WASHINGTON — In the wake of the departure of its CEO and discussions of the company’s potential privatization, Amtrak is considering cuts to management and other cost-cutting moves, the company has confirmed.
“Given the current environment, the Executive Leadership Team and the Board have determined that we must act now,” Amtrak said in a statement today (March 28, 2025). “We will do this by examining our costs, including the size of our management staff, in a proactive and controlled way. In addition, we will be more selective in starting new projects and will look harder for efficiencies and innovative ways to address the problems and opportunities we face.”
Amtrak President Roger Harris reportedly informed employees of possible staff reductions in an email earlier this week. Harris is the company’s top official since the resignation of CEO Stephen Gardner, reportedly at the request of the White House [see “Amtrak CEO Gardner resigns,” Trains News Wire, March 19, 2025].
A source told Trains News Wire that discussions of corporate restructuring had been underway for at least a month, which would precede both the departure of Gardner and a call from presidential advisor Elon Musk for the privatization of Amtrak, the U.S. Postal service, and other functions of the federal government.
The environment Amtrak refers to is a reflection of such factors as efforts by the first Trump administration to cut the company’s funding, as well as uncertainty over funds that have already been allocated but not disbursed, and concerns that operations will not receive the same sort of support in Congress that has prevented previous deep cuts [see “Amtrak’s independence at stake …,” Trains News Wire, Feb. 14, 2025].
Amtrak’s staff has grown in recent years, in part as it bulked up areas needed to manage the major infrastructure projects funded under the Biden Administration. Amtrak’s Inspector General specifically highlighted staffing issues in a report on potential risks involved with construction of the Frederick Douglass Tunnel in Baltimore [see “Amtrak Inspector General sees risks …,” News Wire, Oct. 2, 2024].
AMTRAK needs a firm funding source, privatizing ? How many countries have private passenger rail that do not require a subsidy? How many make a profit? Service should be improved across the board, IMHO.
So what is Amtrak’s transportation advantage or positive asset? Steel on steel rail has almost no frictionaloss of energy. Please, instead of carving up the carcass, how can we make rail’s inherent advantage an asset? No one in government has the innovative answer, if there is one. If there is not one, maybe Amtrak does need to be closed and transform edinto something different. As the old saying goes: Stop rearranging the deck chairs of the Titanic while it is sinking. Cheers
Wanted to correct an earlier post. The Depot in Milwaukee and at General Mitchell Field as well as Sturtevant, WI are all run by WisDOT. The Mitchell Field airport station stop has no Amtrak staff and is not staffed by Amtrak. It is opened and closed by a building maintenence crew that cleans the facility. The Milwaukee Depot was primarily a WisDOT project in the 1960s as both the Milwaukee Road Depot and the C&NW Lakefront Depot were in the path of planned freeways. C&NW Depot was purchased by Milwaukee County and leased back to C&NW in 1956. So the whole lets blame C&NW for the Depot’s demise is misguided by the railfan community as the last decade it was not a C&NW owned facility.
Erich — Was it my post you were correcting? Of course you’re correct that the capital expenses for MKA are paid by WisDOT. I know that and have posted that in the past on several occasions as recently as a couple of weeks ago.
So let me restate my post or clarify my point. I buy a ticket from Amtrak, from MKE to Chicago. The ticket price does not cover the cost of rebuilding MKA. MKA’s capital cost accrues to WisDOT. One way or the other, the fare that I purchase doesn’t cover the cost of depots.
I have used every station on the Hiawatha line – MKE, MKA, Sturtevant, Glenview and CUS. All of them all-new (MKA) or greatly rebuilt (the others), all of them attractive and functional.
Looks like this an attempt to get out ahead of the chainsaw and wood-chipper crew but this “proactive and controlled” examination of “our costs, including the size of our management staff” will likely be insufficient to stave off the push for privatization and the disdain for all things “climate friendly,” “energy-efficient,” and, most importantly, favored by Joe Biden.
If Joe was such an Amtrak fan, why didn’t he do more to improve it under his administration instead of letting it spiral downward? Now its in such shape that its survival intact could be in question. However, the NE corridor has to exist in some form to prevent travel gridlock in its area.
Crime and passenger rail doesn’t pay.
Revenue Passengers Miles is only part of the equation. The other part is expenses.
For the four years ended FY24, the long-distance trains had an operating loss of approximately $2.3 billion. And this was before allocation of capital expenses. Over the same period the NEC turned in an operating profit of approximately $137 million.
If Amtrak were managed like a competitive business, a competent management team would drop the long-distance trains as soon as they could.
“And this was before allocation of capital expenses.”
