WASHINGTON>> Fourteen Amtrak executives received more than $200,000 in incentive bonuses last year despite the service’s poor recent financial performance and struggles with its capital improvement projects, according to documents obtained by The New York Times.

In 2023, Amtrak paid out more than $5 million in short- and long-term incentive bonuses to its executives even as the passenger rail service posted $1.7 billion in losses, according to records obtained from Sen. Ted Cruz’s office. Particularly problematic for Amtrak has been its effort to upgrade its service on the Acela, a popular high-speed express route between Boston and Washington, D.C.

“From delays for the new Acelas to annual shortfalls in the billions of dollars, Amtrak’s performance has been seriously deficient,” said Cruz, R-Texas. “It’s inexplicable that a dozen-plus Amtrak executives collected six-figure bonuses on the taxpayer’s dime.”

Amtrak says the executive bonuses are necessary to attract and retain talent and rail expertise.

Its incentive bonus program for 2021 came under intense scrutiny after the Times reported that the company had paid about $2.3 million in bonuses when the rail service reported its lowest revenue and biggest losses in more than a decade. On Wednesday, the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee held a hearing to discuss two bills to increase transparency and accountability around the Amtrak bonus payouts.

Amtrak paid no bonuses in 2020 amid pandemic disruptions to the country’s passenger rail service and much of the travel industry. Since then, Amtrak has paid about $12 million in incentive bonuses.

During a hearing Wednesday before the House panel, Amtrak top executives committed to making the bonus payments public going forward.

“I am aware of the bills that were introduced yesterday regarding transparency around executive compensation,” Anthony Coscia, chair of the Amtrak board, said during the hearing in response to calls for greater transparency around the payouts. “The board supports releasing the details of our pay-for-performance plan, including the awards to executives, as we have done in the past.”

Coscia said the information could be posted on Amtrak’s website this week.

But following the hearing, Amtrak provided the Times with a more comprehensive picture of 14 executives’ compensation, including their salaries. Stephen Gardner, Amtrak’s CEO, was paid a salary of $490,000 and received more than $600,000 in incentive bonus payments, according to Amtrak’s data.

Roger Harris, Amtrak’s president, received about half a million dollars in bonus compensation on top of a base salary of $479,000 last year, the data shows.

Eleanor Acheson, the service’s general counsel and corporate secretary, and Tracie Winbigler, its chief financial officer, also received nearly half a million dollars in incentive bonuses last year. The bonuses were on top of Acheson’s base salary of $442,000 and Winbigler’s salary of $470,000.

Amtrak has defended its payouts in recent years, saying that the bonuses help make its jobs more competitive and desirable. The CEOs of freight railroads, which are profitable, received millions in bonus and incentive payments last year, for example.

“For Amtrak to be successful, we need to attract highly skilled employees all over the U.S. and compete with the private-sectors freight railroads, consulting firms, airlines and others that seek the short supply of qualified staff in the U.S.,” Christina Leeds, a spokesperson for Amtrak, said in a statement this week.