(Reuters circulated the following article by Peter Kaplan on August 29.)
WASHINGTON — U.S. passenger railroad Amtrak said on Tuesday it hired former freight rail executive Alexander Kummant to be president and chief executive officer, filling a spot open for almost 10 months.
Kummant previously worked at Union Pacific Corp.
Financially strapped Amtrak fired its previous president David Gunn in November after years of clashes with the Bush administration over the direction of passenger rail service. Gunn had more 20 years experience running passenger rail service with stints as head of the commuter rail and subway systems in Boston and New York.
David Hughes, previously the rail service’s chief engineer, has served as interim Amtrak president and CEO.
Amtrak Chairman David Laney said that the railroad’s board of directors interviewed “a fairly long and deep list of highly qualified candidates,” including people with experience in the airline industry and commuter rail.
In a briefing, Laney acknowledged that Kummant has no experience with passenger railroads or with Congress. But he touted Kummant’s experience with customer service.
Laney said Kummant has experience in two other areas that will be key to Amtrak’s future: its relations with freight railroads and costly labor rules that he said hinder operations.
“We think we got the best of all candidates we saw, and that’s factoring in the lack of hands-on passenger rail experience,” Laney said.
Amtrak, created by Congress 35 years ago as a for-profit corporation after private railroads gave up service, depends on an annual subsidy to survive.
Its operating losses have grown to more than $1 billion over the past three years, prompting pressure from budget and transportation planners for Amtrak to eliminate unprofitable routes and change core business practices.
But Congress has long been reluctant to cut Amtrak spending because many members have constituents who benefit from train service and jobs.
Kummant will become Amtrak CEO on Sept. 12.