February 2021 Amtrak Financial Report

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

• The report was dated March 26, 2021 and posted on their web page on March 29, 2021.  

• The NEC generated for the first five months a cash operating loss of $218.8 million (as determined by their  accounting system) and the remainder of the system had a fully allocated cash loss of $248.7 million. Combined, the entire system had for the period a cash operating deficit of $467.5 million.

• For the five  months, the NEC made debt service payments totaling $28.2 million and capital expenditures of $396.4 million.  Counting all capital sources, the NEC Account has a balance of $790.5 million plus the cash reserves from previous years. 

• For the rest of the National System, only $0.8 million was needed for Debt service and $267.2 million was spent on Capital Expenditures. The National Network Account Balance is now $937.3 million plus the accumulated surplus from previous years. 

• The amount of money appropriated for the combined NEC and National Network for the first five months that has been received is $2,562.4 million.  Amtrak has also received from other capital sources $325.5 for the entire system.

• The combined accumulated reserves at the beginning of the fiscal year totaled $409.2 million 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. In February the burn rate was $251.0 million.  From this point forward the monthly operating loss will decrease, but it is expected that capital expenditures will greatly increase as Amtrak uses the money given to it to make strategic investments.

• Capital Spending for the five months was: Engineering $241.1 million, Mechanical $113.6 million, Operations $5.8 million, Commercial and Marketing $0.4 million, ADA & Stations $89.1 million, Information Technology $34.9 million, Safety $5.8 million, Procurement $0.9 million, Acela 21 $120.8 million (which was $52.3 million in February alone), Planning $51.4 million, and Intercity Trainsets $1.3 million (an increase of $0.7 million in February). 

• The GAAP Loss for the fiscal year to date appears to be $860.4 million which is $527.0 million worse than the same period in  FY2020.  The cash operating earnings for the year was $463.3 million worse than FY2020.

• Because of the expected losses due to the COVID Pandemic, Amtrak prepared a forecast zero budget. Comparing the five month's results the GAAP loss is $119.5 million better than forecast and the cash operating loss is $106.6 million better (which is an improvement of $27.7 million during the month of February. Much of this comes from better than expected ridership on the longer distance trains and the remaining state supported trains. The Northeast Corridor is still doing much worse.

• The number of product lines showing a measurable operating surplus for the period is down to nine. The two with a surplus over $1 million were:

  • Washington-Richmond $5.1 million

  • Illini $2.5 million

  • The four Virginia product lines generated a total gain of $1.3 million. The Washington-Newport News continues to show a very large loss.

• Ridership for the first five months fell more than 10,385,000 from the comparable period in FY2020. For the year to date, it stands at 2,787,3XX (Amtrak rounds to the nearest 100). In fact, the total number of riders in all of February was 511,0XX. The situation with the long distance trains shows a lower loss of riders than the other product lines. The Palmetto  was able to retain it’s title of the greatest loser at -78.1% for the fiscal year. Runner up was the California Zephyr at -74.8%. The line with the lowest level of loss in the Long Distance Category was the Auto Train at -37.2%. However, these look fantastic compared to the Acela which was off 91.4%.

• There was  $1.7 billion for Amtrak in the latest COVID Relief Package (American Recovery Act of 2021) as passed Congress and signed by President Biden. The Act requires Amtrak to restore all of the long distance trains that it cut from daily operations and before the president signed the legislation Amtrak announced the restoration of the twelve daily trains that it reduced in frequency. They will be restored in 3 tranches running from May 24 (with the Western Trains) to June 7 (for the Eastern Trains) with the others resuming on May 31, 2021.

• With funding guaranteed for the remainder of FY2021, Amtrak has announced a number of initiatives to benefit passengers. It had previously committed to a share of a $3.9 billion dollar plan to significantly improve service in Virginia. On March 31, 2021 Virginia, Amtrak, the USDOT and CSX participated in a formal signing of a deal that transfers real interests in the infrastructure to Virginia so that construction can begin. Eventually, a second Long bridge will be built over the Potomac that will greatly increase the number Amtrak trains running to Richmond and beyond as well as VRE commuter trains. Also in the works to commence are double daily round trips between Mobile and New Orleans by the beginning of 2022. They are even improving complementary food at the Metropolitan Lounge in the new Moynihan Train Hall. Regular dining service is expected on the Western Trains in the relatively near future.

• Meanwhile President Biden has put forth an expansive infrastructure proposal that includes $80 billion for Rail, and $25 billion for critical national projects that are too large to be handled by individual states separately. Whether this remains unscathed through Congress depends on how much additional revenue the Government can add through a variety of taxes and user fees. Of the Rail Money, $39 billion would go towards the NEC, $16 billion for the National Network, $20 billion for intercity passenger rail grants, and $5 billion towards Freight Rails. The critical national projects would have a higher federal share (possibly 100%) and could include the Gateway Tunnels or the Baltimore & Potomac Tunnel Replacement.

• Amtrak has meanwhile shown a map with the various regional services it would like to add. Some of these are conditional of the passage of the Infrastructure Proposal, but others can be achieved through normal appropriations. 

• The Biden Administration has revealed the discretionary part of its 2022 budget proposal. Under it Amtrak would receive a total of $2.7 billion to be used mostly for operating expense and to defray lost contributions from state and local government. Another $1 billion would go to rail grant programs ($625 million for a new PRIME program designed for rail passenger capital investments and $375 million for CRISI (Consolidated Rail Infrastructure and Safety Initiatives). Transit would get $2.5 billion for additional Capital Investment Grants and BUILD (formerly TIGER) gets  $1 billion.

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