I finally realized exactly what these guys remind me of: a chop shop. You know, the places that quickly strip a stolen car down to the frame so they can sell off the body parts:
Amtrak’s board of directors Wednesday fired President David Gunn. The board said the passenger rail service needed to intensify the pace and broaden the scope of its overhauls.
Amtrak said David Hughes, the chief engineer, has been named acting president, and a search for a new chief has begun.
Gunn has clashed with the administration since taking the post in 2002. He has said Amtrak cannot survive without federal subsidies while the administration has pushed to end them.
They remind me of smash-and-grab robbers you see on Real-TV raiding 7/11’s in the middle of the night.
Gunn did a great job here in Philadelphia (probably the last good SEPTA head) and in NYC. I find it hard to believe that he’s wrong here.
When are these idiots going to learn that train service is never profitable? That it’s better to subsidize it, to reduce the cost of transportation, which will have the effect of increasing business? Why don’t they ask Japan or France or even better, the UK, where privatizing rail has been an unqualified disaster?
Don’t worry - it’s the republican states that will lose the most. Just in time for 2006.