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Amtrak, Seeking to Break Even, Sees Some Light at the End of the Tunnel
Time for Trump to sell it, for $1, to one of his friends.
David Fahrenthold Retweeted
Amtrak ridership breaks record and operating losses fall well below projections. Gotta say, I've been riding the train a lot of late (non-Acela!) and the experience has been only good. No major delays, fair prices, low carbon emissions. This is the future.
Link to tweet
U.S.
Amtrak, Seeking to Break Even, Sees Some Light at the End of the Tunnel
The passenger-rail operator cut losses as ridership hit a record 32.5 million trips in 2019 fiscal year
By Ted Mann
Nov. 8, 2019 9:30 am ET
WASHINGTON—Amtrak inched closer to breaking even last year, the company reported Friday, as rising ridership and cost cuts continued a multiyear improvement in the railroad’s financial performance.
Amtrak reported an adjusted operating loss of $29.8 million across the entire national railroad network, significantly beating a previous target of a loss of $75 million in the 2019 fiscal year, which ended Sept. 30. Its operating loss in fiscal 2018 was $170.6 million.
Operating revenue rose to $3.3 billion, the company said, an increase of 3.6% over fiscal 2018.
The railroad’s fortunes were boosted by rising ridership in a strong economy. The railroad recorded 32.5 million customer trips, a record that surpassed the previous year by 800,000.
Ridership on the premium Acela service on the Northeast Corridor grew more than 4%, and was up almost 3% on Northeast regional trains. Ridership on long-distance trains—which have been plagued by delays and unreliability—also grew by almost 1%, the company said.
Amtrak Chief Executive Richard Anderson has told Congress that the railroad will break even on the operation of its rail network—not counting the significant amounts it spends maintaining physical infrastructure such as trains, tracks and tunnels—by next summer.
....
Write to Ted Mann at ted.mann@wsj.com
Amtrak, Seeking to Break Even, Sees Some Light at the End of the Tunnel
The passenger-rail operator cut losses as ridership hit a record 32.5 million trips in 2019 fiscal year
By Ted Mann
Nov. 8, 2019 9:30 am ET
WASHINGTON—Amtrak inched closer to breaking even last year, the company reported Friday, as rising ridership and cost cuts continued a multiyear improvement in the railroad’s financial performance.
Amtrak reported an adjusted operating loss of $29.8 million across the entire national railroad network, significantly beating a previous target of a loss of $75 million in the 2019 fiscal year, which ended Sept. 30. Its operating loss in fiscal 2018 was $170.6 million.
Operating revenue rose to $3.3 billion, the company said, an increase of 3.6% over fiscal 2018.
The railroad’s fortunes were boosted by rising ridership in a strong economy. The railroad recorded 32.5 million customer trips, a record that surpassed the previous year by 800,000.
Ridership on the premium Acela service on the Northeast Corridor grew more than 4%, and was up almost 3% on Northeast regional trains. Ridership on long-distance trains—which have been plagued by delays and unreliability—also grew by almost 1%, the company said.
Amtrak Chief Executive Richard Anderson has told Congress that the railroad will break even on the operation of its rail network—not counting the significant amounts it spends maintaining physical infrastructure such as trains, tracks and tunnels—by next summer.
....
Write to Ted Mann at ted.mann@wsj.com
https://twitter.com/TMannWSJ