Special Episode: Amtrak CEO Stephen Gardener with Art Guzzetti from The Transit Authority

Paul Comfort: 00:00:03

I'm Paul Comfort, and this is Transit Unplugged.

Paul Comfort: 00:00:07

On today's episode, I'm excited to have on as our guest Stephen

Paul Comfort: 00:00:10

Gardner, the CEO of Amtrak.

Paul Comfort: 00:00:13

This is part of a regular program we're doing now where we're swapping

Paul Comfort: 00:00:16

podcasts with other podcasts that are kind of in our genre, or neighborhood

Paul Comfort: 00:00:20

as they call it, and this is one that was recorded for APTA, the American

Paul Comfort: 00:00:24

Public Transportation Association.

Paul Comfort: 00:00:26

They recorded Stephen Gardner at I've been wanting to get him on the

Paul Comfort: 00:00:31

show for a while, so it's great to have him on one way or the other.

Paul Comfort: 00:00:33

I think you'll really enjoy this episode, an in depth look at what's

Paul Comfort: 00:00:36

happening with our National Railroad of Amtrak here in the United States.

Paul Comfort: 00:00:40

Happy to have my buddy Art Guzzetti who is Vice President of Policy

Paul Comfort: 00:00:43

at APTA, conduct the interview.

Paul Comfort: 00:00:45

We're also doing some surveys online if you are listening

Paul Comfort: 00:00:49

to Transit Unplugged on Spotify.

Paul Comfort: 00:00:52

Take a look at some of the polls we're putting up there.

Paul Comfort: 00:00:54

We also do some polling now and then on our LinkedIn site, Take

Paul Comfort: 00:00:57

a look at those and if you get a chance, tell us what you think.

Paul Comfort: 00:01:00

We're always looking for listener input as to the direction the program goes.

Paul Comfort: 00:01:04

Hope you enjoyed today's episode with Stephen Gardner, CEO

Paul Comfort: 00:01:08

of Amtrak, courtesy of APTA.

Art Guzzetti: 00:01:17

Hello everyone, and welcome to this special

Art Guzzetti: 00:01:20

episode of the Transit Authority.

Art Guzzetti: 00:01:23

Uh, we are recording live on the trade show floor from.

Art Guzzetti: 00:01:27

APTA Expo in Orlando, Florida.

Art Guzzetti: 00:01:30

Extremely excited today to be talking with a great audience and a great

Art Guzzetti: 00:01:34

friend, Amtrak CEO, uh, Stephen Gardner.

Art Guzzetti: 00:01:37

I'm Art Guzzetti, APTA Vice President for Policy and Mobility at the American

Art Guzzetti: 00:01:41

Public Transportation Association.

Art Guzzetti: 00:01:43

Uh, Stephen, thank you for joining us, uh, for this very special

Art Guzzetti: 00:01:47

episode of the Transit Authority.

Stephen Gardner: 00:01:50

Hi, Art.

Stephen Gardner: 00:01:50

Thanks for

Art Guzzetti: 00:01:51

having me.

Art Guzzetti: 00:01:52

Uh, Stephen, it's, it's great to be here with you, uh, today.

Art Guzzetti: 00:01:55

This morning, as part of APTA's Transform, uh, conference, uh, we

Art Guzzetti: 00:02:01

celebrated former Congressman Bob Clement.

Art Guzzetti: 00:02:05

Uh, his career, his commitment to the expanding people's transportation options

Art Guzzetti: 00:02:10

through investments in transit and passenger rail, uh, you got your start.

Art Guzzetti: 00:02:15

And, uh, Congressman's office, uh, then he was ranking member of

Art Guzzetti: 00:02:20

the House Railroad Subcommittee.

Art Guzzetti: 00:02:22

Uh, can you tell us a little about your, uh, professional journey?

Art Guzzetti: 00:02:26

Uh, how that led you to leading Amtrak, starting with an intern, uh,

Art Guzzetti: 00:02:30

in the House of Representatives, and growing all the way to that position.

Art Guzzetti: 00:02:35

Uh, tell us about your start with Congressman Clement.

Stephen Gardner: 00:02:38

Well, thanks Art, it's a pleasure to be with you, uh,

Stephen Gardner: 00:02:40

and I actually, I I'm incredibly lucky to have benefited from two

Stephen Gardner: 00:02:44

different internships that helped me achieve the professional development

Stephen Gardner: 00:02:51

I've been able to in my career.

Stephen Gardner: 00:02:52

I've been so lucky to do that.

Stephen Gardner: 00:02:54

I started first as an Amtrak intern, in fact, in Washington and working

Stephen Gardner: 00:02:59

in the transportation department and used that experience to then Get more

Stephen Gardner: 00:03:05

involved in railroading generally and worked on the freight side of

Stephen Gardner: 00:03:08

the business and then had a chance to come to Washington I'm a DC kid.

Stephen Gardner: 00:03:12

It's where I'm born and born and raised in the DC area and I think one of the

Stephen Gardner: 00:03:18

things that is special about growing up in that area is that You know, it's a

Stephen Gardner: 00:03:22

company town, everyone's in government, and, and it seems accessible to you,

Stephen Gardner: 00:03:25

because everyone's parents, they're, you know, brothers, sisters, everyone works

Stephen Gardner: 00:03:29

for the government in some way, so it seemed totally feasible to me that if I

Stephen Gardner: 00:03:32

wanted to be part of making rail a more vibrant and important part of mobility in

Stephen Gardner: 00:03:37

the United States, and I knew the federal government had a lot, a lot, a lot of

Stephen Gardner: 00:03:41

role to play in that, that one could go up and just go be part of that conversation.

Stephen Gardner: 00:03:45

Uh, I think quite naive, uh, in a certain sense, but it turned out to be true in

Stephen Gardner: 00:03:50

part because I, um, uh, was able to get an internship with the T& I, which is the

Stephen Gardner: 00:03:59

Transportation Infrastructure Committee of the House of Representatives, uh,

Stephen Gardner: 00:04:02

with their railroad subcommittee staff.

Stephen Gardner: 00:04:05

And, as you said, the ranking member of that subcommittee was a guy named

Stephen Gardner: 00:04:08

Bob Clement from Tennessee, and it just happened that he was deeply

Stephen Gardner: 00:04:12

interested in Not only railroads, but particularly Amtrak and passenger trains,

Stephen Gardner: 00:04:16

and he had a long desire to return service to his hometown of Nashville.

Stephen Gardner: 00:04:22

And, uh, and to restart, uh, an Amtrak service called the Floridian that, that

Stephen Gardner: 00:04:27

had, uh, been discontinued, uh, much to his, uh, and many Tennesseans regret.

Stephen Gardner: 00:04:33

So, um, I was this young intern, I had worked on the railroad, uh, in a variety

Stephen Gardner: 00:04:38

of operating positions, had come to be an intern, and, uh, my internship

Stephen Gardner: 00:04:42

period of the summer was coming up.

Stephen Gardner: 00:04:44

And I needed a job and I was very lucky, uh, to, uh, to have his

Stephen Gardner: 00:04:49

support and interest to have somebody who cared about railroads come work

Stephen Gardner: 00:04:52

on his staff and became his, uh, transportation legislative aide.

Stephen Gardner: 00:04:56

Um, and from there, um, had a, had a great, uh, opportunity to work,

Stephen Gardner: 00:05:01

uh, in the Senate and, and focused really on railroad and transportation

Stephen Gardner: 00:05:05

and service transportation issues.

