Passenger Trains > Amtrak Ticket Revenues, broken out by service type, 2020

For the full Fiscal Year 2020, which includes non-COVID-19 months; and also for September 2020, reflecting current circumstance.

Source:  Amtrak, via TRAINS.com

https://trn.trains.com/news/news-wire/2020/11/23-amtrak-warns-of-more-cuts-without-addtional-funding



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/24/20 00:19 by GenePoon.

---

Oh boy - September was the last month before the LD trains went to the tri-weekly schedule. Again, this would lead one to believe that Amtrak acted to reduce above rail operating expenses (despite a flawed accounting system), with no or little regard to consideration of revenue, with any change in service after Sept 30th. A continual focus on expenses and not revenue. I have said before - based on actual riding the NEC trains in Sept and Oct - I think there should be even LESS trains operating on the NEC than what there are, especially at present with the Northeast practically shutting down again!

EDIT - the leading revenue producer gets the greatest axe/reduction of service come October 1st. Meanwhile, that same service line had also just gone through a radical downsizing in onboard staffing, particularly in F&B service. So it's now a whole new [reduced] cost structure for the LD trains that had been underway by June 2020; followed by a restructuring of the Florida service. Meanwhile, the NEC still gets an "accounting pass" - fully allocated costs to operate NEC trains (including an operating cost to run over the rails and below the catenary infrastructure) get an altered creative accounting calculation........This should be interesting. 



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 11/24/20 02:22 by jp1822.

My WAG is that unless Congress gets its act together ( not likely ) Amtrak will be in very serious cash trouble come early spring ( March-April) and could become insolvent ( means can't meet payroll etc.) as revenues are no where near their daily cash burn even with all the changes. Best I can figure they're currently burning through about $ 2/3M per day?? If the Covid 19 issue continues to worsen ( as the health pros say it will) then revenues will take an even worse hit.

  Ride /em while you can. Sad but true.  Ross Rowland 

While an Amtrak crew sits in Dodge City for two days, they are missing what historically was one of the biggest ridership runs of the year.
The Wednesday before Thanksgiving, train #4 was usually double digit loads at every station across Kansas.  Add in 100 plus boarding at Kansas
City, and you have a tremendous revenue shot in the arm of Amtrak.  If you just take a very conservative average ticket price of $50 X300 passengers = $15,000!
Granted, the demand is probably going to be lower due to COVID, but that certainly hasn't deterred the airlines from filling a lot of planes right now.
They even said on the news last night, that airlines have added some flights!  Amtrak did add a third sleeping car to the Southwest Chief,
but I have to say, there's probably more of a market for inexpensive coach seats, than roomettes and bedrooms at $100's and even $1000's of dollars. 
All public transportation carriers know, you have to make the money during peak periods, in order to make up for the slower months. 
It's like the annual church festival, that often keeps a parish afloat.  There will be no revenue festival for Amtrak this holiday season.

1)  We have to remember state services (at least in Illinois) were greatly reduced.  Not sure the extent of NE corridor
    So the figures are not really apples to apples

2)  I do agree that the timing of the LD reduction is very suspect.  With the holiday season irregardless of pandemic there will be demand for service plus with the potential of a vaccine and a potential  uptick in travel by spring, the LD system will not be in a good position.  Customers lost often do not easily return.

Bob

mp51w Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> While an Amtrak crew sits in Dodge City for two
> days, they are missing what historically was one
> of the biggest ridership runs of the year.
> The Wednesday before Thanksgiving, train #4 was
> usually double digit loads at every station across
> Kansas.  Add in 100 plus boarding at Kansas
> City, and you have a tremendous revenue shot in
> the arm of Amtrak.  If you just take a very
> conservative average ticket price of $50 X300
> passengers = $15,000!
> Granted, the demand is probably going to be lower
> due to COVID, but that certainly hasn't deterred
> the airlines from filling a lot of planes right
> now.
> They even said on the news last night, that
> airlines have added some flights!  Amtrak did add
> a third sleeping car to the Southwest Chief,
> but I have to say, there's probably more of a
> market for inexpensive coach seats, than roomettes
> and bedrooms at $100's and even $1000's of
> dollars. 
> All public transportation carriers know, you have
> to make the money during peak periods, in order to
> make up for the slower months. 
> It's like the annual church festival, that often
> keeps a parish afloat.  There will be no revenue
> festival for Amtrak this holiday season.

