Dont you think there will be bail-outs? 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. But do either one have the spine to deal with by firing the Board, Flynn, and especially the Gestapo officer-faced Stephen Gardner? The family followed railroad work from Galveston to Dallas and Amarillo. ' These are scary scenarios if it means discontinuing entire routes. $59,612 - Starting salary (during Academy training and first year) $84,331 - After one year. Senator Chuck Schumer, a Democrat from New York who has pressed for federal funding for Amtrak and Gateway,. 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. No they are not. As published in the Atlanta Business Chronicle on Sept. 15, 2017 Make no mistake about it. Volpe describes another rough estimation, asset usage allocation, as a synthetic substitute for interest and depreciation. Railroad management plus government incompetence. Mr. Anderson, a former chief executive of Delta Air Lines, has been Amtraks chief executive since 2017, a memorably difficult year at Penn Station. [3][4] Anderson was promoted to CEO of Northwest Airlines in June 2001 after the departure of John Dasburg. Amtrak employees rate the overall compensation and benefits package 3.9/5 stars. He did not have access to Amtraks books. Amazing that it has survived for 50 years. Because after we get through this, the economy is going to be in recession, and that means our ridership will be down and we will be curtailing capacity to meet demand.. 4.5 million on 15 long-distance trainsless than 15% of total ridership. 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. 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. [5][6] In 2010, during his tenure at Delta, Anderson led an anti-union campaign against the Association of Flight Attendants, calling the labor union "un-Christian" and "immoral. The information contained in the documents squares with acceptable cost accounting practices. 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.. Not mentioned was Amtraks reported February co-signing of a $1 billion Railroad Rehabilitation and Improvement Financing (RRIF) loan application tied to proposed new Hudson River tunnels as part of the Gateway Program, and on behalf of real estate developer Related Companies. But we are taking this action to help protect everyone. Daily ridership is down 90% while future bookings are down 85% year-over-year, according to Amtrak. I am a retired CPA. The Volpe report claims this provides a more representative measure of the resource cost of all capital equipment and property, regardless of how financed, currently used by Amtrak to produce various services and outputs. Alas, its not a real expense, but an accounting device. The performance-tracking system also plays into the continuing challenges previous Amtrak managements, boards, and Department of Transportation overseers have failed to address. Andrew & Jeffrey Hopefully they wouldnt be that STUPID to pull a stunt like that to use this as an opportunity to cut/eliminate the LD routes being as next fiscal years budget has not been finalized thereby incurring the wrath of Congress members whose districts would be impacted. This article should cause disgrace to suffocate those in charge of AMTRAK. Projects or ideas for discretionary money Anderson leaves with a much-improved safety record for the railway and a. The 401K retirement program match is also immediately discontinued. service. The goal is to keep as many people employed as possible, Anderson said. Employee salary and payroll records for 1,364 fire departments and other fire protection employers. And given the amount of cash burn we have, Im certain the long-distance network is going to be very different longer term. Citing studies from 2005 or 2014 or 2017 without verifying whether Amtrak management took on board the recommendations contained in them is irresponsible. Amtrak has to balance meeting passenger needs with a $40 billion backlog on necessary repair investments, Anderson says. Amtrak, which has lost vast sums of money for decades, is expected to report its first operating profit this year. Mr. Flynn, who will be paid $475,000 a year, was not available for comment on Monday. We have reduced Is he part of the process, or is he an accounts payable clerk just trading on rumors? Democrats who control the U.S. House of Representatives have said they will reject the proposal, which is similar to cuts that have been rebuffed in prior budgets proposed by President Donald Trumps administration. Anderson will remain a senior adviser through the end of the year. So are these new corridors Amtrak is touting the new food source for the NEC beast? long-distance capacity to be reduced. Between February and July 2016, he sold $15.9 million worth of Delta stock. Imagine a real business that was frequently selling out but wouldnt add capacity because extra sales would cost it money. Its Northeast Corridor service is running about 40% of normal weekday schedules, including Northeast Regional and Acela services. 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). Now we are moving into an economy of 100% bailout and 0% investment. level of paycheck reduction. Top Salaries. Classic Railroad Scenes: Railroads at Work. On 9/11, we knew 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. everybody that the company was near liquidation and that we were going to lay The resulting process has 60,000 allocation rules, with 1,600 responsibility centers grouped into nine similar cost families (for example, transportation operations), which are divided into 36 subfamilies (onboard service), and finally 44 subcategories (linen). Nick Saban L University of Alabama $8,888,684; On behalf of the entire Board, we thank you for everything you do for the company. 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. Richard will remain with Amtrak until the end of the year as a senior advisor, working directly for Bill. Last month, the White House proposed cutting U.S. funding for Amtrak by more than 50% over 2020 levels. The Department of Transportation administers the RRIF program. View Library Salaries List. 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. 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? specifically what the root cause of the problem was at the time, [and] the Obviously, if they are posted on Amtraks website, Amtrak owns the authorship. . There must be something he can be charged with. That deluge accelerated their deterioration, leading to more urgent demands from Amtrak officials for federal funding of a new pair of tunnels. 