Under attack from Republican foes in Washington, and on the campaign trail, who want to end its federal subsidization, Amtrak jest keeps chugging along on its way to record ridership, reports Alex Goldmark. By ferrying 31.2 million passengers to their destinations in the U.S. during the 2012 fiscal year, Amtrak grew its ridership by 3.5 percent over the previous year to the highest level since it began operations in 1971.
"The newly released numbers show the Northeast Corridor is still the anchor route for Amtrak with more than a third of all riders (11.4 million) traveling between Boston and Washington, D.C.," says Goldmark. "Amtrak won't release new state-by-state and line-by-line numbers until next week, but the 361 miles of track along the Northeast Corridor are likely to continue to bring in more than half of all ticket revenue for Amtrak, as it did last year according to the 2011 annual report."
