Aucb.1055 fa.railroad utzoo!decvax!ucbvax!C70:railroad Mon May 10 12:46:38 1982 Old News >From Weinstock@CMU-20C Mon May 10 12:46:28 1982 I don't imagine any of you missed this but.... Amtrak Chief Plans to Resign WASHINGTON (AP) - Alan S. Boyd is resigning June 30 after four years as chief executive officer of Amtrak, the national rail passenger system, with ''no doubt in my mind that the company is here to stay.'' Boyd, 59, was the nation's first secretary of transportation from 1967 to 1969. He was chairman of the Civil Aeronautics Board in the 1960s and has been vice chairman of the Illinois Central Gulf Railroad since 1976. In a written announcement issued Wednesday, Boyd declined to discuss his plans for the future until next week, but said he would continue as chairman of the new American High Speed Rail Corp., which is trying to attract private investment to build high-speed ''bullet trains'' in the United States. ''I foresee a bright future for the nation's revitalized rail passenger network,'' Boyd said, noting that the last of the old, steam-heated passenger cars will be retired this year from Amtrak's lines. Boyd had been president of Amtrak, the National Railroad Passenger Corporation, and chairman of its board of directors since June 1978. During his tenure, Amtrak modernized its fleet and improved its on-time performance. Even so, Boyd frequently had to defend Amtrak before Congressional critics who claimed that it wasted taxpayers' money because it served relatively few intercity travelers. The news of Boyd's resignation upset several senior Amtrak officials who saw Boyd as a strong force in the corporation's annual battles with Congress and Reagan administration budget cutters. ''He's stabilized the company. He's has an awful lot of credibility on the (Capitol) Hill and he's developed a lot of credibility with the administration,'' said Amtrak spokesman John Jacobsen. Other officials praised Boyd for bolstering morale among employees. The Amtrak board has been informed of Boyd's resignation and a committee has been appointed to search for a successor, a spokesman at Amtrak's Washington headquarters said. Boyd said his goals on taking over the 24,000-mile passenger rail system had been to establish a sense of permanency for Amtrak and its employees, to increase labor productivity, to improve train operations and to establish a long-term process for funding the service. Substantial progress was made in all areas, he said, but he was disappointed that no long-term funding source had been established, so that Amtrak could operate more like a private business. ''There has never been a time when we have had more credibility with Congress, our passengers or the public,'' Boyd said. ''Nor has there been a time when Congress, the administration and Amtrak management have been more harmonious in agreeing about the need for a nationwide passenger rail system.'' ------- ----------------------------------------------------------------- gopher://quux.org/ conversion by John Goerzen of http://communication.ucsd.edu/A-News/ This Usenet Oldnews Archive article may be copied and distributed freely, provided: 1. There is no money collected for the text(s) of the articles. 2. The following notice remains appended to each copy: The Usenet Oldnews Archive: Compilation Copyright (C) 1981, 1996 Bruce Jones, Henry Spencer, David Wiseman.