WASHINGTON – May marked 19 consecutive months of year-over-year ridership growth for Amtrak, was the best May ever with more than 2.6 million passengers, keeping the railroad on track to set another annual ridership record.
The long-distance trains have experienced year-over-year passenger increases in 18 of those 19 months, making a significant contribution to the extended streak of national ridership growth. In addition, advance reservations for summer travel indicate increased ridership on long-distance trains in June, July and August.
This strong performance is part of a long-term trend that has seen Amtrak set annual ridership records in seven of the last eight fiscal years, including more than 28.7 million passengers in FY 2010.
Comparing the first eight months of FY 2011 (October – May) to the same time period in FY 2010, national Amtrak ridership is up 6.7 percent so far this fiscal year and all three major business lines are showing gains: the Northeast Corridor up 5.3 percent, state-supported and other short distance corridors up 8.2 percent, and long-distance trains up 5.5 percent.
