New York – The CEO of Amtrak, Stephen Gardner, abruptly resigned to his superior position on the American passenger railroad this week.
Wednesday’s announcement pointed out that leadership change was reduced to Amtrak maintaining the support of the president of the United States, Donald Trump. In a statement, Gardner said he was renouncing “to make sure that Amtrak continues to enjoy all faith and confidence in this administration.”
A Gardner successor was not immediately appointed.
Gardner’s departure also arrives only weeks after billionaire Elon Musk float The idea of privatizing Amtrak, as well as the United States Postal Serviceat a Morgan Stanley Tech conference earlier this month.
Musk, who has been in the Trump administration foreground aggressive impulse to reduce the size of the federal government through the Department of Government Efficiency, reportedly Called to Amtrak “a little shameful”, when comparing the American carrier with the passenger rails that are seen in other countries, such as bullet trains in China.
When contacted to comment on Thursday, the Department of Transportation did not provide more specific details for Gardner’s resignation. A statement by the Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy pointed to Amtrak’s operations in Washington DC, asking Amtrak leadership to “clean Union Station” and “get rid of the treasures of the lack of housing and the crime of home of our nation.”
Citing unidentified sources familiar with the matter, Reuters reported On Wednesday that Gardner was asked to resign from Trump’s request, who previously sought to reduce Amtrak’s budget in his first mandate.
When he contacted Thursday, Amtrak declined to comment on whether Gardner was asked to resign. But on Wednesday’s announcement, the Amtrak Board declared that it expected “to work with President Trump and Secretary Duffy while we built the world -class passenger rail system that this country deserves.”
Gardner first began with Amtrak as an intern in the 90s. Later he returned and worked at the rail service during the last 16 years, with the CEO title since January 2022.
Amtrak fought during the height of the Covid-19 Pandemia, with the railroad watching cycles of steps while people throughout the country stopped traveling and staying at home. But the number of passengers has recently recovered at pre-pondemic levels.
For fiscal year 2024, Amtrak reported a historic Passenger registration of 32.8 million customer trip. That is 15% of 2023, and surpasses Amtrak’s previous registration of 32.4 million passengers in 2019.
Ticket revenues for fiscal year 2024 totaled $ 2.5 billion, a 9% jump since 2023. And adjusted profits also improved in 9% year after year, to $ 705.2 million.
