Amtrak ridership up in July

WASHINGTON – More people than ever before rode Amtrak trains in July, and ridership increased by 2.7 percent in the Northeast, the rail company announced Wednesday.

Nationwide, 2.9 million passengers rode Amtrak in July, setting a record for the most riders in one month. The number represented a 4.8 percent increase from the July 2012 ridership of 2.78 million.

In the Northeast, Amtrak saw ridership increase 2 percent on the Northeast Corridor line, which runs between Washington, D.C., and Boston, from 673,613 in July 2012 to 687,331 in July this year. Ridership on the Acela Express rose to 276,477, up from 265,329 in July of last year, an increase of 4.2 percent.

Combined with special trains, those increases took total Northeast region ridership to 964,608 in July, a 2.7 percent gain on last July’s figure of 939,602.

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Amtrak is on pace to meet or exceed last year’s annual ridership record of 31.2 million passengers, according to a release.

“Amtrak is delivering record ridership across the country and serving as an economic engine to help local communities grow and prosper,” said President and CEO Joe Boardman in a statement.

The company did not release state-level data for July.

In fiscal 2012, which ended in September, 669,576 passengers either boarded or got off a train in Providence. Kingston saw 162,837 passengers, and 42,023 used the Westerly station. Rhode Island’s total station usage of 874,436 was a 6.4 percent increase over the fiscal 2011 figure of 821,567.

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