Amtrak CEO Makes Whistle-Stop Visit to Lamar, La Junta

Boardroom Dining Car

Joe Boardman, Amtrak President and CEO visited with Lamar Mayor Roger Stagner and City Administrator, John Sutherland and other well-wishers this past Friday, July 11.  Boardman was making a tour of several cities in Kansas and Colorado, meeting with local officials, regarding the future of the route of the Amtrak Southwest Chief between Albuquerque, New Mexico and Newton, Kansas.  The western tour included Topeka, Newton, Hutchinson, Dodge and Garden City, Kansas as well as Lamar and La Junta.

Second Dining Area

Boardman visited at the Lamar Welcome Center and received a gift bag from Ruthie Esgar, owner of betianne’s in Lamar and also a certified travel agent who has booked trips on Amtrak for numerous years.  Boardman recapped the downgrades on the train route which is owned by BNSF Railway.  The Southwest Chief route is being threatened with a route change unless the three states impacted can develop enough funding to maintain the line to be used for daily passenger service.  Those cities in question have budgeted lobbying funds to be used by a Washington, DC firm to campaign on their behalf to have the railways upgrades in order to maintain passenger service.  Lamar is funding $10,000 a year in support of maintaining a lobbying firm, along with other city’s donations, such as Garden City and La Junta.  An agreement is needed by 2016 to maintain service for western Kansas, Southeast Colorado and northeastern New Mexico.

Meeting & Theater Room

Boardman said it’s necessary to get the country in general to rethink new ways to make use of long distance travel by train, for its economy and ability to serve communities for in-between or smaller city connections.  He added that the proposed route for Amtrak to Pueblo would be a plus, as well as a consideration of rail service to Denver and beyond, to Cheyenne, WY.

Amtrak Pulling in to Lamar Station

He said additional routes would have an advantage for increased connectivity for our nation.  Boardman added that, “We’re not a railroading country the way we could be.”  Mayor Stagner and John Sutherland spent additional time in La Junta on Saturday with that city’s leaders to discuss their options for keeping the Southwest Chief route open.

Conference Room Features Live Camera Video Screen

Participants in the whistle stop received an invitation to explore the special train that the CEO uses as his prime source of travel, preferring to stay on the ground instead of flying to various destinations around the country.  Private and semi-private compartments on the cars were available along with a dining room car, a conference room, a fully-functioning kitchen and a movie theater projection room car with descending stairs for about twelve seats as well as a plate glass window at the rear of the car.  Each car was equipped with two monitoring screens, one a GPS display to provide a 24/7 pinpoint location of the train and another wall-mounted flat screen video monitor, hooked to a camera mounted on the engine that provided a forward view of the train’s progress.

By Russ Baldwin