MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST:
The CEO of Amtrak resigned this week, effective immediately. In a statement, Stephen Gardner said he was leaving his post to, quote, "ensure that Amtrak continues to enjoy the full faith and confidence of this administration." The move comes as President Trump and Elon Musk push to cut federal government spending and after Musk floated the idea that Amtrak should be privatized. Amtrak, by the way, was created by Congress. It receives federal funding, though it is operated and managed as a for-profit company. To talk this through and also to hear about the future of Amtrak, we're joined by Jim Mathews. He is president and CEO of the Rail Passengers Association. Hi there.
JIM MATHEWS: Hi. How are you?
KELLY: I am doing OK. I am curious what your top-line reaction to this news is. How big a deal is it that Stephen Gardner has stepped down?
MATHEWS: It's a very big deal.
KELLY: Why?
MATHEWS: No.1, consider that any large organization, whether it's doing well or it's doing poorly - consider the disruption that happens when you lose your leadership. That's going to be the driving force here. It's just terribly disruptive.
KELLY: To the notion I mentioned - Elon Musk's notion that Amtrak should be privatized. Musk has said that about other organizations. The U.S. Postal Service comes to mind. I understand you think that's a bad idea for Amtrak. Why?
MATHEWS: I think it's a spectacularly bad idea. We already know it doesn't work. The reason that Amtrak was born in 1971 was precisely because private capital could not operate in a way that would deliver returns to shareholders and still serve the public. And that's Amtrak's role today, is to provide passenger rail service and connectivity to mostly rural communities in places where private capital simply cannot afford to provide it.
KELLY: Is your impression that Stephen Gardner was an obstacle to privatization, that he would have stood in the way?
MATHEWS: Of course he would. I think his devotion to Amtrak's mission would make him be very hostile to the idea of privatization because, No.1, it is a mission-driven organization. It is not a profit-driven organization. But No.2, to privatize Amtrak is, by definition, to dismantle it, and I just don't think he would have stood for that. And I think that none of us should stand for that.
KELLY: So, Jim Mathews, you are head of the Rail Passengers Association, so let me ask you about the impact of all this on rail passengers, many of whom probably don't care that much who's running the company as long as the trains run on time.
MATHEWS: Well, I think that's true because for the vast majority of those passengers, they just want the train. They want a clean, comfortable, reliable, on-time train to get them where they have to go. I think particularly when you start looking in rural communities, Amtrak is a lifeline. These are communities that often have no other form of public transportation, no other form of access, really, to outside of their communities. And particularly for folks who are disabled, for disabled veterans, for the elderly - there's lots of people who can't fly, can't drive, and this is their way to connect to others. And to your point, they don't necessarily care who runs it, but they absolutely care that it runs.
KELLY: So what is the impact of this week's developments, do you think? - of Amtrak getting very visibly caught up in politics?
MATHEWS: Unfortunately, Amtrak has always been visibly caught up in politics because it's really a political creature, right? It was created by Congress in 1971 to solve a political problem, which was the gradual erosion of passenger rail service throughout the country over many years. It became a crisis when a lot of the railroads were saying they couldn't operate any longer, and they sought government permission to stop creating services and to stop running services that they already ran. So it became a political issue. It was born in a political moment, and it has been a political football ever since.
And that's largely because it is a creation of the Congress. The board of directors is created by the White House with the advice and consent of the Senate. It relies on government funding to operate. It is - it can't help but be caught up in politics. And unfortunately, that has really shaped Amtrak over the past half decade in terms of the ability to get the money it needs to do the job that we're asking it to do.
KELLY: Jim Mathews is president and CEO of the Rail Passengers Association. Thanks for your time.
MATHEWS: Thank you. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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