Overview

This page outlines ongoing concerns about the lack of transparency with which the Amtrak Board of Directors (the “Amtrak Board” or “Board”) conducts its business.

When we published our original Transparency Assessment in October 2020, Amtrak’s Board meetings were neither open to the public nor accessible to the media. As a matter of practice, the Board did not publicly release meeting agendas, minutes, transcripts, recordings, or any other documentation related to its deliberations or decisions.

In an effort to better understand the Board’s work we submitted Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests to Amtrak, seeking access to meeting agendas and minutes dating back to 2018. (All available minutes can be found below.)

The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, enacted in November 2021, introduced — for the first time — a statutory requirement for Amtrak’s Board to hold at least one meeting a year with the public. Although this requirement represents only a limited form of transparency, it marked a modest but meaningful step forward.

In June 2023, legislation was introduced in both chambers of Congress that would require the Amtrak Board to comply with the federal Open Meetings Act. Although the House passed its version, the bill ultimately died at the end of the session. Similar legislation was reintroduced in January 2025, and the House version has been reported favorably out of committee and is awaiting a vote on the House floor

In parallel, the Amtrak Board adopted a resolution in December 2024 with that would increase transparency, to some degree. The resolution included commitments to allow the public to observe meetings of the Board, and to publish key materials, such as agendas and vote results, on a new public-facing Board webpage.

In May 2025, the Board allowed the public to observe, via Zoom, a 90-minute portion of its regularly scheduled two-day plenary meeting — which was another notable step forward.

Shortly thereafter, in June 2025, Amtrak launched a redesigned Board of Directors webpage with additional information related to the Board’s work.

Taken together, these developments suggest a slow but measurable shift toward greater transparency.

However, as detailed in the sections that follow, Amtrak remains far less transparent than its publicly funded peers—and significant gaps in public access and accountability remain.

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Contents

Transparency Assessment of the Amtrak Board of Directors
prepared in October 2020

1. Background

2. Amtrak compared to similar entities

3. Why are Amtrak’s board meetings not open to the public?

4. Conclusions and next steps

Other topics

Meeting agendas and minutes (January 2018 – )

Timeline of developments

Amtrak board of directors transparency initiatives

Legislation in Congress

Further reading

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Transparency Assessment of the Amtrak Board of Directors
(originally published in October 2020)

1. Background

The National Railroad Passenger Corporation (Amtrak), created by the Rail Passenger Service Act of 1970, was incorporated in the District of Columbia in 1971.

The Secretary of Transportation, on behalf of the Federal Government, holds all issued and outstanding preferred shares, giving the government effective control over the corporation.

While Amtrak operates as a for-profit corporation under a federal charter, it functions in practice as a quasi-public entity. Its governance, funding, and strategic priorities are aligned with—and effectively directed by—the federal government through the President, Congress, and the Department of Transportation.

While Amtrak has at times claimed to be a private corporation, especially in legal or policy contexts, in reality it operates as a government-owned and controlled entity, and courts, Congress, and oversight bodies have largely recognized it as such. Its self-characterization has often reflected political and legal strategy more than operational or financial independence.

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Amtrak’s Board of Directors (the “Board”), as described in 49 U.S.C. § 24302, is composed of 10 directors, with 2 seat vacant at the moment.

The current members of the Board are listed on this webpage, along with links to their individual biographies —

The screenshot below of the Amtrak Board of Directors page (captured in March of 2025) does not include any information regarding meetings of the Board.

There is also no mention of future meetings, copies of past meeting agendas or minutes, or copies of material presented to or by the Board.

In fact, we were unable [between 2020 and May 2025] to find any published information online that advises the public of any opportunities to understand any aspect of the Board’s discussions or decisions.

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2. Amtrak compared to similar entities

To put the Amtrak Board’s lack of transparency into perspective we created this chart which compares Amtrak’s board of directors to six public-benefit corporations in the U.S.

