WAPO OP ED: G. Will: Amtrak is a waste of money: Biden funds it anyway

[mahatmakanejeeves]

16. That's a bit of a stretch.

Rail News >> Home Amtrak 11/24/2020

Rail News: Amtrak
Amtrak posts $801 million operating loss in FY2020

Just prior to the pandemic hitting the United States in March, Amtrak was on track to break even financially for the first time in its history and achieve record ridership in fiscal-year 2020.

Instead, facing unprecedented challenges related to the pandemic, Amtrak posted a fiscal-year 2020 operating loss of $801 million on total operating revenue of $2.3 billion, down 32 percent compared with FY2019 revenue. The national intercity passenger railroad provided 16.8 million customer trips in FY2020, a year-over-year decrease of 15.2 million trips compared with last year.

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Amtrak officials are hoping Congress will soon pass pandemic relief and economic stimulus legislation, but negotiations on Capitol Hill have stalled. The railroad is seeking up to $4.9 billion in federal funding to help the railroad get through the unprecedented crisis. Typically, Amtrak receives from Congress about $2 billion annually toward its operations.

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