(The Associated Press circulated the following article on August 29.)
WASHINGTON — Amtrak’s board of directors selected Alexander Kummant, a veteran rail and industrial executive, as its new president and chief executive officer Tuesday.
Kummant will assume the job Sept. 12. He will take over for David Gunn, who was fired last November. Kummant previously served as regional vice president of the Union Pacific Railroad. Most recently, he served as executive vice president and chief marketing officer of Komatsu America Corp. David J. Hughes has been acting as the railroad’s interim president since Gunn’s firing.
Amtrak chairman David M. Laney said Kummant has the credentials and experience to lead ”a changing Amtrak that is more customer-focused and fiscally responsible.”
Amtrak supporters, who have accused the Bush administration of trying to dismantle Amtrak, reacted cautiously at Kummant’s appointment. The board members were appointed by Bush.
”It’s good they finally appointed someone, but given this administration’s record on Amtrak, we need to know whether he was brought in to build up Amtrak or tear it down?” said Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y. ”We await what he’ll have to say about Amtrak’s future.”
Sen. Frank Lautenberg, D-N.J., said the Amtrak board ”has exercised questionable judgment in the past, so I am obviously concerned about their choice to run our nation’s passenger rail system.”
In a conference call with reporters, Laney said Kummant brings a lot of credentials to Amtrak, including experience with freight railroads, labor issues and financial matters. Messages were left seeking comment from Kummant.
Laney also discussed Amtrak’s top priorities, which include beefing up security and cutting costs. The board is in the process of studying Amtrak’s long-distance routes and may, by the end of this year or early 2007, select routes it may eliminate, expand or reduce.
Amtrak has debt of more than $3.5 billion and its operating loss for 2005 topped $550 million. It has never made a profit in its 35 years of operation.
Gunn’s firing capped a bad 2005 for Amtrak. It had to suspend all high-speed Acela service in April after discovering cracks in some brakes. The congressional Government Accountability Office said Amtrak must improve how it monitors performance and oversees its finances in order to reach firm financial footing.
In May and June of this year, three power outages disrupted trains along the Northeast Corridor, the most severe lasting several hours. Laney said a report on the cause of the outages is imminent and added that he ”did not think it will be seen as Amtrak’s responsibility.” He would not speculate further.
Under a Senate bill, Amtrak would see its federal subsidy increased by 8 percent to $1.4 billion for the budget year beginning Oct. 1. Amtrak received a $1.3 billion subsidy for the current year.
An Ohio native, Kummant earned his undergraduate degree from Case Western Reserve University, a master’s degree from Carnegie Mellon University and an MBA from Stanford University. His wife, Kathleen Regan Kummant, is a former senior executive with the Santa Fe and BNSF railroads.