By Ron Thaniel
October 20, 2003

More than 24 million passengers traveled on Amtrak in Fiscal Year '03 which ended September 30, the highest annual ridership ever experienced by the nation's intercity passenger rail service in its 32-year history. Amtrak's previous ridership record of 23.5 million passengers was set in 2001.

Long-distance trains showed substantial improvement over last year, with those in the Eastern region of the country improving ridership by 3.8 percent and those in the Western region improving by 6.6 percent. Ridership on shorter distance routes in the West increased by 11.7 percent over last year, while decreasing slightly in the East by -1.6 percent.

Amtrak attributed the overall positive results largely to its "back-to-basics" approach to winning over passengers, begun earlier this year. Other improvements in service introduced during the year included new menus on the long-distance trains offering passengers traveling more than one night would have more dining options.

Additionally, Amtrak's award-winning automated toll-free voice response system, 1-800-USA-RAIL, called "Julie¨," was upgraded to handle credit card transactions and more complex reservations. "Julie" currently satisfies approximately 40 percent of all callers to the toll-free number.

Amtrak Appropriations Battle Looms

With the reauthorization of Amtrak unlikely this year, attention now turns to the appropriations process. The process will decide whether Amtrak receives necessary funding to maintain existing operations in 2004 or face another year of a likely shutdown. The House has approved a FY04 budget of $900 million, the same amount President Bush requested, and the Senate appropriations committee has approved $1.36 billion.

Amtrak President David L. Gunn has asked for $1.8 billion, and has stated that $900 million is a shutdown number. According to Amtrak, if you look at their budget, the operating deficit — cash required for the operating deficit plus debt service, which is interest and principal, is over $800 million a year. As a result, if Amtrak receives just $900 million, there is no money for heavy maintenance.

U.S. Department of Transportation Inspector General Kenneth M. Mead said Amtrak will need at least $1.5 billion just to "get by" for this year. Even that "merely postpones the day of reckoning," Mead said.

About Amtrak

Amtrak passengers enjoy rail service in more than 500 communities in 46 states across a 22,000-mile route system.