A sudden movement of Amtrak was down. NPR’s Mary Louise Kelly talks to Jim Matthews of the Rail Passenger Union in connection with the future of the US passenger railway service.
Mary Louise Kelly, Host:
Amtrak CEO resigned this week, immediately effective. In the statement, Stephen Gardner said he left the post, “Amtrak continues to enjoy the full faith and trust of this management. The action was pushed to reduce the federal government expenses such as President Trump and Elon Musk and after the musk was then privatized. Amtrak, by the way, was created by Congress. It gets federal financing, although it is also managed as a profit company. To talk about this and also to hear about the future of Amtrak, Jim jum is joined. He is the President and General Director of the Union of Railway Passengers. Hello.
Jim Mathews: Hello. How are you?
Kelly: I’m doing fine. I am interested in what is the highest line reaction to this news. How big deal is Stephen Gardner’s graded?
Mathews: It’s a very big thing.
Kelly: Why?
Mathews: # 1, think that any large organization is good or weak – consider the disorder that happens when you lose your lead. There will be a driving force here. Just quite a disruptive.
Kelly: The concept of the concept I mentioned – the concept of elon musk to be privatized. Musk said about other organizations. The US Postal Service comes to mind. I think I think it’s a bad idea for Amtrak. Why?
Mathews: I think it is a great bad idea. It’s no longer working. The reason Amtrak was born in 1971, the reason for the shareholders will not be returned to shareholders and could not work in a way that the public could serve. Today, the role of Amtrak is to provide a connection to the passenger railway service and the locations where special capital can provide its rural communities.
Kelly: Is Stephen Gardner’s impression that it is an obstacle to privatization?
Mathews: It would be of course. I think that loyalty to Amtrak’s mission would lead to the idea of privatization, because №1 is an organization managed by the mission. This is not a profitable organization. However, №2, to privatize Amtrak, disassemble it and just don’t think it will stop for it. I think that none of us should stand for it.
So Kelly: Jim Mathews, you are the president of the Rail Passenger Association, so many of them are affected by the railways in the railways, probably the participation of the company during the process.
Mathews: Well, I think it’s just a train for the vast majority of these passengers. They want to take a clean, comfortable, reliable, timely trip to the place where they should walk. Amtrak is a lifetime, especially when you start looking at rural communities. These are often communities that do not have another form of public transport, the other entrance form is really outside the communities. For people with disabilities, especially for people with disabilities, for the disabled, for the elderly – there are many people who can not fly, and it cannot drive, and this is the way to join others. And in your opinion, they do not see who works, but they take care of it completely because it works.
Kelly: What is the impact of this week’s development, do you think? – Are Amtrak seemed very visible in politics?
Mathews: Unfortunately, Amtrak always caught in politics, because it’s really a political creature, doesn’t it? In 1971, the passenger railway service was established by Congress to resolve a political problem with a gradual erosion over the years. Many railways were a crisis that they could no longer work and asked for government permission to create services and suspend services already. Thus, it was a political issue. He was born at a political moment and since today this was political football.
And this is the creation of this congress. The board was created by the White House with the recommendation and consent of the Senate. This is based on the state financing to manage. This – it can’t help, but is caught in politics. Unfortunately, this is the last half in the last six months to do the work you need to do an Amtrak to do an amtrak, the work you want to get money.
Kelly: Jim Mathews is the President and General Director of the Rail Passenger Association. Thank you for your time.
Mathews: Thank you.
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