Amtrak CEO Steps Down To Keep Trump’s ‘Confidence’ In Agency | EUROtoday

The CEO of Amtrak introduced Wednesday that he’s stepping down after billionaire Elon Musk urged privatizing Amtrak and criticized the nationwide rail service as “a sad situation.”

“I am stepping down as CEO to ensure that Amtrak continues to enjoy the full faith and confidence of this administration,” Stephen Gardner mentioned in a press release. “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,” Gardner added. “From my start as an Amtrak intern back in the 1990s to ending as CEO, it has been my honor and privilege to lead this great American company, and I wish Amtrak every success. See you on the rails.”

During a March 5 digital look at a Morgan Stanley expertise convention, Musk, who leads the non-Cabinet stage Department of Government Efficiency, which goals to chop authorities spending, mentioned the federal government ought to “privatize everything we possibly can.” Musk reportedly mentioned the federal government is “in much worse shape than any commercial company could ever be,” including, “I think logically we should privatize anything that can reasonably be privatized.”

According to NBC News, Musk mentioned that privatizing Amtrak, which was based in 1971 and receives state and federal subsidies, would give it a “chance of going bankrupt,” guaranteeing “a feedback loop for improvement.”

After Musk’s remarks on the expertise convention, Amtrak revealed a doc on its web site that acknowledged, “It is not clear what problem Amtrak privatization proposals are intended to solve” and “despite inadequate federal funding” since its inception, “Amtrak has achieved notable success.”

The doc additionally mentioned that if Amtrak had been privatized, it “would face the same constraints,” however would lack the “essential statutory right to operate over the national rail network.”

Amtrak additionally provided Britain for example, writing within the doc that in 1994, Britain’s practice operations went personal after which later backtracked after 42 individuals died due to the “negligence of the private infrastructure owner.”

In a press release on Wednesday, Amtrak’s board thanked Gardner for his work and mentioned its members “look forward” to working with Trump and Sean Duffy, the secretary of transportation, on constructing a “world-class passenger rail system this country deserves.”

Trump has additionally urged privatizing the U.S. Postal Service, and in March, Musk known as Social Security a “Ponzi scheme” that ought to be privatized.

During the expertise convention, Musk criticized Amtrak, saying, “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.”