Amtrak delivered its best operating performance in company history during the past fiscal year.
Amtrak employs about 1,000 in Delaware, with the Wilmington Biden Train Station ranking as one of its busiest stops. Amtrak trains also make a few stops in Newark.
The company set new records for ridership, revenue, and financial performance. Preliminary results for fiscal year 2019 (Oct. 2018-Sept. 2019) include:
- Safety: Implemented a Safety Management System and expanded Positive Train Control (PTC) operations, resulting in improvements in a broad range of safety metrics
- Capital Investment1: $1.6 billion, 9.4 percent higher than last year’s investment
- Ridership: Set a company record, providing 32.5 million customer trips, a year-over-year increase of 800,000 passengers
- Operating Earnings Unaudited: were minus $29.8 million, the best operating performance in history, improving earnings by $140.9 million or 82.6 percent over fiscal 2018, which was ($170.6 million)
- Total Operating Revenue1: $3.3 billion, increased 3.6 percent over FY 2018
In fiscal year 2019, Amtrak was the first major U.S.-based railroad to implement a Safety Management System, a proactive approach to managing safety, resulting in significant improvements, including: a 26 percent reduction in customer incidents; 72 percent fewer serious employee injuries; a 10 percent reduction in Federal Railroad Administration reportable injuries; and a 3 percent reduction in trespasser and grade crossing incidents. Additionally, PTC installation was completed on nearly all Amtrak-owned and controlled track.
Amtrak rolled out refreshed equipment, including the entire Acela fleet and Amfleet II cars for Coach class along the East Coast; technology upgrades like updating the Amtrak mobile app and offering assigned seating; state-of-good-repair work on the Northeast Corridor (NEC) improved overall reliability and performance; station upgrades and enhanced lounges; and other customer-friendly benefits that support the long-term growth of intercity passenger rail.
Manufacturing continues on the new Acela fleet, a contract was awarded for 75 new locomotives to replace some of an aging national network locomotive fleet, and a Request for Proposals (RFP) was issued for a new fleet of single-level passenger rail vehicles.
This year, Amtrak received a credit upgrade to ‘A’ from S&P and an affirmation of an ‘A1’ credit rating by Moody’s, reflecting significantly reduced operating losses and a stronger balance sheet, with no net debt.
“We are growing and modernizing Amtrak. We have an industry-leading safety program and have invested billions in improving the customer experience, resulting in more people choosing Amtrak as their preferred mode of transportation,” said Amtrak Board Chair Tony Coscia. “These changes have put us on track to breakeven in 2020, which would be a first in Amtrak’s history.”
“We listened, we invested, we improved, and our customers are noticing a difference,” said Amtrak CEO Richard Anderson. “And we are not stopping. We have an aggressive plan to continue to advance our safety program, refresh train interiors, improve amenities, and renew stations and infrastructure.”
