Anderson is OUT at Amtrak!

Amtrak is about to get a new boss. He is William J. Flynn, who will assume the duties of president and CEO on April 15th, replacing Richard Anderson, whose three year contract was not renewed.

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[WAIT FOR APPLAUSE AND CHEERS]

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Flynn, who has an extensive background in transportation and logistics, will begin his tenure with a big advantage: he’s succeeding a very unpopular guy so almost anything positive he does right out of the chute will get him off to a good start.

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Anderson, in an effort to cut his way to profitability, started slashing away at costs almost from his first day on the job in July of 2017. Among his first victims were the Pacific Parlour Cars, part of the Coast Starlight’s experience, and the loss of those cars was a knife into the heart for me. For those who never experienced riding in one of those beauties—well, you missed out on a good long look back into the Golden Age of train travel.

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After three-years in the top job at Amtrak, Richard Anderson’s legacy does include an increase in overall ridership. On the other side of the ledger, however, was his totally unworkable plan to “save” the Southwest Chief; the introduction of the controversial “contemporary dining” on eastern overnight trains; and the alienation of veteran sleeping car passengers who resented being nickel-and-dimed in many little ways. The evolution of dessert in Amtrak dining cars offers a perfect illustration.

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A few years back, a very good evening meal in an Amtrak dining car would be topped off with a generous wedge of an excellent cheese cake, dressed up with a generous dollop of whipped cream and garnished with a bright red strawberry. But on your next trip, the cheesecake will come in a small, round plastic cup. No whipped cream and no strawberry. 

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In fact, on all overnight trains east of the Mississippi, there’s no dining car at all. Meals will be heated in a microwave and handed to you in a cardboard box.

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And so the Anderson era at Amtrak ends with the alienation of many of the people who pay the most for their transportation—sleeping car passengers.

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Welcome aboard, Mr. Flynn.