dont use GAAP and havent ever used it, no one, with the exception of their own accounts knows the true cost of the different services. In theory, choosing an independent entity like Volpe to devise an accounting system would help management keep the company solvent. More money, so much more money, right down the drain of the biggest legal scam ever devised. Of Anderson was named Aviation Week's Person of the Year for 2015. Everyone is very happy with all the talk about improving rail operation and service, but in reality, no one wants to do the work to fix any of it. Until Dec. 21, the two men will. Amtrak still is trying to win funding to complete major repairs and a new rail tunnel under the Hudson River in the heavily traveled northeast U.S. corridor. 9/11 and subsequent bankruptcy, emerged even stronger. Anderson, who fulfills his three-year commitment to the company this year, will remain with Amtrak through the end of the year as a senior advisor to Flynn. Yet rather than follow the business school playbook of lopping jobs as if workers are disposable office supplies, Amtrak President Richard H. Anderson is ministering to his workforce, treating workers as family by making an extraordinary effort to protect their income stream and healthcare benefits. , for 13 years, has also held senior roles with CSX Transportation, Sea-Land Services, Inc, and GeoLogistics Corp. Amtrak, which has lost vast sums of money for decades, is expected to turn an operating profit this year. I dont think any Washington bureaucrat has guts to to tackle this accounting sham. The average Amtrak hourly pay ranges from approximately $17 per hour for a Clerk to $68 per hour for a Software Engineer.