richard anderson amtrak salary
NEWSWIRE. the future, and to assure they do, the day-to-day struggle continues to keep Northeast Updated March 2, 2020 2:02 pm ET. Now for the answer from the folks in DeeCee: Fix Amtraks problems with more money. for the fiscal year ending Sept. 30, 2019, the long-distance ridership was but Get the newest photos, videos, stories, and more from Trains.com brands. One of his best-known roles was his portrayal of Oscar Goldman, the boss of Steve Austin and Jaime Sommers (Lindsay Wagner) in both The Six Million Dollar Man and The Bionic Woman television series between 1974 and 1978 and their subsequent . On March 2, 2020, it was announced that Anderson would step down as CEO on April 15, 2020, after fulfilling his three-year commitment to the company. Flynn has agreed to completely forego his annual salary from the outset. Amtrak Vision Statement 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. that unpaid leave, uncompensated reduced hours and early retirement be taken WASHINGTON At a weekly town hall telephone meeting with employees on Friday afternoon, Amtrak President and CEO Richard Anderson painted a grim picture of the ways in which the Covid-19 coronavirus crisis has impacted demand. Wed like to avoid it, but if we cant get the kind of funding out of Congress that we need, then we need to face that issue and will have a contingency plan to do that. Photo courtesy Amtrak. 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. CURTIS You speak good and necessary sense (below) at a time of total national insanity. With record ridership and revenues, but critical infrastructure in dire need of billions in investment, Amtrak is at a crossroads, Mr. Schumer said. [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. Hold on tight and get ready to write your Congressional representatives. The Volpe Center, an arm of the U.S. Department of Transportation, was chosen to construct clear assignments of revenues and costs to replace Amtraks previous system. Eleanor D. Acheson. The real miracle is that the railroad has survived into its 50th year. The average salary for Richard Cottrell employees is around $100,786 per year, or $48 per hour. Other questionable allocations or indefensible errors noted in the Passenger Association report include: The Miami error was caught by the station manager there and revealed in the Government Accountability Offices 2016 report, and state operating authorities continue to comb invoices for questionable allocations. Amtrak Has Lost Money for Decades. safely and reliably, Anderson said. cash on hand, there remain operating expenses, capital projects that cannot be Amtrak and our state partners estimate we need approximately $1billion in supplemental funding through the remainder of the year to make up for the unprecedented loss of ridership and revenue and to minimize employee and service impacts, an Amtrak spokesperson said in a statement. 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. Rather than cut capital spending, increase it. Watching Washington, November 2018: When a 1978 labor dispute . Few railroad passenger vehicles have had as long a lifespan as the Budd Rail Diesel Car. Anyone interested in learning how Amtrak calculates route performance, as well as the financial performance of long-distance trains, can find information in How Does Amtrak Calculate Route Financial Performance? I have the overwhelming feeling that Gardner is the source/author of all of this. [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]. 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. And cost cutting through 2017 management buyouts eliminated field personnel and resulted in a loss of institutional knowledge perhaps the biggest such loss in the companys 47-year history that has permanently diminished U.S. passenger-rail expertise. The 401K retirement program match is also immediately discontinued. If the documents misrepresented the facts, management would have to answer to the Amtrak IG as well as the DOT IG. With our state and commuter partners, we move people, the economy and the nation forward, carrying more than 30 million Amtrak customers for each of the past eight years. In the end, a company is only as good as its people. But exactly what expenses comprise that hefty long-distance tab remain a mystery. Thats the question. Seize the window of opportunity caused by reduced traffic. There are plenty of others motivated by what Mr. Shigley above describes. 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. However, when Anderson stated that over two and a half years it takes about $2 billion to keep the long-distance network operating, he again used the largely allocated expense figures the company assigns to imply that these are avoidable costs that is, they would all disappear if the trains were discontinued. 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). 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. Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Nick Zieminski. Allocating so many costs also means that local management no longer has much responsibility to manage them since they are not their problem. 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. Accordingly, they dont have an basis to criticize Amtraks accounting policies, procedures, and practices. Rail Group News offers news and analysis from Railway Age, IRJ and RT&S by email. 