Nov. 14 (Bloomberg) -- Amtrak Chief Executive Officer Alex Kummant plans to announce his resignation today from the U.S. passenger railroad, people familiar with the matter said.
Kummant, 48, has led the Washington-based carrier since September 2006. The people asked not to be identified because the CEO's departure hasn't been made public. Amtrak has ``no comment for now,'' spokesman Cliff Black said in an e-mail.
While one would expect that Kummant would be given his walking papers, I did not expect such to occur until the Obama administration had their feet on the ground and could address the matter of competent people that were held over from the preceeding Administration. I expected he would be safe until likely about December 09.
Oh well, anyone who thought that somehow the Obama administration would be above "politcs as usual", well guess again.
This fellow Rahm Emanuel (presently Rep D-5th-IL) knows how the game is played and obviously intends to play it.
Posted by MDRR (Member # 2992) on :
Can you say "David Gunn"?
Posted by Henry Kisor (Member # 4776) on :
AMTRAK STATEMENT
WASHINGTON – The National Railroad Passenger Corporation today announced the resignation of its President and CEO, Alex Kummant.
“On behalf of the entire Board, I’d like to thank Alex for his leadership over the past two years,” said Donna McLean, Chair of the Board. “During the past two years, the company experienced exciting economic times, strong ridership and revenue growth, solid profit and loss performance, and the advancement of the Amtrak brand overall. He also successfully oversaw the completion of labor agreements with all of the unions representing Amtrak’s employees. We are grateful to Alex for his contributions to the company. We wish him well in his future endeavors.”
Alex Kummant reflected that he was “proud of what the management team at Amtrak had accomplished over the last two plus years and that [he believed] Amtrak had a strong operational and financial base to get through the coming turbulent times.” He continued that he “would help in any way to make this a smooth transition.”
“I’d like to thank Alex for his commitment to Amtrak over the past two years,” said Hunter Biden, Vice Chair of the Board. “Our Board is committed to keeping Amtrak on an aggressive path of performance improvement. Current economic conditions highlight the need for us to continue finding ways to drive quality and customer service across the system. We are moving forward with the development of an aggressive long-term plan for the company, based on the recent legislation passed by Congress.”
After record ridership and revenue in FY08, a downturn in the economy and new legislative requirements present challenges as well as opportunities. In the coming years, Amtrak will need leadership to maximize its potential and utility to the traveling public, while increasing the efficiency of the whole operation. The Board is confident that this transition will be seamless, with William Crosbie, Amtrak’s Chief Operating Officer, as Acting President and CEO for an interim period.
Posted by smitty195 (Member # 5102) on :
See ya! Thanks for the Parlour Cars, and that's about it.
Posted by RRCHINA (Member # 1514) on :
Lets see, perhaps the unemployed exec's from Fannie Mae and Freddy Mac, who are of the currently correct political persuasion, will be hired. They seem to have financial tactics down to a science, at least so that they themselves become wealthy.
Posted by palmland (Member # 4344) on :
I think one of his strengths was that he had credibility with the railroads as a former RR exec. and saw the need to preserve the LD trains. Maybe not for the same reason as I would give, but rather to maintain right of access for subsequent corridor development. And yes, he did preserve the parlour cars and domes on the Adirondack.
I suspect he picked the time to resign - better to go out with ridership at high levels prior to the impact of lower gas prices and an economy that is tanking.
I think he missed an opportunity to present a plan for new equipment as well as improving the network - either building on the corridor concept (except where the state took the initiative) or experimenting with different LD schdeules/service.
Now what - Joe Biden's son?
Posted by palmland (Member # 4344) on :
According to Trains newswire, Kummant's departure resulted from something far more mundane than political maneuvering or the new administration:
"WASHINGTON - Amtrak Chief Executive Officer Alex Kummant did not voluntarily resign, but was forced out by the Amtrak board due to a dispute over debt restructuring. TRAINS columnist Don Phillips said well-placed sources have told him Kummant agreed to walk away and not bring the clash before Congress in exchange for being allowed to characterize the departure as a resignation, not a firing.
The dispute stemmed from "an arcane budget matter," Phillips said, not from any philosophical disagreement about the role of Amtrak. Both the board and Kummant wanted to see the railroad grow. However, he said Kummant and Donna McLean, the board chairwoman, disagreed on matters related to debt restructuring.
"This is not a clash over what direction Amtrak should go in terms of expansion; that's pretty well set by the Democratic Congress," Phillips said.
