Amtrak on Wednesday named veteran executive Stephen Gardner as its next chief executive, the company announced Wednesday.

       Gardner, who has served as the passenger railroad’s president for the past year, will take over the top job at Amtrak on Jan. 17. He will replace William J. Flynn, who has served as Amtrak’s top executive since April 2020.

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       Flynn, who led the company through the coronavirus pandemic slump and the recovery efforts, will remain at the company as a senior adviser to Gardner through the end of the fiscal year.

       “With the Biden administration and Congress just having made a transformational investment in intercity passenger rail, this is the right time to transition the leadership of the company for the long term to help guide Amtrak’s promising future,” Amtrak Board Chair Tony Coscia said in announcing the transition. “Stephen has the business skills, industry knowledge and vision to improve and modernize service for the next generation of Amtrak’s customers.”

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       Gardner, 45, has been at Amtrak since 2009 and has served in various leadership roles, including chief operating and commercial officer. He was named president a year ago, in charge of day-to-day operations, and leads the company’s effort to grow service and ridership. He will hold both president and chief executive roles starting in January.

       “I’m truly humbled and honored to assume this role for America’s Railroad,” Gardner said in a statement.

       Washington must be part of plan to expand nation’s passenger rail network, says Amtrak president

       At a House hearing last week, Gardner praised Congress’s passage of the $1.2 trillion infrastructure law, saying the allocation of $66 billion of new funding for rail will help kick-start more intercity passenger train service and improve the safety, efficiency and reliability of the nation’s rail networks.

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       Amtrak this year put out a map and a vision for what an expanded rail network could look like by 2035. It includes 39 new routes and increased frequencies on 25 existing routes. The expansion could mean 20 million more passengers annually using Amtrak, which had a record 32.5 million passenger trips before the coronavirus pandemic hit.

       Amtrak is a top travel choice in the Northeast. With an ally in the White House, it wants trains in the rest of America.

       Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg in a statement praised Flynn’s leadership during the pandemic and welcomed Gardner as Amtrak continues its “robust recovery from the pandemic and lays the groundwork to expand and improve service” with Infrastructure funding.

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       “Bill has ably led Amtrak through a period of historic upheaval, working tirelessly to keep workers and riders safe. We are grateful for his service,” Buttigieg said. "Stephen has spent practically his entire career in rail — beginning as a brakeman and trackworker — and has served as Amtrak’s President for the past year. As he steps into this new role, we can be sure that Amtrak, and all who rely on its service, will benefit from his lifetime of expertise in rail and transportation.”

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       In March last year, when Flynn was announced as chief executive, railroad officials said they expected Flynn to stay at Amtrak for longer than his two predecessors, carrying on progress made in recent years, including record-setting growth, financial milestones and service improvements. He had retired from Atlas Air Worldwide Holdings on Jan. 1, 2020, after a 13-year tenure in which he served as president. Flynn will leave less than two years after taking the role, having led Amtrak through the biggest crisis in its 50-year history.

       The health crisis derailed prospects for positive earnings last year as ridership and revenue plunged 97 percent. Ridership has rebounded to about 70 percent of pre-pandemic levels. Coscia credited Flynn for prioritizing safety and advancing improvements, infrastructure projects and the company’s diversity goals.

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       “This was one of Amtrak’s most challenging periods in its 50-year history,” he said in a statement. “Bill has built a strong foundation for continued safe and reliable operations, innovation and growth.”

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       Gardner will take over at a critical time. The infrastructure funding is expected to spur the largest expansion in Amtrak’s history while kick-starting repair and replacement projects across the passenger rail network. It will help address Amtrak’s repair backlog, improve stations, replace old trains and create a path to modernize the Washington-to-Boston corridor, the nation’s busiest. It would be the biggest boost of federal aid to Amtrak since Congress created it.

       Before coming to Amtrak, Gardner worked as a congressional staffer. Earlier in his career he held various operating and managerial positions with Guilford Rail System’s Maine Central Railroad in Maine and Massachusetts, and the Buckingham Branch Railroad in Virginia.