October 2022 Amtrak Financial Report
The October Report was produced November 30, 2022 and posted December 13, 2022.
The NEC generated for the year a cash operating surplus of $22.8 million (as determined by their accounting system) and the remainder of the system had an operating cash loss of $62.0 million. Combined the entire system had for the period a cash operating deficit of $39.2 million.
Year to date, the NEC made debt service payments totaling $0.1 million and capital expenditures of $86.2 million. For all capital sources, the NEC Account had a positive balance of $865.1 million plus the cash reserves from previous years.
The rest of the National System, used $0.007 million for Debt service and $84.715 million for Capital Expenditures. The National Network Account Balance now has a positive balance of $1.4 billion plus the accumulated surplus from previous years.
The appropriated money for the combined NEC and National Network for the year to date was $2.7 billion. Amtrak also received $107.4 million from other capital sources for the entire system. While much of the funding could be the mandated funds for capital projects (as opposed to the annual appropriated funds), there is the possibility that a clerical error has included all anticipated annual appropriations at once. You may want to reference this figure in the November report.
The combined accumulated reserves at the beginning of the 2022 fiscal year totaled $491.9 million in cash and cash equivalents, $390.2 million in short term investments, and $3.3 billion available for sale securities. This brings total cash reserves as of October 1, 2021 to $4.1 billion.. The current ratio (Current Assets divided by Current Liabilities) was 2.383 which would make Amtrak quite credit worthy for any fresh borrowing.
In October 2021 Amtrak's burn rate (Operating Revenues-Minus Operating Expense-Minus Debt Service-Capital Expenditures) was $446.1 million. However, this includes the $217.6 million for debt service., the actual amount may be quite a bit less. The monthly burn rates have been: November $155.0 million, December $29.7 million (due to the retraction of money spent on debt service which in turn explains the much lower figure), January $294.6 million, February $221.4 million, March $318.6 million, Apri $221.4 million, May $264.4 million, June $351.1 million, July $229.8 million, August $246.5 million, September $491.4 million (due to a large increase in capital spending and debt service), and October $210.3 million.
Capital Spending year to date was: Infrastructure Services (formerly Engineering) $75.0 million, Mechanical $26.8 million, Operations $0.8 million, Digital Technology $20.6 million, Commercial and Marketing $0.0, ADA $10.9 million, Real Estate Stations & Facilities $9.9 million, Amtrak Police & Emergency Management $0.4 million, Safety $4.9 million, Environmental -$0.9 million, Procurement $0.1 million, Acela 21 $8.9 million, Gateway $0.0, Planning & Strategy $4.1 million, B&P Tunnel $3.9 million, and Intercity Trainsets $5.7 million. The total for Capital Spending was $170.9 million, which is $18.2 million less than the same period last year.
The GAAP Loss for the year appears to be $121.0 million which is $5.7 million worse than FY2022. The cash operating earnings for the year is $0.1 million better than in FY2022.
The corporation is $11.0 million ahead of its forecast in cash operatings earnings.The GAAP figure is $1.9 million better than the forecast.
The number of product lines showing a measurable operating surplus for the period remained at six, another three broke even, and the three with a surplus over $1 million were:
Northeast Regional $15.0 million
Acela $14.1 million
Auto Train $1.0 million
The four Virginia product lines generated a total loss of $1.5 million.
Amtrak is now showing costs based as Frequency Variable Costs, Route Variable Costs, and System Fixed Costs. Most trains covered their Frequency Variable Costs with the exception of the Adirondack, Silver Meteor, Silver Star, Coast Starlight, Sunset, Southwest Chief, California Zephyr, Empire Builder, Texas Eagle, City of New Orleans, and the Cardinal. Most likely the constrained consists from Amtrak mismanagement of its personnel and equipment repairs contributed to these trains not meeting their Frequency Variable Costs.
Ridership for the Fiscal Year to date rose more than 529,300 from FY2022. For the year, it stands at 2,374.900 (Amtrak reports ridership to the nearest 100). The total riders for October was 2,374.900. The the long-distance trains show a gain of riders across the product lines with the obvious exception of the Silver Meteor and the Cardinal. The City of New Orleans was the biggest winner at +57.6% gain in the new fiscal year to date and The Coast Starlight was second at a 36.1% gain. The lines that showed smallest ridership gains after the Silver Meteor which lost 38.8%, the Cardinal with a loss of 2.4%, and The Capitol Ltd. at +0.7%. The Acela gained 52.9%.
None of the five nominations for the Amtrak Board have been confirmed. The Senate Commerce Committee did approve the slate, but Congressional holds have been placed on each until such time as the Republican Nominees are included. Since that is not likely to happen in this session the nominations will be automatically vacated and will need resubmission in the new Congress.
The NARP Council of Representatives will be voting electronically for the location of the fall meeting. The five cities that are on the ballot are Meridian, MS, San Antonio, TX , Durham/Raleigh, NC, Buffalo, NY and Providence, RI. The selection will be completed by rank choice and the results to be announced at the beginning of the new year.
Congress has been working on an Omnibus Appropriations to include all 12 budget bills including THUD. The prospect of a large increase for Amtrak is quite dim, and we may have to settle for the same amounts as in fiscal 2022. This would put the kibosh on expansion plans for the very near term. Amtrak is planning to only order sufficient long-distance equipment to replace existing equipment. Though Amtrak will have options for more but the lack of increase in direct appropriations may cause Amtrak management even more reluctance to place orders for additional equipment.
Steve Musen