In a surprise move that perhaps is not so surprising, Stephen Gardner on March 19 announced that he would be stepping down as Amtrak CEO to ensure that “America’s Railroad continues to enjoy the full faith and confidence of this Administration.” His successor has not yet been publicly announced.
“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,” he said in a statement. “We did a lot together to make Amtrak safer, more modern and a better travel experience for all our customers. 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.”
The Board, too, released a statement on the leadership transition, saying that “[a]s Stephen departs today, we thank him for his 16 years of service to Amtrak. We will build on his accomplishments and wish him every success. We look forward to working with [POTUS 47] and Secretary Duffy as we build the world-class passenger rail system this country deserves.”
Gardner was appointed CEO in 2022, succeeding William J. Flynn and following service as President since 2020. Previously, he was Executive Vice President/Chief Operating and Commercial Officer (May 2019-November 2020) and held several other executive positions in policy development, infrastructure investment, technology planning, and marketing. Railway Age readers named Gardner one of 10 Influential Leaders in 2022.
Gardner is a lifelong Democrat and skilled political operative who joined Amtrak in 2009 following a stint on Capitol Hill developing rail and transportation policy for the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation and for Senator Tom Carper (D-Del.) and others. Early in his transportation career, he held various positions with Guilford Rail System (which transitioned to Pan Am Railways and now CSX) and the Buckingham Branch Railroad in Virginia. He is widely recognized as the principal author of PRIIA (Passenger Rail Investment and Improvement Act of 2008). By 2017, he had garnered enough experience to be appointed to Amtrak’s top spot, but “there was no way he’d get the job as long as there was a Republican in the White House, and as long as Elaine Chao was Secretary of Transportation,” one Capitol Hill transportation insider said at the time of his appointment as Amtrak President. “When Democrat Joe Biden, a staunch Amtrak supporter and long-time Amtrak customer, became President-elect, that set the wheels in motion to give Stephen Gardner the throttle. It’s not surprising that the Amtrak Board didn’t wait until Inauguration Day.”
Railway Age Capitol Hill Contributing Editor Frank N. Wilner, author of “Amtrak: Past, Present, Future,” and who wrote for Railway Age a profile of Gardner in February, comments:
“Few Amtrak presidents in the passenger railroad’s more than half-century of existence match Gardner’s devotion to the brand and its employees. Self-described as a political liberal—he previously held senior Democratic Senate staff positions—Gardner becomes another casualty of an Administration whose biases are so undisguised and repulsive that a French member of the European Parliament called for the United States to return the Statue of Liberty to France.
“Most telling is Gardner’s farewell comment that he is departing to ensure Amtrak ‘continues to enjoy the full faith and confidence of the Administration.’ One doesn’t require a Little Orphan Annie decoder ring (cue up iconic movie, ‘Christmas Story’) to translate: Gardner was not going to be a fellow traveler with Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy in the muck and ignominy of eviscerating Amtrak under the superintendency of POTUS 47’s unelected First Pal. Sadly playing a leading role in this debacle is an Amtrak Board of Directors displaying all the backbone of a banana. Gardner already was deeply wounded by the Administration’s successful demand that Amtrak’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) program—a model for the public and private sector and largely crafted by Amtrak’s former General Counsel Eldie Acheson—was rubber-stamp ended by Amtrak’s Board.”
“Gardner’s departure comes as [POTUS 47] and U.S. Department of Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy send shock waves through transit agencies with threats to pull federal funding from major projects if they don’t comply with new regulations and mandates,” Bloomberg News reporter Sri Taylor reported. “The White House is currently trying to stop New York City’s congestion pricing plan, and Duffy recently launched a review of California’s high-speed rail project … The company has been the focus of lawmaker scrutiny for its spotty transit service. Former President Joe Biden pledged billions to the Northeast Corridor — operated primarily by Amtrak — to fund infrastructure repairs and ease service problems that have plagued the system. [POTUS 47] and House Republicans, on the other hand, have proposed to slice Amtrak’s federal subsidy by as much as half during his first term. Elon Musk, [POTUS 47’s] right-hand man and the de-facto head of the Department of Government Efficiency, has mused about the privatization of Amtrak, claiming that the railroad’s service pales in comparison to the high-speed rail systems in other countries.”
Further Reading:
- Art of the Deal: Will First Pal Buy Amtrak?
- Amtrak’s Gardner: His Legacy on the Line
- It’s Official: Gardner Named Amtrak President
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