December 2024 Amtrak Financial Report

  • The December Report was dated January 31, 2025, and posted no later than February 7, 2025. This would be a little late for them.

  • The NEC generated, for the year so far, a cash operating surplus of $154.3 million (as determined by their accounting system), and the remainder of the system had an operating cash loss of $221.0 million. The entire system had a cash operating deficit of $66.7 million for the period.

  • In the year, the NEC made debt service payments totaling $75.8 million and capital expenditures of $752.5 million. Counting all capital sources, the NEC Account has a positive balance of $211.9 million. It also has cash reserves from previous years.

  • For the rest of the National System, $0.02 million was needed for Debt service, and $374.8 million was spent on Capital Expenditures. The National Network Account Balance now has a negative balance of $3.3 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 was $1.0 billion. Amtrak has also obtained from other capital sources $466.3 million for the entire system. The Biden Administration forwarded almost all of the money in the two CRs to Amtrak before leaving.

  • The combined accumulated reserves on October 1, 2024, totaled $254 million in cash and cash equivalents,

    • $222 million in short-term investments,

    • $3.188 billion in available-for-sale securities.

    • This brings the total cash reserves as of October 1, 2024, to $3.7 billion.

    • The current ratio (Current Assets divided by Current Liabilities) was 1.43, making Amtrak quite creditworthy for new borrowings.

  • In October 2024, Amtrak’s burn rate (Operating revenues minus Operating expense minus Debt service capital expenditures) was $412.8 million. In November, the burn rate was $437.394 million. In December, the burn rate was $419.605 million. 

  • Capital Spending for the year to date totals $1.1 billion, broken down into categories:

    • Capital Renewal (formerly Engineering): $248.5 million;

    • Mechanical: $102.8 million;

    • Operations: $6.6 million;

    • Digital Technology: $74.4 million;

    • ADA: $50.2.6 million;

    • Stations & Facilities: $18.8 million;

    • Amtrak Police & Emergency Management: $0.0 million;

    • Safety: $0.5 million;

    • Environmental: $1.1 million;

    • Procurement and other: $0.4 million;

    • Acela 21: $26.9 million ($3.4 million in December);

    • Mega Program (formerly Gateway): $133.7 million;

    • Real Estate, Strategy & Planning: $45.0 million ($21.1million increase in December);

    • B&P Tunnel: $98.1 million;

    • Intercity Trainsets: $11.3 million (a decrease of $44.1 million in December);

    • Major Stations: 54.8 million;

    • Long-Distance Equipment Procurement; $1.2 million;

    • The total was $527.1 million more than FY2024 for the same period.

    • Note: Several Categories are less than the amount shown at the end of November: Engineering, Amtrak Police & Emergency Management and Intercity Trainsets (those are the Amfleet Replacements). Amtrak Accounting at its best!!

  • The GAAP Loss for the year appears to be $354.8 million, which is $12.5 million better than FY2024. The cash operating earnings for the year were $52.4 million better than in FY2024.

  • For cash operating earnings, the corporation is $24.2 million ahead of their prediction for the year to date. The GAAP figure is $89.2 million better than the Forecast.

  • The number of product lines showing an operating surplus for the period was five, plus one that broke even. The four that were measurable were:

    • Northeast Regional $87.4 million

    • Acela $60.7 million

    • Empire Service $3.2 million

    • Auto Train $1.5 million

  • The four Virginia product lines generated a total loss of $5.4 million.

  • Ridership for the Fiscal Year so far is more than 580,600 from FY2024. For the year, it stands at 8,935,400 (Amtrak reports ridership to the nearest 100). The total number of riders in December was 3,049,500.  

  • The Senate is originating a budget bill that sets the spending limits for FY2025 (the current year in its fifth month). They gave up on the house to originate this bill. However, the bill contains additional money for the southern border wall and the deportation and confinement of illegal aliens, which should require that the bill pass the Senate under reconciliation rules before it can go to the House. Once those figures are agreed upon, individual budget bills can be written. Still, the deadline for March 13, 2025, is looming. The House has a different bill, which combines the above with the Trump Tax Cuts and mandates that $2.5 trillion in appropriated money be paired with $4.5 trillion in Trump Tax Cuts, which is supposed to magically cause the current $2.5 trillion annual deficit to disappear. The House bill also raises the debt limit by $4 trillion. 

  • While the Trump Administration has been swinging its axe at many programs. They include most transportation grant programs. However, much of the impounding has been subject to many restraining orders. Worse, a hiring freeze has been put in place, and massive layoffs have occurred, also subject to restraining orders.  

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

Info
Written by RIARP.org On In Tagged , , ,