David L. Gunn (born June 21, 1937) is a transportation system administrator who has headed several significant railroads and transit systems in North America. He was director of operations of the

Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (abbreviated MBTA and known colloquially as "the T") is the public agency responsible for operating most public transportation services in Greater Boston, Massachusetts. The MBTA transit network in ...

(MBTA) from 1975 to 1979, general manager and chief operations officer of the

Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority The Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA) is a regional public transportation authority that operates bus, rapid transit, commuter rail, light rail, and electric trolleybus services for nearly 4 million people in five coun ...

(SEPTA) from 1979 to 1984, president of the

New York City Transit Authority The New York City Transit Authority (also known as NYCTA, the TA, or simply Transit, and branded as MTA New York City Transit) is a New York state public-benefit corporations, public-benefit corporation in the U.S. state of New York (state), New ...

from 1984 to 1990, the general manager at WMATA (the Washington Metro) from 1991 to 1994, and chief general manager of the

Toronto Transit Commission The Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) is the public transport agency that operates bus, subway, streetcar, and paratransit services in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, some of which run into the Peel Region and York Region. It is the oldest and larges ...

in Canada from 1995 to 1999. Gunn assumed the presidency of

Amtrak The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, doing business as Amtrak () , is the national passenger railroad company of the United States. It operates inter-city rail service in 46 of the 48 contiguous U.S. States and nine cities in Canada ...

on May 15, 2002, and held the position until political upheaval at the company in 2005. A dual citizen of the U.S. and Canada, Gunn retired to his family home on Cape Breton Island in

Nova Scotia Nova Scotia ( ; ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. Nova Scotia is Latin for "New Scotland". Most of the population are native Eng ...

, Canada. He is currently associated with the Free Congress Foundation and the board of the Strait Area Transit Cooperative transit service in rural

Richmond County Richmond County may refer to places: Australia *Richmond County, New South Wales, a cadastral division Canada *Richmond County, Nova Scotia United Kingdom *Richmondshire, the original Richmond County in Yorkshire, England United States ...

, among other roles.

Early life and education

Gunn was born in

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

to parents of

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

ancestry whose families had emigrated to

Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut Massachusett_writing_systems.html" ;"title="nowiki/> məhswatʃəwiːsət.html" ;"title="Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət">Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət'' En ...

from

and Newfoundland. Gunn was educated at Phillips Academy in

Andover Andover may refer to: Places Australia *Andover, Tasmania Canada * Andover Parish, New Brunswick * Perth-Andover, New Brunswick United Kingdom * Andover, Hampshire, England ** RAF Andover, a former Royal Air Force station United States * Andove ...

and received a Bachelor of Business Administration from

Harvard College Harvard College is the undergraduate college of Harvard University, an Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636, Harvard College is the original school of Harvard University, the oldest institution of higher lea ...

in 1959. He served in the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

Reserve from 1959 to 1962. He received a

Masters in Business Administration A Master of Business Administration (MBA; also Master's in Business Administration) is a postgraduate degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration such as accoun ...

from Harvard Graduate School of Business Administration in 1964.

Career

Early positions (1964 to 1984)

The following were Gunn's early positions, many related to railways: *

Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway , often referred to as the Santa Fe or AT&SF, was one of the larger railroads in the United States. The railroad was chartered in February 1859 to serve the cities of Atchison, Kansas, Atchison and Top ...

, 1964 to 1967 *

New York Central Railroad The New York Central Railroad was a railroad primarily operating in the Great Lakes and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The railroad primarily connected greater New York and Boston in the east with Chicago and St. Louis in the Mid ...

, 1967 to 1968 * Assistant vice-president, Illinois Central Gulf Railroad, 1969 to 1974 * Director of commuter rail,

(MBTA), 1974 to 1975 * Director of operations, MBTA, 1975 to 1979 * General manager and chief operations officer,

(SEPTA), 1979 to 1984

New York City Transit Authority (1984 to 1990)

He was president of

(NYCTA), 1984 to 1990, and according to ''The New York Times'', Gunn is credited with turning around the New York City subway system in the late 1980s." During his tenure as president of the NYCTA, Gunn instituted operational changes that led to the reduction of graffiti and service improvements in the New York City Subway system, including the establishment of a "clean car program" and restoring the system to a state of good repair. Cars were to be regularly cleaned, hundreds of older cars overhauled and tracks and stations rebuilt. The "

Redbird Redbird, Redbirds, Red Bird or Red Birds may refer to: Bird * Redbird, another name for the northern cardinal * Redbird, another name for the summer tanager * Red bird of paradise, a near threatened species Mythological * An East Asian variant ...

" cars were originally known as "Gunn Red" or "Broad Street Red" when they were repainted between 1984 and 1989, under Gunn's tenure. As a reminder of the purchasing issues he overcame, he had a pair of R9 subway car lubricator pads mounted on a plaque in his office. The authority had thousands of them among over $40 million worth of obsolete and excess parts, yet the R9 fleet had been retired since 1977, leaving just a few used on work trains. At the same time, needed parts were not getting purchased. For his work in New York, he was inducted in the inaugural 1999 class of the New York Public Transit Association's Hall of Fame

WMATA (1991–1994)

He was general manager of Washington DC

Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA ), commonly referred to as Metro, is a tri-jurisdictional government agency that operates transit service in the Washington metropolitan area. WMATA was created by the United States Con ...

