A major goal of some Republicans was to clean out the nine-member Amtrak board, all Clinton appointees, who negotiated the recent labor settlement.

The chairman of the Amtrak board, David M. Laney, asked about that, said its proposal did not rely on such state support.

Money was allocated for railroad capital improvements but Congress in return asked that the entire nine-member Amtrak board be replaced by spring.

The Amtrak board named George Warrington, the president of Amtrak's Northeast Corridor business unit, as acting president.

The Amtrak board, which met today in Washington, passed a resolution praising Mr. Downs.

"We were under the gun" to cut costs, said Tommy G. Thompson, who was chairman of the Amtrak board from 1998 through 2001.

David Laney, the chairman of the Amtrak board, had no comment on Mr. Gunn's new job.

Gunn, brought in as a turnaround expert, was fired by Bush appointees on the Amtrak board.

And yet the administration-appointed Amtrak board has chosen to fire the most capable leader in the company's history.

Mr. Gunn, 64, was unanimously approved by the Amtrak board on Thursday night.