Is Amtrak on the right track?
The rail line has set some lofty goals for increased ridership in the coming decades. Upgrades in infrastructure and equipment are underway or in the works. But will faster, more comfortable rides get tourists and business travelers onboard?
On a Thursday morning in June, I boarded Amtrak’s California Zephyr train in Denver as it headed west on its scheduled 51-hour journey between Chicago and the San Francisco Bay Area.
Toward the end of my two-hour trip to the mountain town of Fraser, Colo., I made my way to the cafe car for a late-morning bloody mary, prepared with great attention to detail by lead service attendant Darrell Bennett, a 20-year Amtrak veteran.
“That bloody mary has a lot of love in it. It will taste the same every drop,” Bennett, dressed regally in a three-piece blue suit and a blue flat cap, told me coyly after I took my first couple delicious sips and asked him for his secret.
Earlier, on the upper level of a two-story Superliner rail car that Amtrak uses for 11 of its 15 long-distance routes, I had spoken with James Buhle, another lead service attendant, as the train transitioned from the foothills of the Rockies into higher altitude.
“I never get tired of the view,” Buhle, a 15-year Amtrak veteran, told me as he mentioned that we had just passed one of his favorite vistas on the more than 2,000-mile route, where a mountainscape suddenly opens to reveal a broader view that includes the plains to the east.
Meanwhile, in the nearby viewing car, every seat was filled as riders took in the scenery through windows that stretched from shin level to the ceiling.
Some of those patrons included members of a 38-person tour group from England who were making their way across the U.S. on an itinerary booked through U.K.-based tour operator Great Rail Journeys.
On this segment of the trip, the group, among them Sharon and Martin Holden of Nottingham, England, were riding the Zephyr from Chicago to Grand Junction, Colo. An ardent rail enthusiast, Sharon Holden gave high marks to the food aboard the Zephyr, especially her dinner the previous night of popcorn shrimp in a tempura batter with chili sauce, followed by Amtrak’s signature flat iron steak, capped off with cheesecake.
But Holden also had a few complaints, including not enough dining car staff and sleeper beds that she described as hard. She lamented the bunk beds in the Zephyr sleeper cabins, which she said are difficult to climb into for many in the over-60 set, a demographic that makes up a sizable portion of long-distance rail riders.
Though bunks are common within the tight confines of train sleepers, Holden said she hopes Amtrak will follow the lead of the trans-Australia Indian Pacific railway, which offers two armchairs that each fold into a single bed.
An ambitious goal
Flush with $22 billion in guaranteed funding over five years from the 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, Amtrak has set a goal of more than doubling ridership from 28.4 million last year to 66 million in 2040. Addressing everything from customer service concerns, like those of Holden’s, to multibillion-dollar infrastructure needs are a big part of how the quasi-public rail company intends to achieve that goal.
Amtrak can also expect to be a substantial recipient of the additional $44 billion in discretionary funding set aside in the infrastructure bill for intercity rail.
Most of the rail line’s ridership comes from short- and midrange journeys in the Northeast and Midwest. The services Amtrak operates with state support accounted for 12.5 million passengers last year, chief commercial officer Eliot Hamlisch told me, mostly in the Midwest, the Northeast and on the West Coast. Additionally, in what Amtrak calls its Northeast Corridor between Washington and Boston, there were 12.1 million riders last year.
Those 15 long-distance routes, of 750 miles or more, accounted for just 3.1 million trips in 2023, or 14% of Amtrak ridership. But because of lengthier trips and pricier products such as sleeper cabins, they punched above their weight financially, bringing in 25% of ticket revenue.
Amtrak’s ridership is a mix of commuters, short-range business travelers and leisure travelers. But leisure dominates, comprising 73% of riders during the first four months of this year, Hamlisch said. Even in the Northeast and on state-supported routes, leisure customers make up well more than half of riders.
Still, the rail line’s primary vacation draws are those 15 long-range routes, especially ones that make their way through national parks. Amtrak Vacations, which is run by the tour operator Railbookers, does 60% of its business in national parks, CEO Frank Marini said.
So as Amtrak strives to reach its ambitious 2040 goal, boosting ridership and service levels on its long-distance network are a key piece of the puzzle.
“We really have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity here,” Hamlisch said. “This is a moment that has been decades in the making. And we view this not only as an opportunity to meet the needs of the American people but really to make a difference, transforming passenger rail across the country and doing so in an environmentally friendly way.”
‘We have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to transform passenger rail in this country.’
Work is already underway.
On the long-range fleet, passengers have begun benefitting from the $28 million that Amtrak will spend to upgrade existing cars. That will include enhancing nearly 400 Superliner cars with such items as refreshed upholstery and cushioning, new carpeting and curtains, new lighting and new tables.
More than 100 Superliner cars were refreshed last year.
The project also includes upgrades beginning this year to sleeper cabins on the older version of Amtrak’s single-level Viewliner trains, which operate on long-distance routes east of Chicago.
Last year Amtrak added cooked-to-order dining on two additional long-distance lines, meaning that offering is now available on eight of the 15 routes.
The company also introduced an automated notification system in 2023 for delays and disruptions — no minor matter since Amtrak’s long-distance on-time performance, which is impacted by operating as a tenant on tracks owned by freight companies, was just 52% last year.
