March 2024 Amtrak Financial Report

• The March Report was dated April 30, 2024, and posted on May 2, 2024.

• For the year so far, the NEC generated a cash operating surplus of $63.467 million, while the rest of the system had an operating loss of $520.592 million. Combined, the entire system has a cash operating deficit of $457.125 million. 

• The NEC generated a cash operating surplus of $63.467 million, capital expenditures of $1,055.970 million, and debt service payments totaling $71.213 million for the year so far. Counting all capital sources, the NEC Account has a positive balance of $54.515 million. It also has cash reserves from previous years.

• For the rest of the National System, $0.035 million was needed for debt service, and $$600.713 million was spent on Capital Expenditures. The National Network Account now has a negative balance of $227.393 million. It also has the accumulated surplus from previous years.

• The amount of appropriated money for the combined NEC and National Network received for the year to date now totals $1.528277 billion. Amtrak has received $483.902 million from other sources.

•  The combined accumulated reserves at the beginning of the 2024 fiscal year totaled $254 million in cash and cash equivalents, $222 million in short-term investments, and $3,188 billion in available-for-sale securities. This brings total cash reserves as of October 1, 2023, to $3.664 billion. The current ratio (Current Assets divided by Current Liabilities) was 1.98, which would make Amtrak quite creditworthy for any fresh borrowings.

• In October 2023, Amtrak's burn rate (Operating Revenues Minus OperatingDebt Service) was $278.584. In N Expenses Minus ovember, it was $247.746 million. In December, it was $185.701 million. In January, it was $495.185 million. In February, it was $388.361ch, andinvestment in the Gateway Project, it was $ million. In March, it due to a large was $549.509 million. 

• Capital Spending so far this year for Engineering/Capital Renewal was $495.5 million; Mechanical $204.4 million; Operations $8.4 million; Digital Technology & Innovation $152.6 million; ADA 62.6 million; Stations & Facilities $35.7 million; Amtrak Police $7.9 million; Safety 1.3 million; Environmental $2.5 million; and Procurement was $0.9 million. $105.7 million has been spent on Acela 21 Train Sets so far this year with $12.3 million of that spent in March. Real Estate, Planning and Strategy increased by $12.2 million in March to reach $$53.8 million so far this year. $212.3 million was spent in March alone on the Gateway Project bringing the year-to-date total to $357.9 million. $53.2 million ($12.2 million in March) has been spent on the B&P Tunnels in Baltimore in this fiscal year. Spending on the new intercity trains sets has now reached the total for this fiscal year of $43.1 million after adding $18.9 million in March. $68.5 million has been spent on Major Stations, and a whopping $2.8 million was expended on the Long-Distance Trains being ordered. Capital Investment for the year so far is $1.6567 billion, which is $485.8 million more than what was spent in the comparable period last year.

• The GAAP Loss for the year so far is $1.0219 billion, which is $121.6 million worse than last year's comparable period. The cash operating loss was $457.1, which is $64.8 million worse than for FY2023.

• With Cash Operations only, Amtrak is now ahead of its forecast by $32.8 million. The GAAP figure is $12.4 million better than the forecast.

• For March 2024 alone, Amtrak's cash loss was $44.4 million. 

• Amtrak is still showing only four product lines with operating surpluses:

  • Acela $49.1 million

  • Northeast Regional $40.1 million

  • Auto Train $3.8 million

  • Hoosier State $  2.0 million (which Amtrak continues to show despite not running it for many years).

  • The four Virginia Routes now have a total loss for the year so far of $17.7 million.

• Amtrak is showing that most trains cover their frequency variable costs. The exceptions are the Gulf Coast (New Orleans-Mobile), which has not started running yet, and all of the long-distance trains except Auto Train, Silver Meteor, Crescent, and Palmetto, which are meeting their Frequency Variable Cost.

• Ridership for the year so far is more than 2,842,900 more than the same period last year. For March 2024 the total was 2,825,4?? (Amtrak reports ridership to the nearest 100. Total Ridership for October 2023 to March 2024 was 15,716,0??.  Of the long-distance trains, only the Sunset and Auto Trains carried less ridership than the previous year. The smallest gain was the Coast Starlight at +0.3% after being in negative territory for the previous five months. The product line with the greatest percentage gain is the Palmetto at +28.5% followed by the Lake Shore Ltd at +19.6%. The Acela product line has been up by $15.0% in the year so far.

• President Biden has finally nominated two individuals with transportation experience who are not residing on the NEC. Hopefully, they will be promptly confirmed.

• Amtrak will start running a new daily train (The Borealis) from Chicago to St. Paul on May 21, 2024, on the same route as the Empire Builder. The new train will probably add considerably more riders between the two trains than what the Empire Builder was carrying on sole basis. With a sharing on numerous stations, the Builder will probably show a decrease in its total operating losses. The Borealis will stop at three additional stations that the Builder now skips, including Mitchell Airport outside of Milwaukie. 

Steve Musen