Amtrak carried more than 31.2 million passengers in Fiscal Year 2012 ending September 30, marking the highest annual ridership total since Amtrak started operations in 1971 and the ninth ridership record during the last ten years.
A comparison of FY 2012 to FY 2011 shows ridership grew 3.5 percent to a new record of 31,240,565 passengers and ticket revenue jumped 6.8 percent to a best ever $2.02 billion. In addition, Amtrak system-wide on-time performance increased to 83 percent, up from 78.1 percent and its highest level in 12 years.
“People are riding Amtrak trains in record numbers across the country because there is an undeniable demand to travel by rail,” said Amtrak President and CEO Joe Boardman. “Ridership will continue to grow because of key investments made by Amtrak and our federal and state partners to improve on-time performance, reliability, capacity and train speeds.”
Click here to read the release from Amtrak.
Click here to view a growth chart of Amtrak ridership.