Amtrak Chief Government Stephen Gardner abruptly resigned from his high put up on the U.S. passenger railroad this week.
Wednesday’s announcement signaled that the management change got here all the way down to Amtrak sustaining help from President Trump. In a press release, Gardner mentioned he was stepping down “to make sure that Amtrak continues to benefit from the full religion and confidence of this administration.”
A successor for Gardner was not instantly named.
Gardner’s departure additionally arrives simply weeks after billionaire Elon Musk the concept of privatizing Amtrak, in addition to the U.S. Postal Service, at a Morgan Stanley tech convention this month.
Musk has been on the forefront of the Trump administration’s aggressive push to downsize the federal authorities via his White Home advisory group, which he calls the Division of Authorities Effectivity, or DOGE. Musk referred to as Amtrak “type of embarrassing” — whereas evaluating the U.S. service with passenger rails seen in different nations, equivalent to bullet trains in China.
When reached for remark Thursday, the Transportation Division didn’t present additional particulars about Gardner’s resignation. An announcement from Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy took intention at Amtrak’s Washington, D.C., operations — calling on Amtrak’s management to “clear up Union Station” and “rid … our nation’s treasures of homelessness and crime.”
Citing unnamed sources aware of the matter, Reuters Wednesday that Gardner was requested to step down on the request of Trump, who beforehand sought to chop Amtrak’s price range in his first time period.
When reached Thursday, Amtrak declined to touch upon whether or not Gardner was requested to resign. However in Wednesday’s announcement, the Amtrak board said that it appeared ahead to “working with President Trump and Secretary Duffy as we construct the world-class passenger rail system this nation deserves.”
Gardner bought his begin with Amtrak as an intern within the ‘90s. He later returned and labored on the rail service for the previous 16 years, holding the title of CEO since January 2022.
Amtrak struggled in the course of the top of the COVID-19 pandemic — with the railroad seeing plummeting ridership as folks throughout the nation stopped touring and stayed house. However passenger numbers have lately rebounded to pre-pandemic ranges.
For the 2024 fiscal yr, Amtrak reported an all-time of 32.8 million buyer journeys. That’s up 15% from 2023 — and surpasses Amtrak’s earlier document of 32.4 million passengers in 2019.
Ticket income for the 2024 fiscal yr totaled $2.5 billion, a 9% leap from 2023. And Amtrak posted an adjusted working lack of $705.2 million, additionally a 9% enchancment year-over-year.
Grantham-Philips writes for the Related Press.
