1998 W. Graham Claytor Award Goes To Paul H. Reistrup - vice president of CSX Transportation takes award - Brief Article

Railway Age, Nov, 1998

Paul H. Reistrup, vice president-passenger integration for CSX Transportation, is the recipient of the fifth W. Graham Claytor Award for Distinguished Service to Passenger Transportation. Railway Age created the award to honor the memory of Amtrak's fourth president in 1994.

"In a railroad career that has spanned nearly 40 years, Paul Reistrup has combined a devotion to the prindples of sound railroading with a conviction that sensible Americans, when given a choice, will take the train," said Railway Age Publisher Robert P. DeMarco. "Mr. Reistrup has helped see to it that Americans still have that choice."

A 1954 graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point, where he earned a B.S. Degree in Engineering, Reistrup signed on with the Baltimore & Ohio in 1959 as an 1959 as an assistant division engineer. By 1964, he had become director-passenger services for the B&O/C&O. In 1967, he moved to the Illinois Central as vice president-passenger service.

Reistrup had risen to senior vice president-traffic of Illinois Central when he was asked in 1975, at the age of 42, to become the second president of Amtrak.

"In contrast to Roger Lewis, his predecessor, Paul Reistrup was a railroader," writes Frank N. Wilner in his book, The Amtrak Story. "One of Mr. Reistrup's most meaningful contributions was a massive carbuilding effort. Plagued by breakdowns of older passenger cars and faced with the twin dilemmas of an unacceptable lead time for new equipment and uncertainty as to financing another acquisition, he began rebuilding."

After leaving Amtrak in 1978, Reistrup served successively as a vice president of R. L. Banks & Associates, president of the Monongahela Railway, general manager of Railroad Development Corp., and a vice president of Parsons Brinckerhoff before accepting his present position with CSXT in 1997. He was active in the High Speed Ground Transportation Association from its inception and remains an honorary member of the Association's board. CSXT hired Reistrup to integrate passenger/commuter and freight operations across the system, focusing on lines to be acquired in the Conrail spit-up.

In announcing Reistrup's appointment, CSXT President Pete Carpenter noted that "post acquisition, CSXT will have more intercity and commuter operations on our rail. lines than any other freight railroad in the nation.:

W. Graham Claytor, Jr., a former CEO of the Southern Railway, was president of Amtrak for 12 years, retiring from that post in December 1993 at the age of 81. During, his presidency, Amtrak survived repeated attempts by the Reagan White House to put it Out of business. The Amstrak Story quotes Federal Railroad Administrator Jolene M. Molitoris as having said, "Without Graham Claytor, Amtrak would simply not exist." Claytor died in May 1994.