Two from Caltrain Win National Amtrak Awards

Arthur Lloyd, a long-time member of the Caltrain policy board, and police Captain Jim Martino have been awarded Amtrak's prestigious President's Service and Safety Award.

Lloyd, who has been on the Caltrain board since 1992 and has been a leader in promoting passenger rail service, is being honored by Amtrak as "Champion of the Rails."

Martino, an Amtrak Police Captain whose service with Caltrain began in 1994, is to receive the Charles Luna Memorial Award for Safety Achievement, when the awards are presented at a ceremony in early October in Washington, D.C.

Both men also were honored during Caltrain's Sept. 5 board meeting, when board chair Mike Nevin announced the awards.

Nevin said people at Caltrain "take a special pride" in the recognition of two of their own at the national level. "The fact that these two are involved with the Caltrain system speaks well of the quality of our whole system," he said, because of the organizational support for their efforts.

Hundreds of candidates were nominated in the Amtrak awards competition and winners were chosen by employee teams and selected after vigorous debate and review, according to Gil Mallery, Amtrak Vice President - Planning and Business Development.

Until his retirement in 1991, Lloyd, 77, of Portola Valley, worked for Amtrak as Director of Public Affairs - West, where he was known as "Mr. Amtrak."

He has maintained a lifelong commitment to advocacy for Amtrak and passenger rail in the United States, and continues to volunteer his time in many transportation-related organizations, serving as a board member of the California State Railroad Museum Foundation; board chairman of the rail safety organization, California Operation Lifesaver; and as facilitator for the San Joaquin Valley Rail Committee.

A University of California graduate, Lloyd began his career in railroading as a yard clerk counting boxcars on Mare Island. He is known for his encyclopedic knowledge of railroad history and has helped found and direct numerous rail history societies.

Lloyd does not merely "talk the talk." He commuted by rail to San Francisco for 40 years and, even today, travels by train whenever possible.

Lloyd said he felt "honored and pleased" to have been selected for the award. "After 60 years in the business, this is a nice reward."

Martino started his 15-year career with the Amtrak Police Department in 1986 in Rhode Island. In 1994, he came to work for Caltrain, operated under a contract by Amtrak.

The Manteca resident has been a leader in the Operation Lifesaver organization and has been involved with rail safety efforts in the Bay Area and the San Joaquin Valley, where he was heavily involved with a task force that organized dozens of major rail safety events targeting grade crossing incidents.

He founded Caltrain's Officer on the Train Program, which brings police officers onto the train as observers. Martino, 44, also spearheaded Operation Safe Tracks, which included officers from the Peninsula and an Amtrak helicopter for a targeted week-long blitz.

Martino also launched a new Caltrain bicycle patrol, as well as a juvenile diversion program.

"To me, this is really a team award," Martino said. "It's only through the support of a lot of people that it came about. I happened to be the lucky one who was spearheading it."