Friend of TRA: Former FRA Admin Gil Carmichael dies at 88
February 1st, 2016
February 1, 2016 - TRA Newswire
MERIDIAN — A friend of Texas Rail Advocates, Gil Carmichael, died of a heart attack Sunday at Anderson Regional Medical Center in Meridian, Mississippi. He was 88. From 1989 to 1993, Carmichael served in the administration of U.S. President George Herbert Walker Bush as the head of the Federal Railroad Administration in the U.S. Department of Transportation. He was a former Amtrak chairman and was a two-time Republican nominee for Mississippi governor in the 1970's.
Carmichael met with the originating members of Texas Rail Advocates at Dallas Union Station in 2000 and urged the fledgling organization to pursue the South Central High Speed Rail Corridor project established by the U.S.D.O.T. He also recommended holding a statewide rail conference to promote both freight and passenger rail. That event, the Southwestern Rail Conference, has become the premier rail-oriented event held each year in Texas. Carmichael took part in numerous conference calls with TRA members offering advice and opinions on how to advance rail transportation issues He was a guest featured speaker at the Southwestern Rail Conference over the last decade.
Carmichael was an early leader in the Mississippi Republican Party when Democrats dominated elected offices in the state. In 1972, he unsuccessfully challenged longtime Democratic U.S. Sen. James O. Eastland. Carmichael ran for governor in 1975 and 1979, losing first to Cliff Finch and then to William Winter, both Democrats.
Carmichael was born in Columbia Mississippi, graduated with a Bachelor of Science from Texas A&M, served in the U.S. Coast Guard, owned a car dealership in Meridian and became a real estate developer.
Carmichael chaired the National Highway Safety Advisory Committee from 1974 to 1976. From 1976 to 1979, he was a member of the National Transportation Policy Study Commission. He also founded the Intermodal Transportation Institute at the University of Denver in Denver, Colorado.
Additional coverage: http://www.railwayage.com/index.php/news/gil-carmichael-1927-%E2%80%93-2016.html?channel=00&utm_source=WhatCounts%2c+Publicaster+Edition&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=RGN+2.3.16&utm_content=Gil+Carmichael%2c+1927+-+2016
MERIDIAN — A friend of Texas Rail Advocates, Gil Carmichael, died of a heart attack Sunday at Anderson Regional Medical Center in Meridian, Mississippi. He was 88. From 1989 to 1993, Carmichael served in the administration of U.S. President George Herbert Walker Bush as the head of the Federal Railroad Administration in the U.S. Department of Transportation. He was a former Amtrak chairman and was a two-time Republican nominee for Mississippi governor in the 1970's.
Carmichael met with the originating members of Texas Rail Advocates at Dallas Union Station in 2000 and urged the fledgling organization to pursue the South Central High Speed Rail Corridor project established by the U.S.D.O.T. He also recommended holding a statewide rail conference to promote both freight and passenger rail. That event, the Southwestern Rail Conference, has become the premier rail-oriented event held each year in Texas. Carmichael took part in numerous conference calls with TRA members offering advice and opinions on how to advance rail transportation issues He was a guest featured speaker at the Southwestern Rail Conference over the last decade.
Carmichael was an early leader in the Mississippi Republican Party when Democrats dominated elected offices in the state. In 1972, he unsuccessfully challenged longtime Democratic U.S. Sen. James O. Eastland. Carmichael ran for governor in 1975 and 1979, losing first to Cliff Finch and then to William Winter, both Democrats.
Carmichael was born in Columbia Mississippi, graduated with a Bachelor of Science from Texas A&M, served in the U.S. Coast Guard, owned a car dealership in Meridian and became a real estate developer.
Carmichael chaired the National Highway Safety Advisory Committee from 1974 to 1976. From 1976 to 1979, he was a member of the National Transportation Policy Study Commission. He also founded the Intermodal Transportation Institute at the University of Denver in Denver, Colorado.
Additional coverage: http://www.railwayage.com/index.php/news/gil-carmichael-1927-%E2%80%93-2016.html?channel=00&utm_source=WhatCounts%2c+Publicaster+Edition&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=RGN+2.3.16&utm_content=Gil+Carmichael%2c+1927+-+2016