Stephen Gardner | |
|---|---|
 Gardner in 2021 | |
| Born | December 31, 1975 Arlington, Virginia, US |
| Alma mater | Hampshire College (BA) |
| Known for | CEO of Amtrak |
| 13th CEO of Amtrak | |
| Assumed office January 17, 2022 | |
| Preceded by | William J. Flynn |
Stephen J. Gardner (born December 31,1975) [1] is an American transportation executive and musician who is the chief executive officer of Amtrak.
Gardner was born and raised in Arlington,Virginia. His father was Arlington's county manager. [1]
He went to high school at H-B Woodlawn. [1] [2] As an 18-year-old,he interned for Amtrak at Washington Union Station,measuring train speeds and checking conductor logs. [3]
Gardner attended Hampshire College,studying physics,acoustics,political science,and transportation and graduating with a bachelor of arts in 1998. [4]
After college,Gardner moved to Maine to work as a conductor and operations manager for the Maine Central Railroad. In 2001,he began an internship for the House Transportation Subcommittee on Railroads,later working as a legislative assistant and staffer for the Senate Committee on Commerce,Science,and Transportation. [1] [2] [5]
He joined Amtrak in 2009,serving as its chief operating and commercial officer beginning in May 2019. [5] [6] He was named the organization's president in December 2020. [7]
He became Amtrak's CEO on January 17,2022,serving jointly as president and CEO until Roger Harris was named to the former role six months later. [2] [8] He oversaw an infusion of $22 billion in direct federal aid to repair and replace tracks and trains,as well as $44 billion in grants intended to improve U.S. passenger rail service,provided by the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. [9] Among his initial priorities for the new funds was to pay off a $3.4 billion order for 73 additional trains constructed by Siemens Mobility. [3]
The New York Times reported in August 2022 that Gardner had received more than $766,000 in bonuses from Amtrak since 2016. [10]
Gardner testified to the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee on June 6,2023 that Amtrak was at least five years from profitability,both because of the COVID-19 pandemic and because it was pursuing capital investments funded by the bipartisan infrastructure law. [11]
In September 2023,Gardner advocated to have Amtrak take control of Washington Union Station,noting the organization intended to make station improvements and return its headquarters to the building. [12]
Gardner became enmeshed in the DC punk scene as a teenager and played bass for the band Lorelei. [1]
In 1994,he formed the experimental music group Chessie,named after the defunct Chesapeake and Ohio Railway. Gardner wrote that the project aimed to explore "the way that railroads bisect the natural world with machinery." [13] Chessie's music employs tape loops featuring guitar and keyboards in addition to recorded samples. Although the band's aesthetic is inspired by railroads,Gardner told the Washington City Paper the band has never sampled a train,because "that's cheating." [14]
The band's debut album "Signal Series" was named Amazon's best Dance and DJ album for 1998. [13]
Gardner lives in Philadelphia with his wife and two children. [6]
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 three Canadian provinces. Amtrak is a portmanteau of the words America and trak,the latter itself a sensational spelling of track.
CSX Transportation,known colloquially as simply CSX,is a Class I freight railroad company operating in the Eastern United States and the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec. Operating about 21,000 route miles (34,000 km) of track,it is the leading subsidiary of CSX Corporation,a Fortune 500 company headquartered in Jacksonville,Florida.
The Northeast Corridor (NEC) is an electrified railroad line in the Northeast megalopolis of the United States. Owned primarily by Amtrak,it runs from Boston in the north to Washington,D.C. in the south,with major stops in Providence,New Haven,Stamford,New York City,Newark,Trenton,Philadelphia,Wilmington,and Baltimore. The NEC closely parallels Interstate 95 for most of its length. Carrying more than 2,200 trains a day,it is the busiest passenger rail line in the United States by ridership and by service frequency.
The Norfolk Southern Railway is a Class I freight railroad operating in the Eastern United States. Headquartered in Atlanta,the company was formed in 1982 with the merger of the Norfolk and Western Railway and Southern Railway. The company operates 19,420 route miles (31,250 km) in 22 eastern states,the District of Columbia,and has rights in Canada over the Albany to Montreal route of the Canadian Pacific Kansas City. Norfolk Southern Railway is the leading subsidiary of the Norfolk Southern Corporation.
Virginia Railway Express (VRE) is a commuter rail service that connects outlying small cities of Northern Virginia to Union Station in Washington,D.C. It operates two lines which run during weekday rush hour only:the Fredericksburg Line from Spotsylvania,Virginia,and the Manassas Line from Broad Run station in Bristow,Virginia. In 2023,the system had a ridership of 1,537,000,or about 5,900 per weekday as of the fourth quarter of 2023.
Washington Union Station,known locally as Union Station,is a major train station,transportation hub,and leisure destination in Washington,D.C. Designed by Daniel Burnham and opened in 1907,it is Amtrak's headquarters,the railroad's second-busiest station,and North America's 10th-busiest railroad station. The station is the southern terminus of the Northeast Corridor,an electrified rail line extending north through major cities including Baltimore,Philadelphia,New York City,and Boston,and the busiest passenger rail line in the nation. In 2015,it served just under five million passengers.
