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New York official to head Federal Railroad Administration
(The following story by Matthew L. Wald and Walt Bogdanich appeared on the New York Times website on March 18.)
NEW YORK -- President Bush intends to nominate Joseph H. Boardman, the head of the New York State Department of Transportation, to be the federal railroad administrator, the White House said yesterday.
The Federal Railroad Administration, part of the Department of Transportation, is a safety regulator and also a conduit for grant money. Mr. Boardman, transportation commissioner in Albany since 1997, has taken a special interest in rail transportation and is chairman of the rail committee of the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials.
Mr. Boardman was said by his office to be out of town yesterday.
Senator Charles E. Schumer, Democrat of New York, said Mr. Boardman had told him that "two of his top priorities would be saving Amtrak and strengthening our weak rail safety and security system."
Mr. Boardman, however, has been involved in a protracted dispute with Amtrak over a $185 million plan to improve rail service between New York City and Albany, unveiled by Gov. George E. Pataki in 1998. New York and the federal government spent about $70 million on the project, but the planned improvements to trains and track beds have not occurred; Mr. Boardman accused Amtrak of intentionally delaying the project and trying to get more money from the state.
The Bush administration has proposed restructuring Amtrak either through Congressional action in the next few months or through the bankruptcy courts, and has proposed ending all subsidies to the railroad.
An Amtrak spokesman said yesterday that because of a suit by New York against Amtrak, the railroad would have no comment on the White House choice.
Mr. Schumer predicted that Mr. Boardman would "re-energize the slumping Federal Railroad Administration."
Mr. Boardman, a lifelong New Yorker, was raised on a dairy farm in Oneida County. He joined the State Transportation Department in 1995 and as commissioner reorganized the department, shifting its focus from building new highways to maintaining existing ones. He also named a "downstate integrator" to coordinate and plan highway, transit and rail services in New York City and its suburbs.
While the department became smaller under Mr. Boardman, he did not hesitate to press Mr. Pataki for money. Last year, Mr. Boardman convened a state advisory panel that warned of "trouble ahead" and urged billions of dollars in new investment.
The Federal Railroad Administration has had a difficult time recently. Deaths at crossings were up 11 percent last year, to 369, according to federal figures. That meant the Department of Transportation failed to meet its 10-year goal of cutting deaths to no more than 300. The department's inspector general said in a December report that America's four biggest railroads had substantial and systemic safety problems. The audit said regulators needed to come up with better ways to oversee the industry, and it criticized the rail agency's former acting boss, Betty Monro, for vacationing with the chief lobbyist of Union Pacific railroad.
This month, the New York attorney general, Eliot Spitzer, called federal regulation of the rail industry "an abject failure" after he found that CSX Transportation had failed to report and promptly fix hundreds of warning-signal malfunctions at grade crossings across the state. CSX agreed to pay a $1 million fine and improve how it reports, inspects and repairs broken signals.
Senator Schumer and Senator Lindsey Graham, Republican of South Carolina, introduced a bill last month that would require the railroad administration to investigate each fatal crossing accident. The bill, which would require railroads to file accident reports more quickly, would also add inspectors focusing on grade crossings and hazardous materials, and raise fines for railroads that violate safety rules.
Friday, March 18, 2005
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