Bear in mind that long-distance capital expenses are mostly borne by the host railroads. Amtrak pays the host railroads incremental costs which the railroads do not believe are remunerative. Thus the continual animas between Amtrak and some of the host railroads.
In the NEC Amtrak is responsible for all of the capital costs, and the commuter operators pay incremental costs to Amtrak. The capital costs that Amtrak is responsible for in the NEC dwarf by orders of magnitude the capital costs that Amtrak incurs for the National Network.
“…NEC turned in an operating profit of approximately $137 million.”
And that $137 million does not come anywhere near to covering the fully allocated costs of owning and maintaining the NEC.
DAVID and PAUL — Amtrak capital expenses are off the books, whether the relatively minor capital improvements for the Borealis, or the gargantuan costs of the proposed Gateway and Frederick Douglass tunnels in the Northeast.
One can only hope that these Amtrak NEC megaprojects (if they do happen) will be better managed than CalHSR.
When I bought my most recent Amtrak ticket, which was for the Hiawatha (just before the Horizon cars were yanked) I saw the still-incomplete rebuilding of MKA General Mitchell International Airport station. My ticket didn’t pay for any of that. While the project is good and necessary to keep freight and passenger traffic moving between Milwaukee and Chicago, it will only increase the annual maintenance costs for that stop.
Long distance trains are necessary. They serve a market of people who can’t fly.
Example: A couple traveling from Harrisburg to Denver via Chicago with four long boxes. The boxes are model trains worth $$$$. You don’t check them in airline checked baggage.
Plus, long distance trains were a mandate by Congress to provide for the needs of all of the country, not just the commuter section on the east coast. For years Amtrak accounts used “fuzzy” practices to bludgeon the long distance trains profits to fund the NEC, thusly, the Long distance trains ALWAYS showed losses while the NEC was always profitable.Take away those forced subsidies by the LD trains and many of them could function as intended instead of being always short of equipment because there is no available budget to keep Beech Grove. IN or Bear, DE in repair mode. If it hasn’t happened, then it is time for the Northeast Corridor to stand on its own to feet. Only the separation of the mandated LD trains into their own division separate from Commuter ops will accomplish that, and in doing so, may be able to fund LD trains that people want and WILL pay for, with real food and real amenities that travelers want and have shown time and time again…
Hindsight shows Amtrak overreacted to Covid. They reduced most long distance trains to less than daily and laid off too many employees in order to preserve cash. They were just starting to recover from this misguided decision when Gardner “resigned”. Historically its either feast, or famine for Amtrak, which makes long range planning impossible.
Amtrak has been “broken” for many years, long before Donald Trump and Elon Musk came on the scene. As a passenger train advocate and supporter, the REAL culprits of Amtrak’s many failures have been Amtrak’s inept and ineffective top executives and CEO’s! They’ve not had the vision, the drive or the skills needed to truly create products and services that appeal to the public. They’ve selectively chosen to solely focus on a few corridors and a few regional routes, while ignoring the long-distance trains they are required to operate.
Amtrak executives have DELIBERATELY chosen to DOWNGRADE long-distance trains by —
(1) severely restricting the number of coaches and sleeping cars assigned to each route, thereby dramatically limiting the number of passengers needed to generate the revenues required to cover costs,
(2) deliberately refusing to operate full-service dining cars and lounge cars on every route, while these cars sit idle and empty at Beech Grove or Bear Shops, thereby making the trains less attractive to potential riders,
(3) discriminating against coach passengers who are not allowed to pay for and enjoy dining car meals, thereby forced to survive and packaged food, sandwiches and snacks, on long trips.
(4) failing to operate every route on a DAILY basis, which restricts standardized functionality and customer understanding.
(5) structuring schedules and connections that do not maximize convenience and do not create innovation.
Companies survive and thrive by listening to the wants and needs of their potential customers. Amtrak management has FAILED to do this over the years. Amtrak executives have clearly demonstrated that they DO NOT SUPPORT, NOR HAVE ANY INTEREST IN, true long-distance train service! Their actions speak louder than words! Amtrak management has deliberately chosen to provide the bare minimum of service on long-distance routes, so they can receive their MASSIVE BONUS CHECKS! Their total focus has been to ignore the customer and collect their HUGE bonuses.
Yes, yes and yes!!!
And it all started to fall apart the minute Richard Anderson tried to make Amtrak an airline. People fly airlines because they want to get somewhere in a hurry and don’t want to pay for views they can’t see at 34,000 feet plus. People take trains either because they have no other alternative or because they want to see the sights along the way. How else does the Rocky Mountaineer, that famous Canadian private rail excursion continue to sell out at over $3,000 a head. Because they offer a trip and adventure, not just fast travel from A to B. Many of the LD trains could be in the same situation if Jeff’s suggestions (and others) were followed. So as Chris said, “Yes, Yes and yes!!!
