People: FRA Chief Named Amtrak’s President, CEO

Amtrak has tapped Joseph H. Boardman, the head of the Federal Railroad Administration, as its new president and CEO, on a one-year appointment. Boardman, FRA administrator since 2005, began his new job on Nov. 26. Amtrak will look for a permanent CEO and Boardman could be a candidate for that post, says Amtrak spokesman Cliff Black. Boardman succeeds Alexander Kummant, who resigned the top Amtrak position on Nov. 14.

Boardman, New York State Dept. of Transportation commissioner from 1997 to 2005, takes over at Amtrak shortly after enactment of a bill authorizing $5.3 billion over five years for the railroad’s capital projects. The measure also authorizes $1.5 billion in grants to states or Amtrak itself to build high-speed rail projects in up to 11 corridors.

Bruce Buckley is a freelance writer and photographer based in the Washington, D.C., area.

Tom Ichniowski has been writing about the federal government as ENR’s Washington Bureau Chief since the George H.W. Bush administration, and he has covered at least five major highway bills. A recognized expert on government policy on infrastructure and regulation, Tom is also a Baltimore native and Orioles fan who grew up rooting for Brooks and Frank Robinson. He is a graduate of Columbia College and Columbia’s graduate school of journalism, where he once used “unrelentless” in a headline.

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