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 The Amtrak board on the morning of November 9 fired President David Gunn. The board currently consists of four Bush appointees, two of which appointments will expire when Congress adjourns this year. By law, seven members should constitute the board.

 The move appeared to be the latest action in the Bush Administration’s plan to dismantle Amtrak. David Gunn told the New York Times that "Obviously, what their goal is - and it's been their goal from the beginning - is to liquidate the company." 

 Congress has been supportive of Amtrak this year, putting it at odds with the administration. Having failed to kill off Amtrak through Congressional action, the White House now seeks to destroy Amtrak from within.

 In a November 9 statement, the National Association of Railroad Passengers said:

 "David L. Gunn leaves a lasting legacy. In just over three years, he transformed Amtrak in positive ways that will shape its future long
after his departure. He inherited an organization on the verge of collapse. He systematically created order from chaos. Faced with myriad problems, he focused on the most important issues and set priorities. He simplified the management structure, dropping 'vice-president' from the titles of many.  He created organization charts that identified all authorized positions. He established performance goals and measures. He installed discipline in finance, planning and budgeting -- discipline that was essential for effective management but missing when he arrived.
He installed transparent and GAAP compliant accounting. His competence and plain spoken honesty brought credibility to a discredited
organization. Without David Gunn, it is quite possible that Amtrak - and U.S. intercity passenger rail - would not exist today. David Gunn's leadership has put Amtrak on a solid footing where it can be poised for growth. 

     "The Amtrak board's decision to replace Mr. Gunn comes at an unfortunate time. Amtrak has overcome significant problems and begun to gain forward momentum. Changing the top leadership jeopardizes that progress. It remains to be seen whether the Board can find a new president who can
accelerate Amtrak's transformation into a growing, relevant and cost efficient national passenger rail system. 

     "There is obvious concern that removal of Mr. Gunn is the first step in an effort to kill the rail passenger business. However, Amtrak Chairman David Laney, in a message to employees today, cited Amtrak's April
strategic plan and budget request and wrote: 'The good news in this strategic plan is that we can improve Amtrak, upgrade service in the
vital Northeast Corridor, expand rail services in densely populated and increasingly congested corridors across the country, and bring more economic discipline to Amtrak's long distance services.'

     "We endorse those goals so long as 'economic discipline' does not mean route cuts, or making the trains unattractive to travelers.

     "Attaining Laney's stated goals will require meeting big challenges: the management transition, the fact that the Amtrak Board is about to drop to just two members, and Bush Administration opposition to adequate
passenger rail funding in spite of strong support for it on Capitol Hill."

    AMTRAK RIDERSHIP: THIRD YEAR OF RECORD PATRONAGE
   Amtrak announced that in FY2005 just ended it had counted 25,374,998 passengers, for the third straight year of record ridership. Most impressive was that this happened in spite of major disruptions to service due to hurricanes and the down time of the Acela high-speed trains. The full report along with detailed route-by-route figures can be found on the Amtrak site at this link.

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DOT'S MINETA HARASSING AMTRAK &  AMTRAK'S REPLY TO THE MINETA LETTER
NARP: DOT OVERSTATES LONG DISTANCE TRAIN PRICE TAG BY $600 MILLION
SENATE HEARING UNDERLINES AMTRAK FUNDING CRUNCH; LONG-DISTANCE TRAINS NOT THE PROBLEM
The shape of long distance trains to come.

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