(The following article by Adam Jackson was posted on the South Bend Tribune website on January 13.)
NILES, Mich. — David Gunn never stopped playing with trains.
Fascinated with the steel behemoths since he was a child, the Harvard grad and former Naval Reserve officer parlayed that fascination into a managerial career that saw him overseeing — and troubleshooting — a number of different railway operations in places including Boston, New York City, and Washington, D.C.
Now, the silver-haired, straight-talking Gunn is facing the challenge of a lifetime after coming out of retirement in 2001 to try his hand at undoing a fiscal and physical mess caused by years of poor organization at Amtrak, the nationwide passenger rail network. It’s a job that can take him all across the country, and on Monday, it brought him to Niles.
Gunn “likes to get on the trains and ride,” Amtrak spokesman Marc Magliari said. “It’s the best way to see what the conditions really are out there.”
Until this year, the answer to that question might have been negative. Until Gunn took the reins in 2001, the federally subsidized Amtrak was suffering from a bad case of bloated managerial ranks, undefined goals and decaying equipment.
The situation continued to eat at the railroad until Gunn, a reputed problem-solver who had proved his mettle in reviving transit systems in both New York City and Toronto, was called out of retirement by Amtrak’s board of directors and put to work on the problem.
And even that almost didn’t work. Shortly after he took the reins, the company Gunn was charged with leading came within days of being unable to meet payroll. An emergency loan of $100 million coupled with an emergency appropriation from Congress averted certain disaster by a hairbreadth.
But Gunn’s no-nonsense management style and common-sense approach to running the railroad have paid off, with the fiscal year 2003 showing strong ridership increases and increases in revenue. Amtrak may not be swimming in black ink, but the future is looking brighter, and Gunn aims to keep it that way.
“It’s not brain surgery or rocket science,” he said. “In terms of running the railroad, there is nothing wrong with the structure we have today.”
But the structure does require careful accounting, strong management and a good feel for what is happening at all levels of the massive, nationwide operation. And that includes Niles, where Gunn, clad in a striped sweater, work pants and a pair of safety glasses, talked detailed shop with the maintenance workers, engineers and technicians who keep the railroad running.
Indeed, Gunn looked more at home in the starkly lit confines of the company’s right-of-way maintenance facility just south of the local station than he would behind a polished mahogany desk. Like a fan talking about baseball, he discussed the condition of maintenance equipment, the organization of work crews and even the condition of wooden railroad ties along the Amtrak-owned track that runs through town.
Gunn also listened with interest as other workers explained a computer system they had designed and built to eliminate the need for a manned post at a drawbridge near Michigan City and gave a demonstration of the device, which will save the company thousands paid annually to the company that oversees the post.
But most of all, after a train ride that took him through parts of northern Indiana, Gunn seemed impressed with the renovated depot building that greets rail passengers who meet or leave their train in the City of Four Flags.
Walking across the brick walkways and modern platform that grace the grounds of the building, he commented that not only did Amtrak have a place in Niles, but he wouldn’t mind one, either.
“It’s beautiful,” he said of the facility. “I’d move my office in here if I could.”