Amtrak Success Stories

quincunx wrote:According to MO River Runner's twitter page ridership was up 28.8% in Oct year-over-year. Where can one find ridership numbers going back many years?

Here's a graph for several years.

Data in part from http://www.narprail.org/cms/images/uplo ... ains08.pdf

While Amtrak was quick to release ridership figures for another record-breaking Thanksgiving weekend, results for the entire month of November were only released on Amtrak’s website last week. They indicate that for the month, the number of passengers carried by Amtrak was up 6% over the previous year and revenue was up 12%. Passenger volume was up 3% in the Northeast Corridor, up 9% on other corridors and up 7% on the long-distance network. This month’s commentary will once again highlight the fastest growing routes during the month. Data is also coming out for December, and this report will look at that too. http://www.amtrak.com/servlet/BlobServe ... onthly.pdf

For the month of November, Amtrak’s standout performer was the Acela. The nation’s only high-speed train carried 14% more passengers than the previous year as the economy continues to improve. First-class ridership on the Northeast Corridor was up by 12% and business class ridership was up by 14%. As the Acela celebrates 10 year of service, passenger rail’s market share has approximately doubled in the Northeast Corridor in that 10-year period. Joseph Boardman presented the following chart during testimony in New York on Thursday.


During the same 10-year period, Amtrak’s share of the Air and Rail Market between New York and Boston grew from 20% to 52% according to the December/January issue of Amtrak Ink. http://www.amtrak.com/servlet/BlobServe ... 011411.pdf

Also in the Northeast, ridership on the Vermonter was up by 14% in November. In December, the Downeaster carried 16% more passengers.

The water-level route along the Erie Canal did well. Ridership on Empire Service trains and the Maple Leaf between Albany and Niagara Falls increased by 16% in November and 14% in December. Ridership on the Lake Shore Limited increased by 21% in November and 10% in December.

Amtrak is benefiting from having more passenger cars out on the rails. In the past eighteen months, Amtrak has repaired and overhauled 40 Amfleet cars and returned them to service. The following chart shows the progress toward a goal of ultimately restoring 60 Amfleet cars as covered under the stimulus act.



Of the 40 cars rehabbed, 13 have been Amfleet I coaches given a top-to-bottom overhaul, 12 have been Amfleet I food service cars completely overhauled, 6 have been Amfleet I food service cars converted to coaches, 4 have been Amfleet I wrecks that have been repaired and returned to service, 4 have been Amfleet II wrecks repaired and returned to service, and one has been a wrecked Amfleet II food service car that has been repaired and converted to the Diner Lite arrangement. Most of the cars still being worked on are Amfleet I food service cars that are being converted to coaches for more passenger seating capacity.

In Virginia, the new service to Lynchburg continues to do well. Ridership on the state supported service was up 28% over last year. Things are going well enough that the State of Virginia is considering adding bus service from the end of the line at Lynchburg to Roanoke. http://www.roanoke.com/news/roanoke/wb/274201

In eastern Virginia, ridership between Washington and Newport News was up 15% from last year. The City of Newport News has $2 million they plan on spending to start design work on a new multi-modal station on 31 acres at Bland Boulevard. http://www.wtkr.com/news/dp-nws-cp-trai ... 3502.story

In North Carolina, the new midday Piedmont service is proving to be popular. Ridership on the two daily Piedmont trains was up by 126% in November when compared to the one that ran in 2009. This spring, that new service will be temporarily suspended as Norfolk Southern crews conduct maintenance, repairs and improvements to the tracks.

