Amtrak Seeks to Build State Relationships: Virginia’s Among the States It’s Courting to Help Solidify Its Finances

By Chip Jones, Richmond Times-Dispatch

Jan. 20–Since starting service in 1971, Amtrak has struggled to get on the right track — usually because it didn’t have enough money to buy new equipment and to fix tracks and bridges.

The key to building a better railroad, Amtrak’s new chief said recently, is establishing new relationships with rail-hungry states like Virginia.

“Our future is to pivot the whole organization to the states,” said Alexander Kummant, who took Amtrak’s throttle as president and chief executive officer in September.

In a recent wide-ranging interview, Kummant, 46, said he has been reorganizing Amtrak’s management team and departments to focus on partnerships with states eager to improve rail service.

The focus on building new pacts with states was one of the key elements of a bipartisan bill introduced in Congress last week that would authorize $3.2 billion a year for Amtrak over the next six years in return for improved efficiency.

Kummant said he wants to focus on adding train service in the busiest travel corridors, including Washington-Richmond-Charlotte, N.C.

He also hopes to end Amtrak’s repeated funding crises and bolster the railroad’s financial underpinnings, all in an effort to make long-deferred capital improvements that could breathe new life into the long-suffering railroad.

“Someday we should not be talk ing about the Northeast Corridor, but about the Eastern Corridor,” he said enthusiastically. “The vision is a high-speed connection from Washington through Richmond and on to Charlotte. That’s what excites me.”

The bipartisan legislation introduced by Sens. Frank R. Lautenberg, D-N.J., and Trent Lott, R-Miss, includes requirements for Amtrak to lower its operating costs in return for setting a six-year spending plan of $19.2 billion.

“We have a chance now to get Amtrak back on track,” said Lautenberg, head of the Senate’s rail subcommittee. “Congress is ready to pass a bill.”

Republican Lott also spoke in favor of the measure, saying, “This is about reform and accountability. It’s not just a big chunk of money.”

The senators’ cooperative push for funding and reform marks a reversal from the tone in Washington in September when Kummant took the top post at Amtrak. At the time, he was under pressure to execute cost-cutting measures endorsed by some Bush administration appointees on the Amtrak board.

Those steps included shrinking the railroad’s long-distance network.

The combination of the new bill in Congress and Kummant’s pro-active thinking drew praise from Virginia’s leading passenger-rail advocacy group.

“We think he has a good opportunity now with the changing of Congress to move Amtrak initiatives that have sat there,” said Nancy Finch, executive director of Virginians for High-Speed Rail, which includes dozen of business leaders and local government officials across the state.

Finch noted that Kummant succeeded David Gunn, who was fired in late 2005 after losing a long battle with the Amtrak board and the Bush administration over deep funding cuts.

“Gunn was well thought of and admired for what he accomplished, but Kummant might prompt them to negotiate more,” Finch said.

She hopes Kummant succeeds in getting states to establish closer ties with Amtrak. Currently, 13 states provide dedicated funding to get more Amtrak service. Virginia is not among them.

“Virginia has a responsibility, too,” Finch said. “We’re one of the states that does not pay for Amtrak. Any sort of negotiation with him would be important for Virginia. We can’t just continue with finger-pointing at Amtrak.”

Matthew Tucker, director of the Virginia Department of Rail and Public Transportation, said he’s studying the option to provide direct funding.

“I’m trying to get a real good understanding of Amtrak’s performance” in Virginia, he said.

In a study released last fall, Amtrak’s overall on-time service in Virginia was below 63 percent, with long-distance trains faring the poorest with about a 57 percent on-time mark. A train is considered on time if it arrives at the station within 15 minutes of the schedule.

By comparison, Amtrak had an 85 percent on-time performance in the Northeast Corridor from Washington to Boston.

Should Virginia pay a direct operating subsidy to improve service? That’s the strategy of North Carolina, Illinois, California and 10 other states.

“I don’t have an opinion on that today,” Tucker said recently. “Before you engage in that discussion, you have to have a good idea of what you’re buying into. We’re going to have to look into what’s in the best interests of the commonwealth.”

Gov. Timothy M. Kaine’s transportation budget includes $65 million for rail improvements under way in the Richmond-to-Washington corridor, as well as track near Interstate 81 in western Virginia.

Kaine also has proposed doubling dedicated funding for railroad improvements to $46 million a year.

None of this money, however, would go directly to Amtrak for more trains. The state’s focus has been on fixing track used by Amtrak that is owned by private railroads.

All sides in the debate agree there’s plenty of room for improved passenger rail service.

For instance, Amtrak runs only two trains a day going each way from Richmond to Newport News. Those trains stop at Main Street Station in downtown Richmond, which reopened with great fanfare more than three years ago after a $51.6 million renovation, mostly from state and federal grants.

At the time, state and local officials predicted a healthy increase in ridership. But two trains a day in each direction aren’t enough to attract more riders, Finch said.

Asked about adding more trains in the future, Kummant said, “Anytime a state wants to come to us and talk about aggressive service in a corridor,” Amtrak is ready to talk.

He noted, however, the underlying complexity of the issue in Virginia, where Amtrak runs over rail lines owned by private railroads, CSX Corp. and Norfolk Southern Corp.

Kummant has plenty of experience in the rail industry and private industry.

He served as a regional vice president of Union Pacific Railroad, overseeing 6,000 employees supporting an 8,000-mile rail network. He started working at age 18 on a track crew in Ohio.

“I’m not trying to play their side, but I also understand what they’re up against,” Kummant said of the freight carriers.

As he seeks support in Congress, Kummant can point to increased ridership in 2006 over the year before. Double-digit gains in passengers were reported in North Carolina, Pennsylvania and other states that have funded more Amtrak service.

Kummant downplayed past political disputes that have dogged the railroad. He said he’s seeking ways to modernize rail cars, improve labor relations with 14 unions, and forge new state compacts.

“With highway congestion and oil prices, people are really taking another look at ways to drive rail passenger growth,” he said.

Contact staff writer Chip Jones at cjones@timesdispatch.com or (804) 649-6726.

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Copyright (c) 2007, Richmond Times-Dispatch

Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Business News.

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