The chart compares the Amtrak Board with six similar entities, all of whom exist, like Amtrak, to serve the public interest.

We also reviewed the transparency of the boards that oversee each of the thirty–odd publicly-funded providers of passenger rail service in the United States.

We found that almost all of these organizations have both open and transparent board meetings.^a

Here’s a sampling of the organizations that we reviewed, with a link to the respective organization’s board of directors webpage.

Alaska Railroad
A freight and passenger railroad owned by the State of Alaska

The Capitol Corridor Joint Powers Authority
Provides administration and management of the Capitol Corridor in northern California

Northern New England Passenger Rail Authority
Provides administration and management of the Downeaster service between Maine and Boston

Peninsula Corridor Joint Powers Board
The operator of the Caltrain commuter rail service along the San Francisco Peninsula

Regional Transit Authority
The regional transit agency for the Denver Metro area

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority
The regional transit authority for the the New York City Metro region

Virginia Passenger Rail Authority (VPRA)
The VPRA has the administrative and fiduciary responsibility to promote, sustain, and expand the availability of passenger rail service in the Commonwealth of Virginia.

Of this group, the Virginia Passenger Rail Authority is the most transparent — with board meeting materials that include, agenda and meeting minutes, presentations and meeting materials, and decision briefs and resolutions.

^a The Connecticut Department of Transportation (operator of the CTrail Hartford Line) and the Maryland Transit Administration (operator of the MARC Train Service) do not have a board of directors.

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3. Why are Amtrak’s board meetings not open to the public?

The short answer

Meetings of the Amtrak Board of Directors are not subject to the Government in the Sunshine Act.

If Amtrak was subject to this Act every meeting of its board of directors would be open to public observation, each meeting would have been announced in advance with a published agenda, and the minutes and records of the meetings would have been made available to the public.

The long answer

In the late 1960s and early 1970s, Congress passed a series of transparency laws designed to bring greater accountability to the federal government.¹

The first such law, the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), requires government agencies to provide access to agency documents upon public request so long as one of a series of exceptions (protecting documents related to national defense, trade secrets, and internal deliberative matters, among other things) is not met.²

Another law, the Government in the Sunshine Act (Open Meetings Act), requires that, with notable exceptions, meetings of federal government agencies and regulatory bodies be open to the public, along with their decisions and records.³

It is important to note that the FOIA and the Open Meetings Act normally only apply to federal agencies.

The term “agency” under the FOIA means, with certain non-relevant exceptions, “each authority of the Government of the United States.”⁴

The term “agency” under the Sunshine Act has the same meaning as it has under the FOIA so long as that “agency” is headed by a “collegial body” having 2 or more members, the majority of whom are appointed by the President with the advice and consent of the Senate.⁵

A special statute, however, provides that Amtrak, “is not a department, agency, or instrumentality of the United States Government.”⁶

Interestingly, Amtrak has been held to be a governmental agency under the Constitution for purposes of determining whether it could be a participant in adopting metrics and standards for private rail operators to follow when they provide passenger rail services to Amtrak.⁷

It has also been held to be a governmental agency for purposes of the First Amendment.⁸

However, where no Constitutional rights are at issue, Congress is free to exclude Amtrak from the strictures of statutes which impose obligations on other public entities.⁹

There is no Constitutional right to have agencies take action as required by the Open Meeting Act, so Congress is perfectly free to provide that Amtrak is not subject to that Act by defining it not to be a federal agency for non-Constitutional purposes.

By itself, the special statue noted above would exclude Amtrak from both the FOIA and the Open Meetings Act.

However, in 1972 Congress amended the Rail Passenger Service Act of 1970 by adding a statute that required Amtrak to be subject to FOIA.¹⁰

And in 1997 Congress passed the Amtrak Reform and Accountability Act which included a statute that required Amtrak to [only] be subject to the FOIA, “for any fiscal year in which Amtrak receives a Federal subsidy.”¹¹

The upshot of this is that Amtrak is subject to the FOIA, but for some reason Congress has never made Amtrak subject to the Open Meetings Act.

