Amtrak CEO Stephen Gardner is resigning after leading the passenger railroad service for more than four years.
A White House official confirmed to Scripps News Wednesday that Gardner resigned at the request of the White House.
"I am stepping down as CEO to ensure that Amtrak continues to enjoy the full faith and confidence of this administration," Gardner wrote in a statement. "I am so proud of what the Amtrak team has accomplished to bring passenger rail service to more people and places across the country over these past 16 years, and I thank the Board for their trust and support. We did a lot together to make Amtrak safer, more modern, and a better travel experience for all our customers."
Amtrak, the U.S.' federal railroad service, is run as a for-profit corporation. Its board of directors includes both the company CEO and the U.S. Secretary of Transportation. It operates at a net loss and relies on federal subsidies to cover those losses.
Amtrak says its ridership reached a record high in 2024. The company has worked to expand its service, hoping to carry 66 million customers every year by 2040. But the company reported a loss of more than $700 million in the fiscal year.
RELATED STORY | Musk calls Amtrak ‘embarrassing’ and pushes for privatization of federal agencies
Early in March, billionaire Trump adviser Elon Musk suggested Amtrak should be privatized, saying it compared unfavorably with high-speed rail services in other countries.
"If you’re coming from another country, please don’t use our national rail. It can leave you with a very bad impression of America," Musk said during a Morgan Stanley technology conference.
“I think we should privatize anything that can be privatized, just so you’ve got a feedback loop for improvement, which is what happens when something’s privatized,” Musk said. “Basically, something’s got to have some chance of going bankrupt, or there’s not a good feedback loop for improvement.”
