Passenger Trains > Boardman: Rocky Mountaineer is operated by Amtrak

I was as surprised as anyone to have been asked whether Amtrak president Joe Boardman
really did say, during today's House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee hearing,
that the Rocky Mountaineer is operated by Amtrak.

I didn't watch or listen to the hearing live (I was painting my house) but it's there
for all to see and hear on the on-demand audio-video stream of the hearing.

It wasn't in the prepared comments...but in the Questions section.

Randal O'Toole had been talking about the Rocky Mountaineer as a successful, profitable
operation, "though a bit expensive," and turned the session back to Chairman John Mica,
who continued:

> MICA: Mr. Boardman, would there be any possibility of looking at
> some of these routes, and I know we've, in PRIIA and others, of
> possibly tendering them out to see, and maybe looking at a change in
> the route schedule, as long as we protected the employees' benefits,
> salaries, things of that sort, if an operator would come in, and look
> at performing them, with a lower subsidy, or God forbid, you know,
> breaking even, or turning a profit, any thought to that, Mr.
> Boardman?

> BOARDMAN: Yeah, I've got a couple of different thoughts, Mr.
> Chairman, one is, and I think Mr. O'Toole identified it as the Rocky
> Mountaineer, that he was talking about, is actually operated by, uh,
> Amtrak. But the, the-uh, th-the...

(Chuckles from the gallery...)

From the actual audio (attached as a Windows Media video file) it is obvious
that Boardman meant the current Rocky Mountaineer operation in Canada, that
Randal O'Toole had indeed just been talking about.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/20/12 19:54 by GenePoon.

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Glad to know this.

Now the recently reinstated Rocky Mountaineer on boards can utilise the Wagner Act and portions of the New York Dock succesor rights to renegotiate their collective aggreement.

I don't know what Elizabeth Windsor will have to say about all this though.

"A clue, a clue! My kingdom for a clue!" about what we do, at Amtrak.

Lurch_in_ABQ Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> "A clue, a clue! My kingdom for a clue!" about
> what we do, at Amtrak.

Good one. Baaaaaaaaazinggggggggga!

Having watched the entire hearing live, when Boardman made this statement and the audience began to laugh, I thought to myself, oh, boy! you just gave Mica some rope to hang you with.

But, Mica didn't get it, and moved on, thus missing an opportunity to discredit Boardman. If truth be known, Mica probably doesn't know a thing about the "Rocky Mountaineer" either. So, we dodged a bullet on this one.

Even though Gene Poon has brought the only "goof" in the entire 3 hour hearing to our attention; the national media has not covered this hearing at all as far as I can tell (I'm thrilled). Normally, the Wall Street Journal and others would likewise have pounced on a statement like this; but they probably never heard of the "Rocky Mountaineer" either.

Nothing to worry about. This hearing achieved no injury to Amtrak--it's true intent. Now, on to the next one. (or Rocky-10, as Boardman might say).

Joe



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 09/21/12 06:39 by floridajoe2001.

floridajoe2001 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Having watched the entire hearing live, when
> Boardman made this statement and the audience
> began to laugh, I thought to myself, oh, boy! you
> just gave Mica some rope to hang you with.
>
> But, Mica didn't get it, and moved on, thus
> missing an opportunity to discredit Boardman. If
> truth be known, Mica probably doesn't know a thing
> about the "Rocky Mountaineer" either. So, we
> dodged a bullet on this one.
>
> Even though Gene Poon has brought the only "goof"
> in the entire 3 hour hearing to our attention; the
> national media has not covered this hearing at all
> as far as I can tell (I'm thrilled). Normally,
> the Wall Street Journal and others would likewise
> have pounced on a statement like this; but they
> probably never heard of the "Rocky Mountaineer"
> either.
>
> Nothing to worry about. This hearing achieved no
> injury to Amtrak--it's true intent. Now, on to
> the next one. (or Rocky-10, as Boardman might
> say).
>
> Joe


The national media was covering the whitewash of the Fast and Furious gun running hearing down the hall. They generally cover just one Capital Hill misadventure at a time.