By not being subject to the Open Meetings Act, Amtrak is not required to —

• Open up its board meetings to the public;
• Take votes to go into executive sessions (since it can keep all of it sessions closed in any case) and not share the contents of those sessions or of information that can be withheld from the public from those sessions;
• Provide advance public notice of its meetings and their anticipated subject matter;
• Keep a transcript, recording, or minutes of any meeting closed to the public or make any such transcript, recording or minutes which it does keep available to the public; or
• Promulgate regulations concerning the holding of its meetings.¹²

It is possible that some of this information could be contained in documents which might be obtained under the FOIA, but there is no statutory right for the public to be notified of or to attend these meetings.

Bottom Line —

Amtrak has no legal obligation at the moment to open its Board meetings to the public or give advance notice of such meetings.

It does though have an obligation to provide copies of transcripts, recordings, meeting minutes, or other records of those meetings under the FOIA, except to the extent that the exceptions to FOIA disclosures apply.

As a political and policy matter, it would seem that Amtrak could benefit greatly by increasing the transparency of its Board of Directors in the eyes of both the public and public officials. Matters before the board that really need to be kept confidential could still be kept confidential by relegating such matters to the executive session portions of those meetings.

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¹ Reeve Bull, The Government in the Sunshine Act in the 21st Century (Washington: Administrative Conference of the United States, 2014), 2.

² 5 U.S.C. § 552. Bull, The Government in the Sunshine Act in the 21st Century, 2.

³ Government in the Sunshine Act,  Pub. L. 94-409. See 5 U.S.C. § 552b.

⁴ 5 U.S.C. § 551(1).

⁵ 5 U.S.C. § 552b(a)(1).

⁶ 49 U.S.C. § 24301(a)(3).

⁷ See Dept. of Transportation v. Association of American Railroads, 572 U.S. 43 (2015).

⁸ See Lebron v. Nat’l R.R. Passenger Corp., 513 U.S. 374 (1995).

⁹ 513 U.S. at 392; Riviere v. Dir. of HIDTA V.I. Div., No. 2012-50, 2018 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 52664, at *7-8 (D.V.I. Mar. 29, 2018).

¹⁰ “The Corporation shall be subject to the provisions of section 552 of title 5, United States Code”, To amend the Rail Passenger Service Act of 1970 in order to provide financial assistance to the National Railroad Passenger Corporation, and for other purposes., Pub. L. 92-316, §3(g). See 49 U.S.C. § 24301(e). Aug v. National Railroad Passenger Corp., 425 F. Supp. 946 (D.D.C. 1976).

¹¹ “Section 24301(e) is amended by adding at the end thereof the following: ‘Section 552 of title 5, United States Code, applies to Amtrak for any fiscal year in which Amtrak receives a Federal subsidy.’ ” Amtrak Reform and Accountability Act of 1997, Pub. L. 105–134, §110(a).

¹³ 5 U.S.C. § 552b.

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4. Conclusions and next steps

As former Amtrak President Joe Boardman said in 2018, “Amtrak is not a privately held corporation whose fate is to be determined by a few individuals behind closed doors. It was created by the people and for the people and is funded by taxpayers who help to supplement Amtrak’s farebox revenue.”¹³

As a publicly-funded passenger rail service, Amtrak’s Board meetings should be open to the public and the media and meeting agendas, meeting minutes, and other material presented to the board should be available, without the need to submit a FOIA request to obtain the information.

Every other publicly-supported passenger rail service in the country holds open and transparent board meetings, and we think Amtrak should too.

This issue could easily be remedied if Congress were to make Amtrak subject to the Open Meetings Act (5 U.S.C. § 552b), as some have said was their intent when the Government in Sunshine Act was passed back in 1976.¹⁴

We would encourage like minded individuals and organizations to reach out to Congress and ask them to remedy this situation.

