^{Amtrak Cascades – Portland, Ore. – The Environmental Blog}

Ridership projections show a new all-time record will be set. Amtrak is projecting that for the first time ever its annual ridership will exceed 30 million passengers and in the process set a new all-time record when the current fiscal year ends Sept. 30.

Basic Amtrak Facts

• During FY 2010 (Oct. 2009-Sept. 2010), Amtrak® welcomed aboard more than 28.7 million passengers, the largest annual total in Amtrak’s history. An average of more than 78,000 passengers rides more than 300 Amtrak trains per day.
• Amtrak operates a nationwide rail network, serving more than 500 destinations in 46 states and three Canadian provinces on more than 21,200 miles of routes, with more than 20,000 employees. It is the nation’s only high speed intercity passenger rail provider, operating nearly 60% of its trains at top speeds in excess of 90 mph/145 kph.
• In FY 2010, Amtrak earned approximately $2.51 billion in revenue and incurred approximately $3.74 billion in expense. No country in the world operates a passenger rail system without some form of public support for capital costs and/or operating expenses. In 2009, the most recent year for which data for other railroads is available, Amtrak’s farebox recovery (percentage of operating costs covered by revenues generated by passenger fares) was the highest reported for any U.S. passenger railroad.
• In 2010, an average of more than 862,000 people every weekday depended on commuter rail services that used Amtrak-owned infrastructure, dispatching, shared operations, or rode commuter trains operated by Amtrak under contracts with local or regional agencies.
• Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor (NEC) is the busiest railroad in North America, with more than 2,200 trains operating over some portion of the Washington-Boston route each day. More than a quarter of a million riders use the NEC on every weekday, generating more than 4.9 million daily passenger miles.
• If included among U.S. airlines in 2008, Amtrak would rank 8th in the number of passengers served. On average, there are nearly twice as many passengers on an Amtrak train than there are on a domestic airline flight.
• The Boston-New York-Washington portion of the Northeast Corridor carried 10,375,209 passengers in FY 2010 on Acela Express, Regional Service or other trains. Three other corridors had ridership that topped one million or more: Pacific Surfliner Service (San Diego-Los Angeles-San Luis Obispo, 2,613,604), Capitol Corridor Service (San Jose-Oakland-Sacramento-Auburn, 1,580,619) and the Keystone Corridor Service (Harrisburg-Philadelphia-New York City, 1,296,838).
• Five other corridors had ridership in excess of a half-million passengers:
  • Empire Service (New York-Albany-Niagara Falls): 981,241
  • San Joaquin service (Oakland-Sacramento-Bakersfield): 977,834
  • Amtrak Cascades service (Eugene-Portland-Seattle-Vancouver, B.C.): 836,499
  • Hiawatha Service (Chicago-Milwaukee): 783,060
  • Lincoln Service (Chicago-St. Louis): 572,424

“We are having a very strong year because people around the country are choosing the convenience, efficiency and hassle-free environment of Amtrak to meet their travel needs,” said President and CEO Joe Boardman. “Amtrak has wisely invested the federal funding we have received to improve infrastructure and equipment. Continued investment in Amtrak and passenger rail will support the further growth of this increasingly vital transportation option.”

Amtrak is basing its projection of more than 30 million passengers on strong June ridership numbers and expected ticket sales for July, August and September. June 2011 was the best June on record with more than 2.6 million passengers for the month and marked 20 consecutive months of year-over-year ridership growth, a streak that began in November 2009.

This strong performance is part of a long-term trend that has seen Amtrak set annual ridership records in seven of the last eight fiscal years, including more than 28.7 million passengers in FY 2010.

Comparing the first nine months of FY 2011 (October – June) to the same time period in FY 2010, national Amtrak ridership is up 6.4 percent so far this fiscal year and all three major business lines are showing gains: the Northeast Corridor up 5.6 percent, state-supported and other short distance corridors up 7.8 percent, and long-distance trains up 3.9 percent.

Amtrak Cascades in the Pacific Northwest operates three daily round trips between Portland and Seattle; one daily round trip between Seattle and Vancouver, B.C., and one between Portland and Vancouver, B.C.; and two daily round trips between Eugene and Seattle, via Portland. Amtrak Cascades achieved significant ridership growth in the second quarter of 2011, carrying nearly three quarters of a million people and breaking the record reached in 2010.

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, the increased appeal and popularity of rail travel, and effective marketing campaigns.