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Intercity rail access for the U.S. rural population declined from 42 percent to 40 percent between 2005 and 2010, according to a new report by the U.S. Department of Transportation's Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS).

The report, "The U.S. Rural Population and Scheduled Intercity Transportation 2010: A Five-Year Decline in Transportation Access," defines access to rail as a person living 25 miles from a station providing intercity service.

In 22 of the 47 states with intercity rail, rail coverage exceeds 40 percent. In one state, Rhode Island, all residents live within the 25-mile radius of an intercity rail station, according to BTS.

Among the 25 states with intercity rail but with less than 40 percent coverage, less than 10 percent of rural residents in three states — Tennessee, Idaho and Kentucky — live within the coverage area. In states with intercity rail transportation access, only a small number of rural residents have access to only intercity rail.

In most states, the number and percent of rural residents covered only by intercity rail changed marginally, as no change in scheduled intercity rail occurred.

However, coverage declined significantly in Florida and Mississippi due to loss of scheduled rail transportation at multiple facilities. In Florida, intercity bus service continued to serve many of the stations previously served by intercity rail and bus. In both states, however, the number and percent of rural residents served by only intercity rail did not change appreciably, the report states.

BTS noted several significant mode changes during the period, including the suspension of the New Orleans-Jacksonville route previously provided by Amtrak’s Sunset Limited.

Up to 3.5 million rural residents lost access to scheduled intercity transportation between 2005 and 2010, dropping the percent of rural residents' access to intercity rail, air, bus or ferry transportation to 89 percent from 93 percent five years ago, the report states.

The BTS Intermodal Passenger Connectivity Database shows that 8.9 million rural residents lacked access to intercity transportation in 2010, up from 5.4 million in 2005.