Fall 2025 & Spring 2026 - Government Affairs Intern (State and Local Relation) - 90397506 - Chicago

Your success is a train ride away!

As we move America’s workforce toward the future, Amtrak connects businesses and communities across the country. We employ more than 20,000 diverse, energetic professionals in a variety of career fields throughout the United States. The safety of our passengers, our employees, the public and our operating environment is our priority, and the success of our railroad is due to our employees.

 

Are you ready to join our team?

Our values of ‘Do the Right Thing, Excel Together and Put Customers First’ are at the heart of what matters most to us, and our Core Capabilities, ‘Building Trust, Accountability, Effective Communication, Customer Focus, and Proactive Safety & Security’ are what every employee needs to know and do to be most impactful at Amtrak. By living the Amtrak values, focusing on our capabilities, and actively embracing and fostering diverse ideas, backgrounds, and perspectives, together we will honor our past and make Amtrak a company of the future.

 

SUMMARY OF DUTIES:

Amtrak typically serves more than 30 million people a year in over 500 cities across the country. The Government Affairs intern is responsible for learning and supporting the department in its corporate legislative strategy with key stakeholders including, state and local elected officials, and their staff , as well as the district staff of members of Congress. The national state and local relations team works hard to ensure that elected officials and stakeholders are well informed of Amtrak’s priorities, the impact/importance of passenger rail to the communities and states we serve, and are positioned to support Amtrak and passenger rails service in the US.

 

ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS:

Learning and assisting with:

1. Advancing and advocating Amtrak’s national legislative agenda.
   • Developing positive relationships with key political and transportation leaders in each of the states in the territory.
   • Working passionately at the grassroots level to develop support for Amtrak’s services in the communities Amtrak serves, particularly with mayors, business groups and other community leaders.
2. Supporting Amtrak’s goals and initiatives for the Long Distance, State Supported and NEC business lines.
3. Establishing relations with state and local policymakers founded on the highest standards of integrity, honesty, credibility and reliability.
4. Outreach and advocacy to Amtrak stakeholders, interest groups, Amtrak employees and other constituents regarding support for Amtrak’s legislative and congressional agenda.
5. Attending public hearings, alone or with a member of staff , as needed.
6. Research projects, data entry/analysis/visualization, recording keeping of key data that could include: votes, demographics, election cycles and transportation trends.
7. Document organization, either for permanent f iles and/or for meetings, events or hearing preparation.
8. Strong writing skills to support correspondence with elected of f icials and stakeholders, memos and testimony.
9. Assistance with special events, such as stakeholder meetings, large travel groups, facility tours, or dignitary travel.
10. Other departmental activities as they arise.

 

MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS:

• Must be actively pursuing a degree at an accredited educational institution.

• Must be actively pursuing an undergraduate degree in Political Science, Government Relations, Public Administration, Business Administration or a related field.

• Must have at least 1 year of academic undergraduate studies completed or a sophomore status at minimum. 

• Must have a cumulative GPA of 2.8 or higher.

• Able to function in a collaborative work environment and communicating orally and in writing within the corporation and externally.

• Ability to manage competing priorities.

• Willingness to travel for work

 

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS:

• An understanding of local government and state legislative procedures, with knowledge of federal legislative process.
• Basic understanding of transportation industry, specifically rail
• Cover letter and short 1–2-page writing sample is recommended.

 

COMMUNICATIONS AND INTERPERSONAL SKILLS:
Must have excellent oral and written communication skills.

 

PAY TRANSPARENCY:

The hourly range is $17.50 per hour - $35.00 per hour. Pay is based on factors including school year, program of study, etc.  In addition, paid int