About John Zuspan

March 20, 2004 was the day that John Zuspan decided to form Track Guy Consultants. His motive for doing this was certainly not money. John has had a very successful career working with Contractors with a lot of interaction with Railroads, Transits, Designers, Owners, Contractors, Suppliers and even Politicians over the last 30 years. The type of people that he has encountered range from the meek and mild to the egotistical and arrogant. The project types have ranged from the wave machine at Fort Belvoir to the Automated System at Kennedy Airport. The diversities of people, places and projects have given John a wide range of experience and, for that, he is grateful. It is now time to give back to the industry that has supported John and his family in an ever increasing quality of life.

Background 

After graduating high school in 1968, John joined the United States Air Force and served 2 tours in Vietnam loading bombs on fighter aircraft at Bien Hoa Air Base. He then enrolled at Clemson University majoring in Industrial Engineering. After two years, he transferred to Drexel University majoring in Civil Engineering. During his 6-month co-op with Day and Zimmerman, John learned the basics of railroad track construction. He then hired on with the Contractor as a Laborer/Foreman and began work in Washington, DC, on many of the Metro projects. During John's six years in Washington, he worked on many lines of the Metro system and relocated the Southern Rail yard to accommodate the C9 tunnel. After finishing the Rockville route in 1981, John relocated to New York City working for Slattery/Skanska. He spent years working in the New York City subway system doing trackwork at nights and weekends under short outages. During the 'red tag' era in the mid 80's, John was responsible for hundreds of track workers in three boroughs. He estimated and managed numerous large scale rail projects, always finishing on time and on budget. Visit Track Guy Project Sheets. Within the last 13 years, John found it necessary to get specific railroad engineering training in order to keep pace with designers and changing technology. This is absolutely essential in today's Design/Build arena. In 2004, John decided to share his experiences with other sin the field of Track design and construction as Track Guy Consultants.

Work History President - Track Guy Consultants    2004 to Present Vice President Operations - Balfour Beatty Rail 2002 to 2004 Director Track Division - Slattery/Skanska 1980 to 2002 Foreman - Delta Railroad Construction 1978 to 1980 Foreman/Superintendent - Atlas Railroad Construction 1974 to 1978	Formal Education Drexel University Philadelphia, PA 1973/1974 Clemson University Clemson, SC 1972/1973	Training University of Delaware Student, course work 1997-1999 University of Wisconsin Student & Instructor 2000-2004
Membership, Associations & Organizations AREMA Member -- www.arema.org 1987 to Present National Railroad Contractors -- www.nrcma.org Member and Board of Directors 1989 to Present Metropolitan Railway Club Member 1983 to Present APTA, Noise & Vibration -- www.apta.com Committee Member American Society for Training & Development -- www.astd.org Member
Continuing Education & Course Work AREMA Railway Structures Loading Federal Publications Inc. Design Build Contracting FTA Turnkey Contracting Harvard Business School Executive Negotiator Harvard Business School Dealing with Difficult People How to be a Dynamic Trainer Introduction to Automatic People Movers Labor Strategy Symposium 2003 Mass Transit Procurement Course Railway Educational Bureau Foreman Training Program RT&S Rail Transit 1995 Zeta-Tech Thermal Forces