"Seems" that Amtrak shot itself in the foot and didn't understand the numbers fully - focusing on expenses (that were being restructured!!!) and not interpreting revenues carefully. That's ONE argument that the above chart plays on. Amtrak took a stab at their chorus line that "LD trains are dragging us down." But this time it may have actually been a different song. 

Just another chapter in a story that began with a lie... It was called the Railpax bill, and promised the RR would pay above rail costs in 2 to 3 years after creation... Nixon signed it and that is that...

The chart in the original post is somewhat misleading. Ticket revenue is only a part of the total operating revenue of a service.  Other items also generate cash.  With state-supported trains, the states provide the bulk of the revenue to Amtrak through the operating contracts.  Fares for state trains are set by the states.  Amtrak only operates state trains if the states are paying and those payments are revenue for that service and cash to Amtrak.  Even the NEC and long distance trains have food and beverage revenue.  Plus, Amtrak gets revenue from non-Amtrak transportation sources such as commuter agency operations and right-of-way and infrastructure leases and occupancies..  

Following the format of the original chart, total Amtrak operating revenue for each service line was:

Fiscal Year 2020 (10/19 to 9/20)
Long Distance: $336.8 million (down 37% from $537.5 million in FY 2019)
State Supported: $648.4 million (down 20% from $806.3 million)
NEC: $683.1 million (down 50% from $1.368 billion)
All Amtrak: $2.264 billion (down 31% from $3.323 billion)

September 2020 Only
Long Distance: $18.7 million (down 52% from $39.7 million in 9/19)
State Supported: $44.6 million (down 34% from $67.1 million)
NEC: $16.6 million (down 87% from $119.8 million)
All Amtrak: $130.9 million (down 53% from $277.0 million)

and, to show just the COVID-related months:

March through September 2020
Long Distance: $137.7 million: revenue shortfall of $197.4 million compared to the same months in 2019
State Supported: $316.8 million: shortfall of $174,2
NEC: $91.7 million: shortfall of $734.7 million
All Amtrak: $884.2 million: shortfall of $1.125 billion

Souce: Amtrak Monthly Perfomance Reports

 

prr60 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> The chart in the original post is somewhat
> misleading. Ticket revenue is only a part of the
> total operating revenue of a service.  Other
> items also generate cash.  With state-supported
> trains, the states provide the bulk of the revenue
> to Amtrak through the operating contracts.  Fares
> for state trains are set by the states.  Amtrak
> only operates state trains if the states are
> paying and those payments are revenue for that
> service and cash to Amtrak.  Even the NEC and
> long distance trains have food and beverage
> revenue.  Plus, Amtrak gets revenue from
> non-Amtrak transportation sources such as commuter
> agency operations and right-of-way and
> infrastructure leases and occupancies..  
>
> Following the format of the original chart, total
> Amtrak operating revenue for each service line
> was:
>
> Fiscal Year 2020 (10/19 to 9/20)
> Long Distance: $336.8 million (down 37% from
> $537.5 million in FY 2019)
> State Supported: $648.4 million (down 20% from
> $806.3 million)
> NEC: $683.1 million (down 50% from $1.368
> billion)
> All Amtrak: $2.264 billion (down 31% from $3.323
> billion)
>
> September 2020 Only
> Long Distance: $18.7 million (down 52% from $39.7
> million in 9/19)
> State Supported: $44.6 million (down 34% from
> $67.1 million)
> NEC: $16.6 million (down 87% from $119.8 million)
> All Amtrak: $130.9 million (down 53% from $277.0
> million)
>
> and, to show just the COVID-related months:
>
> March through September 2020
> Long Distance: $137.7 million: revenue shortfall
> of $197.4 million compared to the same months in
> 2019
> State Supported: $316.8 million: shortfall of
> $174,2
> NEC: $91.7 million: shortfall of $734.7 million
> All Amtrak: $884.2 million: shortfall of $1.125
> billion
>
> Souce: Amtrak Monthly Perfomance Reports
>
>  
Understood by most in the industry and familiar with Amtrak finances, but in times like this, I feel the first chart is more meaningful for making "operational" decisions or trying to gain insight on basic train financial performance.

OR, line item everything to clearly show apples to apples:

NEC Train Revenue
NEC F&B Revenue
NEC Commuter Agency Payments/Revenue
NEC Payments for Projects/Revenue (reimbursable by commuter agencies)
NEC Infrastructure Rent & Lease Payments
NEC Auxiliary Revenue

Only the the top line is a commonality among LD, State, and NEC trains. 

