These are the items that I noticed in the report that were interesting to me:

The report was dated February 26, 2021 and posted on their web page on March 2, 2021.
The NEC generated for the first three months a cash operating loss of $174.4 million (as determined by their accounting system) and the remainder of the system had a fully allocated cash loss of $191.8 million. Combined the entire system had for the period a cash operating deficit of $366.2 million.
For the four months, the NEC made debt service payments totaling $28.2 million and capital expenditures of $304.2 million. Counting all capital sources, the NEC Account has a negative balance of $177.9 million plus the cash reserves from previous years. Interestingly, in December, the debt service was $11.5 higher, so possibly some of the previous debt payments were reclassified.
For the rest of the National System, only $0.768 million was needed for Debt service and $217.6 million was spent on Capital Expenditures. The National Network Account Balance is now - $10.2 million plus the accumulated surplus from previous years. The amount of debt service in January is $0.313 million less than what was reported in December, adding more incredibility to Amtrak's reporting system.
The amount of money appropriated for the combined NEC and National Network for the first four months was $431.0 million. Again the amount is $15.7 million less than that reported in December.. Amtrak has also received from other capital sources $297.9 for the entire system.
While Amtrak has been known for creative accounting, it is possible that some of the Federal Grants were reallocated to other Capitol Sources. However, there should be no excuse for the reductions in debt serviced.
The combined accumulated reserves at the beginning of the fiscal year totaled $4.0 billion in cash and cash equivalents, $170,025 in short term investments and $2.4 billion in available for sale securities. This brings total cash reserves as of October 1, 2020 to $2.9 billion. The current ratio (Current Assets divided by Current Liabilities) was 2.169 which would make Amtrak quite credit worthy for any fresh borrowings.
In October 2020 Amtrak's burn rate (Operating Revenues-Minus Operating Expense-Minus Debt Service-Capital Expenditures) was $216.4 million. In November the burn rate was $238.6 million. In December the burn rate was $215.2. In January, the burn rate increased to $246.8 million. January is often a relatively bad month for Amtrak so the increase in the burn rate is expected.
Capital Spending for the four months was: Engineering $207.2 million, Mechanical $87.3 million, Operations $5.6 million, ADA & Stations $74.5 million, Information Technology $27.1 million, Safety $3.9 million, Procurement $0.7 million, Acela 21 $68.5 million (which was $38.9 million in January alone), Planning $46.7 million, and intercity trainsets $0.6 million. Note how the cost of printing paper rose so much in January.
The GAAP Loss for the fiscal year to date appears to be $682.8 million which is $449.3 million worse than the same period in FY2020. The cash operating earnings for the year was $385.8 million worse than FY2020.
Because of the expected losses due to the COVID-19 Pandemic, Amtrak prepared a forecast zero budget. Comparing the three months results, the GAAP loss is $75.4 million better than forecast and the cash operating loss is $68.9 million better (which is an improvement of $39.9 million during the month of December. Much of this comes from better than expected ridership on the longer distance trains and the remaining state supported trains. The Northeast Corridor is doing much worse.
The number of product lines showing a measurable operating surplus for the period is down to 9. The two with a surplus over $1 million were:
- Washington-Richmondn$4.1 million
- Illini $2.3 million
- The four Virginia product lines generated a total gain of $1.6 million. (the Washington-Newport News continues to show a very large loss.
Ridership for the first four months fell more than 8,622,000 from the comparable period in FY2020. For the year to date, it stands at 2,276,8XX (Amtrak rounds to the nearest 100). In fact the total number of riders in all of January was 486,3XX The situation with the long distance trains shows a loss of riders for all of the product lines. The Palmetto was able to retain its title of the greatest loser at -77.1% for the fiscal year. Runner up was the Crescent at -75.2%. The line with the least amount of loss in the Long Distance Category was the Auto Train at -35.7%. However, these look fantastic compared to the Acela which off 91.5%
$1.5 billion for Amtrak is in the latest COVID Relief Package (American Recovery Act of 2021) as passed by the House. The Senate changed many of the provisions in the House Bill, including eliminating the raise in the minimum wage and capping eligibility for the stimulus checks. They also raised the amount of money for Amtrak from $1.5 billion to $1.7 billion. The House accepted the Senate changes and the President signed the bill on March 11, 2021.
Amtrak yesterday announced the restoration of daily service for 12 of its long distance trains. The restoration begins in three phases, with the Western Trains first, and the Eastern last. By doing so, they are meeting the requirement in the act to restore those trains within 90 days after the bill is signed by the president. Hopefully the restoration will go smoothly.

Steve Musen, Representative from Rhode Island to NARP's Council of Representatives

RI Association of Railroad Passengers