Michigan trains continued to do well. Ridership on the Wolverine was up by 22% in both November and December. Ridership on the Blue Water was up by 33% in November and up by 20% in December. Ticket revenues for both trains were up by 26% for the quarter. At the Detroit end, the Federal Transit Administration has signed a grant agreement with the City of Detroit and the Michigan Department of Transportation to build a 3.4-mile light rail line down Woodward Avenue from the Amtrak station to downtown Detroit.
http://www.freep.com/article/20110120/N ... -rail-plan

In Illinois, state-supported trains did well between Chicago and St. Louis and between Chicago and Carbondale. Chicago-St. Louis trains carried 12% more passengers in November and Chicago-Carbondale trains carried 14% more passengers. The City of New Orleans also did well, carrying 12% more. Track improvements between Chicago and St. Louis are on hold for the winter but will start up again when the weather gets warmer. KMOX is reporting that by the end of the year, train speeds will increase to 110 mph for about a 20-mile segment between Dwight and Pontiac. http://stlouis.cbslocal.com/2011/01/11/ ... is-spring/

Between St. Louis and Kansas City, Missouri’s River Runners carried 17%
more passengers.

On other corridors, ridership on the Heartland Flyer in Oklahoma and the Capitol Corridor in California both increased by 10% in November. The Oklahoma Department of Transportation will be holding a meeting in Tulsa on February 16th to discuss the possibility of passenger rail service between Tulsa and Oklahoma City. http://www.kjrh.com/dpp/news/local_news ... il-service The increase in the number of passengers on the Capitol Corridor in California can be attributed to an end of furloughs for state workers. Although state workers had plenty of three-day weekends available for travel, they lacked the money in their paychecks to take advantage of the opportunity.

Among the long-distance trains, ridership on the Cardinal increased 16% in November and by 35% in December. Ridership on the Sunset Limited was up 13% in November and 11% in December.

In the President’s State of the Union address, Mr. Obama set a goal of connecting 80% of the country’s population with high-speed rail over the next 25 years. What is this, exactly? The National Rail Plan, Progress Report, September 2010 has a map of 11 “megaregions” and says on page 5, “It is forecast that by 2050, 75 percent of the Nation’s inhabitants will live in these areas and 80 percent of population growth will occur there.” The map identifies the megaregions as:

• Northeast
  Piedmont Atlantic
  Florida
  Great Lakes
  Gulf Coast
  Texas Triangle
  Front Range
  Arizona Sun Corridor
  Southern California
  Northern California
  Cascadia

http://www.fra.dot.gov/downloads/NRP_Sept2010_WEB.pdf

The Secretary of Transportation has said that it will take $500 billion to build a high-speed rail network to connect 80% of the population.

jstolberg wrote:While Amtrak was quick to release ridership figures for another record-breaking Thanksgiving weekend, results for the entire month of November were only released on Amtrak’s website last week. They indicate that for the month, the number of passengers carried by Amtrak was up 6% over the previous year and revenue was up 12%. Passenger volume was up 3% in the Northeast Corridor, up 9% on other corridors and up 7% on the long-distance network. This month’s commentary will once again highlight the fastest growing routes during the month. Data is also coming out for December, and this report will look at that too. ....

For the month of November, Amtrak’s standout performer was the Acela. The nation’s only high-speed train carried 14% more passengers than the previous year as the economy continues to improve. First-class ridership on the Northeast Corridor was up by 12% and business class ridership was up by 14%. As the Acela celebrates 10 year of service, passenger rail’s market share has approximately doubled in the Northeast Corridor in that 10-year period. Joseph Boardman presented the following chart during testimony in New York on Thursday.

Nice summary. The ridership numbers for December and the next several months will be interesting to see because gasoline prices jumped above the $3/gallon level in many places in December. Might see even a bigger jump in Amtrak ridership numbers than so far this year.

However, for the NEC, the numbers for the NE Regionals are rather flat. For November, the ridership for the NE Regionals fell by -1.4% while the Acela jumped by 13.6%. For the 2 month Oct-Nov period, ridership for the Regionals is up 1.6%, but that is flat growth compared to most of the rest of the corridor and LD trains. Are some of the customers moving from the Regionals to the Acelas (which is good for Amtrak's revenue)? The revenue is up for both, but Amtrak can only go so far in increasing ticket prices.