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¹³ Boardman, Joseph A. (May 10, 2018), “Amtrak: Where is the public input? Where is the transparency?”, Railway Age.

¹⁴ See Printing of Notices for Amtrak pursuant to the Sunshine Act (Washington: Comptroller General of the United States, September 8, 1978).

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Meeting agendas and minutes (January 2018 – )

We started sending Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests to Amtrak for the agenda and meeting minutes for the Amtrak Board of Directors in September 2018.

Each request was submitted using the MuckRock on-line platform which automates the entire FOIA process for us.

Amtrak responds to each request — normally after a few months time has passed — by sending us the approved meeting minutes for each meeting of the Amtrak Board of Directors.

Portions of the meeting minutes are redacted in accordance to exemptions that are provided under the FOIA law.

Sometimes Amtrak has taken a long time (more than two years in a few cases) to respond to our FOIA requests.

Most of the time Amtrak responds by not returning the agenda for the meeting.

Why these anomalies occur with Amtrak’s processing of our FOIA requests we do not know.

The agenda and minutes for each plenary meeting of the Amtrak Board of Directors (that has been released) are listed and linked below so that it is easily accessible to interested parties.

As example, here is a copy of the plenary meeting agenda for the Amtrak Board of Directors meeting that was held on January 30, 2025:

2018 – 2024 (drop down lists)

2025

January
January 29–30, 2025 | Agenda
January 29, 2025 | Minutes
January 30, 2025 | Minutes

February

March
March 19–20, 2025 | Agenda
March 19, 2025 | Minutes

April

May
May 21–22, 2025 | Agenda
May 21–22, 2025 | Minutes
May 27, 2025 | Minutes
At the end of the May 22 meeting the Board allowed the public to observe part of the meeting virtually via Zoom. A video of the Public Meeting and the presentation deck can be found on the Amtrak Board of Directors page.

June

July
July 8, 2025 | Minutes
July 30–31, 2025 | Agenda
July 30–31, 2025 | Minutes
At the end of the July 31st meeting the Board hosted a virtual “Public Business Meeting.” A video of this meeting and the presentation deck can be found on the Amtrak Board of Directors page.

August

September
September 10–11, 2025 | Agenda | Minutes
September 11, 2025 | Minutes
At the end of the September 11th meeting the Board hosted a virtual “Public Business Meeting.” A video of this meeting and the presentation deck can be found on the Amtrak Board of Directors page.

October

November

December
NEW – December 3–4, 2025 | Agenda
December 3–4, 2025 | Minutes
The Amtrak Board of Directors held a public meeting on December 4, 2025, at the Hyatt Regency New Orleans, with an option to attend in-person or virtually.

The meeting resources for this public meeting (a video recording of the meeting, the presentation deck, and other material) can be found on this link — Amtrak Board of Directors.

This meeting was held in accordance with provisions in the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act which requires that the Board meet at least annually with the general public, in an open meeting with a virtual attendance option.

NEW – 2026

January
January 28–29, 2026 | Agenda | Minutes

February

March
March 18–19, 2026 | Agenda | Minutes

April

May
May 20–21, 2026 | Agenda | Minutes
May 21 – Meeting with representatives of the disability community (*)

June

July
July 29–30, 2026 | Agenda | Minutes
July 30 – Meeting with employee representatives (*)

August

September
September 9–10, 2026 | Agenda | Minutes

October

November

December
December 2–3, 2026 | Agenda | Minutes
December 2nd or 3rd — Public Meeting(*)

(*) These meetings are held in accordance with provisions in the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.

The list of 2026 meetings listed above only include the Plenary Meetings of the Amtrak Board of Directors. The full schedule of meetings, including the committee meetings, can be on this link.

