“For 50 years, Amtrak, its state and commuter partners, and our customers have been looking to the federal government to dedicate the necessary resources to intercity passenger rail so that Amtrak can more completely fulfill its mission to serve the American people in cities, suburbs and small towns across the country,” Amtrak President and CEO Stephen Gardner wrote in a March 31 letter to Congress as part of the railroad’s G&L report submission (download below). “With the recent [Nov. 15, 2021] enactment of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA), Amtrak is about to begin a new era—with a historic level of federal investment for certain critical capital projects and a clear plan to transform and grow our business.
“However, for Amtrak to accomplish what Congress intended and what is required by the IIJA, Amtrak’s annual appropriation is more important than ever. In addition to directly providing guaranteed one-time funding, Congress also used the IIJA to authorize additional annual funding—in effect, setting non-binding targets intended to inform, but not control, the annual appropriations process—for Amtrak’s NEC and NN grants for FY 2022-FY 2026. Our requested FY 2023 annual grant will allow Amtrak to continue operating our Long-Distance trains, which connect communities across the nation; to continue partnering with states to provide short-distance corridor service; and to continue normalized replacement (necessary maintenance and sustainment) of aged assets on the Northeast Corridor, all while facing new levels of uncertainty and disruption from the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Consistent with the authorized levels that Congress enacted just four months ago in the IIJA, Amtrak is requesting $3.3 billion in total grant funding for FY 2023.”
Gardner also provided details on how Amtrak’s business performed before and at the height of the pandemic as well as a forecast for the coming years:
Additionally, he covered Amtrak FY 2021 highlights:
• Total capital expenditures of $2.2 billion, including the Hudson Tunnel Project property acquisition and advancing the procurement of new intercity trainsets.
• Ridership grew to 12.2 million customer trips, 42% above what Amtrak projected in its plan, “but still far below ridership levels before the COVID-19 pandemic.”
• Gross ticket revenues of $883 million, “which were ahead of plan but lagged behind the weak results of FY 2020 (a year partly affected by the pandemic) and were only 38% of the $2.354 billion in gross ticket revenues recorded in FY 2019 (pre-pandemic).”
• Adjusted operating earnings loss of $1.081 billion, “a more-than-$400 million improvement over what was projected in our FY 2021 plan.”