Stephen Gardner: 00:05:06

So, I owe a lot to, to, to the Congressman for giving a young

Stephen Gardner: 00:05:10

kid interested in trains a shot.

Stephen Gardner: 00:05:12

And, uh, I'll always really I'm grateful that he, uh, had such strong leadership,

Stephen Gardner: 00:05:18

both for intercity passenger rail, but transit generally, and saw a future for

Stephen Gardner: 00:05:22

Nashville, uh, that I think probably many people couldn't see at the time

Stephen Gardner: 00:05:25

that he was, he was, uh, in Congress, and, um, and, and worked really hard

Stephen Gardner: 00:05:30

through those early transportation bills, as you, as you remember, T21

Stephen Gardner: 00:05:35

and, and, uh, the successors, uh, and ICT before that, uh, to put in place,

Stephen Gardner: 00:05:42

Some of the opportunities we have today.

Art Guzzetti: 00:05:44

Well, I was happy to know you back then, Stephen, at the beginning.

Art Guzzetti: 00:05:48

And certainly we were very proud to honor Congressman Clement today for his service.

Art Guzzetti: 00:05:54

We're here in the Expo Hall at APTA.

Art Guzzetti: 00:05:57

We gather at this critical time with so many partners from the business sector.

Art Guzzetti: 00:06:03

Can you outline the various ways Amtrak looks to the supply sector for help?

Art Guzzetti: 00:06:08

What are some of the upcoming opportunities?

Art Guzzetti: 00:06:11

That they might be looking for, uh, in the next few months.

Art Guzzetti: 00:06:14

And what are some of the contracts, uh, that you have been awarded,

Art Guzzetti: 00:06:18

that have already been awarded, that are in progress today and bearing

Stephen Gardner: 00:06:21

fruit?

Stephen Gardner: 00:06:22

Yeah.

Stephen Gardner: 00:06:23

Well, Art, it's really an exciting time for Amtrak.

Stephen Gardner: 00:06:25

It's a new era of intercity passenger rail investment.

Stephen Gardner: 00:06:28

Uh, we, we talk about this at the company all the time, that we're the

Stephen Gardner: 00:06:31

luckiest generation of Amtrak employees, except maybe that very first group

Stephen Gardner: 00:06:35

who got to stand up the enterprise.

Stephen Gardner: 00:06:38

Um, but To put in context the opportunity between the Department of Transportation

Stephen Gardner: 00:06:42

and Amtrak, there's about 60 billion dollars in federal investment available.

Stephen Gardner: 00:06:46

That's the equivalent, uh, that's available over the next five years.

Stephen Gardner: 00:06:50

That's the equivalent amount of money that's essentially been

Stephen Gardner: 00:06:52

invested in passenger rail for the entire 50 years preceding us.

Stephen Gardner: 00:06:57

So, 50 years worth of previous investment now available to us in five.

Stephen Gardner: 00:07:01

Uh, and it's a, um, a really a chance to reinvigorate a whole industry and as part

Stephen Gardner: 00:07:08

of that it's not just about Amtrak the carrier, it's about the entire ecosystem.

Stephen Gardner: 00:07:12

And all of the, uh, suppliers, vendors, innovators, uh, employees, communities

Stephen Gardner: 00:07:19

that are re engaging and passing around thinking about how to move forward.

Stephen Gardner: 00:07:23

So we're, um, working on an incredibly ambitious capital program.

Stephen Gardner: 00:07:28

We just finished our fiscal year.

Stephen Gardner: 00:07:29

We spent about 3 billion in capital, which is essentially a 100 percent

Stephen Gardner: 00:07:33

increase from about 4 years ago.

Stephen Gardner: 00:07:36

So a huge increase in 24, FY 24, the fiscal year we just started, our capital

Stephen Gardner: 00:07:41

budget is about 5 billion dollars.

Stephen Gardner: 00:07:43

So, uh, to do all that requires a whole new workforce, we've hired about 8,

Stephen Gardner: 00:07:48

000 people in the last two years, Art.

Stephen Gardner: 00:07:50

An incredible increase, uh, and, and a new generation of railroad workers.

Stephen Gardner: 00:07:55

And then an entirely expanded and new Uh, vendor and supplier base, so we, uh,

Stephen Gardner: 00:08:00

have about 15 billion in contracts to let over the next, uh, 12, 12 and a half,

Stephen Gardner: 00:08:06

13 months, uh, and we're working hard to get the community, uh, to understand

Stephen Gardner: 00:08:13

our pathway forward, and for the first time, I think what's really important

Stephen Gardner: 00:08:17

for Amtrak, which is, you know, we've been a unique position, which is we've

Stephen Gardner: 00:08:21

An entity that's funded on an annual basis, even though we have this big, huge

Stephen Gardner: 00:08:24

capital program that we need to develop.

Stephen Gardner: 00:08:25

For the first time, the IIJA, the bipartisan infrastructure

Stephen Gardner: 00:08:28

bill, gives us five years of guaranteed funding, more or less.

Stephen Gardner: 00:08:31

And that's allowing us to go out to market for these multi billion dollar contracts.

Stephen Gardner: 00:08:36

Um, right now, we just awarded a CMAR, uh, Constructor Manager at Risk,

Stephen Gardner: 00:08:41

uh, contract for our new Frederick Douglass Tunnel in Baltimore, a six

Stephen Gardner: 00:08:44

billion dollar, Huge program there.

Stephen Gardner: 00:08:46

Uh, we have a number of exciting procurements coming out.

Stephen Gardner: 00:08:49

Everyone should go check out the Amtrak procurement portal.

Stephen Gardner: 00:08:52

It's got the whole list there.

Stephen Gardner: 00:08:53

We've got about 10 opportunities currently, and we're really, uh, engaged

Stephen Gardner: 00:08:57

in also diversifying our supplier base, a whole new supplier, uh, supplier

Stephen Gardner: 00:09:02

diversity effort at the company.

Stephen Gardner: 00:09:04

And we're bringing lots of folks into the market that have never really

Stephen Gardner: 00:09:08

seen the opportunity before, because we haven't built at this level.

Stephen Gardner: 00:09:12

But, uh, Amtrak's now a major construction company in addition to a railroad,

Stephen Gardner: 00:09:16

and, uh, we need partners all over America to help us implement the vision.

Stephen Gardner: 00:09:20

And,

Art Guzzetti: 00:09:20

uh, just to pick up on what you just said, uh, Stephen, and to talk

Art Guzzetti: 00:09:24

to all the, uh, suppliers and business community here today, uh, how would

Art Guzzetti: 00:09:28

you describe, is that a market signal?

Art Guzzetti: 00:09:30

You know, in the past, uh, maybe the signal wasn't as strong as it is now.

Art Guzzetti: 00:09:34

You now know that there's investment to be made this year, and there's

Art Guzzetti: 00:09:37

investment to come after that.

Art Guzzetti: 00:09:40

Uh, how can the business community prepare and anticipate that

Art Guzzetti: 00:09:43

kind of, uh, uh, ongoing market?

Stephen Gardner: 00:09:46

Yeah, I, I think it is a strong signal.

