Quote:
Originally Posted by afiggatt
I suspect Penn DOT will provide the operating subsidy for the Pennsylvanian once they get an earful from the communities on the route. The Pennsylvanian is the last remaining train running between the 2 largest cities in PA and despite the trip time between Harrisburg and Pittsburgh, has good ridership numbers.
In FY2012, the Pennsylvanian had 212 thousand passengers for stops west of 30th Street Station. Passengers taking the train only between 30th Street and NY Penn Station (NYP) are counted as NEC riders. Checking the Amtrak September 2012 monthly report (which covers the end of FY12), the Pennsylvanian is the second busiest one train a day corridor service in the Amtrak system, second to the Carolinian.
The train had $9.28 million in ticket revenue and total revenue of $9.9 million in total revenue (the difference mostly in food and beverage sales). The total operating cost in FY12 was $15.4 million which is the gap that has to be provided by PA plus capital charge for the equipment. Ticket revenue (+12.3%) is up above ridership (+4.0%) for the first 2 months of FY2013, so Amtrak appears to be increasing Rickert prices to boost revenue to trim the operating loss prior to providing Penn DOT with a FY2014 subsidy request.
Amtrak is planning to add sleeper and coach cars to the Pennsylvanian as pass-through cars to be added to Capitol Limited to go to Chicago. However, the equipment to do that won't be available until sometime in 2014 when enough of the new long distance cars being built by CAF are delivered. If Penn DOT and the Governor refuse to pick up the tab, Amtrak might be able to cover the Pennsylvanian by classifying it as an LD train because of the pas-through cars. Or after a service interruption starting on October 1 2013, restore the Three Rivers as an LD train to Chicago in late 2014 once there is enough delivered equipment to run it. Philadelphia to Pittsburgh and Chicago is too big a market for Amtrak to let get shut down because of the political leanings of the current Governor.
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I really hope Amtrak can pull that off with the sleeper cars. I already posted my 2cents in the Pittsburgh development thread. I basically stated how backwards PA is and how local and state governments should work together along with Cuyahoga and Cook Counties in OH and IL respectively as well as other local govts along the corridor to try and promote improved train travel from Pittsburgh to Cleveland, Toledo, and Chicago. I know it's too soon to argue for HSR in this corridor right now, but I do think there is decent demand for better rail travel between these cities (the only reason why train ridership between Pittsburgh and Cleveland is so low is because the only trains serving this city pair (WB/EB Capitol Limited) stop at either location in the middle of the night.