Something Is Going on at Amtrak

It was always inevitable that Amtrak would get caught up in Trump 2.0’s assault on its own government, but it didn’t happen on day one. During the first month of the current presidential administration, Amtrak suffered from the same messy workforce and funding eliminations as the rest of the federal government. Major grants were frozen, then unfrozen, confusion ensued, etc. Still, through February things at Amtrak hummed along mostly as usual. That began to change in March.

As Elon Musk was spearheading the attempted demolition of the federal bureaucracy, he called Amtrak “embarrassing” and insisted that privatization was the only way to save it. To back up this assertion, he referenced China’s successful high-speed rail system, perhaps failing to have done the cursory research to understand that those fast trains are run by the state-owned China State Railway Group. Details have never been DOGE’s strong suit.

No matter. Less than two weeks later, Amtrak CEO Stephen Gardner stepped down, apparently under pressure from the Trump administration. In his brief resignation statement, he stated he was doing so “to ensure that Amtrak continues to enjoy the full faith and confidence of this administration.” Presumably, with him at the helm it wouldn’t, although few details have emerged as to exactly why.