NICK GOSNELL
Hutch Post
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Kansas U.S. Senator Jerry Moran asked questions of the three nominees slated to join the Amtrak Board of Directors at a Senate Commerce Committee hearing on Wednesday.
Joel Matthew Szabat, Anthony Rosario Coscia and Christopher Koos were a part of the hearing.
"I have had a long-time interest in making certain that long-distance Amtrak service is a priority of the board," Moran said. "We have worked to change the legislation that creates the purpose for which Amtrak exists to make clear, or to make clearer, the value of long-distance Amtrak service."
Koos made clear that he believes it is key to Amtrak's long-term profitability to have long-distance routes and have them work.
"The Inspector General issued a report," Koos said. "The Inspector General's report drove home the importance of the national network, the long-distance trains and said, in order for Amtrak to be consistently profitable in the future, what was required was more frequent, on time, long-distance network. I believed that when the Inspector General's report came out in 2019, I believe that today and if confirmed to the Board of Directors, that would be one of the torches that I would carry on the board, is for an improved national network and long distance service."
Moran did note that the Biden Administration is not handling the appointment situation consistent with the law.
"The law has been changed in 2021, to ensure that there is a geographically diverse and non-dominated board, a board not dominated by the Northeast corridor," Moran said. "At least four of the eight Amtrak board members appointed by the President shall 'reside in or near the regions of the United States that are geographically distributed outside the Northeast corridor. Under federal law, the Northeast corridor means Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Massachsetts, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania and Rhode Island. That's not the case with the Administration's nominees."
Five of the six nominees hail from states in the Northeast corridor. Moran was clear that his objection was not to any of the nominees individually, but rather the failure to follow the statute in the process.
The long-distance Southwest Chief route runs from Chicago to Los Angeles and serves Lawrence, Topeka, Newton, Hutchinson, Dodge City and Garden City in Kansas. In a non-pandemic environment, Amtrak serves about 6,000 passengers each year in Hutchinson.
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