U.S. passenger-miles: Intercity/Amtrak 2007-2023
In 2023, passengers traveled around 6.1 billion miles by Intercity/Amtrak. Amtrak, also known as the National Railroad Passenger Corporation, is a publicly funded service.
Amtrak struggles to break even
Founded in the early 1970s, Amtrak receives federal and state funds and operates throughout North America, with its longest route spanning from Chicago to Los Angeles. Although ridership on Amtrak’s services had been increasing, it dropped by almost 50 percent during unprecedented lockdown restrictions in 2020. Ridership began rising again in 2022 but has not yet, regained pre-pandemic levels. To help offset the negative effects of Covid-19, the rail operator received around one billion U.S. dollars’ worth of federal financial aid. Following this financial, setback, Amtrak recorded its best-ever year in terms of revenue in 2023, which amounted to roughly 3.6 billion U.S. dollars. The rail operator's operating expenses grew even more quickly, though, totaling around 5.4 billion U.S. dollars for the same financial year.
On track for high-speed rail
Amtrak has decided to work together with European rolling stock manufacturing giant Alstom to produce high-speed train equipment and subsequently expand the Acela Express service. The contract is said to be worth around 2.45 billion U.S. dollars, and work will carry out on the Northeast Corridor, where the line generating the greatest revenue stretches from New York to Washington D.C. This regional rail corridor is the nation’s busiest passenger intercity rail line, and the new trains, which will be able to travel at speeds of almost 300 kilometers per hour, will serve to increase capacity on the network.
