Acela Express Ridership is Growing
On-time performance is high and so are passenger counts
amtrak.com, 2/26/2007 (excerpted)
WASHINGTON - Acela Express, the high-speed premium Amtrak service linking Boston, New York, Philadelphia and Washington, D.C., is experiencing strong ridership and revenues.
In figures for the four months ending January 30, more than one million passengers (1,020,031) rode Amtrak Acela Express trains, an increase of nearly 20 percent from the same period a year earlier. Ticket revenue is up by nearly 22 percent and is in excess of $127 million for the four months that begin the current Amtrak fiscal year.
"We have worked hard to improve the onboard experience and the reliability of the Acela Express trains — and its paying-off," said Alexander J. Kummant, Amtrak President and CEO. "Our on-time performance was more than 88 percent for the October-January period and is trending up with more than 3,000 Acela Express trains operated.
"Compared to air, we are the dominant carrier for travel between Washington and New York," Kummant said.
In the last few months, Amtrak has assumed maintenance responsibility for the Acela Express trains, has upgraded meal service for First Class passengers and has completed several track and signal improvements on the Northeast Corridor.
As a result, business travelers and others who want to avoid jammed highways and hassles with other modes are choosing Acela Express for fast downtown-to-downtown trip times while enjoying great meals, Quiet Car® service, and booking through Amtrak.com and our Quik-Trak
self-service ticketing machines.
Overall, Amtrak ridership across the 46-state network of trains is also up for the October 2006-January 2007 period. The total of 8,155,748 passengers is an increase of more than four percent from the year-ago figure and includes double-digit increases on several routes.