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Amtrak sets all-time passenger and revenue records in FY 2011

From Amtrak press release:

WASHINGTON – Amtrak carried nearly 30.2 million passengers in Fiscal Year 2011 ending September 30, marking the highest ridership total since the National Railroad Passenger Corporation started operations in 1971 and the eighth ridership record during the last nine years. Ridership versus the prior year is up by more than five percent – and ticket revenue is up by more than eight percent — despite significant weather related disruptions in the Northeast, Central and Western U.S.

Today in St. Louis, Amtrak is recognizing a suburban St. Louis woman as the representative 30 millionth passenger. Rochelle Lathan rode the

Texas Eagle from Alton, Ill., to Springfield on September 28, the day the 30 million passenger mark was reached. She is a mother of five, a student at Florissant Valley Community College and an Amtrak Guest Rewards member who travels frequently to Springfield and Chicago on the Lincoln Service and Texas Eagle trains.

“Amtrak truly is America’s Railroad®,” said Amtrak Board of Directors Chairman Tom Carper at the St. Louis event. “We were created by Congress to fulfill a vital national transportation need and to connect the nation in ways no other mode of transportation can. We have always delivered for the American people and we will continue to do so.”

“Thirty million passengers is not just a statistic. That number is made up of real people who live real lives and use Amtrak for personal, business and recreational travel,” said Emmett Fremaux, the head of the Amtrak Marketing and Product Development Department, who presented Ms. Lathan with an oversized Amtrak ticket and two 30-day rail passes.

“I ride Amtrak monthly, going back and forth to Springfield and Chicago for business and pleasure,” she said during the event at the St. Louis Gateway Transportation Center. “The ride is so relaxing and smooth. Sometimes I work and sometimes I just relax and look at the scenery.”

“We thank all our passengers for choosing Amtrak and our state partners for working with us to develop the kind of service that attracts ever increasing numbers of riders,” said Amtrak President & CEO Joseph H. Boardman. “Amtrak is fulfilling its national mission and is part of the solution to meet America’s growing transportation and energy needs.”

Amtrak friends on Facebook have been entered to win two round-trip Amtrak tickets to any of the more than 500 destinations in 46 states and three Canadian provinces that Amtrak serves. The “Sweeps for our Peeps” promotion continues through this Saturday, October 15.

Carper, Boardman and Fremaux also thanked the railroad’s nearly 20,000 employees for their work to set another record for ridership and revenue. With the exception of 2009 (12 months ending September 30, 2009), Amtrak has set records for every fiscal year since 2002.

“This is an accomplishment of many hardworking and dedicated people doing what it takes to run a railroad,” said Fremaux. “It is a long list and includes Amtrak employees such as locomotive engineers, conductors and other onboard train crew, station staff, mechanics, track

workers, K-9 security teams, and numerous other behind-the-scenes employees who work at Amtrak and at our local, state and federal partners.”

St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay, representatives of the Missouri and Illinois state departments of transportation and St. Louis-based Citizens for Modern Transit also attended the event. Most of the Amtrak service to and from St. Louis’ Gateway Station is operated by Amtrak under contracts with both state transportation departments. Both states have received federal grants for upgrades and other service improvements on the corridors to and from Kansas City and Chicago.

Factors contributing to the continuing success of Amtrak include high gasoline prices, continued growth in business travel on the high-speed

Acela Express trains with free Wi-Fi service – with more AmtrakConnectsm deployments coming soon on other services across the country — the increased appeal and popularity of rail travel and effective marketing campaigns.

These gains came despite service disruptions due to hurricanes, tropical storms and record snows in the busy Northeast Corridor, record flooding in the Central U.S. and heavy construction that temporarily reduced train frequencies on the Chicago-St. Louis route.

The previous Amtrak record for ridership and ticket revenue was set last fiscal year (FY 2010).

Amtrak FY 2011 Ridership Facts

  • 26 of 44 Amtrak services set all-time records in FY 2011
  • Seven Amtrak routes carried more than one million passengers in FY 2011, up from five in FY 2010.
  • FY 2011 was the best year ever for Northeast Regional service between Boston and Washington and the second-best year for Acela Express
  • All three main Amtrak business lines saw ridership growth in FY 2011; Northeast Corridor and state-supported/short distance routes set new records and long-distance trains had best ridership in 16 years
  • Since FY 2000, Amtrak ridership is up nearly 44 percent
News, Ridership statistics

Amtrak sets record of 30 million passengers in past 12 months, the most since railroad created

From The Washington Post:

Amtrak trains carried more than 30 million passengers in the past 12 months, the most in one year since the passenger railroad was created four decades ago, railroad officials said Thursday.

Ridership during the budget year ending on Sept. 30 was 30.2 million passengers, up 5 percent over the previous year. Ticket revenue was up by more than 8 percent despite significant weather-related disruptions in much of the country.

Amtrak has set ridership records eight out of the last nine years. A decade ago, it carried 21 million passengers a year.

“Amtrak is fulfilling its national mission and is part of the solution to meet America’s growing transportation and energy needs,” Joseph Boardman, Amtrak’s president and chief executive officer, said in a statement.

Despite its success in attracting riders, Amtrak’s critics in Congress are squeezing the railroad’s federal subsidies and trying to take away its most valuable routes in the rail corridor that links Washington, Philadelphia, New York and Boston.