The November report notes that the Megabus type services are cutting into the Regional market along with Southwest Airlines in Philly. Quoting: "Northeast Regional ridership and ticket revenue trends in some shorter distance city pairs including NY-Philadelphia, DC-Philadelphia, and Baltimore-Philadelphia are lagging due in part to a significant presence of low-cost bus competition. In addition, trends between Boston and Philadelphia continued to decline significantly in November due to Southwest Airline’s entrance into this market in June."

Not much Amtrak can do to improve the ridership between Boston and Philly except to cut prices because any BOS-NYP trip time reductions are years away due to track work on Metro-North. However If I were Amtrak, I would be looking at how to improve the Regional ridership numbers if they can. One way is for Amtrak to hurry up and add free WiFi to the Regionals because that should help compete against the Megabuses. How about some winter marketing showing people shivering outside on the sidewalk waiting to board the bus service while the Amtrak customers are warm and comfortable waiting for the train inside the station?

afiggatt wrote:
However, for the NEC, the numbers for the NE Regionals are rather flat.

can someone say "Free wifi on the acela!" If I where amtrak, I would introduce the wifi to the regional and charge $5, it would keep some people on the acela's (since it would still have the free wifi) and it would help bring some people off of the buses and onto the regional trains.

afiggatt wrote:How about some winter marketing showing people shivering outside on the sidewalk waiting to board the bus service while the Amtrak customers are warm and comfortable waiting for the train inside the station?

Wouldnt work for Boston, buses must load inside the south station bus terminal, which is equal to the train station in amenities and warmth.

Would be nice elsewhere though.

jamesinclair wrote:

afiggatt wrote:How about some winter marketing showing people shivering outside on the sidewalk waiting to board the bus service while the Amtrak customers are warm and comfortable waiting for the train inside the station?

Wouldnt work for Boston, buses must load inside the south station bus terminal, which is equal to the train station in amenities and warmth.

Would be nice elsewhere though.

anyone who has been on 31st St. outside of penn station knows what it is like to board the bolt/mega bus. Might I add that the port authority is not much of an upgrade and a significant downgrade to penn station.

hi55us wrote:can someone say "Free wifi on the acela!" If I where amtrak, I would introduce the wifi to the regional and charge $5, it would keep some people on the acela's (since it would still have the free wifi) and it would help bring some people off of the buses and onto the regional trains.

The problem with charging for WiFi is that then it needs to be very reliable or people will get upset when it drops off-line or the hub goes down. If they charge for it, then Amtrak would have to deal with the management problem of refunds or people expecting tech support from the conductor(!). If it is free, then if it goes off-line for some reason, then the train personnel can shrug their shoulders, try a reboot if they have access to the hub, and if that does not work, then so be it. The overhead of managing $5 fees may well be more trouble than it's worth. Besides, WiFi is free on the Downeaster and the Cascades service just added free WiFi, so it is going to be free for the Regionals. Just no word on when it will get added.

As for people waiting in the cold for the Bolt and Megabuses, the situation at NYP is what I was thinking about. People stand outside on crowded sidewalks waiting to board the buses. Which have to deal with jammed NYC traffic at they pull out heading to their destinations.

afiggatt wrote:WiFi is free on the Downeaster and the Cascades service just added free WiFi, so it is going to be free for the Regionals. Just no word on when it will get added.

After a soft roll-out, the official announcement came out today on WiFi for the Cascades.
http://www.amtrakcascades.com/WiFi.htm

afiggatt wrote:How about some winter marketing showing people shivering outside on the sidewalk waiting to board the bus service while the Amtrak customers are warm and comfortable waiting for the train inside the station?

Amtrak's non-Acela waiting room is not very attractive at New York, but this marketing would probably work in Philly.

hi55us wrote:anyone who has been on 31st St. outside of penn station knows what it is like to board the bolt/mega bus. Might I add that the port authority is not much of an upgrade and a significant downgrade to penn station.

Aw, but the Port Authority Bus Terminal has so much more indoor wildlife than Penn Station! Seriously, there are ALWAYS pigeons in PABT.

