The past year has seen Amtrak’s ridership rise almost across the board nationally. In fact, only three routes had a net decrease in ridership over 2023 numbers. Specifically, even in Amtrak’s busiest Washington DC-NYC-Boston corridor; Acela and NE Regional service ridership increased by 9.4% and 18% respectively. Overall, both services combined tallied just over 14 million passengers for 2024; up almost 16 percent from 2023 numbers.

No doubt, one of the headlining additions to Amtrak service in 2024 was the Borealis train. Bringing a new daily passenger route between St. Paul, MN, Milwaukee, and Chicago; the 411 mile round-trip service began on May 21, 2024. Seeing 88,444 passengers in its opening seven months of service.

Short Route Riders

On shorter, state supported services ridership reached about 14.48 million; an increase of 15.8% over 2023 ridership. Here’s the breakdown by region and percent change;

Northeast Routes

Adirondack (NY) ~ 71,012 (+164.1%)
New Haven-Springfield (MA/CT) ~ 577,133 (+30.6%)
Pennsylvanian (PA) ~ 233,942 (+21.4%)
Keystone (PA) ~ 1,269,005 (+13.7%)
Vermonter (VT/MA/CT) ~ 109,136 (+12.2%)
Empire West/Maple Leaf (NY/ON) ~ 506,608 (+11.9%)
Downeaster (ME) ~ 591,948 (+9.1%)
Empire South (NY) ~ 1,356,711 (+9%)
Ethan Allen (NY/VT) ~ 88,981 (+2.7%)
Berkshire Flyer (MA) ~ 826 (-31.7%) **Summer Service ONLY**

South Routes

Piedmont (NC) ~ 360,655 (+24.4%)
Heartland Flyer (OK/TX) ~ 80,371 (+11%)
Carolinian (NC) ~ 347,360 (+10%)
Washington-Richmond (VA) ~ 148,809 (+10%)
Washington-Norfolk (VA) ~ 507,812 (+5.8%)
Washington-Newport News (VA) ~ 373,078 (+4.7%)
Washington-Roanoke (VA) ~ 344,469 (+1.6%)

Midwest Routes

Illinois Zephyr (IL) ~ 141,722 (+23.8%)
Missouri River Runner (MO) ~ 187,750 (+22.6%)
Lincoln Service (IL) ~ 586,170 (+12%)
Illini/Saluki (IL) ~ 296,616 (+9.9%)
Pere Marquette (MI) ~ 94,381 (+9.9%)
Hiawatha (WI/IL) ~ 665,279 (+4.5%)
Blue Water (MI) ~ 174,862 (+3.6%)
Wolverine (MI) ~ 425,832 (+1.3%)

West Routes

Cascades (WA/OR) ~ 941,727 (+40.6%)
Pacific Surfliner (CA) ~ 1,517,426 (+30.8%)
Capital Corridor (CA) ~ 1,032,632 (+12.1%)
San Joaquins (CA) ~ 909,551 (+7.3%)

Getting a bit more granular. Taking a look at the five state rail routes with the largest growth this year and comparing them with the pre-pandemic 2019 passenger numbers. It’s a bit of a mixed bag as Southern California inches slowly back to even half of pre-pandemic ridership. However, even that percentage yields over 1.5 million passengers. No surprise the Adirondack is on here, as that route spent 2024 plagued with closures due to track construction. Like SoCal, the Adirondack is slowly making a comeback.

Adirondack (NY) ~ 71,012 (+164.1%)

2019: 117,490 riders // Service DOWN 46,478 riders (-39.6%)

Cascades (WA/OR) ~ 941,727 (+40.6%)

2019: 828,247 riders // Service UP 113,480 riders (+12.1%)

Pacific Surfliner (CA) ~ 1,517,426 (+30.8%)

2019: 2,776,654 riders // Service DOWN 1,259,228 riders (-45.4%)

New Haven-Springfield (MA/CT) ~ 577,133 (+30.6%)

2019: 362,442 riders // Service UP 214,691 riders (+37.2%)

Piedmont (NC) ~ 360,655 (+24.4%)

2019: 214,218 riders // Service UP 146,437 riders (+40.7%)

Long Distance Passengers

On long-distance, federally funded routes Amtrak data numbered 4.27 million passengers nationwide. This is an increase of 8.3% riders compared to 2023.

SE Routes

Palmetto (Savannah, GA-NYC) ~ 388,122 (+12.2%)
Crescent (New Orleans-NYC) ~ 303,098 (+11.6%)
Silver Star/Floridian (Miami-Chicago) ~ 357,196 (+10.3%)
Silver Meteor (Miami-NYC) ~ 298,328 (+5.1%)
City of New Orleans (New Orlean-Chicago) ~ 241,768 (+3.4%)
Auto Train (Sanford, FL-Lorton, VA) ~ 266,586 (-6%)

Central Routes

Capitol Limited/Floridian (Washington DC-Chicago) ~ 163,136 (+29.2)
Lake Shore Limited (Chicago-NYC/Boston) ~ 398,420 (+13.5%)
Cardinal (Chicago-NYC) ~ 92,962 (+12.4%)
Empire Builder (Seattle/Portland-Chicago) ~ 387,953 (+11.2%)
California Zephyr (Emeryville, CA-Chicago) ~ 351,155 (+6.9%)

SW Routes

Texas Eagle (LA/San Antonio-Chicago) ~ 325,709 (+10.6%)
Coast Starlight (Seattle-LA) ~ 359,432 (+6.3%)
Southwest Chief (LA-Chicago) ~ 261,485 (+3%)
Sunset Limited (LA-New Orleans) ~ 76,937 (-0.5%)

Doing the same thing for the long distance routes; let’s dig deeper on the routes with the greatest increase in ridership. Try to get a better picture on just how they are faring since COVID. A couple positives can be taken from these numbers; including the continued increase in ridership for both, the Lake Shore Limited and Palmetto.