Stephen Gardner: 00:09:48

And, um, I, I think if you just step back and think about it, you know,

Stephen Gardner: 00:09:52

Amtrak and, and my predecessors, we were always in a big bind about how to

Stephen Gardner: 00:09:59

Take care of some of the big assets, whether it be fleet or stations or

Stephen Gardner: 00:10:03

infrastructure, without knowing whether we could sort of write the check at

Stephen Gardner: 00:10:07

the time, the dollars were due, right?

Stephen Gardner: 00:10:08

We could start a procurement, we could order some equipment, but in

Stephen Gardner: 00:10:11

five years, when we had to pay the bill, would the money be there?

Stephen Gardner: 00:10:14

We didn't have any certainty there.

Stephen Gardner: 00:10:15

And so it was a huge risk for the company, uh, to engage in that kind of.

Stephen Gardner: 00:10:21

Let's call it speculative but important planning.

Stephen Gardner: 00:10:23

What's really changed now is we have confidence about our

Stephen Gardner: 00:10:26

ability to write the check.

Stephen Gardner: 00:10:28

And that means we can really bring forward projects we've been building

Stephen Gardner: 00:10:33

in the planning pipeline for decades and now move into construction.

Stephen Gardner: 00:10:38

Um, I think our partners in, uh, the Vendor community suppliers, contractors,

Stephen Gardner: 00:10:47

uh, they can feel confident that this is a new era of opportunity.

Stephen Gardner: 00:10:52

Amtrak's really rebuilding our capability to partner with them so we can be a

Stephen Gardner: 00:10:56

good counterparty and so that People are attracted to our jobs because we know

Stephen Gardner: 00:11:01

there's a lot of competition for big infrastructure out there, not just in

Stephen Gardner: 00:11:03

the rail and transit space, but across highways and aviation and energy, water.

Stephen Gardner: 00:11:09

So we need to be good, good, attractive owners to work with.

Stephen Gardner: 00:11:13

And we're building up that capability.

Stephen Gardner: 00:11:15

But I think the market here is hopefully just getting started.

Stephen Gardner: 00:11:19

Our goal is to find great partners, deliver as promised for the public.

Stephen Gardner: 00:11:24

And that means this initial investment is in fact just The down payment on

Stephen Gardner: 00:11:29

the billions of investments that we see necessary to deliver a 21st century

Stephen Gardner: 00:11:33

rail network and to serve more America, which is, which is really top on our

Stephen Gardner: 00:11:37

list since we think passenger trains are key to the future of the country.

Art Guzzetti: 00:11:43

Steven, question.

Art Guzzetti: 00:11:46

Why is travel by intercity passenger rail so much more prevalent in Europe and Asia?

Art Guzzetti: 00:11:52

How can the U.

Art Guzzetti: 00:11:53

S.

Art Guzzetti: 00:11:54

travel options be made more attractive?

Art Guzzetti: 00:11:57

Uh, we were together recently at the World Congress on High Speed Rail in Morocco.

Art Guzzetti: 00:12:01

What can we learn from the international community?

Art Guzzetti: 00:12:04

What can we, um, do to bring our standards up to theirs?

Stephen Gardner: 00:12:09

Well, I think we've, we've started with what I just

Stephen Gardner: 00:12:11

described, which is a commitment of investment for a period more than a year.

Stephen Gardner: 00:12:16

And if you look at rail systems across the globe, um, they all take a long term,

Stephen Gardner: 00:12:24

policy centered, Sustained investment approach to deliver enhanced networks.

Stephen Gardner: 00:12:31

And that's what we've missed.

Stephen Gardner: 00:12:32

I mean, in Europe from 2020 to 2000, so about 20 years, the investment

Stephen Gardner: 00:12:38

in rail was a trillion dollars.

Stephen Gardner: 00:12:40

Trillion, right?

Stephen Gardner: 00:12:41

So the question is, you know, why do we have the system we have?

Stephen Gardner: 00:12:44

Because we've only invested for the system that we have, right?

Stephen Gardner: 00:12:47

We get what we pay for.

Stephen Gardner: 00:12:48

If we want a better system that serves more of America and that offers more

Stephen Gardner: 00:12:52

frequencies and better trip times, more reliability, we need to invest.

Stephen Gardner: 00:12:56

And we've started to do that here with this bill.

Stephen Gardner: 00:12:58

And, um, our key now is to turn that opportunity into results and

Stephen Gardner: 00:13:03

demonstrate that this is a path.

Stephen Gardner: 00:13:06

That, um, we should take as a nation and, and that it was a wise initial investment.

Stephen Gardner: 00:13:11

But I think the, the other key, uh, that, that is important to

Stephen Gardner: 00:13:16

remember is Amt, you know, the United States has a huge rail system.

Stephen Gardner: 00:13:19

We have the largest rail network of any nation on earth.

Stephen Gardner: 00:13:21

Uh, so we have railroads, we have rides away here.

Stephen Gardner: 00:13:25

Uh, the question is how do we update them and modernize them for, uh,

Stephen Gardner: 00:13:29

passenger service and freight?

Stephen Gardner: 00:13:30

Because we need both.

Stephen Gardner: 00:13:31

We need rail to do more.

Stephen Gardner: 00:13:33

In both sectors across the nation and it's about finding that right

Stephen Gardner: 00:13:39

design and right planning approach.

Stephen Gardner: 00:13:41

That's really different than the rest of the world because mostly, everywhere

Stephen Gardner: 00:13:44

else, the infrastructure is publicly owned and this question of prioritizing

Stephen Gardner: 00:13:49

the infrastructure's use for mobility, for people and goods is something that

Stephen Gardner: 00:13:53

the public decides, uh, through its planning regime as opposed to, um, our

Stephen Gardner: 00:13:59

system where It's a partnership, and it involves collaboration, and we're invested

Stephen Gardner: 00:14:03

in making that collaboration work.

Art Guzzetti: 00:14:07

Stephen, Amtrak recently received a number of grants

Art Guzzetti: 00:14:10

through FRA's Consolidated Rail Infrastructure and Safety Improvements

Art Guzzetti: 00:14:15

Program, a program we know as CRISI.

Art Guzzetti: 00:14:18

Uh, can you describe the system improvements those funds are going

Art Guzzetti: 00:14:21

to bring about, uh, on Amtrak?

Stephen Gardner: 00:14:24

Yeah, we're really excited about these grants, and I'd say

Stephen Gardner: 00:14:26

they're the first sort of big, uh, set of announcements that start what, what

Stephen Gardner: 00:14:30

I hope is a whole season of, of big announcements to come as the DOT works

Stephen Gardner: 00:14:34

through some other grant programs that, uh, hopefully will be announced here, uh,

Stephen Gardner: 00:14:39

in the next couple of weeks or months.

Stephen Gardner: 00:14:41

Um, the big Exciting project that I think tops the list.

Stephen Gardner: 00:14:46

Amtrak was successful in about 200 million of investment from the program.

Stephen Gardner: 00:14:50

We really thank the leadership of the Secretary and the

Stephen Gardner: 00:14:52

Administrator, Amit Bose.

Stephen Gardner: 00:14:53

Um, but the one that tops the list is our Gulf Coast service.

Stephen Gardner: 00:14:57

This is a partnership between us and those, the freight railroads

Stephen Gardner: 00:15:00

who own the infrastructure, uh, between Mobile and New Orleans to

Stephen Gardner: 00:15:03

bring service back to the Gulf Coast.

