Amtrak Route Performance Table
Subsidyscope used publicly available information to perform its analysis of Amtrak profits and losses by route. The analysis, prompted by a Government Accountability Office report, goes two steps beyond Amtrak’s own assessment of its performance. First, Subsidyscope calculated each route’s per passenger costs by dividing the overall profit or loss for that route by the number of riders it had. This, in our view, gives a more complete picture of the resources each route requires. Amtrak doesn’t do this calculation; as a result, some routes appear to be less of a drain on the railroad’s resources.
To carry out the next step in our analysis, we looked at Amtrak’s total net losses for the year, which includes items like depreciation, ancillary businesses and overhead costs. Amtrak omits these items in its own analysis of route performance. Subsidyscope took the additional $697 million in net losses that Amtrak does not include to calculate route performance and divided it by the total number of riders—nearly 29 million in 2008—resulting in an additional loss of $24.29 per passenger. We then applied $24.29 in losses to the average per passenger loss or profit for each line. (The actual calculation can be found below.) The GAO has said that omissions, such as depreciation, “substantially [understate] operating expenses in reports that managers use to assess performance.”
Click here to read Analysis Shows Amtrak Lost $32 Per Passenger in 2008.
Table 1: Amtrak Route Performance for Fiscal Year 2008
| Route | Total Revenue | Profit/Loss | Ridership | Profit Loss per Psgr Mile**1 | Profit Loss per Psgr Mile**2 | Profit Loss per Psgr**3 | Profit Loss per Psgr**4 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Northeast Corridor Trains | |||||||
| Acela | $486,300,000 | $220,200,000 | 3,398,759 | $0.35 | $0.24 | $64.79 | $40.50 |
| Northeast Regional | $518,400,000 | $146,500,000 | 7,489,426 | $0.13 | $0.02 | $19.56 | $-4.73 |
| NEC Unknown (Crew Labor) | $0 | $-1,300,000 | — | — | — | — | — |
| NEC Special Trains | $4,600,000 | $3,600,000 | 9,667 | — | — | $372.40 | $348.11 |
| Subtotal | $1,009,400,000 | $369,000,000 | 10,897,852 | $0.21 | $0.09 | $33.86 | $9.57 |
| State Supported and Short Distance Trains | |||||||
| Ethan Allen Express | $3,700,000 | $-300,000 | 46,881 | $-0.03 | -$0.15 | $-6.40 | $-30.69 |
| Vermonter | $6,900,000 | $-2,000,000 | 72,655 | $-0.09 | -$0.20 | $-27.53 | $-51.82 |
| Albany-Niagara Falls-Toronto | $22,800,000 | $-6,700,000 | 354,492 | $-0.06 | -$0.17 | $-18.90 | $-43.19 |
| The Downeaster | $11,100,000 | $-1,100,000 | 474,492 | $-0.03 | -$0.14 | $-2.32 | $-26.61 |
| New Haven - Springfield | $10,200,000 | $-11,800,000 | 349,928 | $-0.38 | -$0.49 | $-33.72 | $-58.01 |
| Keystone Service | $33,100,000 | $-4,600,000 | 1,183,821 | $-0.04 | -$0.16 | $-3.89 | $-28.18 |
| Empire Service | $42,200,000 | $-19,100,000 | 994,293 | $-0.16 | -$0.27 | $-19.21 | $-43.50 |
| Chicago-St.Louis | $32,200,000 | $3,800,000 | 476,427 | $0.04 | -$0.07 | $7.98 | $-16.32 |
| Hiawatha | $23,500,000 | $-1,400,000 | 749,659 | $-0.02 | -$0.14 | $-1.87 | $-26.16 |
| Wolverine | $18,400,000 | $-14,700,000 | 472,393 | $-0.15 | -$0.26 | $-31.12 | $-55.41 |
| Illini/saluki | $13,300,000 | $0 | 271,082 | $0.00 | -$0.11 | $0.00 | $-24.29 |
| Illinois Zephyr | $10,900,000 | $-3,100,000 | 202,814 | $-0.09 | -$0.20 | $-15.28 | $-39.58 |
| Heartland Flyer | $5,700,000 | $-200,000 | 80,892 | $-0.02 | -$0.13 | $-2.47 | $-26.77 |
| Pacific Surfliner | $77,100,000 | $-14,700,000 | 2,898,859 | $-0.06 | -$0.17 | $-5.07 | $-29.36 |
| Cascades | $41,300,000 | $-5,900,000 | 760,323 | $-0.05 | -$0.16 | $-7.76 | $-32.05 |
| Capitol corridor | $43,700,000 | $-14,200,000 | 1,693,580 | $-0.13 | -$0.24 | $-8.38 | $-32.68 |
| San Joaquins | $62,800,000 | $-8,700,000 | 949,611 | $-0.06 | -$0.18 | $-9.16 | $-33.45 |