I worked for three competitive Fortune 200 corporations over a 39 year career. Every one of them became bloated for a variety of reasons. Ultimately, to survive in a changing competitive market, they had to downsize. In each instance, the changes evolved so that no one was thrown under the bus. All of them emerged as more productive entities with growing customer bases. And they are still in business.
Passenger trains make sense in relatively short distance corridors where the cost to expand the airways and highways is cost prohibitive. Eliminating the long-distance trains, which are used by less than two percent of intercity travelers, would go a long way toward right Amtrak’s financial ship.
It depends on which metrics are being relied upon to determine success. If the most important metric is the total number of people boarding a train per day, then the Subways move the masses. But if the most important metric is Revenue Passenger Miles (RPMs), then a single long distance train can produce enormous RPMs if marketed correctly. Hint – reducing a train from five revenue cars to four cuts that train’s potential RPMs by 20%.
I have lived a little more than half a century. In that time, I can’t remember a single instance of an organization cutting their way to prosperity.
Actually, it’s common in the private sector to cut or sell off marginal operations/locations to improve a company’s overall financial position.
I would think that PROPERLY cutting unnecessary overhead would help create prosperity.
Cutting your way to prosperity: NYS&W. Theyunilaterally discontinued passenger service (while the commuters were in NY) The pax had to ride buses from NY to Susquehanna Transfer NJ anyway, so the buses took them home.
If any of our politicians could agree on anything it would be a huge help. Amtrak gets funded then it gets obliterated. There will never be a happy median. Maybe it is time to put it to rest. No company can survive like this. I am all for rail travel, my preferred mode. However, you never know if the trains will run at all and if they do how late they will be. It is only for casual use and not a reliable service anymore.
People take planes because they want to get from point A to point B as quickly as possible. Speed is the cost in the ticket. People take trains because they want a relaxing ride from point A to point B and want to take the time to see the sight along the way. A longer trip was understood when they bought the ticket. They would get a nice meal, meet some people and see the country. Of course, when the airline people took over they tried to cram cheap food down your throat and cut our all the amenities of slower, “casual,” travel. And by doing so, lost the person who was WILLING TO PAY MORE for less speed than an airline, for the amenities that train travel offered. Until they treat LD train travel as it should be treated and marketed, it will just be a slower way from A to B. And the revenue that is there to be had will continue to slip between their fingers…
This is a reply to Vincent Saunders:…You don’t quite understand it right: People don’t fly ‘to go from point A to point B’ fast. They fly to get from point A to point Z fast. The planes don’t stop in between. People take the train to not only go from point A to point Z, but to/from all the other letters in the alphabet that planes don’t connect to. yes, yes, I know that many cities across the country have air service, but many small towns don’t have an air option. Amtrak has many ‘city pairs’ that don’t have a convenient air option.
I hear Musk’s minion Big Balls provided tech support to a cybercrimes network in 2023. Now he’s got all our personal data from the IRS & SS. This whole Admin like one big crime family!
You heard. Now can you state that what you heard is absolutely true and quote reliable sources to back it up?
Mr. Foster wants “reliable sources” That’s a laugh coming from a someone who probably gets his information from fox or newsmax propaganda.
The same could be said for those who get their propaganda from the legacy news media, CNN and MSNBC. When will they tell the whole truth and not just repeat what the losers have to offer… as if these outlets were reliable sources. Its all a matter of perception and what you want to believe…
Joe Biden commuted daily on Amtrak for over 30 years. The Wilmington station was renamed for him in 2011. Trump is petty enough to cut Amtrak just for this reason. Look how he is shaking down law firms to do pro bono work.
I am trying to see your point, but I can’t agree. It’s under four years of Biden as president that Amtrak went to hell.
Charles beat me to it. I will add that Amtrak, and all transportation, really was crippled by Biden appointing a Secretary of Transportation who knew nothing about it on a national scale and was a dud throughout his 4 years.
They will start with downgrading dining car service. God knows what else will be done. I’m ready to move out of this third world country.