Stephen Gardner: 00:15:05

It's a service that we lost, uh, back in Katrina days.

Stephen Gardner: 00:15:09

And, um It's really exciting and, and represents really the first new

Stephen Gardner: 00:15:13

service in the South, which, uh, is a really important market for us.

Stephen Gardner: 00:15:17

When you look at where Amtrak has service and where population has grown

Stephen Gardner: 00:15:21

since we were founded in 1971, I think the Southeast is the, is the part of

Stephen Gardner: 00:15:25

the country we serve the least well.

Stephen Gardner: 00:15:27

We have the least amount of service and you've seen the most population growth.

Stephen Gardner: 00:15:31

And there are great corridors all over the South and Southeast and,

Stephen Gardner: 00:15:35

um, So I'm really excited about this, uh, mobile service, uh, which

Stephen Gardner: 00:15:39

will start, uh, sometime next year.

Stephen Gardner: 00:15:42

And the CRISI grant gives us the dollars to make a series of improvements along

Stephen Gardner: 00:15:45

the railroad and, uh, and get that service going together with the, with the

Stephen Gardner: 00:15:49

states and the Southern Rail Commission.

Stephen Gardner: 00:15:51

Additionally, we had some great safety investments, both on that corridor

Stephen Gardner: 00:15:54

and then some additional fencing, uh, along the northeast corridor.

Stephen Gardner: 00:15:58

We partnered and supported Massachusetts, uh, for, uh, some infrastructure

Stephen Gardner: 00:16:03

improvements to, uh, And then we'll begin new service between Boston and

Stephen Gardner: 00:16:07

Springfield and connecting to the south.

Stephen Gardner: 00:16:09

So a lot of great opportunity, but I think just a drop in the bucket for

Stephen Gardner: 00:16:13

all the things that we are excited to do here in the next couple of years.

Art Guzzetti: 00:16:18

We're talking today from Orlando, Florida, where just

Art Guzzetti: 00:16:22

in the last few weeks the Brightline opened service here to Orlando.

Art Guzzetti: 00:16:27

Meanwhile, other parts of the country, Nevada, California, Brightline West,

Art Guzzetti: 00:16:32

is making progress on service linking.

Art Guzzetti: 00:16:35

Uh, Los Angeles to Las Vegas, um, and California High Speed Rail

Art Guzzetti: 00:16:40

Authority makes progress on a system wide high speed rail system.

Art Guzzetti: 00:16:44

What is Amtrak's role, uh, in position, uh, or position in the future of

Art Guzzetti: 00:16:49

high speed rail in the United States?

Art Guzzetti: 00:16:52

Those being high speed systems, Amtrak being more of a

Art Guzzetti: 00:16:55

incremental, uh, type of system.

Art Guzzetti: 00:16:57

Um, are those separate or are you Come together, uh, what's high

Art Guzzetti: 00:17:02

speed rail future for Amtrak?

Stephen Gardner: 00:17:03

Sure, yeah, good, good question.

Stephen Gardner: 00:17:05

Well first, um, you know, congratulations to Brightline, Wes Edens, and uh, Mike

Stephen Gardner: 00:17:09

Reineger for, sort of, delivering on their vision of connecting, uh, Orlando here.

Stephen Gardner: 00:17:14

And, um, we're, we're in general really excited about all of these investment.

Stephen Gardner: 00:17:19

Uh, and, uh, all the investment and all the interest in expanding modern,

Stephen Gardner: 00:17:24

uh, passenger rail service, uh, whether that be high speed or high quality

Stephen Gardner: 00:17:27

conventional service, um, we think anybody who's interested in the mode is, uh, you

Stephen Gardner: 00:17:32

know, our friend, basically, because we think that the overall mission here is

Stephen Gardner: 00:17:35

to create more value and more mobility opportunities using passenger rail across

Stephen Gardner: 00:17:41

the country, so we're looking always at partnerships and opportunities to be,

Stephen Gardner: 00:17:44

um, using the, uh, kind of, you Capacity and capabilities we have at Amtrak to

Stephen Gardner: 00:17:51

support growth in passenger rail service.

Stephen Gardner: 00:17:54

Our high speed interests have been sustained for a long time at Amtrak.

Stephen Gardner: 00:18:00

Of course, a lot of focus has been on getting those speeds

Stephen Gardner: 00:18:04

on the Northeast Corridor up.

Stephen Gardner: 00:18:05

We'll be introducing 160 mile an hour service there soon.

Stephen Gardner: 00:18:09

But I think the big issue has been the lack of investment for true high speed.

Stephen Gardner: 00:18:15

And, uh, we believe that the work now with these investments that are made possible

Stephen Gardner: 00:18:21

by the infrastructure bill for planning and development can put us in position

Stephen Gardner: 00:18:25

to advance future high speed networks.

Stephen Gardner: 00:18:28

So we're really interested.

Stephen Gardner: 00:18:29

We've hired a guy named Andy Byford came to us, uh, from his time in the

Stephen Gardner: 00:18:33

UK and, uh, in New York MTA in Toronto.

Stephen Gardner: 00:18:35

He's a great leader in, in our industry to focus on our high speed,

Stephen Gardner: 00:18:40

um, Program and portfolio at Amtrak.

Stephen Gardner: 00:18:43

And really we see this as an opportunity to bring together, uh, and, and really

Stephen Gardner: 00:18:47

facilitate or support, uh, regions that see high speed in their future.

Stephen Gardner: 00:18:52

So, of course, California is doing great work to advance their system.

Stephen Gardner: 00:18:55

Interested in the Brightline West work.

Stephen Gardner: 00:18:58

Looking at, uh, partnering where we can, uh, support up in the

Stephen Gardner: 00:19:02

Cascadia and the Pacific Northwest.

Stephen Gardner: 00:19:04

But we see high speed as an integral part of the future network.

Stephen Gardner: 00:19:07

Um, one that sits on the base of a big conventional network.

Stephen Gardner: 00:19:10

That's how it works everywhere in the world.

Stephen Gardner: 00:19:12

You know, you don't have just high speed alone.

Stephen Gardner: 00:19:14

You have high speed supported by regional and inner city service and transit.

Stephen Gardner: 00:19:18

That's what makes the whole system work, um, but we see a bright future, and I

Stephen Gardner: 00:19:21

think now's the time to make these initial investments and build up the momentum

Stephen Gardner: 00:19:25

so the next infrastructure bill, which is already going to be upon us in 2027,

Stephen Gardner: 00:19:29

not far, uh, we're ready to make the case for the kind of investments we need

Stephen Gardner: 00:19:33

to really launch a world class system.

Art Guzzetti: 00:19:37

We're getting there one step at a time, that's for sure, Stephen.

Art Guzzetti: 00:19:39

And, uh, can you explain to listeners how Amtrak works with states to,

Art Guzzetti: 00:19:46

um, provide corridor service?

Art Guzzetti: 00:19:48

What opportunities are there to grow new and improve passenger rail, uh, given

Art Guzzetti: 00:19:53

the funds available through IIJA Act, uh, which, um, creates opportunities

Art Guzzetti: 00:19:59

for passenger rail, working with states?

Stephen Gardner: 00:20:02

Yeah.

Stephen Gardner: 00:20:02

Well, states are really the heart, uh, and soul of, uh, Amtrak's,

Stephen Gardner: 00:20:06

uh, nat national network.