I benefitted from that service ahead of my return trip to Denver from Fraser, when I got a text saying there was an approximately 45-minute delay that afternoon.
Bigger long-distance fleet changes are also in the works.
Late last year, Amtrak put out what it expects to be a multibillion-dollar bid request for rail car manufacturers for a full replacement of its 480 Superliner cars, and the company is also evaluating the future of its 50 first-generation Viewliner sleeping cars.
Amtrak hasn’t made the solicitation documents public, but a company press release said bidders have been asked to offer ideas for private rooms, coach seating, food service, accessibility and more. The process of designing and producing the new fleet is expected to be a lengthy one, with the first deliveries projected for the early 2030s.
In the meantime, Amtrak has already placed more than three dozen new long-distance locomotives into service as it takes delivery of a total of 125, offering increased fuel efficiency.
And in the Northeast, where Amtrak-owned track is electrified and able to handle higher speeds than the freight-owned rail of the West, the company’s Acela-branded trains offer modern interiors and travel as fast as 150 mph. New Acela trains are expected to take to the rails beginning next year, at speeds of up to 160 mph. And another new train set, called Airo, is expected to begin replacing aging trains deployed by Amtrak on state-supported and Northeast regional lines in 2027, offering 90% particulate emissions reductions during diesel operations as well as passenger upgrades such as panoramic windows, more space and faster travel times, Hamlisch said.
But can they succeed?
Nick Little, the director of the railway management program at Michigan State University’s Broad College of Business, said he thinks Amtrak can succeed in doubling its ridership by 2040 along the Northeast Corridor, where commuter service is most prevalent, and that electrified rail lines, higher-speed rail and modern trains all offer advantages.
Aided by 2021 infrastructure bill funding, Amtrak has also embarked on major track and tunnel upgrades along rail it owns in the Northeast. Among the most notable is the $6 billion replacement of the 150-year-old Frederick Douglass Tunnel near Baltimore with two electrified tunnel tubes, which is slated for a 2035 completion. Trains going through the existing tunnel must slow to 25 mph, creating a backlog between the D.C. area and New Jersey.
Another $16 billion series of projects, called the Gateway Program, includes a new tunnel under the Hudson River and will double capacity on the 10 miles between Newark and New York’s Penn Station, which is the most traveled rail corridor in the Northeast.
Station modernizations will also work to Amtrak’s advantage, with Northeastern stations figuring prominently, Little said. A Penn Station expansion, transforming the historical James A. Farley post office building into Moynihan Train Hall, opened in 2021 and serves as Amtrak’s New York gateway. It’s complete with an airline style lounge, open to premium-class riders and those with Amtrak Guest Rewards elite status, or to others for a $50 daily fee. Revitalization work is also ongoing or in preparation at stations in Baltimore, Philadelphia, Washington and Chicago.
Little is less confident about Amtrak’s state-supported and long-distance growth trajectories. On state-supported service, growth will be dependent upon the willingness of state legislatures to offer up increased financial support, he said, while long-distance service growth will be constrained by the fact that freight companies own rail lines
“They won’t prioritize Amtrak,” Little said.
Demographics could also be an issue if Amtrak fails to bring in younger long-distance customers. Currently, more than a third of those riders are over 65.
Still, Little said there are steps the rail company can do to increase its vacation business. One would be to better integrate major western markets with surrounding attractions. He noted the ski train between Denver and Winter Park, Colo., as an example.
Where advisors stand
Though Little didn’t mention it, more travel agency buy-in could also boost Amtrak.
Eleanor Hardy, the president of the Society of International Railway Travelers in Louisville, Ky., a Virtuoso agency, is one advisor who eschews Amtrak, opting exclusively for international rail bookings.
“The food is OK. The accommodations are OK. But we’re looking for luxury,” she said of Amtrak.
Another skeptic is Casey Smith, a AAA travel advisor in Denver. Smith said luxury isn’t that important but that while he’ll book Amtrak on request, he views reliability as the rail company’s primary drawback.
“It’s hard to sell something that doesn’t meet the standards of others we partner with,” Smith said.
‘It’s hard to sell something that doesn’t meet the standards of our other partners.’
But Amtrak also has its share of backers in the travel trade. Direct Travel affiliate Barbara Boone led a group of clients this spring on a trip along Amtrak’s Sunset Limited line between Beaumont, Texas, and New Orleans.
She complimented the trip’s comfortable seating, quality food and scenic viewing. But what brings an Amtrak booking together, she said, is the ease with which advisors can select excursions and lodging on the Amtrak Vacations platform.
“The clients win in the end. Amtrak has really come a long way in my book,” Boone said.
‘Clients win in the end. Amtrak has really come a long way in my book.’
Railbookers’ Marini described the bedrooms and smaller roomettes on Amtrak trains as comfortable, though not luxurious. But he added that once hotels are accounted for, an Amtrak vacation can be whatever a client wants it to be.
Amtrak Vacations, he said, is exceeding prepandemic numbers and continues to grow year-over-year. Improvements that Amtrak has made thus far to its long-distance fleet are also showing up in customer satisfaction surveys.
Marini said he believes Amtrak can achieve its 2040 growth target.
“They have so many initiatives going on,” he said. “It’s a long process, but it’s all very exciting and very positive to us because it’s new and it’s fresh.”
‘They have so many initiatives going on. It’s all very exciting and very positive.’
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