u/RWREmpireBuilder

Gains are for June 2026 vs June 2025.

Annual ridership now at 35,889,000. Operating deficit down to $460 million annually, with $30 million shaved off this month.

Amtrak has added over 1 million rides between March & May, its best 3-month stretch since March-May 2024. It is also on track to hit its FY28 target of 37 million annual rides early, currently pacing to reach it this fall/winter (early FY27).

Wisconsin applied for $218 million in federal funds to support Amtrak expansion to Madison. Likely seeking funds through CRISI, which closed for applications yesterday and has $2 billion available.

Caltrain reported 1,188,972 rides taken in May, a 21% increase vs May 2025 and 73% recovered to May 2019 levels. BART is also up 12% on ridership based on the preliminary daily counts.

**EDIT: Sorry about the title, this is actually data for April.

Key Points from the April report.

-Amtrak added 107K rides on the NEC, 178K on state routes, and 20K on long distance routes. They also have a new unofficial record of 35,591,000 rides annually.

-Operating margin improved by $7.4 million to -$490.7 million annually. All 3 route groups improved financially.

-Capacity began to increase again, but ridership still improved at a faster rate. 56 million passenger miles added vs 43 million seat miles added. Load factor up to 54.87%.

-State supported routes now fully recovered to 2019 levels. Long distance at 98% recovery.

Top Ridership Gains

Northeast Regional- 110,600

Pacific Surfliner- 75,000

Keystone Service- 23,200

Capitol Corridor- 22,100

Mardi Gras Service- 13,200 (new service)

Cascades- 11,000

Top Ridership Losses

DC-Richmond NER- 13,800

DC-Norfolk NER- 9,600

Lake Shore Limited- 3,200

Acela- 2,800

Cardinal- 1,900

**Virginia NER's affected by Long Bridge disruptions

Key Details

-Yes, Amtrak turned an operating profit of $23.7 million, a $96.8 million improvement over March 2025. This was driven by 2 items: a $21.5 million increase in ticket revenue and a $60.6 million decrease in advertising and sales expenses.

-Looking at network-specific finances, the routes generated $246 million in ticket revenue (without state support payments) and $243.6 million in expenses. The NEC ran a cost recovery of 174%, with state routes at 61% and long distance at 72%.

-The NEC added 148K rides, state routes added 281K, and long distance routes decreased by 17K.

-Capacity remains an underlying problem. Passenger miles increased by 32 million while seat miles decreased by 24 million, pushing the load factor up to a new high of 54.6%. Train miles decreased again, pushing annual train miles to a 2-year low.

-Annual operating deficit is down to $498.1 million, a new post-Covid low.