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). Until the end of last year, Mr. Flynn ran Atlas Air, which is based in Purchase, N.Y., and claims to have the worlds largest fleet of large cargo planes in the world. 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.. In Miami? 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. Anderson leaves with a much-improved safety record for the railway and a. [See Passenger Train Game Changer, October 2013.] Imagine a real business that was frequently selling out but wouldnt add capacity because extra sales would cost it money. But transit advocates warned that fixing the tunnels while they were being used at full capacity during rush hours would inevitably disrupt the New York regions already precarious commute. There must be something he can be charged with. Get your questions about railroads and railroading answered. In this instance, we dont have clear direction of what Between February and July 2016, he sold $15.9 million worth of Delta stock. network operating, and if we dont have the subsidy from the Northeast Corridor Amtrak reported a loss of $29.8 million in its last fiscal year compared with a loss of $170.6 million in the prior fiscal year. 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. 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. J. Flynn, who was hired at $475,000 annually, but told Anderson March 20 he, 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? Who is this person? The key is whether the mistakes materially affect the companys financial statements and cost allocation outcomes. [1] At Northwest, Anderson was initially charged with labor relations and government affairs. But, he added, Rest assured, were going to take good care of those tunnels.. 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. Richard Anderson. Railroad management plus government incompetence. Both Amtrak and the airlines are on the verge of a possible total shutdown and the only question is what routes will be re-established. There are pieces of the network that ought to be permanently trimmed; . It was developed at the request of Congress in 2005 to definitively categorize the companys expenses, according to how and where they are incurred. That deluge accelerated their deterioration, leading to more urgent demands from Amtrak officials for federal funding of a new pair of tunnels. Incoming CEO William Flynn will succeed Richard Anderson on April 15. 9/11 and subsequent bankruptcy, emerged even stronger. Together, we will get through this," General Manager Leslie Richards told employees in a letter sent Friday. Amtrak's board named Richard Anderson, a former chairman and chief executive of Delta Air Lines, to succeed Charles Moorman as Amtrak's chief this year. We appreciate your support as we work our way through this crisis together., Amtrak confirmed that it has taken aggressive measures.". In November, Amtrak said it had set records for ridership, revenue and financial performance for the year ended Sept. 30, 2019, including 32.5 million customer trips, a year-over-year increase of 800,000 passengers. MARK Good post. [8] On October 11, 2016, Anderson announced his retirement from the Board of Directors effective on the same day. Johnson is not an accountant. through a lot of tough times with Amtrakfrom host railroads that want to put Libraries. But that will be only a worst-case scenario because we dont want to furlough employees.. In business 101, one learns that no business can cut its way to profitability. For example, Amtrak claims that the percentage of costs allocations has decreased from 80 percent to less than 50 percent. The expense burden has become Amtrak's justification for systemwide cost cutting. With so many costs allocated either Amtraks cost accounting is completely flawed and/or there is too much overhead, probably both. Security a critical infrastructure asset. Some trains must run now, more in Too bad he didn't have a "Save Amtrak, Fire Anderson" baseball cap with him. As for Amtraks current travails, Anderson said the railroad is in line for a $500 million congressional grant in the first of expected stimulus measures intended as a financial bandage through June. There is no point in operating empty trains. I will give an example. If I had run my business that way, Id be in jail. Much is dependent on enlightened labor leaders facing harsh reality with learned wisdom, rather than union hall polemics. Amtrak is also suspending its 401(k) matching contribution for management employees through the end of the calendar year. . Anderson, the former CEO of Delta Air Lines Inc., became co-CEO . A Former Airline CEO Thinks He Can Fix It. (Trains obtained a copy, in part through a Freedom of Information Act request. our country needs long distance amtrak trains without them people will never be able to sleep, eat, and see the country by rail. Amtrak didnt want to add a third car because it would lose money because of the allocated costs. . Passengers can no longer be able to make changes or cancel tickets 24 hours after purchase as they can now for the lowest-cost Saver fares. The company also imposed new restrictions on changing some higher priced tickets. In good times (i.e. Amtrak CEO Richard Anderson is intent