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. Richard Anderson is now a railroad guy. 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. We have a clear plan. And without that access, he as well as everyone outside of the organization, with the exception of the auditors and regulators, is just guessing. But he also has experience in the railroad industry, having been a senior executive at CSX Corporation, a rail-freight company that owns some of the tracks Amtrak runs on. Richard Anderson appeared in high school plays, served a hitch in the Army and, upon his discharge, began doing summer stock, radio work, a movie bit part (a wounded soldier in Twelve O'Clock High (1949)) and all the other minor jobs required of your basic struggling actor. For example, Amtrak claims that the percentage of costs allocations has decreased from 80 percent to less than 50 percent. At Amtrak, the most compensated executive makes $652,000, annually, and the lowest compensated makes $50,000. Hopefully Amtrak and/or Congress will see the wisdom of preserving at least a modicum of service on all routes so that when things improve, it will be a lot easier to ramp up service. In good times (i.e. 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. General chairmen need to get engaged and figure out how to do this if we are to avoid an involuntary furlough, given that we dont have any business anymore, Anderson said. 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. Call it his Sully moment, after US Airways pilot Chesley Sullenberger, whose 2009 Miracle on the Hudson saved 155 souls on board his crippled A320 aircraft. So whatever amount the company decides to spend, the Chief and other routes are charged a portion based on performance tracking formulas, not whether the resources were deployed to actually benefit the services. The expense burden has become Amtraks justification for systemwide cost cutting. Despite having no experience in airline operations, he was named senior vice president of technical operations and airport affairs. WASHINGTON Although incoming Amtrak CEO Richard Anderson made a name for himself in the airline industry, he comes from a railroad family. Amazing that Andersons Golden Child the Acela is the first to fall the obviously weak link in the Amtrak chain yet he turns it around to make it sound as if the LD network is the weakest using the Amtrak voodoo accounting to try and back it up. CURTIS You speak good and necessary sense (below) at a time of total national insanity. Now with the outbreak, Anderson said, full year revenues are projected to be down $1 billion and the company projects a $840 million loss even with expense reductions of $110-$150 million. Amtrak Has Lost Money for Decades. Richard Norman Anderson (August 8, 1926 - August 31, 2017) was an American film and television actor. Amtrak now projects losing $1 billion in revenue through We cant just count on Congress to close our gap., Part of that gap will be closed, Anderson said, by first cutting Eleanor D. Acheson. 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. Last week, the company reported an operating revenue of $3.3 billion for fiscal year 2019 a 3.6% increase over the last year. Few railroad passenger vehicles have had as long a lifespan as the Budd Rail Diesel Car. Under CEO Mr Richard Anderson, the former Delta and Northwest airlines chief executive, who was . You could learn something about the practices implied by the titles. The New York Times first reported that former Delta Air Lines CEO Richard Anderson will step down as Amtrak CEO in favor of William Flynn, the former CEO of cargo and charter airline Atlas Air. has COVID-19. His family, which also included five sisters, moved to Dallas and later Amarillo, Texas. Frankly, I dont think he has the will and courage to break down Amtraks wall of silence and obfuscation. WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Amtrak said Monday it had tapped Atlas Airs chief executive to run the money-losing U.S. passenger railroad that has seen record traffic. That needs to change NOW. But there will be no more spending on Miami station expense included a portion for snow removal. safely and reliably, Anderson said. The long-distance network as it stands today is intact, but we are going to pull 40% of available seat miles from the consists, Anderson said, adding, If we get to a point with Congress where we dont get $500 million (the company has asked for), we have contingency plans underway to further reduce the network to match capacity to demand.. He is not an accountant. Is the current BoD and its Chair Anthony Coscia the only people capable of sitting on that body? MARK Good post. Why the GAO doesnt force them to turn their numbers over to an independent auditor I dont know, unless of course that would reveal some back door shenanigans with money and Congressman. Built in the early years of the 20th century, the tunnels had already exceeded their expected life span when Hurricane Sandy flooded them with salt water in 2012. Wilner earned undergraduate and graduate degrees in economics and labor relations from Virginia Tech. As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. Richard Anderson. The other big men seem to have at least a basic grasp on the value of the LD network, and the new STB redos Amtraks accounting to make it less murky. Said Anderson during the town hall call-in, We have been 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. Connection revenue is not tracked, so if one train is discontinued, the company cant determine the resulting negative monetary impact on other services. Amtrak Mission, Vision & Values Amtrak Mission & Values Amtrak Mission: Delivering intercity transportation with superior safety, customer service and financial excellence. financial contributions from private citizens and the business community. Most of them dont even seem to understand fundamental accounting principles. If the expenditure will extend the life of the asset, it is capitalized and depreciated over the expected life of the asset. The measures have been taken to protect the companys future and to avoid involuntary furloughs, Gardner wrote. Whether maintenance is an operating expense or a capital item depends on the nature of the expenditures. As an example, he cited Baltimores B&P Tunnel [see The Overshadowed Tunnel, February 2020 Trains]. Amtrak