By Matthew Flamm, Crain’s New York Business; August 1, 2019
When Anthony Coscia joined the board of Amtrak in 2010, the New Jersey real estate lawyer already had a time-consuming unpaid job—as chairman of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. A quietly effective dealmaker well regarded in public policy circles, he was excited to help President Barack Obama roll out a nationwide high-speed rail network.
Concerns over costs and the opposition of Republican lawmakers eventually killed that project. But Coscia remained a believer in rail’s potential. As chairman of Amtrak’s board since 2013, he has been working to give the nearly 50-year-old national passenger railroad a bigger role in a changing environment.