Passenger Trains > Amtk. total riders 2024 vs. 2019 --finally matched record year

It took 5 years, but  2024 Total System ridership finally caught up to the
record year of 2019 -- despite short consist; fewer Acela runs; and,
Surfliner mud slides.

TOTAL SYSTEM RIDERSHIP ..... +1%
.  Northeast Corridor..... +12%
.  State Supported ........ - 6%
.  Loung Haul Trains ...... - 6%


THESE TRAINS SURPASSED 2019
.  Ethan Allen .......... + 76%
.  Piedmony ............. + 68
.  New Haven--Spf.... + 59
.  Carolinian ........,,,,,, +42
.  Maple Leaf ...........,. +30
.  KC--St. Louis ,,,,,,,,, +22
.  Northeast Regionals +21
.  Wash.-Richmopnd .. +16
.  Cascades ................ +13
.  Empire Service ....... + 12
,  Was-Newport News , + 11
.  Illini ........................... + 11
.  Vermonter ................. +10
.  Pennsylvanian ........... + 9
.  Downeaster  .............. + 6

THESE TRAINS STILL BEHIND 2019

.  Capitols ..................... - 42%
.  Adirondack .................. - 41
.  Pacific Surfliners ......... - 29
.  Illonis Zephyr .............,, - 26
,  Chicago--Milwaukee .... - 25
.  Keystone Service ......... - 19
.  Chicago--Detroit ........... - 15
.  San Joaquins ............... - 15
.  Acela Service ............... - 10
,  Chicago--St. Louis ........ - 7
.  Blue Water ..................... - 4
.  Pere Marqette ................ - 3

long haul trains vs, 2019

.  Auto Train ......................... + 13 %
.  Lake Shore Limited .......... + 11
.  City of New Orleans ......... + 3
.  Palmetto ........................... + 3
. Crescent ............................ + 3
,  Texas Eagle ...................... + 1
.  Silver Star ......................... Broke Even
----------------------------------------------

.  Southwest Chief  ................ - 23 %
.  Capitol Limited..................... - 22
.  Sunset Limited .................... - 17
,  Coast Starlight ..................... - 16 
.  Silver Meteor ........................ - 16
,  Cardnial ................................ - 15
,  Cal. Zephyr ........................... - 15
.  Empire Builder ...................... - 10 

If anyone wants the Raw Numbers--I will furnish.



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Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 11/21/24 17:46 by ronald321.

A couple things that leap off the page with these numbers.   First, record ridership accomplished with fewer, shorter trains, offering less amenities.  

Second, KC--St Louis, Cascades, Illini, and Texas Eagle are only trains "West of Harrisburg" that improved.  Pacific Surfliner, Illinois Zephyr, Chicago--Milwaukee, Chicago--Detroit, San Joaguins, Chicago--St Louis, Blue Water, Pere Marquette, Southwest Chief, Sunset Limited Coast Starlight, Cal Zephyr, Empire Builder, all of which except for the Michigan trains, don't reach the eastern time zone, all still show decreased traffic compared to 2019.

All these numbers reinforce a doctrine from Gardner & Company of not chaning anything other than continue to cut costs.  Especially with the changing of the political guard, where is the motivation for ANYONE in senior leadership at Amtrak or DOT to change anything? 



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 11/21/24 14:07 by scraphauler.

Don't forget the Borealis' not insignificant numbers may add to the total for 2024.  Will 2024 total passenger count ultimately surpass 2019?

It's great to see the increases, but the decreases are linked also to a redux in the consist size. Amtrak can't make that up. The Empire Builder should be in the positive, but Amtrak train ops/management kept playing around with adding/subtracting the second Seattle Sleeper, cancellations, and second Seattle coach. The Southwest Chief only recently got a shadow of its former self back and the Coat Starlight has coach and sleeper reductions. Amtrak can't measure how much revenue they are missing by not offering capacity when certain city pairs show as sold out, nor do the offer an option that passengers in sleepers "could" switch rooms (not that hard) if they wanted to "go all the way." Where are the train revenue managers and analysts? What do they do all day? Do they produce meaningful reports that management then uses to adjust and modify train sets over time? They exist and do reports - but I think they are totally ignored. The City of New Orleans, Lake Shore Limited, Texas Eagle, Crescent, there consist never even changed since 2019, OR expanded (e.g. extra sleeper on the NY section of the Lake Shore for a period of time, Crescent had the addition of a Viewliner Bagg/Dorm, in addition to the two regular Viewliner Sleepers (but now reduced). 

Southwest Chief n................ - 23 %
.  Capitol Limited..................... - 22
.  Sunset Limited .................... - 17
,  Coast Starlight ..................... - 16 
.  Silver Meteor ........................ - 16
,  Cardnial ................................ - 15
,  Cal. Zephyr ........................... - 15
.  Empire Builder ...................... - 10 

ALL of these trains had MAJOR consist changes between 2019 and 2024. 

BTW, go try and get a sleeper on the new Floridian between Christmas and New Year's between Chicago and Washington DC!!! On many days roomettes and bedrooms are sold out! Some space left on days, but I'm showing not much space left at all. I tried yesterday for a trip and it was sold out, but it a roomette did open up today.....That train should be operating with at LEAST three Viewliner SLeepers, and they gave it two. The dining onboard crew plus other OBS need revenue space in the two lone Viewliner Sleepers. Awful match of supply and demand let alone equipment utilization. 