Stephen Gardner: 00:20:08

Uh, we have this great long distance network that sort of serves the,

Stephen Gardner: 00:20:12

as the foundation, I'll say, for all of our service, but on top of

Stephen Gardner: 00:20:15

that, our state corridors are really the big driver of, uh, ridership.

Stephen Gardner: 00:20:19

They produce about 50 percent of all of Amtrak's riders.

Stephen Gardner: 00:20:21

And let me say it's really great to see our ridership come back.

Stephen Gardner: 00:20:26

Last three months we've been about 120 percent of our pre pandemic

Stephen Gardner: 00:20:30

levels on the Northeast Corridor and about 110 percent of our pre pandemic

Stephen Gardner: 00:20:36

levels on the national system.

Stephen Gardner: 00:20:38

So we're fully recovered and in fact ahead of where we were

Stephen Gardner: 00:20:41

starting from the pandemic.

Stephen Gardner: 00:20:43

For more information visit www.

Stephen Gardner: 00:20:44

amtrak.

Stephen Gardner: 00:20:44

com And a lot of that comes from our partnership with states.

Stephen Gardner: 00:20:47

The way that works is the federal government has established essentially a

Stephen Gardner: 00:20:50

cooperative between us and states where, uh, we, Amtrak, bring access rights to

Stephen Gardner: 00:20:56

the railroads, equipment, all the systems.

Stephen Gardner: 00:20:59

Our skilled craftspeople and technology and partner with local

Stephen Gardner: 00:21:04

sponsors at the state level to operate train service less than 750 miles.

Stephen Gardner: 00:21:09

So these are typically corridors connecting a couple of major cities.

Stephen Gardner: 00:21:13

Might be intrastate, might be interstate, might involve a couple

Stephen Gardner: 00:21:17

of different state partners.

Stephen Gardner: 00:21:18

And we enter into annual contracts and we have a commission basically

Stephen Gardner: 00:21:23

that has governance around this whole structure and, and a lot of

Stephen Gardner: 00:21:26

leadership from the DOT and FRA.

Stephen Gardner: 00:21:29

The infrastructure bill provides some really great opportunities

Stephen Gardner: 00:21:31

to expand that service.

Stephen Gardner: 00:21:33

One, by creating a new quarter development program, identification development

Stephen Gardner: 00:21:37

program led by the FRA, and we were really happy to, I think, try and get, um, a

Stephen Gardner: 00:21:43

clear message to Congress that there's a lot of opportunity to expand the network.

Stephen Gardner: 00:21:46

Our goal is to double our ridership size by 2040, so

Stephen Gardner: 00:21:50

that's about 66 million riders.

Stephen Gardner: 00:21:51

And the only way we do that is by serving more communities with

Stephen Gardner: 00:21:55

new service and to do that in partnership with our state colleagues.

Stephen Gardner: 00:21:58

So this corridor ID program came out of the bill and it's a way

Stephen Gardner: 00:22:02

for these corridors to get into a pipeline of development, kind of

Stephen Gardner: 00:22:05

like the FTA CIG program, right?

Stephen Gardner: 00:22:07

Where there's a staged program and an opportunity folks can get into

Stephen Gardner: 00:22:12

the pipeline and know that at the end they would have an opportunity

Stephen Gardner: 00:22:15

to see capital investment.

Stephen Gardner: 00:22:17

Additionally, new, um, a new lower barrier to the operating costs

Stephen Gardner: 00:22:21

of new service, uh, through the Restoration Enhancement Program.

Stephen Gardner: 00:22:24

Some of the big things that are going to come out of all this are

Stephen Gardner: 00:22:27

the service to the Gulf Coast I mentioned, new service coming to the

Stephen Gardner: 00:22:30

Twin Cities, uh, an extension of our Hiawatha service there next year.

Stephen Gardner: 00:22:34

Two new frequencies, uh, coming back, five and six on the Cascades, uh, so a

Stephen Gardner: 00:22:39

couple of near term routes, and then a lot of things as the Corridor ID program

Stephen Gardner: 00:22:43

develops here that are gonna be put in motion that'll deliver service in the

Stephen Gardner: 00:22:46

near term, say, three to five years, and, uh, we're, uh, partnering with

Stephen Gardner: 00:22:51

states all over America to do that.

Stephen Gardner: 00:22:52

And, and with other, uh, partners as well, because, um, we, we want to

Stephen Gardner: 00:22:56

again, add value where we can, which is, doesn't mean we have to do everything.

Stephen Gardner: 00:23:00

We try and find the spot that we can make a difference in and, and, and support

Art Guzzetti: 00:23:03

our partners.

Art Guzzetti: 00:23:04

A pipeline, a robust pipeline, a project that's a, a good signal for

Art Guzzetti: 00:23:08

the business community and a good signal to the public, uh, as well.

Art Guzzetti: 00:23:14

In addition, uh, to these growing corridors, the FRA is undergoing a study.

Art Guzzetti: 00:23:19

of Long Distance Network, uh, what are you looking for out of that, Stephen,

Art Guzzetti: 00:23:24

uh, in terms of the future Long Distance, uh, Network that, uh, that you operate?

Stephen Gardner: 00:23:30

Well, we, um, we're really excited about

Stephen Gardner: 00:23:32

the Long Distance Network.

Stephen Gardner: 00:23:33

First, Congress made a very strong commitment to preserving the current

Stephen Gardner: 00:23:37

network in this bill, and, really importantly, to re fleeting Uh, the

Stephen Gardner: 00:23:44

network as it exists today, so we have a, you know, the backbone of that fleet is

Stephen Gardner: 00:23:47

basically late 1970s, uh, through the 80s, and we are about to undertake the largest

Stephen Gardner: 00:23:54

uh, Rolling Stock Procurement in America since about 1947 in the New York Central,

Stephen Gardner: 00:23:58

so we're looking to have an incredible opportunity for car builders to be part

Stephen Gardner: 00:24:07

of creating a new generation of long distance equipment that can serve today's

Stephen Gardner: 00:24:13

15 routes and this study as you mentioned that the FRA is leading is looking forward

Stephen Gardner: 00:24:21

past the active sort of Updating what we have and thinking about what else could

Stephen Gardner: 00:24:26

we add to that system and we're really excited about those opportunities and it's

Stephen Gardner: 00:24:31

going to take Congress, uh, of course, following through with investment to make

Stephen Gardner: 00:24:36

that happen because, um, it certainly would take investment, but we think the

Stephen Gardner: 00:24:40

Longest Network today has been a, through COVID and, and post, it's been a really

Stephen Gardner: 00:24:45

a strong, strong performer, um, and one that I think has shown its value, um, in

Stephen Gardner: 00:24:52

the near term, what, We were interested in a couple of projects that I think are

Stephen Gardner: 00:24:56

pretty compelling, which is to get those seven three day a week trains, we have

Stephen Gardner: 00:25:00

two of them, up to seven days a week, so we have daily service on some of the

Stephen Gardner: 00:25:03

routes, and also some places where, for instance, we don't serve today Phoenix,

Stephen Gardner: 00:25:08

which is a huge omission, uh, up there with places like Nashville, where we,

Stephen Gardner: 00:25:13

we, we just are absent in the market, uh, and we'd like to be able to run our

Stephen Gardner: 00:25:17

sunset service via Phoenix, and that involves restoring some track there, so

Stephen Gardner: 00:25:21

we're looking at incremental improvements while this study's going on, and then

Stephen Gardner: 00:25:24

Congress, um, has the chance to act and, and put in motion the kind of future

Stephen Gardner: 00:25:28

growth that's necessary, um, on the fleet side to see expansion long distance, and

Stephen Gardner: 00:25:34

look at the network and see where we can add more value connecting our regions.

