Amtrak Ridership, Revenue Growing, but Results Have Been Uneven Across the Network

Amtrak continues to make progress in clawing back ridership and revenue lost during the COVID-19 pandemic although individual routes have produced uneven results as the effects of the pandemic continue to linger.

Figures published on the website of Trains magazine show that during fiscal year 2022, which ended Sept. 30, Amtrak garnered $1.78 billion in gross ticket revenues. Ridership was 22.9 million passengers.

The report noted that revenue of $113 million posted by long-distance trains was up 24 percent over 2019.

Much of that increase was recorded by the Auto Train, which operates between Lorton, Virginia, and Sanford, Florida.

Revenue earned by Northeast Corridor and state-funded corridor trains fell by 30 percent.

The Trains report said Auto Train per passenger revenue increased 34 percent in FY 2022. The corresponding figures for state-funded trains was 2 percent while Acela and Northeast Regional per passenger ridership was down a negative 6.8 percent.

The Trains report concluded that long-distance trains have benefited from higher ticket prices, which was related to decreased capacity due to shortages of available equipment.

That is because Amtrak is reaping higher revenue yields from fewer passengers.

During the pandemic, Amtrak mothballed many passenger cars and furloughed workers.

Once demand picked up the company struggled to have enough mechanical workers to return those idled cars to revenue service.

Ridership data reported by Trains showed that corridor routes that are more dependent upon commuter travelers are generally lagging longer corridor routes as large numbers of workers continue to work remotely.

The Trains report can be read at https://www.trains.com/trn/news-reviews/news-wire/capacitys-impact-shows-in-amtraks-fiscal-2022-revenue-and-ridership-analysis/

Tags: Amtrak, Amtrak financial results, Amtrak long-distance trains, Amtrak ridership