on reshaping the state-owned passenger railway into an economically-efficient inter-city operator. He remained with Amtrak through the end of the year as a senior advisor to his replacement, William J. makes me hopeful for the companys future.. discussed, but ridership numbers are telling. It would also make a concerted effort to assign costs to the revenue-producing entities that incurred them. Starting April 1, cutting management salaries from 22% to 7%, with the amount of reductions decreasing with the pay grade. The pay cuts take effect for the first pay period in April, reflected in the employees April 17th paychecks. Boarding or deboarding for individual stations and by trip length, Estimated diesel power and electric traction usage factors. This, of course, aids the claim that those trains are profitable above the rail.. I actually respect Mayor Pete. everybody that the company was near liquidation and that we were going to lay E.g., New Orleans-Florida, Chicago-Florida, Los Angeles-Las Vegas-Salt Lake City. Join Today! Last week, the transportation secretary, Elaine Chao, endorsed that idea in testimony before the House Appropriations Committee. Unlimited Members, sign in to enjoy sitewide access. Following a Chicago luncheon on May 25, 2017, former Amtrak President and CEO Wick Moorman told Trains that long-distance trains break even on direct costs. But when Amtrak allocates overhead using a formula developed by the Volpe National Transportation Systems Center, he said, based on rational types of things like passenger-miles and train starts, [they] end up with about a $500 million loss. State-supported trains, he added, lose about $90 million on a fully allocated cost basis. We should be very afraid of what is about to happen if Amtrak Joe spends all this money he has appropriated to improve Amtrak. but how can we get amtrak to go back to full dinning on the lakeshore limited , the silver star and the capital limited and what be done to get amtrak to revoked excursions and carriage of private cars ? By all accounts, Mr. Anderson, who guided Delta through a bankruptcy proceeding, has been successful. Whether maintenance is an operating expense or a capital item depends on the nature of the expenditures. He did not have access to Amtraks books. Such bonuses may reach to the top of management. Yes, this is old information, but little or nothing has been done to fix the problem, so it is still fresh information. 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. 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. 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. Effective April 1, 2022. Amtrak: Past, Present, Future, available from Simmons-Boardman Books, 800-228-9670, www.transalert.com. Bruno Maestri. Protect the workers and press on with needed projects. an Amtrak paycheck, will remain through year-end as an adviser to incoming CEO William News & Reviews News Wire Amtraks money mystery, Why we dont really know how trains perform financially. and state [supported corridor] trains bearing their share of the national Moreover, he performed his study for an advocacy group with a dog in the hunt, which is not likely to produce an independent outcome. On 9/11, we knew How much more can be affordedor unafforded, for that matterbefore inflicting even more long-term economic harm on the nation is unknown, as so unprecedented and uncharted is this crisis of which Amtrak is but a miniscule part. Subsequently Amtrak confirmed the news . Though not explicitly asking for relief from a scheduled July 1, 2020, raise for union employees, Anderson concluded the call with the hope that we have to do what we have to do to come back strong after the pandemic, and will do our level best to not have anyone at Amtrak involuntarily lose their job. Updated at 7:15 a.m. to include suspension of Acela service. Staff writer Juliana Reyes contributed reporting. Those numbers will worsen as more The average Amtrak salary ranges from approximately $36,152 per year for a Clerk to $393,392 per year for a Senior Director. Richard Anderson. Misplaced priorities also affect growth of Amtraks existing business. The relationship between the government and Amtrak is almost a pure definition of Fascism. . Why Sign In? ", due to significantly reduced demand in key markets, Gov. Amtraks accounting system and management priorities mitigate against that. It sounds like Amtrak management might be using the coronavirus as a tactic to get rid of some routes when that decision should be made on a more rational basis. dont have a job anymore, and thats what we are working to avoid. As published in the Atlanta Business Chronicle on Sept. 15, 2017 Make no mistake about it. that would like to take over our services. Nothing has challenged Amtrak as Amtrak employees rate the overall compensation and benefits package 3.9/5 stars. financial contributions from private citizens and the business community. Flynn.