Art Guzzetti: 00:25:39

When, as you plan to develop that national network, uh, you also

Art Guzzetti: 00:25:43

have the very heavily traveled Northeast Corridor, where you've worked with, uh,

Art Guzzetti: 00:25:48

states for, for quite a few years to plan, uh, you know, improvements to America's

Art Guzzetti: 00:25:52

highest traffic, uh, growth corridor.

Art Guzzetti: 00:25:55

Uh, what improvements can riders expect to see in the coming years,

Art Guzzetti: 00:25:59

and what kind of regional impact?

Art Guzzetti: 00:26:01

What will a healthy Northeast Corridor make to America?

Stephen Gardner: 00:26:05

Uh, well, um, Art, it's a great question.

Stephen Gardner: 00:26:07

I mean, the Northeast Corridor is the main line of passenger

Stephen Gardner: 00:26:09

railroading in North America.

Stephen Gardner: 00:26:11

It's, uh, there's no corridor quite like it in terms of density.

Stephen Gardner: 00:26:14

Uh, right now it's about 2, 000 trains a day.

Stephen Gardner: 00:26:17

Uh, on this railroad, uh, between Amtrak commuter railroads and, and,

Stephen Gardner: 00:26:21

and our freight, uh, colleagues, uh, so it's really a, a special piece of

Stephen Gardner: 00:26:25

infrastructure connecting this sort of pearl of cities up, up the coast, um,

Stephen Gardner: 00:26:29

but it is in need of huge investments to recapitalize its assets, most of which

Stephen Gardner: 00:26:34

are 100 or 100 plus years old, and that's what we're really focused on right now,

Stephen Gardner: 00:26:38

so, um, In a sense, the first thing people are going to see is a lot of construction.

Stephen Gardner: 00:26:43

You know, that's not, and usually that's not necessarily a great thing we all

Stephen Gardner: 00:26:46

know from sort of You know, when people have cones out on the highways, etc.

Stephen Gardner: 00:26:51

But we're working really hard to make sure that as we rebuild the railroad

Stephen Gardner: 00:26:55

we also are improving service.

Stephen Gardner: 00:26:58

That's gonna show up as new equipment and our newest sellers which we hope to

Stephen Gardner: 00:27:02

launch next year and replacing our AM fleet, which is the regional equipment.

Stephen Gardner: 00:27:07

Uh, with new, um, uh, state of the art trainsets in about 2026.

Stephen Gardner: 00:27:13

So, um, there'll be new trains coming.

Stephen Gardner: 00:27:15

In the meantime, we do, we're getting a ton of work done, increasing the

Stephen Gardner: 00:27:19

reliability, upgrading our assets, smoothing out the ride, uh, and, um, doing

Stephen Gardner: 00:27:26

the kind of things that are basically bread and butter to maintaining a reliable

Stephen Gardner: 00:27:30

railroad, but that Amtrak's not been able to afford to do in, in decades past.

Stephen Gardner: 00:27:34

So we're, we're digging out of a hole, frankly, are the Was made

Stephen Gardner: 00:27:38

from decades of underinvestment.

Stephen Gardner: 00:27:40

Got a lot of work to do there.

Stephen Gardner: 00:27:41

But as we do that, every one of these steps, for instance, this new tunnel

Stephen Gardner: 00:27:45

we're building in Baltimore, that's going to allow us to have a hundred

Stephen Gardner: 00:27:48

mile an hour alignment into the city as opposed to 30 mile an hour alignment.

Stephen Gardner: 00:27:52

Uh, and it's gonna not only benefit Amtrak by reducing trip time and creating

Stephen Gardner: 00:27:56

reliability, it's gonna help our, our partner, mark, the MTA commuter service,

Stephen Gardner: 00:28:00

achieve basically a half hour trip time, uh, between new, uh, Boston, or excuse me.

Stephen Gardner: 00:28:05

Baltimore and Washington, which is a game changer for sort of bringing

Stephen Gardner: 00:28:08

the metropolitan regions together.

Stephen Gardner: 00:28:10

So, uh, a lot of, a lot of opportunity.

Stephen Gardner: 00:28:13

It's going to come kind of incrementally, piece by piece.

Stephen Gardner: 00:28:15

Um, so we ask for people's patience and there's going to be changes

Stephen Gardner: 00:28:19

in service levels and other things to accommodate all this work.

Stephen Gardner: 00:28:21

But in the end, we're going to end up with a much higher

Stephen Gardner: 00:28:24

capacity, much more reliable.

Stephen Gardner: 00:28:27

Uh, asset that's going to be hugely capacitizing to growth and mobility in

Stephen Gardner: 00:28:32

the corridor, because we all know the highway system is not going to grow, and

Stephen Gardner: 00:28:35

it can't keep up, and, um, we have, uh, a climate crisis that demands that we

Stephen Gardner: 00:28:41

come up with alternative ways to address mobility, and, and rail in the northeast,

Stephen Gardner: 00:28:46

where we already, uh, you know, rely on a big portfolio of renewables, uh, is

Stephen Gardner: 00:28:52

the way for us to get, uh, Carbon free and really highly capacitized mobility.

Art Guzzetti: 00:28:59

If there's anything that is a project of national significance,

Art Guzzetti: 00:29:03

I would say it's the Northeast Corridor.

Art Guzzetti: 00:29:05

It's the foundation of so much economic activity that benefits everybody.

Art Guzzetti: 00:29:10

So, uh, keep doing good things on that, Stephen.

Art Guzzetti: 00:29:13

But as we talk about the Northeast Corridor, I also want to make sure

Art Guzzetti: 00:29:17

we also talk about rural America.

Art Guzzetti: 00:29:19

And Amtrak has a critical role.

Art Guzzetti: 00:29:21

Uh, you know, in rural America.

Art Guzzetti: 00:29:25

So I just asked to describe the importance of Amtrak to rural America.

Stephen Gardner: 00:29:29

Well, absolutely right, Art.

Stephen Gardner: 00:29:31

I mean, our, our business is really connecting communities to each other.

Stephen Gardner: 00:29:34

And that, um, means not only big cities to big cities, but to all of the intermediate

Stephen Gardner: 00:29:40

towns and communities that, um, Need access to those metropolitan regions, and

Stephen Gardner: 00:29:46

one of the amazing things that's happened during, uh, sort of post pandemic period

Stephen Gardner: 00:29:50

is all the growth and leisure demand, and that's one of the things that's really

Stephen Gardner: 00:29:53

benefiting Amtrak is people want to get out and experience and explore America,

Stephen Gardner: 00:29:57

and the train allows you to get to sort of the heart of small towns all over the

Stephen Gardner: 00:30:02

country, and also to really engage in the pageantry and sort of grandeur of

Stephen Gardner: 00:30:06

our nation and our geography, and so, uh, Whether it's the Empire Builder,

Stephen Gardner: 00:30:11

which is, you know, a route that many people, uh, love and delivers you to

Stephen Gardner: 00:30:16

Glacier National Park's front door, or the Coast Starlight, or the Zephyr, um,

Stephen Gardner: 00:30:22

these are places that take, uh, I think, people from all over the world to some of

Stephen Gardner: 00:30:31

the really special parts of our nation.

