By way of WYATTE GRANTHAM-PHILIPS
NEW YORK (AP) — Amtrak CEO Stephen Gardner impulsively resigned from his best publish on the U.S. passenger railroad this week.
Wednesday’s announcement signaled that the management alternate got here right down to Amtrak keeping up reinforce from U.S. President Donald Trump. In a commentary, Gardner stated he was once stepping down “to be sure that Amtrak continues to benefit from the complete religion and self belief of this management.”
A successor for Gardner was once no longer straight away named.
Gardner’s departure additionally arrives simply weeks after billionaire Elon Musk floated the speculation of privatizing Amtrak, in addition to the U.S. Postal Provider, at a Morgan Stanley tech convention previous this month.
Musk, who has been at the leading edge of the Trump management’s competitive push to downsize the government during the Division of Govt Potency, reportedly referred to as Amtrak “more or less embarrassing” — whilst evaluating the U.S. service to passenger rails observed in different international locations, similar to bullet trains in China.
When reached for touch upon Thursday, the Transportation Division didn’t supply additional main points explicit to Gardner’s resignation. A commentary from Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy took goal at Amtrak’s Washington D.C. operations — calling on Amtrak’s management to “blank up Union Station” and “rid of our country’s treasures of homelessness and crime.”
Mentioning unnamed assets accustomed to the topic, Reuters reported Wednesday that Gardner was once requested to step down on the request of Trump, who up to now sought to chop Amtrak’s funds in his first time period.
When reached Thursday, Amtrak declined to touch upon whether or not Gardner was once requested to renounce. However in Wednesday’s announcement, the Amtrak board mentioned that it seemed ahead to “running with President Trump and Secretary Duffy as we construct the world-class passenger rail gadget this nation merits.”
Gardner first were given his get started with Amtrak as an intern again within the 90s. He later returned and labored on the rail carrier for the previous 16 years, preserving the identify of CEO since January 2022.
Amtrak struggled throughout the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic — with the railroad seeing plummeting ridership as folks around the nation stopped touring and stayed house. However passenger numbers have just lately rebounded to pre-pandemic ranges.
For the 2024 fiscal yr, Amtrak reported an all-time ridership file of 32.8 million buyer journeys. That’s up 15% from 2023 — and surpasses Amtrak’s earlier file of 32.4 million passengers in 2019.
Price tag income for the 2024 fiscal yr totaled $2.5 billion, a 9% soar from 2023. And Amtrak posted an adjusted operated lack of $705.2 million, additionally a 9% development year-over-year.
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