Open mind, fresh approach: Joseph H. Boardman comes to the Federal Railroad Administration with "a commitment to positive change."

Railway Age, June, 2005 by Frank N. Wilner

"Railroads must invest in human resources by hiring talented people and training and motivating them, as well as measuring the quality of that training and motivation to ensure incremental and continual improvement," says Boardman. He also advocates re-examining how data is analyzed to identify areas of greatest risk and assess the appropriate level of investment in hardware and labor.

"In partnership, we must ensure we all are good stewards of public safety," Boardman says. "We can recite all the statistics we wish to prove a position, but if the public does not buy into that perception, we have not done our jobs." Railroad stakeholders, he says, must "fix what is broken so that the public trusts US."

"Rail is the most efficient means to move freight," Boardman says. "Private owners of freight railroads have an obligation to make their systems safe and efficient by investing in the appropriate inputs," including management expertise and savvy, and employee training and motivation.

Advocates for intercity rail passenger service and commuter operations will find Boardman a friend and booster. They will also find he brings to the table fresh thinking on these subjects. Where conventional thinking focuses on the Northeast Corridor in terms of Amtrak and commuter operations, Boardman views that 456-mile unbroken longitudinal right-of-way between Washington, D.C., and Boston as a multi-use corridor that hosts passenger, commuter, and freight trains, as well as offering easements for electricity transmission lines, regional and local telephone and cable-TV lines, oil and natural gas pipelines, and even sewer and water lines.

"If our only concern is Amtrak operating on the corridor, and we ignore delays of commuter trains moving into Manhattan at the morning rush hour, then we are not thinking about the right policies," Boardman says. "We must think of corridors in terms of delivering products, and moving people back and forth between home, jobs, and recreation." That can mean a different emphasis at different times of the day and week, he says.

Although Boardman is a Republican chosen for his post by a president widely perceived as anti-Amtrak, Boardman says, "The White House and Congress must work to resolve adequate funding for all modes--rail, highway, and air." He previously told The New York Times that "judging passenger rail strictly on its financial performance, or its success in minimizing financial demands to the federal government, is a test no other mode of transportation is asked to meet, nor can meet."

Joe Boardman was born in 1948 in Rome, N.Y. Following four years of enlisted military service, which included a tour in Vietnam (1968-1969), he became the first of his immediate family to attend college, initially studying animal science, with an eye toward becoming a veterinarian like his grandfather and two uncles, or even a diary farmer like his dad.

It took just one course in economics to convince him to shift majors. He paid for his own education--which also includes a master's degree in business science--by driving a local bus route as well as tractor trailers. He even earned a private pilot's license. "I've always had an interest in anything with a motor or wheels," says Boardman.