The House Appropriations Committee’s transportation subcommittee last month approved a budget that sharply reduces Amtrak subsidies. In June, House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman John Mica, R-Fla., proposed soliciting bids from other railroads for the right to service the 456-mile Northeast Corridor, which is the heart of Amtrak’s operations. He said it was taking the railroad too long to achieve consistently high-speed service equivalent to trains in Europe and Asia.

Amtrak has proposed its own plan to upgrade its Northeast Corridor track and trains and to eliminate bottlenecks so that trains can travel up to 220 mph. Trip time between Washington and New York would be reduced to 96 minutes and between New York and Boston to 93 minutes. But the plan would be phased in over 30 years and cost $117 billion to implement. The railroad is seeking private investment to pay for some of the cost.

“Americans are returning to the rails in record numbers, yet Republicans are pulling out all of the stops in their rush to auction off Amtrak’s assets to the highest bidder on Wall Street,” Rep. Nick Rahall of West Virginia, top Democrat on the transportation committee, said. “It makes no sense to tear apart a railroad and its workforce while they are succeeding at their jobs.”

Amtrak was created by Congress in 1971 after passenger railroads failed in the face of competition from airlines and interstate highway travel. With the U.S. population expected to exceed 400 million people by 2050, nightmarish congestion is forecast for the nation’s already crowded highways and airports.

Source: http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/amtrak-sets-record-of-30-million-passengers-in-past-12-months-the-most-since-railroad-created/2011/10/13/gIQAHHIAiL_story.html

News

Woodward Light Rail projects gets $2 million federal grant for study on Birmingham extension

From the Detroit Free Press:

The federal government today granted $2 million to an effort to study whether Detroit’s fledgling Woodward Light Rail project, now designed to run from downtown to 8 Mile Road, should keep chugging north up to Birmingham.

The money is another strong indicator of federal support for the $550-million plan to bring light rail to metro Detroit. The U.S. Transportation Department has already awarded Detroit $25 million for the initial phases of the project, with Mayor Dave Bing’s office saying construction could start as early as next year.

Michigan’s U.S. Sens. Carl Levin and Debbie Stabenow announced today that the Transportation Department approved $2 million for a study on extending the rail line north through Ferndale and Royal Oak ending at Maple Road in Birmingham. Supporters say suburban support of the project will be key to its success, and having it go into Oakland County will muster crucial early backing.

The money was granted to the Southeast Michigan Council of Governments, which is working with leaders from six south Oakland County communities on the study. It will measure need, potential ridership, economic development possibilities and other indicators that the federal government uses to determine which transportation projects get funding.

Woodward Light Rail is a proposed nine-mile, 19-stop line from downtown to near the State Fairgrounds funded by wealthy private investors and community groups, the city and federal governments. It’s envisioned as a way to revitalize the city and serve as the first part of a regional network of light rail, commuter rail and rapid-transit buses across the city and suburbs

Source: http://www.freep.com/article/20111013/NEWS05/111013054/Woodward-Light-Rail-projects-gets-2-million-federal-grant-study-Birmingham-extension

News, Ridership statistics

MDOT: Amtrak sets ridership records in Michigan

From the Detroit Free Press:

Amtrak routes in Michigan are setting new ridership records, despite freight train delays that the state and federal government are investing millions to reduce, the passenger rail service said.

Amtrak said 503,290 passengers rode its Wolverine line on the Pontiac/Detroit-Chicago corridor in the fiscal year that ended in September, a 4.9% rise year over year, with ticket revenue up 11% to $18.8 million.

Ridership on the Blue Water line from Port Huron to Chicago grew 18.6% to 187,065 passengers, with ticket revenue increasing 22.3% to nearly $5.8 million. The Pere Marquette service from Grand Rapids to Chicago grew 4.7% to 106,662 passengers; ticket revenue grew 9.8% to nearly $3.2 million, Amtrak said.

“This past year marks the highest ridership totals ever on Amtrak services in Michigan,” Michigan Department of Transportation Director Kirk Steudle said. “All three lines, especially the Blue Water, have made great gains, despite the slowdowns on the Pontiac/Detroit-Chicago corridor. We’ve taken steps to repair the track between Kalamazoo and Ypsilanti, so that will help bring speeds back to what customers expect.”

Those steps include purchasing 135 miles of track between Dearborn and Kalamazoo, paid with federal matching grants that are part of an Obama Administration effort to boost high-speed rail nationwide. Michigan has received about $350 million from the feds to buy and upgrade track and equipment to boost passenger rail speeds to 110 m.p.h. over the next several years.

Source: http://www.freep.com/article/20111014/BUSINESS06/111014007/MDOT-Amtrak-sets-ridership-records-Michigan?odyssey=nav%7Chead

News

Officials break ground on Amtrak station to be named for Vern Ehlers

From The Grand Rapids Press:

Dignitaries gather and toss dirt for the ground breaking ceremony for the new Amtrak station, including Mayor Hartwell and former congressman Vern Ehlers.

The project is funded through a $3.8 million grant from the Federal Railroad Administration. Last year, the DDA approved an $850,000 request to help the Rapid and M-DOT buy the land and leverage the federal earmark.

The new station and platform will be adjacent to the existing Rapid station and is intended to cut commute times on Amtrak’s Pere Marquette line between Grand Rapids and Chicago.

Read more: http://www.mlive.com/news/grand-rapids/index.ssf/2011/10/officials_break_ground_on_amtr.html