By David Shepardson
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Billionaire Elon Musk, who is advising President Donald Trump on plans to radically shrink the U.S. government said Wednesday that the U.S. Postal Service and passenger railroad Amtrak should be privatized.
“I think logically we should privatize anything that can reasonably be privatized,” Musk said at a Morgan Stanley conference. “I think we should privatize the Post Office and Amtrak for example… We should privatize everything we possibly can.”
He said he thought those actions would require congressional approval. Amtrak, a government-owned company created in 1970, and USPS, also government owned, did not immediately comment.
Last month, Trump said he was considering merging the Postal Service with the U.S. Commerce Department, a move Democrats said would violate federal law.
The Postal Service has lost more than $100 billion since 2007, including $9.5 billion in the 12 months ending September 30. Earlier this month, however, it reported a fourth-quarter profit of $144 million. As email boomed, the agency has been hurt by an 80% decline in first-class mail volume since 1997. Volumes are now at the lowest level since 1968.
Amtrak said in December ridership topped 2019 pre-COVID levels for the first time in 2024 and reached a record high.
Amtrak ridership increased 15% over 2023 to a record 32.8 million customer trips, while Amtrak reported an adjusted operating loss of $705 million for the 12 months ending September 30, down 9% over 2023.
Musk said that in comparison with Chinese high-speed rail, Amtrak “is a sad situation… It will leave you with a very bad impression of America.”
Amtrak in March said it was boosting passenger services on the East Coast as it aims to double ridership nationwide by 2040 to 66 million passengers.
Congress approved $66 billion for rail projects as part of a massive infrastructure bill in 2021, with $22 billion dedicated to Amtrak over five years on top of regular funding.
Amtrak’s future funding is uncertain. President Donald Trump during his first term repeatedly sought to cut funding to Amtrak, which received about $2.4 billion in annual federal support last year.
(Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)