Amtrak and Boardman definitely dodged a bullet.

i figured the plan was to show that it cost Amtrak $400 to carry a person from A to B, while it cost the bus company passengers $150 for the same trip

There WAS another goof, and it's even included in the written, prepared statement that Boardman
gave. I'm not giving it away, though; it takes some knowledge to spot it, and thus far,
nobody here has done so.

Even though Gene and I usually play the role of "Amtrak attacker/Amtrak defender", because the main stream media is ignoring Mica's hearing, I consider this story "Dead and Gone"; no need to defend Amtrak further---with one exception:

When asked "how much operating cost do the NEC trains cover?"-- "ALL OF IT", Boardman replied. Way to go,Joe!

Joe

Amtrak covers all of its operational costs on the Rocky Mountaineer, too. <G>

floridajoe2001 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Even though Gene and I usually play the role of
> "Amtrak attacker/Amtrak defender", because the
> main stream media is ignoring Mica's hearing, I
> consider this story "Dead and Gone"; no need to
> defend Amtrak further...

It's sometimes hard to see ourselves as others see us, Joe.
From the peanut gallery, I think the proper descriptive terms for GP and you would be "rational Amtrak supporter" and "Amtrak cheerleader," respectively, and when I see either byline I normally frame whatever comments follow in that context. Clearly you both love passenger trains.
Actually, you are by far the more entertaining and fun to read...

To: hazegray:

Thanks (I think). But; "Cheerleader"! Not with my skinny legs.

I might admit to being an Amtrak "backer" or maybe, "unsolicited spokesman"; or best yet, an "unpaid lobbyist". But, Boardman would never hire me as a cheerleader; not after calling him a CEO with no money to improves things; who runs a compamy with starvation funding. Nothing "cheery" about that, is there?

However, I disagree with you on one point. People who "attack" things usually don't love the things they attack. This is a tough one for me to understand.

Joe

floridajoe2001 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> To: hazegray:
>
> However, I disagree with you on one point. People
> who "attack" things usually don't love the things
> they attack. This is a tough one for me to
> understand.
>
> Joe

Thanks, Joe; glad we can disagree without being disagreeable! :-)

As to understanding, I'd substitute the terms "tough love" for attacker and "enabler" for defender....
recognizing that is indeed a very fine line.
Ten years ago one of my family was an alcoholic, and I'm sure at the time we were trying to get him into AA he definitely thought I was attacking him. Initially, his mother was his strongest defender... and in the long run, that was not helpful. Fortunately, she changed her approach, and the story had a happy ending.

floridajoe2001 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Having watched the entire hearing live, when
> Boardman made this statement and the audience
> began to laugh, I thought to myself, oh, boy! you
> just gave Mica some rope to hang you with.
>
> But, Mica didn't get it, and moved on, thus
> missing an opportunity to discredit Boardman. If
> truth be known, Mica probably doesn't know a thing
> about the "Rocky Mountaineer" either. So, we
> dodged a bullet on this one.
>
> Even though Gene Poon has brought the only "goof"
> in the entire 3 hour hearing to our attention; the
> national media has not covered this hearing at all
> as far as I can tell (I'm thrilled). Normally,
> the Wall Street Journal and others would likewise
> have pounced on a statement like this; but they
> probably never heard of the "Rocky Mountaineer"
> either.
>
> Nothing to worry about. This hearing achieved no
> injury to Amtrak--it's true intent. Now, on to
> the next one. (or Rocky-10, as Boardman might
> say).
>
> Joe


What a fool Joe is!

floridajoe2001 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------

> When asked "how much operating cost do the NEC
> trains cover?"-- "ALL OF IT", Boardman replied.
> Way to go,Joe!



A lie. Cooking the books again.