Here on cspan3, well take you live now to a hearing on amtraks response to the coronavirus pandemic. This hearing is already in process. While possibly only saving amtrak 213 million. Overall, the damage could top 3 billion if amtraks planned nine months of Degraded Service stretches another quarter to a full year. Ill finish. Thank you. The amtrak community was hit especially hard because several airlines say theyll drop service when the c. A. R. E. S. Act expires. Thats 67 cities facing air cutbacks. Nearly half, 31 of them, would all flew the same, sacramento, tampa, these routes touch nearly every corner of our country. On the empire builder on eight states from illinois to washington, those towns face a nearly 400 million blow. The north south city of new orleans between louisiana now produce nearly 134 million in economic benefits. It could wipe out as much as 88 million of that. Simply put, this drastically reduced utility of a nationwide Network Operating three days a week, making it impossible or difficult will gut the services and snatching as much as 3. 1 billion from our hardworking heartland during a historic recession for the sake of only 213 million in savings to amtrak seems to us to be bad public policy. It also ignores history. Amtrak tried this in 1994. It didnt work then. Its not going to work now. Passengers travel for the same reasons today as they did then. And theyll skip the ride for the very same reasons. In closing, we think that there is a better way. Cut some costs while preserving Daily Service by running fewer trains. Fewer coaches mean less maintenance, but continued service means continued opportunity to earn revenue. The largest revenue contributor since march. Congress didnt let the federal Highway Administration close highways four days out of seven. Congress shouldnt stand by and impose these restrictions on hard working towns, towns in which many cases can afford it the least. Strong investment in amtrak could position our country for recovery at the least, preserving service will stave off disaster in flyover countries. Thank you. Thank you, mr. Mathews. Well now move on to members questions. Each member will be recognized for five minutes. And i will begin by recognizing myself for five minutes. Mr. Flynn, ms. Griffin mentioned in her testimony and i was made aware that amtrak town hall on july 29th that you attended, your team say that the 401 k match will return for Management Employees on october 1st and the pay cut for certain Management Employees that they took will be restored in early november. Can you confirm this information is accurate . If it is, do you think its appropriate to restore the 401 k matches and pay for Management Employees when youre furloughing over 2,000 employees and cutting vital Train Service . Thank you for your question, mr. Chairman. So yes, it is accurate that during that town hall meeting we discussed restoring the 401 k match. At the beginning of the pandemic, we took the initiative to reduce expenses and i referred to that in my remarks. And so we did cut the 401 k match for all Management Employees. The 401 k program that was put in place some years earlier when we eliminated the defined benefit pension plan, and in exchange for eliminating what was viewed to be a very attractive pension plan with a much lower cost 401 k match, we cut those expenses at the beginning of the pandemic. We thought that it was an appropriate action to take because while it would have impact to total compensation for our employees, it wasnt immediate takehome pay. We have heard loud and clear from our employees that taking that match away had Significant Impact to them. And i will point out, of course, there were no cuts to any agreement benefits at that time. So considering the equities of the situation, it made sense to us to restore the 401 k match at the beginning of october. On a voluntary basis, we well, for me, on a voluntary basis, i elected to take no compensation when i joined the company at the beginning of april 15th, in view of what the economic crisis that our economy was suffering. We took substantial cuts across our management ranks, and when i compare those cuts to reductions that other Management Teams and other Transportation Industries have taken, i believe those cuts were larger and deeper in terms of how far down the management ranks they went. Mr. Flynn, i do appreciate that. I appreciate that youre taking no compensation. The question is should this be restored to management while were furloughing frontline workers . My view is were restoring a basic level of pay considering all of the equities to insure that we also retain now a Smaller Group of management people as a result of furloughs so we can probable run the railroad. I think that thats not going to be looked on well just for the equity, but lets move on. If Congress Gives you the 4. 8 billion by october 1st, you indicated, will you commit on the record to rescinding the furloughs and rescinding the cuts to longer Distance Service . Ill commit that well do as directed by congress, and if that 4. 9 million instructs us to rescind the furloughs and rescind the service cuts, well do that. And if you do not if congress does not provide any additional supplemental funding in a covid relief bill or appropriations package, what other cuts can we expect for workers and service . Excuse me, mr. Chairman, is that providing the 2 billion and nothing else or providing nothing . Lets say if 2 billion was provided. We would be in a very, very difficult position as a company, mr. Chairman. As i mentioned in my testimony, our cash burn is about 250 million a month right now. And so we would have to make very dramatic reductions across the company in order to not to stave off bankruptcy, i would argue, in the long term. Certainly very, very significant challenges to run this company or operate this company on behalf of our customers. And with our employees in the near term. Substantial reductions in all services, and