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 11/21/24 14:25 by jp1822.

Count passenger miles rather than passengers, and you would get a different conclusion. 

Are any data on passenger miles publically available?

Some curiousities -

- Why do they report WAS-RIC and WAS-NPN separately?  And where are the other Virginia supported trains captured?  (Norfolk and Roanoke)
- Why do they break out the Maple Leaf from other Empire Service trains?  It's a VIA train once it enters Canada.
- Where is the Winter Park Express captured?

With all the money sunk into Chicago St. Louis/Detroit, its a shame to see ridership heading the wrong direction.

Dave

"Maple Leaf" means everything beyond Albany to Niagara Falls except the Lake Shore. "Empire Service" means up to Rensselaer.

Posted from Android

DavidP Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Some curiosities -

> With all the money sunk into Chicago St.
> Louis/Detroit, its a shame to see ridership
> heading the wrong direction.
>
> Dave

It is a shame. I'm a regular passenger on those routes, and it's really unfortunate to see the declines. I'd suggest that service reliability is a major issue, as has often been discussed here on TO.

Agree with "jp1822" on the western LD trains. It's tough to see how they could achieve growth toward parity with 2019 with their reduced consists. That has been a frequent discussion topic on this forum, and is very much on target. Running reduced consists on which it can often be hard to get or hold onto space is going to negatively impact ridership. I've had sleeper space booked for months cancelled out from under me right before travel due to consist reductions. Three passengers and good revenue gone - poof! Keep doing that enough and it will inevitably hit your numbers.

Yes, comparative passenger miles would also be a very useful metric. I'd suspect they would show similar trends.

MC

prech786

Amtrak's year of 2024 ended in September ---the 3 remaining months
of Oct., Nov. and Dec. will be counted as 2025 data. (Government agencies
run on this crazy schedule--don't know why.)

Don't know when the Borealis started -- but, Amtrak shows in 2024 (thru Sept., that is)--it handled
88,400 passengers--which is included in the Total System Ridership figure.

I  could not compare this train individually, because it did not exist in 2019.






 



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 11/21/24 17:16 by ronald321.

The Pacific Surfliner stats are off because of the four month line closure between Irvine and Oceanside, CA due to land slides in San Clemente.
 

Chicago--St. Louis ........ - 7

$2 Billion spent on upgrades and ridership is down even with a shorter timetable. Reliability of the new locomotives and comfort of the new cars both play a part in the decline.  I am a huge Amtrak fan but personally quit taking the train due to the new cars being so uncomfortable.

wstern LD trains have to be down since the early 1990s

kbmiflyer Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Chicago--St. Louis ........ - 7
>
> $2 Billion spent on upgrades and ridership is down
> even with a shorter timetable. Reliability of the
> new locomotives and comfort of the new cars both
> play a part in the decline.  I am a huge Amtrak
> fan but personally quit taking the train due to
> the new cars being so uncomfortable.

Service reliability is a big issue. Top of the list. An average passenger can easily cross the train off the list for a trip if they've had the experience of delays and poor schedule-keeping previously.

And you know, the comfort of the new Venture coaches may actually be a factor in the decline, too. Perhaps not a large one, but incrementally still not a good thing. Every factor that could lead to ridership decline should be examined and dealt with to the extent that it is feasible to do so - including seating comfort.

The Venture coaches are otherwise very good - spacious, bright, fresh and contemporary, very smooth-riding. Having a bunch of trips and hundreds of miles under my belt riding in Venture cars, I know how good they are in many respects. But those rock-hard seats are a big negative. I can easily envision your typical Joe or Jane passenger taking one trip in those seats, and saying, "not again - my automobile is more comfortable". Average passengers can think that way.

MC

Once a train is late or cancelled, everything else is regarded with a more cynical eye, like horrible Venture seats, unkempt bathrooms, overflowing trash receptacles, cafe car running out of items, etc..



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/22/24 12:16 by joemvcnj.

joemvcnj Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Once a train is late or cancelled, everything else
> is regarded with a more cynical eye, like horrible
> Venture seats, unkempt bathrooms, overflowing
> trash receptacles, cafe car running out of items,
> etc..

Correct. Just as it is with any transportation provider. Airlines have learned this lesson better than Amtrak, even though they have their own issues with service reliability. And with all of the ex-airline people that Amtrak is reputed to have in management, you'd think service reliability would be a top priority thing for them too. But alas that does not seem to be the case. Their view is overwhelmingly that the host railroads are to blame. They aren't blameless of course, but Amtrak has plenty to answer for in its own house. Plenty. As has been detailed in many posts here on TO.

MC

Amjoke:

The gang that can’t shoot straight.

Making trains worth riding again since 1971.

An industry slowly sinking…
Sadly.

Regards

Posted from iPhone

Drknow Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Amjoke:
>
> The gang that can’t shoot straight.
>
> Making trains worth riding again since 1971.
>
> An industry slowly sinking…
> Sadly.
>
> Regards
>
> Posted from iPhone

I agree with you, wish Amtrak had better leadership in DC which knows how to run a railroad!