flirted with bankruptcy earlier in the 2000s. repair. Wolfs mandatory shutdown order for all businesses that arent life-sustaining,, New Yorks Metropolitan Transportation Authority, California residents do not sell my data request. Anyone can read what you share. For sure, Anderson, a lame-duck CEO who officially retires Performance Trackings inherent biases make the investment case hard to prove, with revenue and customer-usefulness benefits buried beneath massive overhead charges that would flow elsewhere as services are discontinued. Executive Vice President, Capital Delivery. Wonder what congress will think about all of this? transportation system recovered fairly quickly, Anderson said, in contrast to 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. Classic Railroad Scenes: Railroads at Work. Unlimited Members, sign in to enjoy sitewide access. Its been a well known fact for many years that Amtraks funny money accounting system would not stand up to GAAP rules. The real miracle is that the railroad has survived into its 50th year. Corporate services are defined to include company-wide functions such as legal, finance, government affairs, human resources, information technology, among others. to lead an enterprise in severe peril, Andersons background is prototypical. It would also make a concerted effort to assign costs to the revenue-producing entities that incurred them. Most importantly, however, he does not have access to Amtraks books. Now with the outbreak, Anderson said, full year revenues are projected to be down $1 billion and the company projects a $840 million loss even with expense reductions of $110-$150 million. are working on further cuts., DOWNLOAD AN AMTRAK INTERNAL MEMO ON TRAIN CANCELLATIONS. If we end Amtrak, we end all trains. If Mayor Pete ignores this report, fails to take action, then any pro-passenger rail statements he makes from here on out are hollow. Such bonuses may reach to the top of management. The one thing the US cannot do is default on its debt, that standard is one of the reasons our country as been a safe place for investors world wide to be in. And, with more boardings, the stations corporate-allocated share of system costs would rise. Trains asked to see the bonus criteria as part of its request, but Amtrak had not responded by press time. and long-distance bookings are down 64%. off 10,000 or 15,000 people, that would be far more demoralizing. With many Democrats wanting socialized medicine for the U.S. imagine what health care for us would be like with Amtrak accounting. , for 13 years, has also held senior roles with CSX Transportation, Sea-Land Services, Inc, and GeoLogistics Corp. With all respect to the distinguished author, much/ most of this article is old news. Daily ridership is down 90% systemwide while future bookings are down 85% year-over-year, according to Amtrak. Until the past few weeks, there was a consensus that the federals would refrain from bailing out under-funded state and local pension funds. Obtaining directs costs is more efficient, but allocating costs does not necessarily produce a bad outcome. 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. for the fiscal year ending Sept. 30, 2019, the long-distance ridership was but Too bad he didn't have a "Save Amtrak, Fire Anderson" baseball cap with him. Amtrak President and CEO Richard Anderson, 63, Texas-born and son of an Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway clerk, persistently rejects interview requests, declining to reveal the origin of his strategy in light of his transportation background being entirely in airline management. Bookings are down 99% on one route, almost as high on other routes, more states each day are on lockdown, virtually no one is riding the trains, and your post is the best you can come up with? The pay cuts take effect for the first pay period in April, reflected in the employees April 17th paychecks. Donnelley said the private varnish business adds approximately $10 million in gross revenues to Amtrak, despite a recent Wall Street Journal article citing only a $4 million impact. The two men, each of whom took no salary, shared the chief executive title during a transition that lasted several months as Mr. Anderson learned the railroad business. "[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. It only functions as long as its government masters direct it and it must operate as they desire. discussed, but ridership numbers are telling. Don't miss this look at the history of America's most influential builder of locomotives. Also, President Trump on March 2 re-nominated two of his proposed candidates for the Amtrak Board of Directors - Joseph Gruters and Lynn Westmoreland. Galen Riley:Yes, the rationale for the NEC Acela Trains, and perhaps the overall value of the NEC itself, as Amtraks most important focus, appears to be a pretty weak argument in light of these proposed cuts (and dramatic drop in ridership, admittedly in a major national crisis). So, its a standoff between Congress and Amtrak and the railroad continues to limp along without any vision of what it could be if anybody really cared. Moorman was referring to the Amtrak Performance Tracking methodology. Get updates and special offers via email from Trains.com brands! ANDREW Another possible outcome is that the stimulous (money that the government will print if it doesnt first run out of ink) would include a rider to maintain all current routes. of the crisis. Both white papers can be found at Amtrak.com, About Amtrak, Amtrak Facts, Stakeholder FAQs. He did comedy scenes on a "screen test"-like TV series called Lights, Camera . News & Reviews News Wire Amtraks money mystery, Why we dont really know how trains perform financially. 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. But there will be no pink slips for Last week, the transportation secretary, Elaine Chao, endorsed that idea in testimony before the House Appropriations Committee. Remember, your government is not paying for the bailouts: your grandchildren are. A centrally located station to be shared with commuter service Tri-Rail at Miami International Airport has languished without Amtrak trains since it opened in 2015. 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. Anderson is a liar and a stooge for Trump ! Amtrak Joey and Mayor Pete need to read this. [1], Anderson attended Texas Tech University and the University of Houston, graduating from the latter in 1977 with a degree in political science.