Amtrak ridership continues to grow

May marked 19 consecutive months of year-over-year ridership growth for Amtrak with more than 2.6 million passengers, setting another annual ridership record. The long-distance trains have experienced year-over-year passenger increases in 18 of those 19 months, making a 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. This performance is part of a long-term trend that has seen Amtrak set annual ridership records in seven of the last eight fiscal years, including more than 28.7 million passengers in FY 2010. National Amtrak ridership is up 6.7 percent so far this fiscal year. Northeast Highlights On the Northeast Corridor, ridership for the high-speed Acela Express experienced a 5.1 percent increase in May 2011 vs. May 2010. In addition, May was the best month on record for the increasingly popular Northeast Regional service carrying 693,268 passengers, which represents a 10.1 percent increase over the same month last year. Central Highlights The Missouri River Runner, is up 28.8 percent, Blue Waterwith, 22 percent, Illini/Saluki 23 percent and Carl Sandburg/Illinois Zephyr is up 13.7 percent. The Hiawatha Service continues on a pace to carry more than 800,000 passengers this year, with an increase of 6.7 percent in May. West Highlights In the West, strong ridership continued in May 2011 on all of the three California state-supported routes when compared to May 2010. The Capitol Corridor, the San Joaquin and the Pacific Surfliner. Ridership on the Amtrak Cascades also increased. National Highlights The overnight services reported increases on the Lake Shore Limited, Sunset Limited, Silver Star, Auto Train and Southwest Chief.