Notes

Meeting minutes for the committees of the board

Amtrak’s FOIA office usually sends us both the minutes for the regular board meetings and the minutes for the committees of the board, which include — the Safety and Security Committee, the Audit and Finance Committee, the Personnel and Compensation Committee, and the Government Relations, Legal, and Governance Committee.

The minutes for the committee meetings have not been posted on this page but they can be found on this link (to the MuckRock site) for those who may be interested in this information. (search for the month that you are interested in and then open the file that was sent in response to our request.)

Redacted information

The meeting minutes noted as “redacted” in the list above are minutes that have had information removed by Amtrak prior to the release of the document.

The redactions made by Amtrak are normally made under FOIA Exemption 4 [“trade secrets and commercial or financial information obtained from a person and privileged or confidential”] or FOIA Exemption 5 [“inter-agency or intra-agency memorandums or letters that would not be available by law to a party other than an agency in litigation with the agency, …”] (See U.S.C. § 552(b)(4).)

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Timeline of developments

2025

January 3, 2025 | Rep. Troy E. Nehls (R-TX-22) introduced a bill to require that the Amtrak Board of Directors comply with the open meetings requirements of section 552b of title 5, United States Code, and for other purposes. (further details in the Legislation in Congress section below)

January 21, 2025 | Sen. Sen. Deb Fischer (R-NE) introduced a bill that would increase Amtrak’s open meeting and public disclosure requirements. (further details in the Legislation in Congress section on this page.)

May 22, 2025 | On this date Amtrak’s Board allowed the public to observe (virtually via Zoom) a 90-minute portion of a regularly scheduled 2-day plenary meeting of the board. This is an important development since this is the first time that Amtrak Board has opened any portion of a regularly schedule plenary meeting to the public.

It is important to note that the public meeting was only a portion of the scheduled board meeting that was held over a two-day period starting on Wednesday, May 21st.

Amtrak senior management provided a Finance Report, a Commercial Report, a National Network Strategy Update, a Capital Project Delivery Review, and an Update on NJ Service Area/Summer 2025 Preparations. At the end of the meeting board members participated in a question and answer session with Amtrak’s management.

At no time during the meeting did Amtrak’s Board explain why this special meeting was opened to the public, but we assume that this was done pursuant to a resolution that was approved by the Board on December 4, 2024.

June 2025 | Amtrak launched a redesigned webpage for the Board of Directors. The updated page includes recorded videos and presentations from the Board’s public sessions, as well as a selection of corporate governance documents — including the corporation’s bylaws.

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Amtrak Board of Directors’ transparency initiatives

On December 4, 2024 the Board agreed to actions that would make some of its work more transparent to the general public.

The meeting minutes said that the Board was planning to open their regular meetings to “limited public session[s] where there will be remote access to an abbreviated session for the items the Board approves that do not involve commercial real estate or personnel matters.”

They also said that, “Amtrak will begin to post meeting materials, minutes and public resolutions on the Amtrak.com website under a Board of Directors web page.” (e.d., we assume that this page will be used — National Railroad Passenger Corporation Board of Directors.)

Furthermore, the Board approved the following resolution,

QUOTE
WHEREAS, The charter for the Government Affairs, Legal and Corporate Governance Committee (Committee) of the National Railroad Passenger Corporation’s (Corporation) Board of Directors (Board) requires the Committee to stay abreast of the significant legislative and regulatory issues and key trends that affect or could affect the Corporation; and

WHEREAS, Congressional staff of other offices have contacted Corporation’s Government Affairs regarding various legislative proposals with requirements for greater Board transparency, including specific requirements for the Corporation to comply with the Federal Government in Sunshine Act; and

WHEREAS, Management has presented to the Committee and the Board various proposals to proactively increase board transparency with the general public while maintaining and respecting certain confidentiality required for the operation of a private corporation; and

WHEREAS, The Committee and the Board, have , on multiple occasions, reviewed and discussed the proposed initiatives to increase Board transparency and the Board recommends the proposed transparency initiatives be adopted by the Board; therefore, be it

