A veteran of the industrial railroad business is moving to the passenger side of the industry next month to take over as Amtrak's CEO. Alexander Kummant, the former regional vice president of the Union Pacific Railroad and more recently a top executive with construction supplier Komatsu America Corp., will assume CEO duties Sept. 12, following his appointment by the Amtrak board of directors yesterday.
The railroad, a popular link for business travelers between New York, Boston and Washington, D.C., has been without a permanent CEO since David Gunn was removed from the position last November. David Hughes, a former chief engineer for Amtrak, has served as interim CEO since then, and Hughes will remain with Amtrak in a yet-to-be-specified position.
David Laney, Amtrak's chairman, in a prepared statement expressed hope that Kummant will improve Amtrak's customer focus and fiscal responsibility. The federally funded railroad has faced years of financial difficulty and repeated calls from the Bush administration to end its subsidization. The U.S. Senate last month approved $1.4 billion in funds for Amtrak, an amount that must be reconciled with the $1.1 billion approved by the U.S. House of Representatives in June
(BTN, July 31).