Stephen Gardner: 00:30:35

Some of the less discussed and sort of maybe heralded but just as important

Stephen Gardner: 00:30:39

are the many communities we serve on our long distance network, particularly

Stephen Gardner: 00:30:43

in the south and in the midwest, places where without Amtrak, there's

Stephen Gardner: 00:30:49

no public transportation, there's no opportunity for people to travel.

Stephen Gardner: 00:30:52

And last, they have our service, because bus service has retrenched, uh, regional

Stephen Gardner: 00:30:58

airline service has dramatically, uh, retrenched since, um, the pandemic,

Stephen Gardner: 00:31:03

and that was already a trend well underway, so many places, we're the

Stephen Gardner: 00:31:07

only service, I just took a, took a Capital Limited to the Texas Eagle to

Stephen Gardner: 00:31:10

the Sunset and a great trip all across the country and you know you get up I

Stephen Gardner: 00:31:15

make sure to get up at every station.

Stephen Gardner: 00:31:17

I get up at 3 a.

Stephen Gardner: 00:31:18

m See who's getting on the train It's incredible some of the places

Stephen Gardner: 00:31:20

I go, and there's 30 people at 3 a.

Stephen Gardner: 00:31:22

m Waiting for a train in a place like Little Rock Which

Stephen Gardner: 00:31:25

is you know hardly rural?

Stephen Gardner: 00:31:26

It's a major city, but It's the only transportation option available to

Stephen Gardner: 00:31:31

connect from Little Rock to some of the smaller communities up and down the line.

Stephen Gardner: 00:31:36

And if you think that's the demand at 3am, you know, what could we do

Stephen Gardner: 00:31:39

if we served these communities at the right time of day, with the right

Stephen Gardner: 00:31:43

frequency, with reliable service?

Stephen Gardner: 00:31:45

So I think there's just huge amounts of demand and opportunity, and

Stephen Gardner: 00:31:49

finally the dollars are coming to allow us to start to build, I think,

Stephen Gardner: 00:31:54

the network that's worthy of it.

Art Guzzetti: 00:31:56

Vital.

Art Guzzetti: 00:31:57

Those are vital mobility connections and, uh, I know you had a lot

Art Guzzetti: 00:32:01

of support from those states and we're gonna keep, uh, pushing.

Art Guzzetti: 00:32:04

Uh, Stephen, as I look around, I see students, uh, students

Art Guzzetti: 00:32:09

that are here, so just, would you have a message for students?

Art Guzzetti: 00:32:12

You started young with a love of railroading and have continued

Art Guzzetti: 00:32:17

that to have a wonderful career contributing, contributing to our

Art Guzzetti: 00:32:21

communities, contributing to our nation.

Art Guzzetti: 00:32:23

What might you, what message might you have to our students?

Art Guzzetti: 00:32:26

Would a career in railroading be an attractive option for them to pursue?

Stephen Gardner: 00:32:31

Well, let me just say, I think Um, career in railroading is great.

Stephen Gardner: 00:32:36

I've been so, uh, lucky to, um, and, and let me also just say, I think,

Stephen Gardner: 00:32:42

you know, for a long time, our industry was in retrenchment, right?

Stephen Gardner: 00:32:45

I was, I remember when I first arrived at Amtrak, you, if we were all, if we

Stephen Gardner: 00:32:48

were in a room and there were a hundred people in the room, I asked how many

Stephen Gardner: 00:32:50

people, how long people have been there.

Stephen Gardner: 00:32:52

Most of the hands would say 30 to 35 years.

Stephen Gardner: 00:32:55

Some people worked at the company 40 years, and the people who had

Stephen Gardner: 00:32:58

been in the company for less than 10 were maybe, you know, 10%.

Stephen Gardner: 00:33:02

Uh, and it was, uh, an, an, an era where most of the folks who worked in

Stephen Gardner: 00:33:06

our business were holding on, they were sort of preserving a network through

Stephen Gardner: 00:33:11

difficult and lean times, and they did their job, they did a great job

Stephen Gardner: 00:33:15

keeping together a system sort of with the, Bailing wire and duct tape and

Stephen Gardner: 00:33:20

got us to a point now where we get to reinvent that system and reinvigorate it.

Stephen Gardner: 00:33:24

And so we're, uh, looking high and low everywhere we can for people

Stephen Gardner: 00:33:28

who share that passion and mission for enhancing transportation.

Stephen Gardner: 00:33:32

And, um, the opportunity's never been greater.

Stephen Gardner: 00:33:35

We, as I said, we've hired 4, 500 people this year.

Stephen Gardner: 00:33:38

We're looking for sort of all types and all roles all across America.

Stephen Gardner: 00:33:41

And, um, so.

Stephen Gardner: 00:33:43

For folks in school who are thinking about transportation, um, I can't say

Stephen Gardner: 00:33:47

enough about the unique role that I think Amtrak can, can offer because

Stephen Gardner: 00:33:51

of our geographic, just, uh, you know, coverage and the many different types

Stephen Gardner: 00:33:57

of activities we have at the company.

Stephen Gardner: 00:33:58

You know, if you think about it, we're a hotel, a bus operator, a power company,

Stephen Gardner: 00:34:04

a transmission company, a construction company, a restaurant, you know, a,

Stephen Gardner: 00:34:09

uh, tech, a, um, E commerce company, sales and distribution, marketing

Stephen Gardner: 00:34:14

enterprise, all these different functions have to be housed in a railroad.

Stephen Gardner: 00:34:17

So there's so much opportunity for people to get involved in different things.

Stephen Gardner: 00:34:20

And I think, you know, my, my view, even though I'm a total train nerd, variety

Stephen Gardner: 00:34:26

within the universe of railroading, I think, is what's really fun.

Art Guzzetti: 00:34:29

You could have no more rewarding, rewarding career

Art Guzzetti: 00:34:32

than what you just described.

Art Guzzetti: 00:34:33

That's, that's awesome.

Art Guzzetti: 00:34:35

Just a, just a couple more, uh, questions, Stephen.

Art Guzzetti: 00:34:38

Uh, we work together just to Uh, an hour or two ago in a, in a session

Art Guzzetti: 00:34:42

titled, uh, making the connection, the intersection of cities, transit, and

Art Guzzetti: 00:34:47

passenger rail, any message, uh, you might want to share, uh, from those listening

Art Guzzetti: 00:34:52

to the podcast, any theme that came out of that that you found noteworthy?

Stephen Gardner: 00:34:57

Well, I, I would just, um, I would say that one

Stephen Gardner: 00:35:00

of the things that's unique in our role at Amtrak, right, cause

Stephen Gardner: 00:35:03

we're, we're created by the public.

Stephen Gardner: 00:35:05

Public sector with a public mission.

Stephen Gardner: 00:35:07

We do that with commercial and sort of private sector DNA as a

Stephen Gardner: 00:35:10

corporation, um, but we accomplish the things we do through partnership.

