Privatizing Amtrak: a disaster in the making

Recently, public comments from officials within the Presidential Administration and the Department of Government Efficiency have reignited discussions that could lead to the catastrophic decision to privatize Amtrak. SMART-TD’s position is clear: privatizing Amtrak is not just bad policy, it’s a direct threat to our Amtrak members, the American people, and communities that depend on this vital service.

Passengers: Prepare to Pay More for Less

Supply and demand is a simple law. A private company is obliged to raise prices on popular routes while abandoning the unprofitable ones. This means higher prices for urban areas while parts of the country with low ridership are left stranded.

Profit Motives Contradict Low Margin Public Services

First and foremost, fully privatizing Amtrak would only serve to prioritize profit over public service. As it stands today, Amtrak technically operates as a federally subsidized, for-profit corporation. In reality, the organization has never turned a yearend profit, because it is set up as more than a company, it is a public service and resource. Both federal and state funding allows it to operate as a public transportation provider with reasonable ticket prices and operational stability. They receive federal dollars to ensure the public’s transportation needs are met. Federal oversight ensures that Amtrak is accountable to the public interest.

Profit-driven companies are unable and unwilling to guarantee reliability and affordability to rural and less profitable sections of our country. The trains still need to run even in areas with population densities that won’t necessarily make it a profitable proposition.

Where will the savings come from? Your Pay, And Your Safety!

If Amtrak’s new goal is to increase profitability in a low-margin market, its first move will be to cut costs. This is the fastest way to boost its bottom line. The easiest target? Eliminating staff, who are already stretched thin. We all know Amtrak is running more and more trains that are short-staffed without the support of Assistant Conductors. Where will the staffing cuts end under a new “profit at all costs” business model?

The SMART-TD transit union is deeply concerned about this threat. Aside from our responsibility to protect our member’s livelihoods, staff shortages lead to fatigue and an overall decline in service quality. We have learned this lesson multiple times: understaffed trains and fatigue cause mistakes, mistakes accumulate into accidents, and accidents can claim lives. Should our nation’s leaders choose to make this mistake again our members are the ones who will experience the trauma, and struggle to clean up the mess.

Success comes from taking care of your front-line workers ►

Tragedy comes when there are too few people on the job ►