joseph boardman has been president and chief executive officer of amtrak since 2008. last year the board said they were so happy with his work that it was extending the contract by another two years. during his tenure the writers should has risen to a record 31.2 million in the 2012 fiscal year. he told congress last year that in a flight of, amtrak for 88% of its operating costs and gained passengers along all of the routes even on long-distance trains that traditionally have battered the company's bottom line and that the administration tried to cut. a 2013 brookings institution report said the amtrak riders increased 55% since 1997, more than double the growth realized by the domestic aviation sector. nowhere is that more clear than on the busy northeast corridor which has market share from the airline shuttles. but, all isn't rosy with those passengers. on a good day they may complain about spotty wi-fi and on bad days such as earlier this week, they may be stranded for hours when equipment fails in the winter weather. prior to his appointment as the head of amtra

please join me now to have a warm national press club welcome president and ceo joseph boardman. [applause] >> thank you angeles, i am pleased to be here today with my friends as i look across the audience. to introduce one other person who replaced three as the administrator from the fra, thank you for being here today. [applause] angela, i started the first part of his speech that i joined the air force and a celebrated my birthday 18 years old by having a drink than later when i turned 21 i could vote. [laughter] that is reversed today. so in three weeks i became 65 years old and i told mike good friend that i am now an old man. he said no. 65 is not told. i am 67. i am not old. [laughter] that is reversing a as well. there are other things that need to be thought about. with the most recent discussion that we have the future of surfaced as rotation focused on any of the reauthorization. that is unfortunate because the highway across fund is dead financially and viable but perhaps more importantly i believe it is built on the out moated issued for mobility and united states. w

earlier this month amtrak president and ceo joseph boardman spoke at the national press club in washingtoncussing transportation investmeninvestmen t along with current and future amtrak operations. in his remarks mr. boardman called the highway trust fund financially unviable and stressed the need for a 21st century surface transportation program. in 2013 amtrak carried a record number 31.6 million passengers with ridership in the northeast corridor having its second-best year ever. this is just under an hour. speak that afternoon and welcome to the national press club. my name is angela greiling keane i'm a reporter for "bloomberg news" record transportation in the 106th president of the national press club. we are the world's leading professional organization for journalists committed to our profession's future for our programming with events such as those while fostering a free press worldwide. for more information about the national press club please visit our web site at www.press.org. to donate to programs offered to the public current national press club journalism institute please

and we have joseph boardman, the c.e.o. of amtrak. on january 15 we have christine legard, the head of the i.m.f. secondly, i'd like to present you with our traditional national press club coffee mug. >> thank you. >> you're welcome. thank you. >> you never have too many coffee mugs. thank you very much. >> thank you. and one last question. we try to end on a light-hearted note. so i am told that you are a big new york giants fan. and that you -- >> that's not light-hearted. [laughter] >> eli manning preceded you a couple years ago as a national press club speaker. i want to know if you have any lessons learned from your army service, strategy, drone strikes, anything that can help that you can use as advice for the giants? >> well, first off, i actually am very close friends with tom coughlin, who is the coach, and i also had the opportunity to know and get to know very well eli manning. they have some work to do. [laughter] the only thing i'm positive up is we did beat the redskins twice this year. i know that's not saying much but

on january 10 we have joseph boardman and on jerry 15th we have christine lagarde come in ahead of theimf. and i would like to present you with our national press club coffee mug. >> you can never have too much coffee or too many copyrights. >> absolutely. [laughter] >> we are trying to end on a lighthearted note. i'm told you that you are a big new york giants fan? >> yes. >> strategy with joan strides in anything. >> well, first off, who very close friends i am with tom coughlin and we have some work to do. and the only thing that i'm positive of is that we did beat the redskins twice this year. [laughter] and that is not saying a lot because you have to live on what you can here. but what i will say is that i think actually we saw some great leadership during very difficult times. they played hard during the last game even though they were out of bed and i think that will help them if they move forward and that is the kind spirit that we have as well. to continue to fight until the last possible minute in order to be successful. i'm confident that the giants will be successful. than

joseph boardman president and chief executive officer since 2008 last year the board said it was so happy with its work if they would extend his contract by another two years. writer ship has risen to a record 30 1.2 million.

and we have joseph boardman, the c.e.o. of amtrak. on january 15 we have christine legard, the head of the i.m.f. secondly, i'd like to present you with our traditional national press club coffee mug. >> thank you. >> you're welcome. thank you. >> you never have too many coffee mugs. thank you very much. >> thank you. and one last question. we try to end on a light-hearted note. so i am told that you are a big new york giants fan. and that you -- >> that's not light-hearted. [laughter] >> eli manning preceded you a couple years ago as a national press club speaker. i want to know if you have any lessons learned from your army service, strategy, drone strikes, anything that can help -- that you can use as advice for the giants? >> well, first off, i actually am very close friends with tom coughlin who is the coach and i also had the opportunity to know and get to know very well eli manning. they have some work to do. [laughter] the only thing i'm positive up is we did beat the redskins twice this year. i know that's not saying much but