Amtrak ridership on the Northeast Regional between D.C. and Boston grew by 29% in 2023 compared to the year before, and the transit system is adding more service on the Northeast Corridor route to meet demand.
Amtrak has added four additional weekday roundtrips between D.C.’s Union Station and Moynihan Train Hall at New York Penn Station, and another two weekend routes between D.C. and New York.
Amtrak has also added an additional morning route between New York and Philadelphia’s 30th Street Station, and a new weekend trip between Philadelphia and Boston.
Amtrak says the additions will result in a 20% increase in weekday service and a 10% increase on Sundays, adding the equivalent of more than 1 million seats to the Northeast Regional.
“More people are taking the train than ever before and we’re proud to offer our customers additional travel options when they ride with us on the Northeast Regional,” said Amtrak executive vice president and chief commercial officer Eliot Hamlisch.
Amtrak has set a goal of doubling its annual ridership to 66 million passengers by fiscal year 2040.
Amtrak ridership rose to 28.6 million passengers systemwide in fiscal 2023, which ended in September — a 24% increase over 2022. Northeast Regional ridership accounted for 9.2 million of those passengers. Acela ridership grew by 38%, with 3 million customer trips.
Ridership last year was 8% higher than pre-pandemic levels.
While ridership growth was significant in 2023, it was not all organic. Some of it came from resuming service on all remaining routes previously suspended or curtailed during the pandemic.
Amtrak hired 4,800 new employees last year. Its annual operating revenue was $3.4 billion. Amtrak had an adjusted operating loss of $752.2 million.
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