The latest victim of the Trump administration ’s compulsion with the appearance of efficiency is the guy who made the geartrain run on time . Stephen Gardner , the Chief Executive Officer of Amtrak who held the post since 2022 , suddenly announced that he would be step down from his role Wednesday in the wake of Donald Trump and Elon Musk placing the gear caller in the crosshairs for potential privatisation .
In astatement , Gardner enounce , “ I am stepping down as CEO to assure that Amtrak continues to enjoy the full religion and sureness of this governing body . ” Prior to taking the top part at the firm , he do as Amtrak ’s master maneuver and commercial-grade officer commence in 2009 and as the organization ’s president starting in 2020 . And while he ’s been hang in the C - suite for a while now , Gardner has some fairly self-coloured credentials as a string lover . He antecedently served as a music director and trading operations handler for the Maine Central Railroad , and he found a hoodlum band calledChessie , which study its name from the defunct Chesapeake and Ohio Railway .
Despite this ( or because of it ) , Gardner found himself between a rock and a hard place with the novel administration . Trump ’s ire for Amtrak is n’t new — new tried tocut federal financing for the company in halfduring his first administration — but it ’s take a sharp turn this meter around . jillion ofdollars of support for the railwaygot catch in Trump ’s Union funding freeze sooner this yr , and Department of Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy has been pressing Amtrak toenddiversity , fairness , and comprehension program and mandate recurrence - to - office orders for employees or recede out on Union support .
Amtrak CEO Stephen Gardner speaks into a microphone with a strip of track and an Amtrak train in the background© Drew Angerer/Getty Images
Even as Gardner has prove to go along with as much of the Trump establishment ’s demands as potential , it seemed inevitable that he and the troupe would continue to invite significant examination . in the first place this calendar month , Elon Musksuggestedthat Amtrak and the United States Postal Service should be privatise . He called Amtrak “ kind of awkward ” and said at a conference , “ If you ’re come from another rural area , please do n’t habituate our national rail . It can pull up stakes you with a very bad picture of America . ”
Amtrak is add up off a yr withrecord ridership , facilitated in no diminished part byongoing expansionof useable routes that are part of a plan to attend anadditional 40 million peoplewith rail inspection and repair in the coming year .
Now , perhaps privatizing the society would expand that . Let ’s look into on how Musk ’s Boring Company has been doing with its drive to bid gamey - velocity , aggregate transit solution … it appear the fellowship has spent more thanseven eld build 2.4 milesof a proposed 68 - mile internet in Las Vegas , all done withminimal inadvertence or interventionfrom regulators . And that ’s the company ’s best showing ! That does n’t even touch on the large number of undertaking that the Boring Company has promise only todelay or straight - up abandonbecause they proved too high-priced to continue . Say what you will about Amtrak , but it does n’t look so speculative by comparison .
AmtrakDonald TrumpElon Muskpublic transitTrainTrump giving medication
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