Just a reminder — it was top-level Amtrak management who DOWNGRADED dining car and lounge car service MANY YEARS AGO and who continue the downgrade to this day! It was top-level Amtrak management who removed Chefs and Waiters/Waitresses from long-distance trains that still had a dining car in the train consist. This downgrade morphed into what is now called “Flex Dining”, whereby only Sleeping Car passengers are allowed to eat in dining cars, while Coach passengers are PROHIBITED from paying for meals and eating there. On a few trains, if there are any left-over, pre-packaged “flex meals”, a few Coach passengers are allowed to purchase them. Otherwise, all other Coach passengers are forced to eat in the lounge car, if one is operated on the train. Trains such as the CARDINAL, EAGLE and CITY OF NEW ORLEANS do not even operate with a dining car, so all passengers must survive on packaged meals, sandwiches and snacks for their entire journey. All of this was implemented and has been perpetuated by Amtrak management!
The appointment of Richard Anderson to head Amtrak will continue to live as “a day of infamy,” until something is done to change the downward trajectory of the franchise in the pursuit of bonuses for doing nothing… Just like Jeff mentioned above…
I like to see some staff cutting with DOGE 😀
I’d like to see staff cuts throughout the Executive Office of the President. Any president, either party.
Clean up your own house before telling other departments or offices what to do.
I finally have begun to understand DOGE somewhat after their leadership’s 2 part TV interview earlier this week. I knew things were bad from my many years of dealing with the Feds. But I had no idea so much of the Fed’s accounting, financial, and control practices are either years & years behind the times or non-existent. Much of what was discussed was the lack of basic business controls or the lack of any Accounting controls. The one DOGE finding that really blew my mind was that some of the Fed departments when they pay out project/grant money don’t have any identifying project or identification number so they can’t track any of the expenditures!
Can anyone cite an example of a transportation service provider cutting its way to prosperity?
As one example of the OPPOSITE of cutting, bankrupt Spirit Airlines currently is ADDING flights. Which has often been the practice for struggling airlines.
The day Amtrak starts cutting back its already skeletal timetable, it is finished.
Unfortunately, it seems the end of the final act is drawing near for Amtrak…
Dr. Güntürk Üstün
Spirit Airlines, which has an exemplary positive stubbornness in civil aviation, still insists on flying freely in the skies. Remember that on January 14, 2025, it was reported that Spirit Airlines will introduce new routes along with some seasonal routes for spring break. Nevertheless, on January 16, 2025, the American ultra-low cost airline laid off 200 employees to reduce costs.
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Your comments apply equally to VIA. It has suffered from the same problems as Amtrak due to the loss of experienced staffers and a focus on the ridiculous High Frequency Rail fantasy, which has now morphed into a high-speed project under a so-called subsidiary that is a dumping ground for friends of the Trudeau government and their consulting industry buddies.
Let’s say you own a car. You blow a tire. Your immediate instinct isn’t to cut the wheel off and drive on the other 3, your immediate instinct is to replace the damn tire.
Why is Amtrak any different? We can all agree that passenger rail in America fall short of expectations–in what world is the solution CUTTING funding rather than allocating?
For those who say that this will force them to cut the fat from their operation so that they are in a better position moving forward: have you considered that these layoffs aren’t being done with a surgical scalpel, but rather a hatchet? Much of Amtrak’s talent and, most importantly, institutional knowledge will be drained, and it will be far worse off than it would’ve been otherwise. If all of those people should even remain in the rail industry, they will almost certainly flock to private engineering firms like AECOM, Gannett-Flemming, HNTB, etc, which will only serve to FURTHER drive up capital costs when Amtrak is forced to rely on consultants for any project!
All of the other civilized countries on earth are putting money into passenger rail right now, yet America as usual lags behind in our myopic stubbornness.
Liam’s post (above) is true and important and prophetic in its every word.
But how and when will America learn to invest seriously in passenger rail transportation?
Dr. Güntürk Üstün
If this results in higher levels of Amtrak management being held to higher standards, then some good can come out of this. It’s also too early to say the cutting will be done by hatchet. Besides, if the requirement that Amtrak has to be THE interstate passenger rail provider was ever eliminated, no one knows what could be achieved.
The US is too deep in debt right now, needs to rebuild its military, and absolutely must re-industrialize before it significantly increases spending on passenger rail. Let’s face it–the NE corridor is the only major Amtrak operation that if it suddenly stopped it would absolutely create a transportation crisis.
As a reminder — 98% of Amtrak’s employees who had “institutional knowledge” and “railroad background knowledge” retired or resigned between 2005 and 2016. There is virtually zero “institutional” or “railroad” experienced employees now working for Amtrak, especially in top-level and middle-level management! So any current staffing cuts, either with a scalpel or a hatchet, will not remove any “institutional”, because none exists! Since 2016, Amtrak has been aimlessly operating with a hodge-podge of inept and ineffective executives and managers who have no knowledge of railroad operations, passenger marketing, on-board services, scheduling, equipment maintenance, etc.