Schumer: Amtrak President to Be Fired

running Amtrak to move it towards reform and success, after all, it makes sense and bush wouldn't want to do anything that makes sense.

I suddenly remember that old TV show by the same name back in the mid 1960s. Can't have any neigh sayers running AMTRAK.

http://today.reuters.com/investing/financeArticle.aspx?type=bondsNews&storyID=2005-11-09T170651Z_01_WBT004228_RTRIDST_0_TRANSPORT-AMTRAK-URGENT.XML

WASHINGTON, Nov 9 (Reuters) - David Gunn, the president of financially beleaguered Amtrak, was fired on Wednesday after three years on the job, the national rail network said in a statement.

Amtrak's board of directors did not give a reason for its decision to dismiss Gunn, but he has resisted many of the broad proposals pushed by the Bush administration to reform business practices at the railroad.

...short blurb...

This maladministration is a death knell to anything good. :(

After years of flying for business plus enduring mega hour flights back to the states from the other side of the world, I do not fly anymore;I hate being herded; the food sucks; the seats R torture; HATE IT!

I take the train - the food is good, I catch up on my reading; stretch out in my little room all the while getting a look @ the country. I have noticed a slow but steady up-grade of Amtrak service across the country in the last 3 years. I shudder 2 think what will happen now. Typical neo-con BS - 2 steps forward only 2 be yanked back 4.

How can the robber barons make their money off these high oil prices
if we all start taking the train. What to do?

"They'll drive. They'll have to. We're buying the Red Car company and shutting it down."

The "Judge" on Who Framed Roger Rabbit.

It's less the robber barons who want to do away with Amtrak than the ideologues. Grover Norquist has had happy little fantasies about shutting down Amtrak since the Reagan years, and I wouldn't be surprised if other little Bushies have entertained similar thoughts. If Buckaroo Bush's Duck Soup Posse manages to hatchet all of Amtrak's long-distance trains, I'm sure that they'll boast of it as a "success" in January, 2009, along with the occupation of Iraq and the Duck Soup Posse's response to Hurricane Katrina.

We'd have virtual GRIDLOCK. Oops! :blush: We already HAVE GRIDLOCK ... horrid traffic jams 24/7 due to Urban "Sprawl and Crawl." That is, FEW (If your salary is under 100,000 or you have a family - No Way!) truly "working people" must commute INTO D.C. from various regions around the Beltway. The housing developments to the south that serves D.C. commuters is up to 60 miles south of the Capitol.

We love our Amtrak Stations and GOOD SERVICE here in the land of the "beltway bandits" (Govt and Contracting Civilian working pukes), but these stations are quickly OVER-RUN with business due to seemingly ENDLESS housing developments in this area.

No joke fellow DUers ===> If Bush=Co. musses up Amtrak HERE, D.C. and surrounding areas will be seemingly one big parking lot. :( Only the BIG WIG ultra-wealthy paying exorbitant rents or mortgages will be able to afford living in the "safe" immediate area. These spoiled "boys and girls" can NOT live without their secretaries and clerks, some of whom endure commutes of up to a FOUR HOUR round trip, i.e. from downtown D.C. to as far south as Spotsylvania County in Vir-GIN-I-A. ;)

I have a list of repukes who need to get tied to the railroad tracks.

It's not so much about the $ or the energy savings of train travel.

You would think that this would be a small item on the "List of Evil Deeds", but there are several corporations with VERY strong ties to the Administraton that want Amtrak DEAD. Union Pacific (Cheney was on the board) and CSX (Snow was former CEO) hate having Amtrak on their tracks, lobby heavily for it's elimination and make major contributions to Amtrak opponents.

but I think this guy Gunn replaced Snow who replace mitch Daniels as Bush's economic adviser. If so, then Snow must have kissed Bush's a$$ to get where he is now. A Bush yes man!

and now King "Whatever It Takes" Dumbass** wants to kill it!

http://www.nola.com/newslogs/breakingtp/index.ssf?/mtlogs/nola_Times-Picayune/archives/2005_09_29.html#083756

The initial plan involves running two commuter trains per day between the two cities, starting at the Kansas City Southern rail depot near Memorial Stadium in Baton Rouge and running to the Union Passenger Terminal in downtown New Orleans, Allen said....

The group making the proposal includes Regional Transit Authority of New Orleans, Amtrak, the Capital Area Transit System, which operates the bus system in Baton Rouge, the KCS Railroad, the DOTD and Amtrak. RTA spokeswoman Rosiland Blanco Cook said the agency is "very interested" in the concept and has been holding discussions with all parties.

