Ridership continues to increase on Virginia’s Amtrak routes

Passenger rail service in Virginia continues to attract more customers according to a recent report from the Virginia Passenger Rail Authority.

“With a total of 118,474 passengers traveling, April 2024 beat April 2023 by 9.8 percent,” reads a press release sent out on May 31. “All four Amtrak Virginia corridors saw ridership increases resulting in the highest ridership for the month of April since the Commonwealth started state-supported service in 2009.”

The Northeast Regional service from Roanoke saw 28,623 passengers in April 2024, up 4.4 percent from April 2023. 

The Virginia Passenger Rail Authority currently supports eight daily trains along four routes but seeks to expand that to thirteen daily trains through the Transforming Rail in Virginia initiative. 

The report from executive director D.J. Stadtler has more details about the steps to get there. There’s also a cautionary note about the budget which currently is meeting the goal of 67 percent cost recovery. 

“While ridership is up 11 percent, train operating revenues have not kept pace due to flat

[Northeast Corridor] through revenue,” reads page 12 of the executive director’s report. “Coordination with the Amtrak revenue management team is needed to balance Virginia’s revenue and ridership mix.” 

For comparison, cost recovery in FY21 was 34 percent due to lower ridership related to the pandemic. 

In April, Charlottesville was the sixth busiest station with 6,388 passengers boarding and 6,822 passengers getting off. Roanoke was the tenth busiest station with 3,880 passengers boarding and 4,056 alighting. Lynchburg was thirteenth with 2,447 ons and 3,118 offs. 

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