Stephen Gardner: 00:35:16

It, it, we're, we're never a unitary actor, we never, you know, Amtrak, much

Stephen Gardner: 00:35:21

to the frustration of many, sometimes us as well, we'd love to be able to just say,

Stephen Gardner: 00:35:25

we're going to run trains there tomorrow, or that's what we're going to do, and

Stephen Gardner: 00:35:28

I'm going to grab some equipment from some place, I'm going to start running

Stephen Gardner: 00:35:30

trains, it doesn't work that way, we do everything we do through partnerships,

Stephen Gardner: 00:35:34

partnership with states, with communities, with our federal government owners, uh,

Stephen Gardner: 00:35:38

with Congress, and it's through that collaboration that we get stuff done.

Stephen Gardner: 00:35:42

So it takes a certain perseverance, uh, in, sort of, evangelical spirit

Stephen Gardner: 00:35:47

in a way to like, get everyone connected and see the opportunity

Stephen Gardner: 00:35:52

and try to make things happen.

Stephen Gardner: 00:35:54

And, um, you know, at Amtrak, we want to be the sort of active

Stephen Gardner: 00:35:57

ingredient in getting stuff done.

Stephen Gardner: 00:35:59

And that means finding partnerships.

Stephen Gardner: 00:36:02

Everywhere we can at every level to try and enhance mobility and I think

Stephen Gardner: 00:36:06

that's one of the things that came out of the conversation we had today with,

Stephen Gardner: 00:36:09

with mayors and, and, and community leaders at the local level, how do we

Stephen Gardner: 00:36:14

build, um, a better partnership and more structure and support for connecting the

Stephen Gardner: 00:36:21

different levels of government, private sector, enterprises like Amtrak, our

Stephen Gardner: 00:36:25

freight colleagues, uh, to enhance, uh, mobility because we all know it's in,

Stephen Gardner: 00:36:29

it's all in our collective interest.

Stephen Gardner: 00:36:31

I mean, there's a, So if it can't be any more obvious that we all benefit

Stephen Gardner: 00:36:35

tremendously when we have an efficient system that provides opportunity for

Stephen Gardner: 00:36:39

people and, um, we sometimes let the divisions get in the way and with all

Stephen Gardner: 00:36:44

this new investment, the time is now for us to achieve real results and

Stephen Gardner: 00:36:50

sort of prove to the public that given the shot, we can get stuff done that

Stephen Gardner: 00:36:53

that's meaningful and creates value.

Stephen Gardner: 00:36:55

So, um, but we're only going to do that by all working together.

Art Guzzetti: 00:36:59

It was a wonderful conversation, Stephen, you had with

Art Guzzetti: 00:37:01

mayors, uh, and those who weren't able to attend, uh, you can watch the

Art Guzzetti: 00:37:05

recording of it, so please, uh, look for that on the APTA website, and, well,

Art Guzzetti: 00:37:09

Stephen, we're about at time here, so I'm going to ask if there are any, uh,

Art Guzzetti: 00:37:14

cl concluding thoughts that you might want to squeeze in, uh, what can APTA

Art Guzzetti: 00:37:18

do and other advocates gathered around us do to, to move the long awaited,

Art Guzzetti: 00:37:23

uh, passenger rail agenda forward?

Stephen Gardner: 00:37:26

Well, thanks, Art.

Stephen Gardner: 00:37:26

First, just let me thank you for, Thank you for doing this and having me on.

Stephen Gardner: 00:37:30

Um, you know, I think APTA is an incredibly important organization that

Stephen Gardner: 00:37:34

brings focus, uh, to, you know, I think a huge part of mobility that often is sort

Stephen Gardner: 00:37:40

of below a lot of folks radar, right?

Stephen Gardner: 00:37:42

And it's, I, and you bring focus and attention both, um, to people who can

Stephen Gardner: 00:37:47

find an incredibly meaningful career for industry and private sector who are

Stephen Gardner: 00:37:53

looking for new opportunities to bring innovation and, and develop capacity.

Stephen Gardner: 00:37:57

And, And, and alert, uh, our political leaders, both at the federal level and

Stephen Gardner: 00:38:03

state and local level, how important and vital the role of mobility is and

Stephen Gardner: 00:38:07

the role that public transit plays.

Stephen Gardner: 00:38:09

So I think, um, I want to recognize and applaud that.

Stephen Gardner: 00:38:13

I, I think that we are, um, in this period of time where there's a lot of

Stephen Gardner: 00:38:19

opportunity and investment happening, but already I'm thinking about 2027.

Stephen Gardner: 00:38:24

It's not far.

Stephen Gardner: 00:38:25

The debate, as you know, will begin if Certainly in 2026, if not

Stephen Gardner: 00:38:30

well before in 2025 about the next set of investments necessary to

Stephen Gardner: 00:38:34

build on this initial investment.

Stephen Gardner: 00:38:37

And so, um, we need to be thinking about how we have this investment serve as The

Stephen Gardner: 00:38:45

down payment for what, what really I think is a 20 year program of investment across

Stephen Gardner: 00:38:51

our infrastructure to recover the lost decades and put our whole network sort of

Stephen Gardner: 00:38:57

regardless of mode into the 21st century.

Stephen Gardner: 00:39:00

And, um, so we need to start celebrating the successes that we're having now

Stephen Gardner: 00:39:03

and start to create the vision for how this continues and is worthy of further

Stephen Gardner: 00:39:09

support, uh, as when the time comes.

Art Guzzetti: 00:39:13

Well, thank you, Stephen.

Art Guzzetti: 00:39:14

And thank you to our live audience and to our listeners for joining

Art Guzzetti: 00:39:18

us for this episode of the Transit Authority APTA's official podcast.

Art Guzzetti: 00:39:23

We thanks again to Stephen Gardner for taking time to join us.

Art Guzzetti: 00:39:28

Everyone be sure to subscribe to our podcast at podcast.

Art Guzzetti: 00:39:32

apta.

Art Guzzetti: 00:39:34

com or wherever you subscribe to podcasts.

Art Guzzetti: 00:39:39

Thanks again.

Tris Hussey: 00:39:58

Hi, this is Tris Hussey editor of the Transit unplugged Podcast.

Tris Hussey: 00:40:01

Thanks for listening to this special episode of Transit Unplugged from our

Tris Hussey: 00:40:05

friends at The Transit Authority at APTA with Art Guzzetti and Stephen Gardner.

Tris Hussey: 00:40:11

Now coming up next week is the first of two episodes that come to

Tris Hussey: 00:40:15

you from Tulsa, Oklahoma, and the newly rebranded Metro link Tulsa.

Tris Hussey: 00:40:20

First up, we have the head of Metro link, Tulsa, Scott Marr talking about his system

Tris Hussey: 00:40:25

and his plans for a BRT line to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Route 66.

Tris Hussey: 00:40:31

If you have a question comment or would like to be a guest on the show,

Tris Hussey: 00:40:35

email us@infoattransitunplugged.com.

Tris Hussey: 00:40:39

Transit unplugged.com is also where you can read our blog and sign up for our

Tris Hussey: 00:40:43

newsletter and not to mention, catch up on any past episodes you might have missed.

Tris Hussey: 00:40:48

Transit unplugged is brought to you by Modaxo at Modaxo we're passionate

Tris Hussey: 00:40:52

about moving the world's people.

Tris Hussey: 00:40:54

And it Transit Unplugged, we're passionate about telling those stories.

Tris Hussey: 00:40:58

So until next week.

Tris Hussey: 00:41:00

Ride safe and ride happy.