perhaps elimination of some services if thats the cash burn were having, and no supplemental funding. It would be good to see what those would be, just as were looking at the providing of funding. As i said, i support providing the funding, but we want to know what that would what additional cuts may be, and im running out of time here, so for the purpose of the record, are you willing to work with me to amicably resolve some local issues i have, including the Chicago Union station contract dispute between amtrak and metra in illinois request for a new amtrak stop on the lincoln service. So i just wanted to get you on the record, will you work with me to resolve these help to resolve these local issues . I certainly will, mr. Chairman. And as i mentioned, i did meet with metras ceo, and we talked about some very useful measures we can take and well continue to work to resolve our differences. Appreciate it. My time has expired. I will now recognize mr. Crawford for five minutes. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Mr. Flynn, in your written testimony, you stated the leading cause of delays to our Long Distance trainicize the failure of some of our host railroads to comply with this longstanding legal obligation to provide amtrak trains with preference over their tracks. Can you clarify that remark . The data i have examined shows it accounts for a small amount of the delays, at least on the lines i examined . Thank you, Ranking Member crawford. I think we stand by our remarks. We publish every month in our statistics which are Available Online the number of minutes of delay that we experience on each of our host railroads. And have done that for quite a long period of time. We regularly and routinely find passenger trains are not given preference over Freight Railroads, and thats what our statistics in our experience reflect. And thats why in part we were encouraged in the invest act that theres language there that would provide us a private right of action to be able to enforce our statutory rights. I have been closely following the metrics and standards, rule making out of the fra, understanding the need for preserving amtrak ridership and providing amtrak riders with a safe and positive experience. It would make sense to revisit current schedules to account for actual run time. You could explain how your working with Freight Railroads on lengthening some of your schedules in light of the new fra metric. Were working with the fra to have the rule finally issued. That hasnt been issued yet. Were in regular routine correspondence with the fra about the schedules in place and how they could be adjusted. We have a team of people who are simply dedicated to the working relationship with our class 1 railroads and they speak with the class 1 railroads regularly and in some cases at least once a week, on the different schedules we may have. You could commit that amtrak is willing to lengthen schedules where it is appropriate . I dont im not sure i could answer that question. Im not sure what appropriate means. We have a schedule requirement of 80 on time arrival within 30 minutes. I dont know what appropriate means with the railroad a point of view. We need to dig into the details and a final rule on standards and metrics for me to be able to do that. Okay. All right. Thank you. I yield back, there chairman. Thank you. Chair will now recognize mr. Series for five minutes. Thank you, mr. Chairman. You know, a lot has been made of the use of enhanced cleaning procedures, advanced air filtration systems, and limit reservations, a lot of cleaning. What has been the feedback from Rail Passengers . In this process. Thank you for that question. The feedback has been very positive. Both in terms of our Customer Service satisfaction, i should say surveys, and focus groups that we have with our customers. We have regular focus groups virtually with our most frequent passengers. And i could say also anecdotally, i ride our trains between new york and d. C. Quite regularly. I have yet to speak with our on board staff and customers and we receive positive so youre meeting with passengers, members. Im certainly available always to meet with anyone representing our customers. And as i mentioned in my remarks and in my filed testimony, we continue to investigative what more we could do to enhance that environment. So they are certainly aware of your efforts . I believe they are. And we continually communicate all of the steps that were taken, all of the different actions that weve made different actions that weve not only taken in terms of cleaning and the cleaning protocol but weve enhanced our communications with our customers to give them more information about service, about the trains, for example, if you were to book a train today you could understand what that level of the booking is and you may find that you want to book another train which has fewer passengers on it. Those are the kind of enhancements we provide and we communicate it. And have you broken it down for state, for example, new jersey, how many people will lose their jobs if this were to go through . So, we talked about 1,950 furloughs that were going to announce. Theyre going to occur in october. And they are by craft and will depend on that it could well be that a person works in new york but resides in new jersey. So that is further work that we need to do. But we can certainly provide that. Because i represent the northern part of the state, which is already congested and a lot of people work on amtrak. So im just wondering what the impact is going to be in that area of people being furloughed . Yeah, i want to get back to you with the accurate information. But i do understand that the number of employees who will be furloughed who identify themselves as new jersey residents is a relatively small number. And i mean, something less than 25. For new jersey . Yes, sir. So i assume that these all right. But what we will is that the reason because of the lease cargo the reason, is it because it is the northeast corridor and it is very active in that area . Yes. But well be happy provide the Committee Staff with the numbers by state. So all of the members can have that information. Okay. I appreciate that. Thank you very much. