Amtrak broke records for both ridership and ticket revenue last year, the national passenger railroad said Monday.
The rail system carried almost 29 million passengers and raked in roughly $1.74 billion in ticket revenue — both record highs — during the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30.
Ridership ballooned about 5.7 percent, or 1.55 million passengers, from 2009 to 2010, according to an Amtrak statement. Ticket revenue increased 9 percent, or $140 million.
“More and more people see passenger rail as a way to get to where they need to go,” said Amtrak President and CEO Joseph Boardman. Amtrak’s business partnerships with state and commuter agencies were also critical to its success, he said.
“Just as we must earn the loyalty of the customers who ride our trains, we must work to build stronger ties to our state and commuter customers,” he said.
Ridership on Amtrak’s high-speed Acela Express line, which runs from the District to New York and Boston, increased more than 6.5 percent. The Acela, which costs more than Amtrak’s regular Northeast Corridor service, offers riders a free Internet connection and is billed as the rail operator’s most business-friendly service.
Amtrak officials said a surge in the number of business travelers, who were able to hit the rails thanks to last year’s “moderately improved economic environment,” helped fuel the record ridership and revenue gains.
The federally subsidized rail operator said other factors contributing to the big gains included high gasoline prices, which discouraged people from driving, and passenger dissatisfaction with airline service.
More people ride Amtrak than take airplanes to get from D.C. to New York, according to Amtrak.
Amtrak ridership is up nearly 37 percent since 2000 and got a big boost last year when President Obama pumped roughly $1.3 billion into the long-struggling train system.
Obama, a vocal proponent of train travel, also created a separate $8 billion fund to support the creation of a national high-speed rail line.
Amtrak operates on roughly 21,000 miles of track in 46 states.