Some awful storms have socked New York City this winter. The first came on the night after Christmas, dropping 20 inches on Central Park. Winds over 35 mph caused Amtrak to cancel service on the Northeast Corridor north of New York on Sunday night, and things were slow to start up again on Monday, but Amtrak ran after New York’s three airports were closed and restarted before the airports reopened. Service to Philadelphia continued throughout the storm. Amtrak’s outages were also shorter than those of the commuter railroads serving New York: Metro-North, the Long Island Rail Road and New Jersey Transit. The hard work of Amtrak crews and prudent planning of management gained the railroad a net 15,000 additional riders and $1.3 million in ticket revenues in the post-Christmas period.

In December, Amtrak continued to gain passengers for the 14th month in a row as travelers sought relief from higher gasoline prices and intrusive searches at the airports. Nationally, ridership was up 5% over last year with most of the increase coming from short-distance corridors, especially in the Midwest. All of the statistics are published at http://www.amtrak.com/servlet/BlobServe ... onthly.pdf

Chicago’s Union Station was at the center of the action in December.



The increase spread in all directions. Ridership on Michigan’s Wolverine was up by 22%. The Blue Water carried 20% more passengers and the Pere Marquette carried 11% more than in December of 2009. In Indiana, the Hoosier State carried 28% more. Illinois service to Champaign and Carbondale aboard the Illini and Saluki trains saw 15% more passengers. Service to Bloomington, Springfield and St. Louis saw a 5% increase despite interruptions due to construction. Trains to Quincy carried 12% more passengers. The Hiawatha service to Milwaukee had a more sedate rise, but the trains now carry over 2,000 passengers per day.

Michigan passengers are taking the train despite some very poor on-time performance. Deferred maintenance by the Norfolk Southern Railway east of Kalamazoo resulted in fewer than 27% of the Hiawatha trains being on time. $161 million has been set aside by the federal government for the State of Michigan to buy and improve portions of the track between Kalamazoo and Detroit, but the House budget resolution for the remainder of 2011 threatens to take that money away.

With money allocated under the stimulus act, Amtrak has repaired and overhauled 13 long-distance Superliner cars, broken down as follows:

1 Coach/baggage car
2 Sleepers
3 Transition dorms
4 Lounge cars, and
3 Diners

Work continues between now and September on 7 more Superliner cars and one Viewliner diner. The fixed-up cars will bolster Amtrak’s long-distance trains, which had a December revenue increase of 6%.

mkellerm wrote:Here is another way of looking at the data from the December MPR that makes the route profitability tables more transparent. The first column is the total revenue assigned to each route. This includes fare revenue, food service, baggage/express (if any), and most importantly, state subsidies received. The second column shows the fare revenue reported in the Ridership and Revenue section of the MPR. For non-state supported routes (Maple Leaf, New Haven-Springfield, Empire, Wolverines, Washington-NPN, Hoosier State, and Pennsylvanian), the first two columns are almost identical. For the state supported routes, there is a significant gap between fare revenue and total revenue, reflecting the subsidy received year to date. It appears from this that Michigan has not coughed up its subsidy for FY10 yet, since there is little difference between total revenues and fare revenues for the Blue Water and Pere Marquette.

The final column takes the fare revenue and costs and calculates an implied contribution (or non-contribution) for each route. Note that these costs lead to much lower estimates of the farebox ratios for most routes than those reported by Amtrak to Caltrans at the beginning of last year, since these use fully allocated costs excluding depreciation.

