Fred Weiderhold

Fred Wiederhold is the former inspector general of Amtrak and a 35-year veteran of the agency. He was the first inspector general at Amtrak and had also worked as a spokesperson for the passenger rail service.

Wiederhold investigated changes made to contracts for the $600 million Northeast rail electrification project in 2000. In another investigation, he found that "at least $1.4 million has been stolen from Amtrak by conductors and assistant conductors" between 1999 and 2001. Of the 1,200 conductors and assistant conductors, 110 conductors were fired and 20 resigned following the investigation. Wiederhold testified before congress about brake issues on the high speed Acela trains in 2005. He resigned his post in 2009, the third inspector general to leave prematurely since the 2008 presidential election. It was later acknowledged that AMTRAK agreed to pay Fred more than $310'000 in exchange for a signature on a separation agreement that drastically limited what he could say about the circumstances of his departure. The contract included clauses like no disparage of the company as well as no internal / external statement regarding his resignation without providing the company an opportunity to review the communication first.

Fred served as a rail safety and security expert in forming the first international rail security forum.

He is the founder of Paladin Consulting Group challenging business problems through customized approaches.