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Chair will now recognize mr. Gray for five minutes. Thank you, mr. Chairman, i appreciate it. And my question is for mr. Flynn. And that given your very optimistic, given your back ground in the private sector that youll be able to meet that mandate for profitability and being successful and i know it is obviously not an ideal situation to take over an unprofitable business in the middle of a pandemic. If that is not that makes it that much more, but you could give the committee your perspective on how you or your ideas on how you are going to be able to achieve that mandate and hopefully turn amtrak around and make it profitable . Thank you, Ranking Member grays. That is a great question. What we fundamentally believe, of course, is that were in a pandemic. Earlier in the year we might have thought that the shape of the recovery would look perhaps like a v. Or a u. , but thats not the case. What we believe, of course, is that the service we provide is essential, that there is real demand for our service and has we come out of that pandemic, there will be a combination of regaining prior customers as well as attracting new customers to our services. And were engaged in some of that now. At the end of fiscal year 19 as a company we had a dramatically reduced losses on adjusted operating income basis and well on track to have a first positive year in 2020. What that tells me is that our customers value the service that we provided and the results were such that the amount of earning we were generating in 19 and into 2020, meant that the supplemental grants that we could get from congress, we could use for Capital Investment and infrastructure that is desperately needed here. And i think that future is out there for amtrak. I think it is a few years away because we still dont know the shape of the recovery. And our intention is growth and in the corridor and from our states in our Long Distance net york and in particular on several metropolitan or many metropolitan corridors that exist on that network. So i was excited to have the opportunity to lead amtrak and when i accepted the position at the beginning of the year i had a belief of what the future could be and i still hold that belief. It is just further out in the future now than i might have thought of in early march. Thank you. Appreciate it. Again, thanks for your testimony and i yield back, mr. Chairman. Thank you. Thank you. The chair will now recognize mr. Payne for five minutes. Thank you, mr. Chairman for the opportunity to speak this day and welcome all of the witnesses. The c. A. R. E. S. Act and the payroll grants to airlines and their contractors so that airline employees would be kept on payroll and avoid furloughs. The term of that requirement is set to expire at the end of this month. Do you think that any c. A. R. E. S. Act extensions, any extension of the c. A. R. E. S. Act payroll grant provision should be extended to amtrak employees and that is to all of the witnesses . Mr. Flynn . Okay, thank you, sir. Wasnt sure if you wanted me to respond first. So we did receive just over a billion dollars in the c. A. R. E. S. Act. We have not furloughed any of our employees at this point in time. The furloughs that we have announced take effect in october. In our supplemental grant discussions and submissions we have identified the amount of supplemental funding that would be required for us to avoid furloughs and then retain the [ inaudible ]. Okay. Anyone else . Yes, mr. Congressman, we would definitely support extending the c. A. R. E. S. Act. In my testimony before, the c. A. R. E. S. Act funding and protections for received and Long Distance frequencies, i believe these numbers of amtrak so we could support that. And mr. Payne, would you like to add to that from the point of view of the Rail Passengers. Our passengers really do rely on those front line employees, particularly when you start looking at the number of disabled folks, elderly folks, people who need that extra hand. We really would very much hate to see anything happen to some of those front line folks. Our friends at tcu and twu, and not only on the trains but in the call centers, example now if youre looking at the strange connection pattern that were going to see of three times weekly service, and the drastic connections in chicago, planning a trip is going to become incredibly complicate the exercise and having Expert Employees on the other side of that phone line to make that connection clear to a passenger is also going to be very important. So whether youre looking at folks on trains or dealing with customers in remote ways, we could be very supportive of those folks to have that. Thank you. And mr. Flynn, i understand that covid19 has upended the Transportation Industry across the country and cost amtrak billions in lost revenue. And we know the plans to further go excuse me, those 2,000 employees approximately 10 of the workforce at the end of september. Now im sure the furloughs are your attempt to mitigate these revenue losses. Were here because amtrak has requested 4. 9 billion in additional funding from congress to deal with the revenue shortfall. Amtrak is a Public Entity and the profits should not be the priority. Passengers service must be priorities. What would happen if congress failed to provide the funding youre requesting . Thank you, congressman payne. First, i full agree with you that safety is our number one priority and safety informs everything that we do regardless of a level of funding, a level of funding affects the level of operations but never the level of safety. If we are not able to achieve supplemental funding as ive implied to the previous congress