Amtrak Ridership Increases

"The Sept. 11 attack that destroyed New York's World Trade Center, damaged the Pentagon and left more than 5,700 people dead or missing brought the airlines to the brink of insolvency as a public fearful of lax airport security avoided commercial aviation in droves...Federal authorities now are considering a $3.2 billion request for emergency funds from Amtrak, the nation's largest passenger rail service. The system has seen ridership balloon by one-third to a daily average of 80,000 passengers since the attack."