NARP Welcomes Richard Anderson as Amtrak President and CEO

For Immediate Release (#17-13)

Contact: Xenophon Strategies – (202) 289-4001

Washington, D.C. – The National Association of Railroad Passengers (NARP), the only national membership organization fighting for passenger rail in America, welcomed Amtrak’s announcement yesterday that it hired a new President and CEO, Richard Anderson. Anderson, former chief executive officer of both Delta and Northwest Airlines, will begin his role on July 12, according to Amtrak.

In response, NARP President and CEO Jim Mathews said, “NARP is very pleased Amtrak is making the sensible move of bringing in an executive with strong management experience in a customer-service oriented transportation company. While Richard Anderson is not a ‘railroader,’ he is a transportation professional with leadership experience in a very complex environment.

Wick Moorman has already put in place many innovations at Amtrak on the railroading and operations side, and with this foundation the task can now turn to addressing Amtrak's unique and complex challenges as a passenger carrier on a national network -- especially around getting the customer-service part of the equation right."

About the National Association of Railroad Passengers

NARP is the only national organization speaking for the nearly 40 million users of passenger trains and rail transit. We have worked since 1967 to expand the quality and quantity of passenger rail in the U.S. Our mission is to work towards a modern, customer-focused national passenger train network that provides a travel choice Americans want. Our work is supported by more than 28,000 individual members nationwide.

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