Amtrak to Cut 450 Jobs
Written by David C. Lester, Editor-in-Chief
David C. Lester Photography
WASHINGTON, D.C. –– Amtrak announced this week that it will cut 450 jobs as part of an effort to save $100 million.
Reuters reported that the cuts will be achieved by eliminating open, but unfilled, positions, as well as a “reduction-in-force” (RIF) process. Amtrak said that these cuts, in addition to previous cost cuts, “will help save $100 million annually.”
Why are these cuts being made? The reason provided by the passenger agency was that, according to Reuters, “future support from Congress remains uncertain.”
The Trump administration, along with Elon Musk, essentially fired Amtrak CEO Stephen Gardner several weeks ago. In addition, Musk announced that he believed Amtrak should be placed in private hands. A new CEO has not been chosen so, for the moment, Amtrak President Roger Harris is running the organization.
Congress appropriated $66 billion for transportation projects in 2021 and $22 million of that money was earmarked for Amtrak to use over a five-year period.
“What’s Past Is Prologue?”
Amtrak’s comment about the uncertainty of future support from Congress seems to have merit if you look at what Trump tried to do in his first term. Reuters reported then that “The White House budget [for 2021] proposed cutting funding for the U.S. government-owned passenger rail carrier Amtrak while calling for a significant hike in infrastructure spending and killing a clean energy auto loan program.”
“The proposal would cut Amtrak funds in fiscal 2021 by more than 50% over 2020 levels. It could cut funds to the congested northeast corridor from $700 million to $325 million and cut long-distance train funds from $1.3 billion to $611 million, then phase out support for Amtrak’s long-distance trains.”
