Amtrak Success Stories

[Arlington]

Interesting point. I had to dig up the May 2014 performance report to make a direct comparison for the Northeast Regional.

That figure was 708,691 it was compared to the "adjusted" (for multi-ride accounting change) figure of 733,962 of May 2013.

At 757,786 I strongly agree this is a major increase in travel and potentially a record for May on the NEC. I'm very surprised by this result.

To run this strongly against the low-gas-prices and wider NJ turnpike in mid-Jersey--both of which "hit" the NEC starting in late 2014 early 2015, the TSA is my prime suspect. The recent advice to arrive *two hours before* your *domestic* flight is really horrible for trips that are only supposed to take 30 mins to an hour in the air and an hour gate-to-gate (as all "NEC" flights to/from NYC are), and still terrible when considering any other pair of endpoints from the BOS/PVD end, PHL middle or BAL/WAS end. (which are all 1.5hrs gate to gate and an hour of flying).

We probably haven't taken sufficient note here of how the wider NJ Tpk has already affected the NEC (expediting car/bus trips that involve either Balt/Wash - NYC or anything from the Keystone territory to NYC), and how the yet-to-come interchange between the PA Tpk and "Philly's I-95" will connect (in 2018) center city Phil to NY by much better paths than available today.

[Greg Moore]

I suspect even with the things like lower gas prices and a wider pike, one thing that helps the NEC to a certain extent are converts... the folks who decided to take Amtrak once because of high gas prices, or the congestion on the NJ Turnpike and ended up liking Amtrak.

Yeah, some will go back as gas prices drop, etc. But not all.
I do agree to, the current TSA practices are helping Amtrak.
But that could change in an instant if the TSA starts to do deep inspections at NYP or worse, something like Istanbul happens at a major Amtrak station.

[gokeefe]

To run this strongly against the low-gas-prices and wider NJ turnpike in mid-Jersey--both of which "hit" the NEC starting in late 2014 early 2015, the TSA is my prime suspect. The recent advice to arrive *two hours before* your *domestic* flight is really horrible for trips that are only supposed to take 30 mins to an hour in the air and an hour gate-to-gate (as all "NEC" flights to/from NYC are), and still terrible when considering any other pair of endpoints from the BOS/PVD end, PHL middle or BAL/WAS end. (which are all 1.5hrs gate to gate and an hour of flying).

Stunning. I can only begin to imagine how crazy things must be on the trains right now. The corridor improvements in New Jersey could not possibly come at a better time.

We probably haven't taken sufficient note here of how the wider NJ Tpk has already affected the NEC (expediting car/bus trips that involve either Balt/Wash - NYC or anything from the Keystone territory to NYC), and how the yet-to-come interchange between the PA Tpk and "Philly's I-95" will connect (in 2018) center city Phil to NY by much better paths than available today.

Interesting to consider whether or not the speed improvements on the NEC in New Jersey may have an offsetting effect. Very surprising to see how important that project has become. This really points towards the essential nature of the Gateway tunnel project.

[Arlington]

June MPR is now available. I didn't see any big news
https://www.amtrak.com/ccurl/367/406/Am ... e-2016.pdf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[gokeefe]

Ridership growth on the NEC and Northeast Regional in particular is unexpected in my mind. The dip in Acela revenues is interesting and may reflect the current fare wars among the airlines. They continue to grow the service on top of already strong numbers.

[jamesinclair]

San Joaquin down 6% even with introduction of new train on the 20th...

[Arlington]

July MPR is here: https://www.amtrak.com/ccurl/601/626/Am ... y-2016.pdf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[jamesinclair]

From memory that looks like a record high for Pacific Sufliner, just shy of 300,000. But the lowest July for the San Joaquin in 4 years.

[Station Aficionado]

Nice numbers for both the Surfliners and the Capitals. Any theories as to why they have been doing well of late while the San Joaquins have been seeing a decrease in ridership?

As for the Surfliners, does anybody have an idea how ridership breaks down between the LA-San Diego segment and the LA-Santa Barbara/SLO segment? I assume the LA-San Diego segment is far larger, but I wonder by just how much. When the Talgos come on line for the SLO frequencies, it will be challenging to isolate any change in ridership due to the new trains without some idea of what the current north-of-LA ridership is.

[gokeefe]

Missed by many of us in the forums this year? Amtrak was having a record year for ridership and revenues (!):

From Progressive Railroading:

Amtrak broke ticket revenue and ridership records and posted its lowest operating loss ever in fiscal-year 2016, according to unaudited results.
...
The revenue increase was fueled by a record 31.3 million passengers, up nearly 400,000 passengers over the previous fiscal year. FY2016, which ended Sept. 30, was the sixth consecutive year that Amtrak's annual ridership surpassed 30 million passengers, Amtrak officials noted.
...
Total revenue was a record $3.2 billion. The railroad posted an operating loss of $227 million, down $78 million from FY2015, and the lowest operating loss since 1973.

[gokeefe]

More interesting information from the September 2016 Monthly Performance Report ...

Northeast Corridor Routes
• Northeast Corridor ridership (Acela and Northeast Regional combined) was 1% below budget but 4% above
last year
• September NEC ticket revenues were 2% above budget and 9% above last year
• Acela ridership was 2% below budget but 6% above last year
• Acela first class ridership was 6% above last year; business class was 7% above last year
• Acela ticket revenues were 2% above budget and 12% above last year
• Northeast Regional ridership was less than 1% below budget but 4% above last year
• Northeast Regional ticket revenues were 2% above budget and 7% above last year
• Northeast Regional business class ridership was 10% above last year; coach ridership was 4% above last
year
• Northeast Regional ridership associated with multi-ride passes was 2% below last September

Also worth noting on PDF Page 5/71 ... it would appear that Amtrak turned an operating profit in July and September ...

[Arlington]

Also nice that the new format breaks out coach-biz (which was previously just reported as "all") at the same time it breaks out sleeper (like it always has)

[Arlington]

MPR for January is out.

[Nasadowsk]

Not a huge success, but I recently bought an Amtrak ticket from BWI -> Newark, to try to beat the storm last week. Well, my flight to BWI got cancelled, so I needed a refund.

Whomever did Amtrak's phone system got it right - I was able to get a refund voucher in about 5 minutes without having to talk to anyone (Big brother travels to NY a lot via Amtrak, I'll pass it to him...). At the end of a stressful day, it was quite a nice experience to have....

[trainviews]

Were there major disruptions in the east in Jan 2016? If not the January growth on the NEC and Virginia services is nothing less than impressive. LD's are doing good too, except the auto train.