OAKLAND – July was an historic, record-breaking month for Amtrak California trains. More than half a million passengers traveled on the three state-supported services (Capitol Corridor, San Joaquins and Pacific Surfliner ), the most passengers Amtrak California has ever carried in a single month.
The most significant ridership increase was on the Amtrak San Joaquins service (San Francisco/Oakland-Sacramento-Bakersfield) where more than 100,000 passengers traveled the route, a 32 percent increase over the previous year.
Over 300,000 passengers rode the Amtrak Pacific Surfliner trains (San Diego-Los Angeles-San Luis Obispo), a rise of more than 12 percent compared to the same month last year. Ridership on the Capitol Corridor trains (San Jose-San Francisco/Oakland-Sacramento-Auburn) topped 160,000 passengers — almost 33 percent higher than last July.
“We are gratified with the level of ridership,” said Capitol Corridor Joint Powers Authority Managing Director Eugene Skoropowski. “June was our second highest ridership month ever, in spite of a major track renewal project that Union Pacific undertook on part of our corridor. The track work resulted in reduced train frequency, a mid-day bus bridge, and some service delays, yet ridership grew almost 17 percent. Now that we are back to reliable full service, July brought us continued and sustained growth.”
Overall, Amtrak ridership system-wide was also up for July with more than 2.7 million passengers, an increase of almost 14 percent over the same month last year.
Amtrak operates the Pacific Surfliner service, with 12 daily roundtrips between San Diego and Los Angeles, including five extending to Santa Barbara and two continuing to San Luis Obispo, under a contract with Caltrans.
Amtrak also operates the San Joaquins service under the same contract with Caltrans, with six daily round-trips to Bakersfield from Oakland or Sacramento.
The Capitol Corridor service operates 32 weekday trains and 22 weekend trains between Sacramento and the Bay Area, with direct service to San Jose and Auburn. For train schedules visit www.capitolcorridor.org.
Amtrak California Thruway motorcoaches provide service to over 175 additional destinations throughout California from the three state-supported routes.