Code: Select all

Route                               RPS   Fare Revenue  Costs        Implied Contribution 
                                                                     per Passenger Mile
Ethan Allen                       $0.90      $0.61      $1.20      -24.9
Vermonter                         $1.90      $1.20      $2.20      -12.6
Maple Leaf                        $5.50      $5.22      $7.10       -7.2
Downeaster                        $2.50      $1.55      $3.20      -15.8
New Haven - Springfield           $2.80      $2.69      $5.80      -38.7
Keystone                          $7.30      $7.23     $17.00      -32.9
Empire                           $10.20     $10.01     $15.00      -16.2
Chicago-St.Louis                  $9.80      $3.20      $9.30      -26.8
Hiawathas                         $5.60      $3.54      $8.60      -31.9
Wolverines                        $4.20      $3.93      $9.10      -23.1
Illini                            $5.00      $2.10      $4.50      -19.2
Illinois Zephyr                   $4.90      $1.33      $4.70      -35.4
Heartland Flyer                   $1.20      $0.38      $1.90      -48.9
Pacific Surfliner                $19.60     $11.47     $26.30      -29.0
Cascades                         $12.20      $6.09     $13.70      -25.9
Capitols                         $13.70      $5.75     $17.10      -45.7
San Joaquins                     $16.60      $7.79     $17.80      -28.4
Adirondack                        $1.80      $1.35      $3.00      -21.3
Blue Water                        $1.20      $1.16      $3.20      -29.3
Washington-Lynchburg              $2.40      $1.89      $1.50        5.7
Washington-Newport News           $6.90      $6.70      $6.90       -0.3
Hoosier State                     $0.20      $0.20      $1.50     -104.3
Kansas City - St Louis            $3.10      $0.96      $3.00      -12.2
Pennsylvanian                     $2.40      $2.25      $3.60      
Pere Marquette                    $0.70      $0.70      $1.70      -27.2
Carolinian                        $4.80      $4.02      $5.00       -5.4
Piedmont                          $0.90      $0.31      $0.90

Again, Washington-Lynchburg is the star of the show. On the other hand, Virginia trains have always done well on these metrics, one of the reasons that Amtrak has not pushed hard for funding from the state for current services. New Haven - Springfield, on the other hand, had better watch out....

Surprising to see the Adirondack do as well on that list as it is. But then again, almost every time I've rode the Adirondack, it's been booked.

The Capitol Corridor Joint Powers Authority publishes their own monthly performance report for rail service on the Capitol Corridor. January’s report shows an 11% increase in ridership on the line. It is available at http://www.amtrakcapitols.com/included/ ... Report.pdf .

The Authority has been very successful in controlling costs on a number of improvement projects lately. A look at the agenda for their board meeting last June bears this out. The board had budgeted $10 million for a track project in Emeryville and $7.5 million for the Bahia-Benicia Crossover project. The Emeryville project was completed at half the cost, leaving $5 million left over. The Bahai-Benicia Crossover project was completed $3.5 million under budget.

In June, the board reallocated the $5 million saved on the Emeryville project for installing a wireless network for both the Capitol Corridor and San Joaquin trains. http://www.capitolcorridor.org/included ... 100616.pdf pages 14 and 15.

The Authority then worked with Amtrak to establish a national network standard platform, and this month announced that WiFi service will be available on all California state supported routes by the end of 2011. The cost for the wireless internet is $3.75 million, which again puts them under budget. http://www.sacbee.com/2011/02/19/341508 ... o-add.html

This week the City of Sacramento also took bids on Wednesday to relocate 2.3 miles of track near the Sacramento Valley station. The budgeted cost of the track relocation, platforms, tunnels and utility relocation is $44 million. Sacramento Black Chamber of Commerce The winning bid has not yet been announced.

If Florida’s Governor Rick Scott can’t count on his own people to complete a rail project under budget, perhaps he should have hired someone from California who can.

jstolberg wrote:If Florida’s Governor Rick Scott can’t count on his own people to complete a rail project under budget, perhaps he should have hired someone from California who can.

New Jersey could also take a lesson from the folks out west.

Northeastern292 wrote:

jstolberg wrote:If Florida’s Governor Rick Scott can’t count on his own people to complete a rail project under budget, perhaps he should have hired someone from California who can.

New Jersey could also take a lesson from the folks out west.

The only thing stopping NJ transit doing amazing things is the governor of NJ, the people of NJ, him aside, are perfectly capable.