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Friday, April 29, 2011

A boss on the GO ... Part 4

From the Financial Post

Gary McNeil, president of GO Transit, is a slight and soft-spoken gentleman, more technocrat than railroader. On most mornings Mr. McNeil, 61, parks his car at the Aurora GO station and catches the 6:22, arriving at Union Station at 7:18 a.m. He walks under the Gardiner Expressway to his office at 20 Bay Street. His first job, in 1972, was at Ontario’s Department of Highways in traffic operations. He joined GO as director of rail services in 1999. Three years ago, he went to a Town of Markham meeting and spoke against a proposal to plunk car-dependent big box retail near the Mount Joy GO station. The town ignored him, so Mr. McNeil and his wife moved from Markham to Aurora. On his office wall hangs a photo collage depicting a GO train pulling out of a fictional station, a gift from his wife on their 25th wedding anniversary. The station’s clock reads 5:17, the train his wife wishes he would catch home. But half the time he catches the 6 p.m. instead, the last train. Mr. McNeil spoke to Peter Kuitenbrouwer Monday in his office.

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