The number of people who took Amtrak in Fiscal Year 2014 increased 0.2 percent from a year earlier while ticket revenues increased 4 percent, the railroad said.
“Amtrak is clearly selling a product that is very much in demand,” Amtrak Board Chairman Tony Coscia said in a news release. “Achieving strong ridership and revenue despite the challenges with aging infrastructure and freight rail congestion demonstrates Amtrak’s commitment to improving its financial and operating performance, and is a credit to Amtrak’s management and staff. It is now time to leverage Amtrak’s successes in increasing ridership and improving performance by making much-needed investments in our nation’s passenger rail system.”
More than 30.9 million people took an Amtrak train during the fiscal year, up from 30.8 million a year earlier. Amtrak last year reported a ridership record of 31.6 million passengers, but revised its numbers to more accurately count ridership of multi-ride tickets, the railroad said.
Amtrak saw the biggest ridership increase on the Northeast Corrdior where the number of passengers increased by 3.3 percent. The railroad saw a 4.5 percent decrease on its national network, according to numbers.
Amtrak is using the uptick in ridership to push for further government investment in the railroad’s network.
“As more and more people choose Amtrak for their travel needs, investments must be made in the tracks, tunnels, bridges and other infrastructure used by intercity passenger trains particularly on the Northeast Corridor and in Chicago,” Amtrak President and CEO Joe Boardman said in a news release. “Otherwise, we face a future with increased infrastructure-related service disruptions and delays that will hurt local and regional economies and drive passengers away.”
