November 2024 Amtrak Financial Report
The November Report was dated December 29, 2024, and posted on January 8, 2024. This would be a little late for them.
The NEC generated, for the year so far, a cash operating surplus of $54.080 million (as determined by their accounting system), and the remainder of the system had an operating cash loss of $70.793 million. The entire system had a cash operating deficit of $16.713 million for the period.
The NEC has made debt service payments totaling $59.7 million and capital expenditures of $484.3 million. Counting all capital sources, the NEC Account has a positive balance of $44.5 million. It also has cash reserves that remain from previous years.
For the rest of the National System, $0.013 million was needed for Debt service, and $261.1 million was spent on Capital Expenditures. The National Network Account Balance now has a negative balance of $149.3 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 to date was $281.334 million. Amtrak has also obtained from other capital sources $464.1 million for the entire system.
As of October 1, 2024, the total accumulated reserves amounted to $254 million in cash and equivalents, $222 million in short-term investments, and $3.2 billion in available-for-sale securities, totaling $3.7 billion. Amtrak demonstrates strong creditworthiness for new borrowings, with a current ratio (Current Assets divided by Current Liabilities) of 1.43.
In October 2024, Amtrak’s burn rate (Operating revenues minus Operating expenses minus Debt service capital expenditures) was $412.876 million. In November, it was $437.394 million.
Capital spending for the year is $745.4 million, broken down into categories:
Capital Renewal (formerly Engineering) was $294.7 million;
Mechanical was $70.5 million;
Operations was $4.4 million;
Digital Technology was $49.1 million;
ADA was $32.6 million;
Stations & Facilities was $12.1 million;
Amtrak Police & Emergency Management was $0.8 million;
Safety was $0.3 million;
Environmental was $0.8 million;
Procurement and other was $0.3 million;
Acela 21: $23.5 million ($14.2 million in November);
Mega Program (formerly Gateway) was $92.3 million;
Real Estate, Strategy & Planning is now $23.9 million ($14.9 million increase in November);
B&P Tunnel was $41.9 million;
Intercity Trainsets was $55.4 million (an increase of $47.8 million in November);
Major Stations was 39.0 million;
Long-Distance Equipment Procurement was $0.8 million;
The total was $326.7 million more than FY2024 for the same period.
The GAAP Loss for the year was $238.9 million, $12.9 million better than in FY2024. The cash operating earnings for the year were $44.0 million better than in FY2024.
For cash operating earnings, the corporation is $28.7 million ahead of their prediction for the year to date. The GAAP figure is $73.9 million, which is better than the forecast.
The number of product lines showing an operating surplus for the period was 9. The three that were measurable were:
Northeast Regional $54.8 million
Acela $42.6 million
Empire Service $1.3 million
The four Virginia product lines generated a total loss of $2.9 million.
Ridership for the Fiscal Year so far is more than 223,500 from FY2024. For the year, it stands at 5,885.900 (Amtrak reports ridership to the nearest 100). The total number of riders in November was 2,853.300..
Congress is back in session but has not tackled the 12 budget bills. Action is not expected until March 13, 2025, one week before the expiration of the latest CR.
David Fink, former President of Pan-Am Railroad, was nominated for FRA Administrator. He had an excellent relationship with the Downeaster when he was running Pan-Am. He should breeze through the confirmation process.
Steve Musen, Representative from Rhode Island to NARP's Council of Representatives