May 2021 Amtrak Financial Report

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

• The report was dated June 23, 2021, but not posted on their web page until June 30, 2021.  

• The NEC generated for the first eight months a cash operating loss of $349.3 million (as determined by their accounting system) and the remainder of the system had a fully allocated cash loss of $412.0 million. Combined the entire system had for the period cash operating deficit of $761.3 million.

• For the eight months, the NEC made debt service payments totaling $81.4 million and capital expenditures of $600.5 million.  Counting all capital sources, the NEC Account has a balance of $1,615.2 million-plus the cash reserves from previous years. 

• For the rest of the National System, only $18.0 million was needed for Debt service and $4.2 billion was spent on Capital Expenditures. The National Network Account Balance is now $1,707.086 million-plus the accumulated surplus from previous years. 

• The amount of money appropriated for the combined NEC and National Network for the first eight months was $4.9 billion.  Amtrak has also received from other capital sources $3.5 billion for the entire system.

• The combined accumulated reserves at the beginning of the fiscal year totaled $409,184 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 creditworthy for any fresh borrowings.

• In October 2020 Amtrak's burn rate (Operating Revenues-Minus Operating Expense-Minus Debt Service-Capital Expenditures) was $216.413 million. In November the burn rate was $238.608 million. In December the burn rate was $215.247 million. In January, the burn rate increased to $246.790 million. In February the burn rate was $251.0 million. In March, the burn rate was $226.0 million. In April the burn rate was $249.0 million. In May, the burn rate was $250.5 million. 

• Capital Spending for the eight months was: Engineering $392.9 million, Mechanical $177.5 million, Operations $15.9 million, Commercial and Marketing $0.4 million, ADA & Stations $134.9 million, Information Technology $58.5 million, Safety $11.0 million, Procurement $1.8 million, Acela 21 $160.9 million ($34.1 million in May), Planning $70.6 million, and Intercity Trainsets $2.7 million (an increase of $0.6 million in May). 

• The GAAP loss for the fiscal year to date appears to be $1.4 billion which is $556.0 million worse than the same period in  FY2020.  The cash operating earnings for the year was $447.2 million worse than FY2020.

• Because of the expected losses due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Amtrak prepared a forecast zero budget. Comparing the eight months results the GAAP loss is $47.4 million better than forecast and the cash operating loss is $47.4 million better, This is a reduction of $110.3 million during the month of May. There has been better than expected ridership on the long-distance trains. The remaining state-supported trains and the Northeast Corridor are not recovering as fast as the zero budget planned.

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

  • Washington-Richmond $7.5 million

  • Illini $4.2 million

  • Washington-Norfolk $1.0 million

  • The four Virginia product lines generated a total gain of $2.1 million. Washington-Newport News continues to show a very large loss.

• Ridership for the first eight months fell more than 9,142,500 from the comparable period in FY2020. For the year to date, it stands at 5,495.1XX (Amtrak rounds to the nearest 100). In fact, the total number of riders in all of May was 1,117,8XX  The situation with the long-distance trains shows a less of a loss of riders than the other product lines. The Palmetto was able to retain its title of the greatest loser at -67.3% for the fiscal year. Runner up was the Capitol Ltd both at -61.7% The line with the least amount of loss in the Long Distance Category was the Auto Train at -4.9%. However, these look fantastic compared to the Acela which was off 79.9%.

• Covid started to impact ridership in March of 2020. So from this point on, as the long-distance trains improve, and the comparison months in 2020 deteriorate, the percentages are improving.

• There was an agreement between the president and 10 bipartisan senators over an infrastructure package. This agreement would allow for increases over current baseline expenditures of about $578 billion. The idea being that an all-Democratic resolution would be attempted to include other areas not considered to be pure infrastructure through reconciliation, and the bipartisan measure would proceed separately. Unfortunately, the president misspoke about linking both measures in tandem, and Speaker Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Schumer both said both would have to pass or neither. That may have been resolved, as it is to the GOP’s advantage if the infrastructure package is passed in the Senate, but fails to be enacted because the Democratic leadership decided to hold it up in the house. The package increases spending for rail (passenger and freight) by $66 billion over current levels of spending over a five-year period and public transit by $49 billion over current levels of spending for the same time period.

• In the House, the Invest in America reauthorization of Surface Transportation programs was passed on a mostly party-line basis though, two Republicans did vote in favor of it (Fitzpatrick R-PA and Smith R-NJ). The bill would authorize payments to Amtrak of $6 billion in FY2022, $6.2 billion in FY2023, $6.4 billion in FY2024, $6.6 billion in FY2025, and $6.8 billion in FY2026 compared to a current baseline of $2 billion annually. In addition, there would a number of grant proposals including money specifically for Bridges, Stations, and Tunnels. The grant authorizations are quite substantial, they would total over $10 billion annually for fiscal years 2022-2026. The house would also give Amtrak two tools, a right to file a private suit, and arbitration of disputes with the Freight RR in a timely manner before the Surface Transportation Board). It also makes a number of needed reforms. 

• In the Senate, the Commerce Committee wrote its legislation and while improving authorizations over current baselines, the dollar amounts are much less. This is also true of the grant programs. The two tools that the House granted are not contained in the Senate version, however, most of the Amtrak reform measures are included. The Senate version does contain legislation concerning cross-border passenger operations which would be of benefit once Canada opens its border.

• On the transcontinentals (Builder, Zephyr, Chief, Sunset, and Coast Twilight), traditional dining has been restored for sleeping car passengers. A large number of state-supported trains will be restored in July, including the Vermonter and Ethan Allen.

Steve Musen