Amtrak's Top Gunn

[AlanB]

Early in his tenure at Amtrak, Gunn did away with most of the perks of his office, selling the executive limousine and SUVs and reassigning the drivers to the Amtrak police department. He refuses to work on a computer and will not wear a cell phone. He goes to work by public transportation.
Despite an affinity for the working man and woman, Gunn can be a no-nonsense disciplinarian. He listens to subordinates, but when he reaches a decision, there is only one way: his. Last year, Executive Vice President Stan Bagley resigned over disagreements on cost cutting, a blow Gunn took personally because the two had initially hit it off well. Gunn later said he did not sleep the night after Bagley left.

The Washington Post's Don Phillips, who often covers transit stories, wrote a wonderful story on Amtrak's President David Gunn. Be warned that it's a rather lengthy article and in fact is divided into 5 parts on the site. However it's well worth reading to gain some insight on the man who may well be Amtrak's last, best, and greatest hope for the future. You can view the first section of the story by clicking here. Here's another interesting quote:

On one short trip to Florida, for example, Gunn discovered that in Miami -- the terminating point for three Amtrak trains -- the railroad was paying hundreds of thousands of dollars a year to have a switch engine and crews from CSX Transportation available 24 hours a day. The engine's main duty was to deliver those trains to a servicing facility and turn the southbound trains around for the trip back north.
"Why don't we just use the road locomotives to do that?" Gunn snapped, referring to the engines that pulled the train down. "This isn't rocket science."

But he has not cut blindly. In fact, Gunn has even rescinded some cuts.

During a 10-day cross-country train trip, Gunn was bored seeing the same food every day and ordered that different menus be introduced each day in a repeating cycle. On another trip, a chef told him that spices had been axed from the supply lists in Amtrak's dining car kitchens as a cost-cutting measure. Chefs were generally buying their own spices. They do not have to anymore.

"It was stupid," Gunn said. "You can't let service collapse. A dining car obviously spends a lot of money, but you've got to have it."

 

[Allen Dee]

The link doesn't work.

Not to worry. Don Phillips is a regular contributor to Trains Magazine, so I am sure we can all read about it there.

 

[AlanB]

The link doesn't work.
Not to worry. Don Phillips is a regular contributor to Trains Magazine, so I am sure we can all read about it there.

Oops. Sorry! Somehow I got an extra character in the address for that story. I've fixed it and the link works now.

 

[Viewliner]

Was a good article, printed it out and will save it, glad to have a compitent president, who will bring Amtrak to a "good state of repair."

 

[Bill Haithcoat]

I could not agree more, Viewliner and all.....Gunn is the best news Amtrak has had in years.......he is three things, 1. A person of business, 2.A genuine railfan and 3.Has go-getter type of personality. Don't think Amtrak has ever had a president who was all three....we may have even had some who were none of the above!

 

[Viewliner]

I could not agree more, Viewliner and all.....Gunn is the best news Amtrak has had in years.......he is three things, 1. A person of business, 2.A genuine railfan and 3.Has go-getter type of personality. Don't think Amtrak has ever had a president who was all three....we may have even had some who were none of the above!

Bill I disagree, I think you're forgetting W. Graham Claytor Jr. (who Superliner II Deluxe Sleeper 32502 is named for). If you recall the Trains Magazine issue celebrating the 20th Anniversary of Amtrak, Don Phillips {Pages 27-28} does mention that unlike his predecessors he had all three of those qualities (Lewis didn't love Trains, Reistrup [spelling?] wasn't a skilled politician, and Boyd didn't quite have a large knowledge of trains). His succesors until Gunn are another story.

 

[Bill Haithcoat]

I'd put them about equal now that I think of it. I have heard and read reasons to think that W. Graham Claytor wasn't as personable...as if there is any way of proving that.

 

[Viewliner]

I'd put them about equal now that I think of it. I have heard and read reasons to think that W. Graham Claytor wasn't as personable...as if there is any way of proving that.

It probably is due to the fact that Claytor was getting older and sicker, in the later years.

 

[Bill Haithcoat]

Agreed......start them out "even", i.e. same age, same health, one would probably be as good as the other. Just be glad we have a good one right now.....

 

[Viewliner]

Agreed......start them out "even", i.e. same age, same health, one would probably be as good as the other. Just be glad we have a good one right now.....

Who isn't? B)

 

[Amtrak Watcher]

One of the things in the Gunn article is the recent fact that Amtrak had to mortgage New York’s Penn Station just to keep the trains running. This seemed a bit strange to me given the situation with the airlines.

My own hasty research shows that Amtrak has mortgaged almost all its real assets. Interesting given that the airlines don’t own their airports; the tax payers continue to pay for about 80% of their costs – including their operations. Even more interesting, Amtrak and the freight railroads pay taxes (mostly local taxes) on terminals, yards and all kinds of real property. The railroads also own, maintain, operate, and pay for their own dispatching and control systems. The airlines pay taxes and fees that cover only 20% of the equivalent assets and services the railroads pay for themselves.

What a confusing mess.

 

[Allen Dee]

Yesterday I posted the Gunn article to a couple of bus driver forums to which I belong. The responses were very favorable.

While we all would much rather ride trains, there are some places in this country that are only accessed by bus. The Amtrak Thruway bus system makes this possible. The three largest names in the bus industry, Greyhound, Coach USA, and Trailways, are not doing very well.

The drivers that I corresponded with all stated that they wished their respective companies were run by someone like Gunn.

I worked for Greyhound for 15 years, so I still have some connections there.

The bottom line is that David Gunn is respected in the entire transportation industry. Maybe even the airlines could learn a thing or two from him.

 

[Bill Haithcoat]

Thanks for sharing this, Allen Dee. Good to hear this from somebody with your connections. Nice to know these things.