Amtrak: Ridership soared 89% in FY22

Amtrak continued rebuilding its business and began a new era of intercity passenger-rail investment in fiscal-year 2022 by growing ridership by 89%, restoring and expanding service and launching major infrastructure projects, the railroad announced yesterday in a year-end summary.

"We worked hard to restore service and grow ridership in the face of lingering impacts from the pandemic, all while modernizing our assets to make train travel a better experience for customers,” said Amtrak CEO Stephen Gardner in a press release.

Demand for Amtrak service returned strongly in the second half of FY22, with overall ridership reaching about 85% of pre-COVID levels. Northeast Corridor, state-supported and long-distance ridership grew 110%, 85% and 56%, respectively, compared with FY21 ridership levels.

Based on current forecasts, Amtrak expects ridership and revenue to improve above 90% of pre-COVID levels by the end of FY23. The ridership increase helped Amtrak reduce its operating losses by $145 million compared to anticipated FY22 levels, setting the stage for improved financial performance for train operations in the future, Amtrak officials said.

Preliminary results for FY22 (October 2021 through September 2022) include:

• Ridership: Amtrak provided 22.9 million customer trips, including 7 million first trips by new customers;
• Service updates: Amtrak added, restored or expanded 11 services in collaboration with state and federal partners, returning some service to nearly every route compared to pre-pandemic operations;
• Added new employees: Amtrak hired more than 3,700 people — 3,000 skilled union workers and 700 management employees — to support service restoration and capacity expansion;
• Major projects: Amtrak advanced 10 major capital projects that will use federal Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act funding to modernize Amtrak’s fleet and railroad infrastructure, including track, bridges and tunnels used by Amtrak trains and the railroad's regional commuter-rail partners;
• Total capital spending: Amtrak invested $2.3 billion in capital projects, including advancing new fleets of trains to operate in the Northeast, the Portal North Bridge in Kearny, New Jersey, and the B&P Tunnel Replacement program in Baltimore;
• Total operating revenue: Amtrak logged total operating revenue of $2.8 billion, a 47.8% increase over FY21. The railroad's adjusted operating loss was $884.9 million, an 18.2% improvement over FY21; and
• Safety: Amtrak continued advancing its safety management system and enhanced its safety culture.