Amtrak released the May numbers today: http://www.amtrak.com/servlet/BlobServer?blobcol=urldata&blobtable=MungoBlobs&blobkey=id&blobwhere=1249227805921&blobheader=application%2Fpdf&blobheadername1=Content-disposition&blobheadervalue1=attachment;filename=Amtrak_ATK-11-085_19_Months_Ridership.pdf.any hint on when the May numbers will be out?
Quotes from the release:
"May marked 19 consecutive months of year-over-year ridership growth for Amtrak, was the best May ever with more than 2.6 million passengers and keeps America’s Railroadsm on track to set another annual ridership record.
The long-distance trains have experienced year-over-year passenger increases in 18 of those 19 months, making a significant contribution to the extended streak of national ridership growth. In addition, advance reservations for summer travel indicate increased ridership on long-distance trains in June, July and August."
...
"Comparing the first eight months of FY 2011 (October – May) to the same time period in FY 2010, national Amtrak ridership is up 6.7 percent so far this fiscal year and all three major business lines are showing gains: the Northeast Corridor up 5.3 percent, state-supported and other short distance corridors up 8.2 percent, and long-distance trains up 5.5 percent."
The LD train passenger numbers for May were hurt by the numerous cancellations and interruptions for the Empire Builder (off only -1.3%??) and City of New Orleans, off -34.3% for May. Hence the 18 out of 19 months for the LD trains, I suspect.
Among the winners for May 2011 compared to May 2010 were:
Acela: +5.1% (303,827 passengers total)
NE Regionals: +10.1% with 693,268 passengers total, the "best month on record" (which begs the question how far back and how they regard the numbers for the NE Regionals compared to 20-30 years ago NEC services).
Albany-Niagara Falls-Toronto: +10.1%
Downeaster: + 11.8%
Keystone: +7.5%
Illini/Saluki +23.0%
Illinois Zephyr/Carl Sandburg: +13.7%
Capital Corridor: +9.7%
San Joaquin: +12.8%
Adirondack: +21.2%
Blue Water: +22.0%
Washington-Lynchburg: +43.3% (+31.3% for the year. Continues to get impressive growth numbers).
Washington-Newport News: +32.9%
Hoosier State: +28.3%
Missouri River Runner: +28.8%
Pennsylvanian: +9.8%
Piedmont Service: +76.4%
The only corridor train that was off was the Lincoln Service -11.3%, but the service was shut down for some days for track work.
Some of these increases for one train a day corridor services strongly suggest that if the equipment could be located and if the track capacity was there, Amtrak and the state should move to add second daily trains.