Elon Musk suggests privatizing amtrak and calls rail service ‘sad’

Almost since Amtrak’s creation in 1971, the US Intercity passenger track service of 21,000 km has fought for calls for it to be privatized.

Now it may have met one of its most aggressive and powerful skeptics yet.

When he spoke at a technical conference on Wednesday, Elon Musk Amtrak added to the list of state -funded services on his chopping board, called the federally owned rail “embarrassing” and said privatization was the only way to solve it.

“If you are traveling to China, you will get epic bullet trains,” said Mr. Musk, the billionaire working to run the federal bureaucracy under the Trump administration. “They are amazing.”

China’s train, subsidized by the communist government and has produced large public debt, connects any large Chinese city and runs at at least 186 miles per hour. Amtrak’s northeast Acela, the fastest US passenger train, peaks out at approx. 150 mph

“And you’re coming back to America and you’re like” Amtrak is a sad situation, “Mr. Musk at the conference organized by Bank Morgan Stanley. “If you come from another country, don’t use our national rail. It will leave you with a very bad impression of America. “

Mr. Musk that has criticized An ambitious effort to build a high -speed California railway system has also called for the privatization of the US postal service, a concept that President Trump has floated. The president has not called for privatizing Amtrak, and the White House did not immediately respond to a comment for comment Thursday.

Amtrak has always lost money, uses outdated technology – one of the century -old or more – and frustrates his riders with chronic delays on his crispy tracks. On one evening last spring, delays on Amtrak’s lines in New York City produced a Domino effect that sent the prices of Ride-Hail-Service. On another day, the Amtrak delays New Jersey Transit -Summary train and stopped train journeys as far away as Boston.

But Amtrak is also an important gear in the American travel system that keeps people away from roads and out of airports, connecting rural and small towns across the country at affordable prices. Congress had to approve any relocation to privatize Amtrak, which acts as a pre-profit company.

Amtrak responded to Mr. Musk by saying that its “business results are strong” and that it looked forward to working with Mr. Trump to create a “world-class passenger track system.” Amtrak said it expected to make money for the first time under Mr. Trump.

The demand for Amtrak is up. In the last fiscal year served a record 32.8 million customers and invested more than $ 4 billion in improvements to its creaking infrastructure and aging fleet, according to the Railway Service.

Wednesday the railway announced one White Book Krangler Against privatization and says, “It is not clear what problem Amtrak -Privatization Proposal is intended to solve.”

Ridership in the northeastern corridor has risen since the coronavirus -pandemic said, and Acela is expected to introduce new trains traveling 160 km / hi years. In the financial year 2024, Amtrak reported record revenue.

The White Paper rejected arguments that privatization would improve the service and noted that the British government is taking control of its passenger rail after three “catastrophic decades of privatization.”

Amtrak has long been under control by Republican presidents. President George W. Bush’s administration was considering privatizing it. President Ronald Reagan went as far as directly Ask Congress to sell it. And in his first period, Mr. Trump deep cuts.

Congress has been at Amtrak. During the administration of President Joseph R. Biden Jr., a master of the railway after years with Commuting from Delaware to the country’s capital, Legislators authorized More than $ 20 billion in the cost of modernization.

Tad Dehaven, a political analyst at the Conservative Cato Institute and a sharp critic of Amtrak’s spending, said he had long expected Mr. Musk’s Institute of Government Efficiency to Target the Railway.

Still said Mr. Dehaven, that Mr. Musk would have to overcome the “political whims” of legislators-inclusive Republicans from rural areas-which support money-taking, long-distance paths, even as the popular northeastern lines of net profits.

“It simply makes more financial sense to use roads, flights or even the advent of Intercity bus travel,” Mr. Dehaven and added, “Now is the question: How serious is the administration about it? And if they are serious, how serious are they working with Congress to do something about it? “

The Taleswomen for Senator John Thune of South Dakota, the Republican majority leader, and speaks Mike Johnson, Republican in Louisiana, did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Louis Thompson, a member of Transport department Teams that developed Amtrak and who later monitored his budget, Mr. Musk’s suggestion was “Not possible.”

He said that Americans did not expect metros or buses to make money and that they should not expect anything more from Amtrak. Achieving a profit has not been one of the railway system’s declared goals.

Amtrak provides a service that is “inherent not profitable,” Mr. Thompson and added that “this is the uniform model for most railway passenger service worldwide.”

If it’s not profitable, Mr. Thompson: “You can’t privatize it.”