Amtrak Names Richard Anderson, Former Delta Chief, as Its New CEO

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The travel industry is getting smaller and smaller. Today, Amtrak announced that its CEO Wick Moorman is stepping down at the end of the year. Who'll be replacing him? None other than former Delta Air Lines CEO Richard Anderson.

In the interim between July 12 and the end of the year, Moorman and Anderson will serve as co-CEOs of Amtrak. By the time Moorman steps down, he'll have been at the helm of the train operator for about a year and a half. According to Politico, Amtrak's chairman Tony Coscia said that Amtrak's plans were always for Moorman to be a temporary CEO. In fact, Moorman said that he'll have been there longer than originally intended.

Moorman said he'll retain an ongoing advisor role with Amtrak after he steps down in order to assist Anderson, who has no experience in the railroad business. The announcement comes at a pivotal time, as Amtrak has faced increasing pressure to conduct critical repair work at Penn Station and to replace the rail tunnel beneath the Hudson River, which is falling apart.

Anderson joined Delta in 2007, just as the company was coming out of bankruptcy. Since that time and up until he left in 2016 for retirement, Anderson helped to transform Delta into the very profitable carrier it is today. As for what kind of say he'll have in transforming the Amtrak Guest Rewards program (if at all), that has yet to be seen.