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Independence, MO —
Amtrak’s Missouri River, which stops four times a day at the Truman Depot in Independence, continues to have more riders, though ridership growth has slowed in the past year.
“I’m thrilled to see our ridership improve in that corridor,” said Kristi Jamison, railroad operations manager for the Missouri Department of Transportation.
The River Runner had 192,335 riders in fiscal year 2012, according to MoDOT, just 0.8 percent higher than in 2011 but still 75 percent higher than five years ago.
The River Runner crosses the state four times a day, twice out of Kansas City and twice out of St. Louis, with stops in Independence, Lee’s Summit and six other cities on the route.
Jamison pointed to a couple of factors driving up ridership. One is improved one-time performance, and the other is cost.
“You can still ride the train relatively cheap, relative to a tank of gas,” she said.
The year reflected in MoDOT’s figures was from July 1, 2011, to June 30, 2012, and that included a stretch of about three weeks in the summer of 2011 when Missouri River flooding forced Amtrak to drop to one train a day each way across the state.
July 2010 had been particularly good – close to a monthly record – with 22,039 riders. Cutting service in July 2011 dropped riders to 15,935.
The numbers have held up better under this summer’s challenges. The Union Pacific just wrapped up three months of track maintenance that forced Amtrak to alter its schedule – morning trains earlier, one of the two afternoon trains later – so Amtrak wouldn’t be delayed or forced at times to put riders on buses.
“When people buy a train ticket, they want to ride the train,” Jamison said.
Plus it was hot. Excessive heat forced the UP for days at a time to impose speed restrictions, a safety measure because because heat can warp tracks. That hammered the River Runner’s on-time-arrival performance – just 59 percent in July, compared with 90-percent-plus for eight of the last 12 months.
Still, riders showed up, and the River Runner had 18,997 passengers in July, despite the heat delays and the schedule change. (The River Runner went back to its regular schedule this week.)
Jamison said the last couple of months’ figures also have been encouraging. Amtrak’s figures seem to bear that out. Looking at a different fiscal year – Oct. 1, 2011, to Sept. 30, 2012 – it sees a 5.3 percent gain for the River Runner.
Overall, Amtrak continues to set records, with 31.24 million riders in fiscal 2012, a gain of 3.5 percent. It’s up 49 percent in 12 years. Ticket revenue for the year was $2.02 billion, up 6.8 percent.
The other Amtrak line serving the Kansas City area is the Southwest Chief, connecting Chicago and Los Angeles. There are two a day – one westbound, one eastbound. Ridership barely budged last year, reaching 355,316, a gain of 0.1 percent.
Amtrak’s Missouri River, which stops four times a day at the Truman Depot in Independence, continues to have more riders, though ridership growth has slowed in the past year.
“I’m thrilled to see our ridership improve in that corridor,” said Kristi Jamison, railroad operations manager for the Missouri Department of Transportation.
The River Runner had 192,335 riders in fiscal year 2012, according to MoDOT, just 0.8 percent higher than in 2011 but still 75 percent higher than five years ago.
The River Runner crosses the state four times a day, twice out of Kansas City and twice out of St. Louis, with stops in Independence, Lee’s Summit and six other cities on the route.
Jamison pointed to a couple of factors driving up ridership. One is improved one-time performance, and the other is cost.
“You can still ride the train relatively cheap, relative to a tank of gas,” she said.
The year reflected in MoDOT’s figures was from July 1, 2011, to June 30, 2012, and that included a stretch of about three weeks in the summer of 2011 when Missouri River flooding forced Amtrak to drop to one train a day each way across the state.
July 2010 had been particularly good – close to a monthly record – with 22,039 riders. Cutting service in July 2011 dropped riders to 15,935.
The numbers have held up better under this summer’s challenges. The Union Pacific just wrapped up three months of track maintenance that forced Amtrak to alter its schedule – morning trains earlier, one of the two afternoon trains later – so Amtrak wouldn’t be delayed or forced at times to put riders on buses.
“When people buy a train ticket, they want to ride the train,” Jamison said.
Plus it was hot. Excessive heat forced the UP for days at a time to impose speed restrictions, a safety measure because because heat can warp tracks. That hammered the River Runner’s on-time-arrival performance – just 59 percent in July, compared with 90-percent-plus for eight of the last 12 months.
Still, riders showed up, and the River Runner had 18,997 passengers in July, despite the heat delays and the schedule change. (The River Runner went back to its regular schedule this week.)
Jamison said the last couple of months’ figures also have been encouraging. Amtrak’s figures seem to bear that out. Looking at a different fiscal year – Oct. 1, 2011, to Sept. 30, 2012 – it sees a 5.3 percent gain for the River Runner.
Overall, Amtrak continues to set records, with 31.24 million riders in fiscal 2012, a gain of 3.5 percent. It’s up 49 percent in 12 years. Ticket revenue for the year was $2.02 billion, up 6.8 percent.
The other Amtrak line serving the Kansas City area is the Southwest Chief, connecting Chicago and Los Angeles. There are two a day – one westbound, one eastbound. Ridership barely budged last year, reaching 355,316, a gain of 0.1 percent.
