U.S. passenger-miles: Intercity/Amtrak 2007-2020

In 2020, passengers traveled around 5.1 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 has been increasing over recent years, it dropped by almost 50 percent during unprecedented lockdown restrictions in 2020. To help offset the negative effects of Covid-19, the rail operator is set to receive around one billion U.S. dollars’ worth of federal financial aid. This financial setback comes after Amtrak’s best-ever year in terms of revenue in 2019, which amounted to roughly 3.5 billion U.S. dollars. The rail operator reported operating expenses of around 4.1 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.