| Adirondack | $11,000,000 | $-100,000 | 112,047 | <$-0.01 | -$0.12 | $-0.89 | $-25.19 |
| Blue Water | $9,000,000 | $-2,400,000 | 136,538 | $-0.09 | -$0.20 | $-17.58 | $-41.87 |
| Washington-Newport News | $28,100,000 | $2,700,000 | 459,236 | $0.03 | -$0.09 | $5.88 | $-18.41 |
| Hoosier State | $800,000 | $-3,000,000 | 31,774 | $-0.59 | -$0.71 | $-94.42 | $-118.71 |
| Kansas City-St.Louis | $7,200,000 | $-4,000,000 | 151,690 | $-0.14 | -$0.25 | $-26.37 | $-50.66 |
| Pennsylvanian | $8,500,000 | $-5,200,000 | 200,999 | $-0.11 | -$0.22 | $-25.87 | $-50.16 |
| Pere Marquette | $5,500,000 | $-1,000,000 | 111,716 | $-0.06 | -$0.17 | $-8.95 | $-33.24 |
| Carolinian | $20,300,000 | $400,000 | 295,427 | $0.01 | -$0.11 | $1.35 | $-22.94 |
| Piedmont | $2,600,000 | $-900,000 | 65,941 | $-0.11 | -$0.22 | $-13.65 | $-37.94 |
| Central Unknown (Crew Labor) | $0 | $-900,000 | — | — | — | — | — |
| Crew Labor | $0 | $-800,000 | — | — | — | — | — |
| Non NEC Special Trains | $5,200,000 | $2,100,000 | 50,626 | $0.13 | $0.02 | $41.48 | $17.19 |
| Subtotal | $556,900,000 | $-117,500,000 | 13,648,196 | $-0.07 | -$0.18 | $-8.61 | $-32.90 |
| Long Distance Trains | |||||||
| Silver Star | $31,400,000 | $-44,400,000 | 367,139 | $-0.23 | -$0.34 | $-120.94 | $-145.23 |
| Cardinal | $7,700,000 | $-15,100,000 | 109,195 | $-0.34 | -$0.45 | $-138.28 | $-162.58 |
| Silver Meteor | $33,800,000 | $-37,800,000 | 319,773 | $-0.19 | -$0.31 | $-118.21 | $-142.50 |
| Empire Builder | $64,000,000 | $-40,500,000 | 554,266 | $-0.10 | -$0.21 | $-73.07 | $-97.36 |
| Capitol Limited | $19,500,000 | $-23,700,000 | 216,350 | $-0.22 | -$0.34 | $-109.54 | $-133.84 |
| California Zephyr | $44,000,000 | $-59,400,000 | 352,563 | $-0.22 | -$0.33 | $-168.48 | $-192.77 |
| Southwest Chief | $44,900,000 | $-45,900,000 | 331,143 | $-0.15 | -$0.26 | $-138.61 | $-162.90 |
| City of New Orleans | $16,400,000 | $-16,900,000 | 197,394 | $-0.18 | -$0.29 | $-85.62 | $-109.91 |
| Texas Eagle | $21,800,000 | $-29,400,000 | 251,518 | $-0.19 | -$0.30 | $-116.89 | $-141.18 |
| Sunset Limited | $9,300,000 | $-31,400,000 | 71,719 | $-0.48 | -$0.59 | $-437.82 | $-462.11 |
| Coast Starlight | $32,000,000 | $-39,500,000 | 353,657 | $-0.21 | -$0.33 | $-111.69 | $-135.98 |
| Lake Shore Limited | $26,400,000 | $-37,500,000 | 345,632 | $-0.25 | -$0.36 | $-108.50 | $-132.79 |
| Palmetto | $14,500,000 | $-11,800,000 | 173,949 | $-0.15 | -$0.27 | $-67.84 | $-92.13 |
| Crescent | $30,200,000 | $-38,000,000 | 291,222 | $-0.26 | -$0.37 | $-130.48 | $-154.78 |
| Auto Train | $58,500,000 | $-10,500,000 | 234,839 | $-0.05 | -$0.16 | $-44.71 | $-69.00 |
| Subtotal | $454,500,000 | $-481,800,000 | 4,170,359 | $-0.19 | -$0.30 | $-115.53 | $-139.82 |
| Total All Trains | $2,020,800,000 | $-230,300,000 | 28,716,407 | $-0.04 | -$0.15 | $-8.02 | $-32.31 |
Source: All data from Amtrak’s Monthly Performance Report for September 2008 (figures rounded to nearest cent).
**excluding costs such as depreciation
1Monthly Performance Report for September 2008, Amtrak, pages C-1 and C-2.- Subsidyscope calculation. Including depreciation and other unallocated costs adds an additional loss of $0.11 per passenger mile. Subsidyscope applies this cost to the per passenger mile profit/loss for each route. See methodology above for details. Steps involved in this calculation are presented in Table 2 below.
- Subsidyscope calculation, based on aggregate numbers provided by Amtrak. Amtrak does not present per passenger costs on a route-by-route basis.
- Subsidyscope calculation. Including depreciation and other unallocated costs adds an additional loss of $24.29 per passenger. Subsidyscope applies this cost to the per passenger profit/loss for each route. See methodology above for details. Steps involved in this calculation presented in Table 2 below.