(WMATA), 1991 to 1994. During his tenure at WMATA (the Washington Metro) from 1991 to 1994, Gunn was frequently at odds with that agency's board of directors, which included representatives from the District of Columbia and suburban jurisdictions in

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to ...

and

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

Toronto Transit Commission (1995 to 1999)

He was chief general manager of

(TTC), 1995 to 1999. Gunn has a philosophy called "state of good repair" where the first priority is to maintain infrastructure and equipment, making regular repairs where needed and retiring equipment from service at the end of its life-cycle. This brought him in frequent conflict with TTC chairman

Howard Moscoe Howard Moscoe (born November 28, 1939)https://gencat4.eloquent-systems.com/webcat/request/Action?SystemName=City+of+Toronto+Archives&UserName=wa+public&Password=&CMD_%28DetailRequest%29 &ProcessID=6000_1980%280%29&KeyValues=KEY_315373 is a former ...

, who advocated the use of funds for improving TTC accessibility. Gunn's tenure at the TTC was also marked by changes in management structure, which were criticized by his successor,

Rick Ducharme Richard C. Ducharme P.Eng. (born 1948) has served as an administrator for several Canadian transit and transportation authorities, most recently as General Manager of Transportation for the City of Edmonton. Ducharme graduated from the University ...

, amongst others. He also argued against new subway construction. Toronto's only fatal subway train accident, the

1995 Russell Hill subway accident The 1995 Russell Hill subway accident was a deadly train crash that occurred in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, on Line 1 Yonge–University of the Toronto subway on August 11, 1995. Three people were killed and 30 were taken to hospital with injuries ...

that claimed 3 lives, happened only 8 months after Gunn became head of the TTC, with Gunn addressing the incident in the media.

Amtrak (2002-2005)

Beginning of presidency

Gunn assumed the presidency of

on May 15, 2002, after coming out of a three-year retirement to take the job. Gunn came to Amtrak with a reputation as an experienced operating manager. His work as president of the

from 1984 to 1990 and as chief general manager of the

in Canada from 1995 to 1999 lent him a great deal of credibility, as these two agencies were each the largest transit operations of their respective countries.

Policies and reactions

The view of the Gunn administration was a departure from his predecessors' promises to make Amtrak self-sufficient in the short term, as Gunn argued that ''no'' form of passenger transportation in the United States is self-sufficient as the economy is currently structured, similar to highways, airports, and air traffic control which ''all'' require large government expenditures to build and maintain. Gunn eliminated almost all of the express business while improving critical equipment repair facilities and services to keep trains moving. In 2002, he stated that continued deferred maintenance would become a safety issue which he would not tolerate and his management team implemented Amtrak's first system-wide comprehensive capital program with planned target dates and budgeting. Under Gunn, Amtrak's ranks of unionized and salaried workers were reduced. During his administration at Amtrak, Gunn was the subject of congressional criticism. Gunn was polite but direct in response to congressional criticism. Before a congressional hearing, leading Amtrak critic Arizona Senator John McCain demanded the elimination of all operating subsidies; Gunn responded by asking the senator if he would also demand the same of the commuter airlines, upon which the citizens of Arizona are dependent. McCain, not usually at a loss for words when debating Amtrak funding, did not reply.

Political upheaval and firing

He was fired by the board of directors on November 9, 2005,(November 9, 2005),
Amtrak Board Releases Gunn
'. Retrieved November 9, 2005. ostensibly for his refusal to split the company in preparation for privatization; Gunn was opposed to this policy, pointing out that the entire reason Amtrak was created was because private railroad companies did not wish to run passenger services. ''The New York Times'' at the time wrote that Gunn's opposition was the reason for the firing, as he was "widely credited with improving the railroad's management, cutting costs and imposing better financial controls," as well as "improving the state of repair of Amtrak's locomotives and aging passenger cars, as well as its tracks, signals and electrical systems, which are truly antique." However, other recent problems had included Gunn's decision to suspend Acela service in the Northeast Corridor until wheel and brake problems were sorted out with the manufacturer, as well as Gunn's philosophical difference over dividing long distance inter-city services from the Northeast Corridor. A report issued by the Government Accountability Office one week before Gunn's dismissal stated that Amtrak needed to continue to improve the way it monitored performance and oversaw its finances in order to achieve financial stability. The chairman of the board,

David Laney David M. Laney (born January 19, 1949, in Dallas, Dallas, Texas) is an attorney, an administrator of transportation programs, and a Republican supporter and fundraiser. Early life and education Laney grew up in Dallas, Dallas, Texas, where he g ...

, a George W. Bush appointee, provided a statement that read "Amtrak's future now requires a different type of leader who will aggressively tackle the company's financial, management and operational challenges".

Retirement

A dual citizen of the U.S. and Canada, Gunn retired to his family home on Cape Breton Island in

. He has become associated with the Free Congress Foundation since his dismissal from Amtrak. He currently sits on the board of a local transit service in rural

known as the Strait Area Transit CooperativeStrait Area Transit - Team
Accessed February 23, 2009 and in 2010 returned as a consultant for former employer,

WMATA The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA ), commonly referred to as Metro, is a tri-jurisdictional government agency that operates transit service in the Washington metropolitan area. WMATA was created by the United States Con ...

. In November 2014, Amtrak named

ACS-64 The Siemens ACS-64, or Amtrak Cities Sprinter, is an electric locomotive designed by Siemens Mobility for use on the Northeast Corridor (NEC) and the Keystone Corridor in the northeastern United States. The design was based on locomotives Sie ...

class unit number 600 after Gunn.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Gunn, David L. 1937 births Phillips Academy alumni Harvard Business School alumni American people of Canadian descent Living people Businesspeople from Boston People from Richmond County, Nova Scotia 20th-century American railroad executives 21st-century American railroad executives Amtrak presidents Toronto Transit Commission general managers Executives of Metropolitan Transportation Authority (New York) SEPTA general managers Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority general managers Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority people Harvard College alumni