Also, Amtrak will recognize the revenue for each line item, but then the payments are often in arrears and sometimes require further negotiations or a settlement (e.g. NJ Transit payments on commuter train access). With COVID - this is going to be even more of a problem and entering in an unknown. Is Amtrak expecting NJ Transit to pay 100% of its contracted commuter agency "access" to the NEC post-March 2020 when NJ Transit service was also decimated? So what really is the revenue number that will be recorded in that case - the contract rate? Record on cash basis only? Or record something down the middle? How Amtrak has accounted for this is perhaps a little unknown right now, but Amtrak has asked for money to cover for potential non-payment of commuter agency monies it would have normally received at 100%. 

This is a mess. That's why looking at the first chart is perhaps a more basic look at operations and less muddying of the waters with unknowns. 

Perhaps their cunning plan is to go insolvent (see Ross Rowland's comment...he believes that is a real possibility) and then go begging to Biden for a huge bailout...OF THE NORTHEAST CORTIDOR.

Why would anyone ride Amtrak to New York anyway if you have to be locked up for 14 days after arriving? I am pretty sure you are not welcome there.

co614 Wrote:

>   Ride /em while you can. Sad but true.  Ross
> Rowland 

OK Chicken Little, keep preaching to the choir about what will happen come Spring!

Posted from Android

For a while, the Virginia subsidy on Lynchburg trains was about $28 per ticket.

I believe it is now around $20

Posted from Android

robj Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------

> Customers lost often do not easily
> return.
>
> Bob

That's about it.

GenePoon Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Perhaps their cunning plan is to go insolvent (see
> Ross Rowland's comment...he believes that is a
> real possibility) and then go begging to Biden for
> a huge bailout...OF THE NORTHEAST CORTIDOR.

I'll be asking my Texas Reps to Vote NO on a NE Corrider Bailout.

Do the Texas Republicans in the House routinely vote for Amtrak? Any Amtrak bills?

Posted from Android

So, how do you save long distance trains with everything the T.O. passenger board wants and not run out out of money?

Baggage,and station agents for all lines, printed timetables , cheap high quality meals, flowers in the diner, PPC type lounges, restoring riverside call center private varnish rates reduced/returned to pre-Anderson and all LD trains daily,   What did I miss?  The docent program?    

Charles, what do you think? 

Yes, you missed reinstituting the Train Manager program, upgrading the hiring process to cut down on the current 10% or so of OBS personel who should never have been hired, vastly upgrading/improving how equipment is turned/prepped for the next outbound trip to insure cleanliness and stocking with necessary on board materials & supplys and that any mechanical issues reported on the inbound trip are truly fixed. 
  Increasing the track use fee paid to the class 1's as part of negoitiating a new " relationship" with them that will include on time performance bonuses and penalties sufficient enough to assure Amtrak moves always get priority.

   Happy Thanksgiving.  Ross Rowland 

Author: Lackawanna484
"Do the Texas Republicans in the House routinely vote for Amtrak? Any Amtrak bills?"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I would take a wild stab at a very unscientific assessment and say (again, without having done any research on the question), that the very nature of the Washington DC sausage making process has had untold examples of someone voting necessarily FOR something to ensure another SOMETHING passes as well as opposed to not voting against another something of the proposed legislation that any given Legislator feels is the best choice at the time.  (That hurt my hair.)  As the voting public, more often than not, especially in the last couple of decades that our November efforts have simply been referred to as 'The Hold Your Nose and Vote Activity'.
And yes, I do take into account the use of the term 'routinely' in your question.  As with anything related to politics, always keep a some kind of variable at the ready.
If, on the other hand, if the record notes that there has never been a Texas Republican that voted in favor of anything Amtrak related, I will gladly ask my lovely bride to bake a Humble Pie along with the obligatory Apple Pie for later this afternoon.  Each bite of the previous pie to be swallowed along with mental lashings for assuming!

I completely forgot about the train manager position!

co614 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Yes, you missed reinstituting the Train Manager
> program, upgrading the hiring process to cut down
> on the current 10% or so of OBS personel who
> should never have been hired, vastly
> upgrading/improving how equipment is
> turned/prepped for the next outbound trip to
> insure cleanliness and stocking with necessary on
> board materials & supplys and that any mechanical
> issues reported on the inbound trip are truly
> fixed. 
>   Increasing the track use fee paid to the class
> 1's as part of negoitiating a new " relationship"
> with them that will include on time performance
> bonuses and penalties sufficient enough to assure
> Amtrak moves always get priority.
>
>    Happy Thanksgiving.  Ross Rowland