WASHINGTON — Amtrak has not fully developed a framework to manage its responsibilities in the $30 billion Gateway program of Northeast Corridor improvements, even though it has already begun hiring staff and setting a schedule, the Amtrak Office of the Inspector General says in a new report.
The report on the Gateway program — which most notably will include a new tunnel between New Jersey and New York’s Penn Station, along with high-profile bridge projects — notes that the infrastructure work will require Amtrak to develop skills and expertise unrelated to those required in more than 50 years of operating a national passenger railroad.
The document says that the management plan developed by Amtrak “does not identify or describe the processes the company will use to develop and execute the program so they are repeatable and consistent across projects. Without such defined processes, the company risks reaching to issues and demands as they arise instead of conducting its work in a disciplined manner” to meet schedules and budget. By building the framework now, the report says, Amtrak has a better chance to succeed with the program.
Amtrak has responded to the report by agreeing to more fully develop a framework to manage the program. The full report is available here.
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