The dispute between McLean and Kummant had apparently been simmering for months before today's announcement."
Posted by Gilbert B Norman (Member # 1541) on :
Haven't I addressed this Forum in the past that the debt elimination (restructuring) provisions of PRIIA '08 were not exactly a no brainer?
There may be enacted legislation saying that Congress SHOULD consider appropriating necessary funds so that any long term debt and capital leases to which Amtrak is party be retired in an orderly manner.
I'll give Mr. Kummant the "White Knight" role in that in order to lessen his carrier's dependence on appropriations simply to service the debt the benefit of doubt, he wanted the debt and leases to be retired. However, a review of the Annual Report shows that the effective interest rate on this indebtedness in in the range of 8.25%. Considering such indebtedness is effectively "government guaranteed" in view of how Congress reacted to what otherwise would have been a failure of two Government Sponsored Enterprises (GSE's), namely Fannie and Freddie, I doubt if the holders of the privately placed Amtrak indebtedness would take too kindly to having such called on them. Remember the 90 Day Treasury is presently yielding about 3.75%.
So hopefully, I have made the "arcane budget matter" somewhat less so.
Posted by smitty195 (Member # 5102) on :
Huh?
Posted by Amtrak207 (Member # 1307) on :
Uberfoamer comments:
1. That's dome, singular. They only have one left, and it headed west again last night.
2. "Loss performance." Nice! Only in Amtrakese!
3. I can't believe how politicized the Amboard really is. What a bucket of dren! Stop fussing over how much the stupid food costs and FOCUS ON MOVING RAIL PASSENGERS AROUND. Is it possible to please this board anymore? Does anyone care about the core reason that organization exists? Stop appointing people who donated the most money to your campaign, this is why the public has lost faith in the political "process."
Posted by palmland (Member # 4344) on :
So, Mr. Norman - if Kummant is the white knight, what is Ms. McLean's agenda - since she presumably represents the government and would want to do what is best for Amtrak.
Posted by TBlack (Member # 181) on :
Thanks, Mr. Norman, for the research in the annual report. I can see where Mr. Kummant might be moved to suggest a reduction in interst rate. I can also see where Ms McLean would resist such efforts. But is that an issue worthy of dismissal? Seems a little extreme to me. I'm thinking that it's just a question of a new administration wanting their own person at the helm. Happens all the time, so why the obfuscation? At the end of the day, Kummant wasn't too bad for AMTRAK. What is too bad is that the top job seems to be passed around all too often; it's bad for morale; it's bad for direction and purpose of the company.
Posted by dnsommer (Member # 2825) on :
I'm 48! I'll run Amtrak!
Posted by TwinStarRocket (Member # 2142) on :
How about we all here at Trainweb run Amtrak, at our PC's, from our parent's basement, and be paid in Cheetos. 60 Mass will probably never notice the bagpipes slipped into the new Superliner order.
Posted by Gilbert B Norman (Member # 1541) on :
If there is any foundation to the position taken at TRAINS Newswire (and maybe it is just a case that the new CEO, Mr. Obama, wants "his own team"), consider if you were a holder of "Government Guaranteed" paper yielding 8.25%, at a time when paper similiarly guaranteed is yielding 3.75% and some guy, standing on some vague enacted legislation wants Congress to appropriate funds so that paper (and capitalized leases) would be called, what would you do if you had some political chips on the table?
If there was a guy who was suggesting retirement of these obligations was a great idea and those chips could have him gone.....well?
Volks, Amtrak is simply a political animal; what is best to provide needed rail passenger service in an economic and efficient manner is secondary. "Hekkuva job" moments are of greater priority.
Posted by notelvis (Member # 3071) on :
quote:Originally posted by TwinStarRocket: How about we all here at Trainweb run Amtrak, at our PC's, from our parent's basement, and be paid in Cheetos. 60 Mass will probably never notice the bagpipes slipped into the new Superliner order.
Cool - we can have a sleepover in my basement and we can order out for pizza. I've got these great Papa John's coupons that are still good.
Bring your sleeping bags and your laptops. We'll find out just how many computers my wireless internet router can handle.
Ohhhh......and if we get tired of running Amtrak, we can run my N-scale model railroad instead.
Does it get ANY better?
Posted by train lady (Member # 3920) on :
They may not notice the bagpipes but what about the ponies. It would be discrimination to leave them out