(The following story by Matt Hutton appeared on The Register-Mail website on March 14.)
GALESBURG, Ill. — On Friday the Senate confirmed the nomination of former Macomb Mayor Thomas C. Carper to serve on the Amtrak Board of Directors.
U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin has praised Carper’s work to preserve passenger rail service in the state and recommended him to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and President Bush last year.
“I’m definitely excited about the opportunity to serve on the Amtrak board,” Carper said Friday. “When you live down in this corridor … and having been working on this issue for many years, it just becomes a very high priority. To take that and serve nationally is great honor. I’m really, really looking forward to it.”
As Mayor of Macomb from 1991 to 2003, Carper fought to preserve passenger rail service in the region and state, Durbin said. In 1991 Carper was appointed by the Amtrak Board of Directors to the Amtrak Mayors’ Advisory Council and served as its chair from 2000 to 2001.
“That’s good, that’s wonderful. I congratulate him,” said Mayor Gary Smith. “He’ll serve as a wonderful representative for Amtrak.”
After Carper’s tenure as mayor, Gov, Rod Blagojevich named him the regional director for the West Central region for Opportunity Returns — a regional economic development plan. He graduated from Western Illinois University and served in the Army from 1967 to 1970 in Thailand and Vietnam. He was a small-business owner-operator from 1971 to 1991 when he was first elected mayor of Macomb.
“I am thrilled with the opportunities that Tom Carper and his years of experience will bring to Amtrak,” Durbin said in a statement. “As mayor and regional director for West Central Illinois’ economic development plan, he has brought together business leaders, community leaders and elected officials around a common goal. As a member of the board, I have no doubt he will do the same to improve passenger rail in the United States.”
Amtrak was established by Congress in 1970 and serves about 70,000 passengers daily in 46 states on almost 300 trains. The board of directors sets corporate policy and oversees the management of the company. The board is made up of seven voting members appointed for five-year terms.
Carper said there are a host of issues for the board to focus on, the obvious being adequate funding. But he said other issues need attention as well, including handling the pressure and desire to expand services, addressing maintenance that has been deferred and obtaining new equipment.
“They’re all manageable, but there’s not any one decision that will make them all go away,” he said “That being said, there can’t be a better time to get involved with this. Ridership is up — people want to take the trains. I believe in a strong national passenger rail system.”
Nationally, Amtrak set a new record for ridership last year with 25.8 million passengers — an increase of 1.5 million over the 2006 fiscal year. In Illinois, 48 Amtrak trains runs and average of 48 trains each day on more than 1,000 miles of track and employs more than 2,000 state residents, spending $56 million annually on goods and services in the state.
Carper credited many of the people involved with the Illinois-Zephyr line, from public officials to citizens.
“They have lead the charge in saving and improving Amtrak service. That model, that energy, is something that I’m looking forward to taking to the board.”
It was almost a year ago that Carper was first approached about taking the board post.
“I was told to be patient and it was good advice,” he said with a laugh. “It’s certainly worth it. From the date of confirmation I have five years — the clock is ticking.”