Amtrak CEO Stephen Gardner resigned from his position this week, citing the need to maintain the railroad’s support from U.S. President Donald Trump. In his resignation statement, Gardner explained that stepping down would help ensure that Amtrak continues to have the full confidence of the administration. A successor for Gardner has not been named yet.
His resignation comes shortly after billionaire Elon Musk proposed privatizing Amtrak and the U.S. Postal Service during a tech conference earlier this month. Musk, known for his push to reduce the size of the federal government under the Trump administration, referred to Amtrak as “kind of embarrassing,” comparing the U.S. service unfavorably to high-speed rail systems like those in China.
When contacted on Thursday, the Transportation Department declined to offer more information regarding Stephen Gardner’s resignation. In a statement, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy criticized Amtrak’s operations in Washington D.C., urging the company’s leadership to “clean up Union Station” and address the issues of homelessness and crime that he described as affecting the area.
According to sources familiar with the situation, it was reported on Wednesday that Stephen Gardner’s resignation was prompted by a request from President Trump, who had previously attempted to cut Amtrak’s budget during his first term.
Amtrak did not comment on whether Gardner was asked to step down. However, in a statement released Wednesday, the Amtrak board expressed its eagerness to work with President Trump and Secretary Duffy to develop a “world-class passenger rail system” for the country.
Gardner’s career with Amtrak began as an intern in the 1990s. He returned to the company years later, eventually becoming CEO in January 2022, after working at Amtrak for 16 years.
Amtrak faced significant challenges during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, with ridership dropping as travel came to a halt and people stayed home. However, passenger numbers have recently recovered and returned to pre-pandemic levels.
For the 2024 fiscal year, Amtrak set a new ridership record of 32.8 million trips, marking a 15% increase from 2023 and surpassing the previous record of 32.4 million in 2019.
Ticket revenue for the 2024 fiscal year reached $2.5 billion, a 9% increase from the previous year. Despite this growth, Amtrak reported an adjusted operating loss of $705.2 million, although this also represented a 9% improvement compared to 2023.