RESOLVED, That the Board hereby approves Management’s recommendation to increase Board transparency to the general public in a manner that creates more opportunity for public observation at Board meetings (e.g., virtual public attendance options at standing board meetings) and coordinated release of Board activities and decisions (e .g. , creation of a public facing Board webpage that includes materials such as Board meeting dates, agendas , and vote results) ; and

FURTHER RESOLVED, That the Board hereby authorizes the Chief Executive Officer, President, Chief Legal Officer, Corporate Secretary (or their respective designees) to create any Board policy or guidelines necessary to implement the new Board transparency procedures the Board adopted pursuant to this resolution within an appropriate timeline .
UNQUOTE

This development became known to us after Amtrak released the meeting minutes for the December 4, 2024, Board meeting, in response to a Freedom of Information Act request.

Importantly, the Board’s plan to increase transparency will be impacted if Congress votes to require Amtrak to be subject to the Open Meeting Statute (section 552b of title 5, United States Code,) as is the intent of H.R. 188.

May 22, 2025 | Amtrak’s Board permitted the public to observe (virtually via Zoom) a 90-minute portion of their regularly scheduled 2-day plenary meeting of the Board.

As far as we are aware, this is the first time that Amtrak Board has opened any portion of a regularly scheduled plenary meeting to the public.

Amtrak senior management provided a Finance Report, a Commercial Report, a National Network Strategy Update, a Capital Project Delivery Review, and and an Update on NJ Service Area/Summer 2025 Preparations. At the end of the meeting board members participated in a question and answer session with Amtrak’s management.

June 2025 | Amtrak launched a redesigned webpage for the Board of Directors. The updated page includes recorded videos and presentations from the Board’s public sessions, as well as a selection of corporate governance documents — including the corporation’s bylaws.

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Legislation in Congress

119th Congress (2025–2026)

H.R. 188 – Amtrak Transparency and Accountability for Passengers and Taxpayers Act

Text of H.R. 188

Sponsor: Rep. Troy E. Nehls (R-TX-22)

January 3, 2025 | The bill was introduced and referred to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure.

April 2, 2025 | The Committee on Transportation & Infrastructure favorably approved an amended version of the bill and reported it to the House floor. (video of the debate)

June 6, 2025 | The bill was placed on the Union Calendar. This step sets the bill up for a vote on the House floor.

S.174 – Amtrak Transparency Act

Sponsor: Sen. Deb Fischer (R-NE)

January 21, 2025 | The bill was introduced and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation.

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Further reading

Amtrak Board of Directors
Official page

Revision of the Freedom of Information Act Regulations of the National Railroad Passenger Corporation
Federal Register | Vol. 82, No. 25 | February 8, 2017

“Amtrak: Where is the public input? Where is the transparency?”
By Joseph Boardman | Railway Age | May 10, 2018
Joe Boardman was the president of Amtrak from 2008 until 2016. From 2005 until 2008 he held the job of Federal Railroad Administrator.

Access to Government Information in the United States: A Primer (PDF)
By Wendy Ginsberg and Michael Greene | Congressional Research Service | 2016

The Government in the Sunshine Act in the 21st Century (PDF)
By Reeve Bull | Administrative Conference of the United States | 2014

Reporter’s Handbook – The Federal Government in the Sunshine Act: A Mandate for Open Meetings
By Joseph Fleming and José León | Florida Bar Association | 2008

Berg, R. K., Klitzman, S. H., & Edles, G. J. (2005). An interpretive guide to the Government in the Sunshine Act. Chicago.: ABA, Section of Administrative Law and Regulatory Practice. ISBN 9781590315842

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Thank you

Thanks goes out to the many people who offered comments, feedback and encouragement as we worked our way though this complex issue.

Page last updated: December 10, 2025
Page last reviewed: June 13, 2025