Since I was formerly one of the 100,000 or so New Orleanians without cars, naturally I think this is a great idea -- but I'm sure at this point even those who drive on an I-10 that must by now be approaching I-95-like gridlock would agree!

after rail service was restored.

How can a board of directors with four voting members(all Bush flunkies) fire the president when it has a congressional mandate that the board have seven (7) members. Bush even withdrew support for one of his lackeys when he found out that he had contributed to the Kerry campaign. Congress,who are they when we have a chimperor!

People really do LOVE A BULLY when he's on top. I've seen Catholic School Children exercise more courage toward countering some policies our local School's Administration than the "cowardly behavior" of the lion's share of our "so-called" ELECTED Representatives.

Far too many of these good ole' boys and girls have become too comfortable and beholden to "BIG MONEY" and they MUST GO via Campaign Finance Reform and voting the Whores (both Republican and Democrat) OUT of office? :hi:

The time to have made a *true* moral stand was BEFORE the Invasion?!? No elected representative should be so intimidated by the threat of losing re-election that they SERVE their political and personal interests :puke: before their *sworn* DUTY TO SERVE "The People" and "Constitution."

My dear elementary school child who AGAIN scored "an A" in Religion for the quarter, and who admires the teachers at her Catholic School more than words can say, rose her hand and when recognized --> stood up and said, "I know what is taught in the Catechism but I (also) KNOW that my dog has a soul."

Take notes SENATORS!?! = "The Emperor has ZERO integrity!

In essence, I have been saddened at ALL the Democratic Senators who voted for this immoral invasion and occupation. But presently, I am STILL depressed by OUR representatives' (of both parties) lack of honesty and moral courage. :cry:

Amazing that we can't make more of a "dust up" over this ... we need Amtrak!

remember seeing this man on Washington Journal and was struck by his enthusiasm at keeping the trains running.
So of course B*sh has to kill it.

Amtrak's President Is Fired by Its Board

By MATTHEW L. WALD
Published: November 9, 2005


WASHINGTON, Nov. 9 - Amtrak's board of directors fired the company's president this morning after months of disagreement over a Bush administration plan to privatize parts of the national passenger rail system and spin off other parts to partial state ownership.

Skip to next paragraph
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Doug Mills/The New York Times
David Gunn, who is widely credited with improving the railroad's management, cutting costs and imposing better financial controls, was fired today by Amtrack's board of directors.
The president, David Gunn, who came out of retirement to take the job three years ago, is widely credited with improving the railroad's management, cutting costs, imposing better financial controls and improving the state of repair of Amtrak's locomotives and aging passenger cars, as well as its tracks, signals and electrical systems, which are truly antique.

But Mr. Gunn also opposed the Bush plan to turn over the Northeast Corridor - the tracks from Washington to Boston that are the railroad's main physical asset - to a federal-state consortium.

And while ridership has risen to record levels recently, costs are also up sharply, with government auditors predicting that Amtrak's budget deficit will grow sharply larger in the next few years. The Bush administration has said it is determined to end the perennial subsidies to the railroad, which was created 30 years ago to take over passenger service as the commercial railroads abandoned that business as unprofitable.


snip


http://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/09/national/09cnd-amtrak.html?hp&ex=1131598800&en=e62f07c99b271193&ei=5094&partner=homepage

Amtrak's President Is Fired by Its Board

By MATTHEW L. WALD
Published: November 9, 2005


WASHINGTON, Nov. 9 - Amtrak's board of directors fired the company's president this morning after months of disagreement over a Bush administration plan to privatize parts of the national passenger rail system and spin off other parts to partial state ownership.

Skip to next paragraph
Enlarge This Image

Doug Mills/The New York Times
David Gunn, who is widely credited with improving the railroad's management, cutting costs and imposing better financial controls, was fired today by Amtrack's board of directors.
The president, David Gunn, who came out of retirement to take the job three years ago, is widely credited with improving the railroad's management, cutting costs, imposing better financial controls and improving the state of repair of Amtrak's locomotives and aging passenger cars, as well as its tracks, signals and electrical systems, which are truly antique.

But Mr. Gunn also opposed the Bush plan to turn over the Northeast Corridor - the tracks from Washington to Boston that are the railroad's main physical asset - to a federal-state consortium.

And while ridership has risen to record levels recently, costs are also up sharply, with government auditors predicting that Amtrak's budget deficit will grow sharply larger in the next few years. The Bush administration has said it is determined to end the perennial subsidies to the railroad, which was created 30 years ago to take over passenger service as the commercial railroads abandoned that business as unprofitable.


snip


http://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/09/national/09cnd-amtrak.html?hp&ex=1131598800&en=e62f07c99b271193&ei=5094&partner=homepage