Amtrak’s board of directors is seeking public feedback on a plan to split the company into three business units — passenger services, infrastructure, and fleet management — five months after the Federal Railroad Administration first pushed the railroad toward a similar breakup.

In a news release today, Amtrak said its management team developed the plan to “modernize and transform the company’s corporate structure.”

Under the framework, Amtrak would remain the parent company, providing governance, strategic direction, and coordination, while establishing three focused businesses:

• Passenger Services, which would be responsible for train service.
• Infrastructure Management, which would maintain and improve tracks, bridges, tunnels, and stations, overseeing more than $5 billion annually in capital investments.
• Fleet Management, which would be responsible for $10 billion in new rolling stock and fleet modernization.

The proposed structure, Amtrak says, is designed to bring more visibility into performance and costs while speeding decision-making and making management more accountable.

“Our management team developed this preliminary framework after extensive study and continues to seek input to be sure we get it right,” said Interim President Byl Herrmann. “Our goal is a more accountable, effective, and resilient Amtrak, one that delivers more riders, more revenue, and the best customer service in the transportation industry.”

Beginning in September, Amtrak will develop the detailed design and implementation plan, with a formal proposal to the board in December and operations under the new structure proposed to begin in 2027.

Federal Railroad Administration officials in February briefed the Rail Passengers Association on a plan that would recast Amtrak as a holding company that would oversee separate entities responsible for operations, equipment management and leasing, and infrastructure and construction.

“While it is too early to draw any definite conclusions, the Key Performance Indicators Amtrak decides to focus on may prove more important than the organizational chart itself,” Jim Mathews, CEO of the Rail Passengers Association, said in a statement today. “The right metrics reinforce Amtrak’s public-service mission. The wrong ones could unintentionally push the company toward priorities Congress never intended.”

“Additionally, Rail Passengers has said from day one: organizational reform is not a substitute for adequately funding the railroad,” Mathews said. “Towards that end, we continue to believe there must be buy-in from the U.S. Congress and states, and that any restructuring that isn’t done in conjunction with the Congressional debate over the shape of the surface transportation reauthorization and state-level network planning won’t deliver benefits to America’s passengers.”

Rail Passengers Association said the restructuring is likely to be a multi-year process, with Amtrak working with consultants to design the structure, develop performance metrics, build supporting IT and financial systems, and then return to the board for approval at major milestones.

The proposal comes in a year when all current federal surface transportation authorizations expire.

In February, the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen warned the restructuring would be a first step toward privatization. Officials at other unions also speculated to their membership about that possibility.

However, a U.S. Department of Transportation spokeswoman told Bloomberg in February that privatization was not under consideration.

The public can comment on the current plan at this page on the Amtrak website.