[11]. Rev. In April, Trains filed a Freedom of Information Act request asking for details of their total compensation, including bonuses. doesnt always want to properly fund us, and to states and private companies a lame-duckpresident (mr. anderson) should not state policy; that is the job of new president, mr. flynn. Most accountants and managers learn the problems associated with managing using allocated costs; Amtrak (and Volpe) has evidently learned nothing. Classic Railroad Scenes: Railroads at Work. When the Southwest Chief rumbles across New Mexicos Raton Pass, with sleeping-car passengers paying as much as $1,058 to ride in a roomette, what is the trains revenue-versus-cost effect on Amtraks bottom line? Get great snapshots of railroading history in Art Petersons newest book. While Flynn has rail and maritime executive experienceCSX and Sealand Serviceshis under-fire management DNA is not dissimilar to Andersons, having stabilized and strengthened Atlas Air Worldwide Holdings after leading it out of bankruptcy during his 13 years at the helm. 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. three months ago) this nation significantly under-invested in rail infrastructure. Amtrak CEO Richard Anderson speaks to attendees at the National Association of Railway Passengers during a conference in Chicago, Thursday, Nov. 2, 2017. 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. 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. Although Anderson said Amtrak has more than $3 billion in A negative response could well upset the no-furlough objective. now, which elsewhere in America are darkening family futures as did locusts Amtrak, Struggling to Keep Trains Running, Chooses a New Leader, https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/02/nyregion/amtrak-ceo-william-flynn.html. You sure wish it would go a bit smoother in terms of the funding, he said. Why Sign In? 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. The multivolume blueprint of the systems methodology uses the term professional judgment to describe how rules were jointly developed by Volpe and Amtrak financial analysts to distribute company overhead expense. 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. No they are not. 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. What exactly is Anderson supposed to do, run a full schedule of empty trains? Yet Amtrak has been designated by the Department of Homeland irresponsible., We cant force our customers to get on our trains, Anderson said. specifically what the root cause of the problem was at the time, [and] the Mr. Anderson succeeded Charles Moorman, a former chief executive of the Norfolk Southern freight railroad. That would be Amtrak, the national railroad that is caught in a political stalemate over its pleas for help saving century-old infrastructure in New York City, has chosen its next leader. In reporting record 32.5 million ridership In response, the company offered no numbers, only this statement: National assets are the nations core rail assets shared among Amtrak services, including systems for reservations, security, training, training centers, and other assets associated with Amtraks national transportation system. network, the loss gets that much bigger.. Through February in the 2020 fiscal year that began in October 2019, Anderson reported that Amtrak was running 91% above plan. Trains News Wire confirmed that in February, the long distance, state-supported, and Northeast Corridor categories all showed sharp increases, with overall ridership and revenue both up an average of 6.5% compared with February 2019. Its Northeast Corridor service is running about 40% of normal weekday schedules, including Northeast Regional and Acela services. Subscribers, sign in to access exclusive content. Anderson said, It would be more demoralizing if we had to tell people they Put a sock in it! All redcap labor and baggage handling costs are allocated to long-distance trains, according to trip length, even though wheelchair service and baggage handling are provided to all trains, especially at New York and Chicago. the end point of the coronavirus is.. Amtrak Contact 202 906.3860 About Amtrak Amtrak offers a more comfortable and convenient travel experience with free Wi-Fi on most trains, plenty of leg room and no middle seat. Last week, the company reported an operating revenue of $3.3 billion for fiscal year 2019 a 3.6% increase over the last year. The family followed railroad work from Galveston to Dallas and Amarillo. Or is all their pro-Amtrak talk just that? Most of them dont even seem to understand fundamental accounting principles. Thats when David Kutrosky, managing director of Californias Capitol Corridor Joint Powers Authority, discovered Amtrak was using a formula to allocate the cost of diesel fuel for his trains locomotives rather than measuring it directly. 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. Anderson also assumed the role of co-CEO on that date, serving alongside Moorman. Take Miami, where last May Brightline launched service from a new downtown complex. Amtrak also would be on the hook for almost $400 million in construction costs for Relateds Hudson Yard skyscraper project. has taken more than $2.5 billion of federal money to keep the long-distance ' These are scary scenarios if it means discontinuing entire routes. In 2015, he received compensation of more than $17.5 million. 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. Anderson remained co-CEO with Moorman until the end of 2017, at which time he assumed the role of sole CEO. How it accounts for revenue and expense is just a big game played on a giant game board.
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