The Crescent is a daily long-distance passenger train operated by Amtrak between New York City and New Orleans. The 1,377-mile (2,216 km) route connects the Northeast to the Gulf Coast via the Appalachian Piedmont,with major stops in Charlotte,North Carolina;Atlanta,Georgia;and Birmingham,Alabama.
The Cardinal is a long-distance passenger train operated by Amtrak between New York Penn Station and Chicago Union Station via Philadelphia,Washington,D.C.,Charlottesville,Charleston,Huntington,Cincinnati,and Indianapolis. Along with the Capitol Limited and Lake Shore Limited,it is one of three trains linking the Northeast and Chicago. Its 1,146-mile (1,844 km) trip between New York and Chicago takes 281⁄4 hours.
CSX Corporation is an American holding company focused on rail transportation and real estate in North America,among other industries. The company was established in 1980 as part of the Chessie System and Seaboard Coast Line Industries merger. The various railroads of the former Chessie System and Seaboard Coast Line Industries that are now owned by CSX Corporation were eventually merged into a single line in 1986 and it became known as CSX Transportation. CSX Corporation currently has a number of subsidiaries beyond CSX Transportation. Previously based in Richmond,Virginia after the merger,the corporation moved its headquarters to Jacksonville,Florida,in 2003. CSX is a Fortune 500 company.
The Vermonter is a passenger train operated by Amtrak between St. Albans,Vermont,and Washington,D.C.,via New York City. It replaced the overnight Montrealer,which terminated in Montreal until 1995. Amtrak receives funding from the states of Connecticut,Massachusetts,and Vermont for Vermonter operations north of New Haven.
The Southeast Corridor (SEC) is a proposed passenger rail transportation project in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern United States to extend high-speed passenger rail services from the current southern terminus of the Northeast Corridor in Washington,D.C.. Routes would extend south via Richmond and Petersburg,Virginia,with a spur to Norfolk in Virginia's Hampton Roads region;the mainline would continue south to Raleigh,Durham,Greensboro,and Charlotte,North Carolina. Since the corridor was first established in 1992,the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) has extended it further to Atlanta,Georgia and Macon,Georgia;Greenville,South Carolina;Columbia,South Carolina;Jacksonville,Florida;and Birmingham,Alabama.
Richmond Main Street Station,officially the Main Street Station and Trainshed,is a historic railroad station and office building in Richmond,Virginia. It was built in 1901,and is served by Amtrak. It is also an intermodal station with Richmond's city transit bus services,which are performed by Greater Richmond Transit Company (GRTC). The station is colloquially known by residents as The Clock Tower. It was listed to the National Register of Historic Places in 1970,and in 1976 was made a U.S. National Historic Landmark. Main Street Station serves as a secondary train station for Richmond providing limited Amtrak service directly to downtown Richmond. Several Amtrak trains serving the Richmond metropolitan area only stop at the area's primary rail station,Staples Mill Road which is located five miles to the north in Henrico County.
Plans for high-speed rail in the United States date back to the High-Speed Ground Transportation Act of 1965. Various state and federal proposals have followed. Despite being one of the world's first countries to get high-speed trains,it failed to spread. Definitions of what constitutes high-speed rail vary,including a range of speeds over 110 mph (180 km/h) and dedicated rail lines. Inter-city rail with top speeds between 90 and 125 mph is sometimes referred to in the United States as higher-speed rail.
The Baltimore–Washington Superconducting Maglev Project (SCMAGLEV) is a proposed project connecting the United States cities of Baltimore,Maryland,and Washington,D.C.,with a 40 miles (64 km) maglev train system between their respective central business districts. It is the first segment of the planned Washington-New York Northeast Maglev project. The maglev proposal is not related to the Baltimore–Washington hyperloop proposed by the Boring Company.
The North Bend Rail Trail is a 72-mile (116 km) rail trail in north-central and western West Virginia in the United States. It is operated by West Virginia State Parks and is part of the American Discovery Trail.
Positive train control (PTC) is a family of automatic train protection systems deployed in the United States. Most of the United States' national rail network mileage has a form of PTC. These systems are generally designed to check that trains are moving safely and to stop them when they are not.
The Meridian Speedway is a 320-mile (510 km) span of railroad track between Shreveport,Louisiana and Meridian,Mississippi. An important rail link between the Southeastern and Southwestern United States,it is operated as a joint venture of Canadian Pacific Kansas City (CPKC),which owns 70% of the partnership;and Alabama Great Southern Railroad,a subsidiary of Norfolk Southern Railway (NS).
Chessie is an American experimental music group consisting of Stephen Gardner and Ben Bailes.
Avelia Liberty is a tilting high-speed passenger train built for the North American market by French manufacturer Alstom and assembled in the United States. Amtrak has ordered 28 train sets for use on its flagship Acela service along the Northeast Corridor between Boston and Washington,D.C.,via New York City and Philadelphia.
Siemens Venture is a type of locomotive-hauled passenger railroad car built by Siemens Mobility for the North American market. The cars are derived from the Siemens Viaggio Comfort cars used in Europe,with adaptations for North American operations. The cars entered service with Brightline in 2018 and with Amtrak Midwest in 2022. They have also been ordered by Amtrak for national and other state-supported routes,Via Rail,and Ontario Northland. The Venture cars will also be used on Amtrak’s Airo trainsets.