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Ridership on North Carolina’s state-sponsored Amtrak services spiked 15 percent in fiscal-year 2010, which ended Sept. 30. Ridership on the state’s Piedmont and Carolinian services rose from 688,595 in FY2009 to 791,157 in FY2010, and ticket revenue shot up 19 percent year over year. Nationwide, Amtrak’s FY2010 ridership increased 6 percent.

The ridership spike in North Carolina can be attributed, in part, to new mid-day service launched in June on the Piedmonth route, which runs four times daily between Raleigh and Charlotte, according to the North Carolina Department of Transportation’s Rail Division. Ridership on that corridor increased 46 percent in the last fiscal year.