September 2024 Amtrak Financial Report
The September Report was dated October 31, 2024, and posted on November 19, 2024. The posting for the end-of-the-year report would be regular, but the date of the report is questionable.
The NEC generated a cash operating surplus of $237.6 million (as determined by their accounting system), and the remainder of the system had an operating cash loss of $942.9 million. The entire system had a cash operating deficit of $705.2 million.
The NEC made debt service payments totaling $115.5 million for the year and capital expenditures of $2,805.1 million. Counting all capital sources, the NEC Account has a positive balance of $334.2 million. It also has cash reserves that remain from previous years.
For the rest of the National System, $0.08 million was needed for Debt service, and $1.7 billion was spent on Capital Expenditures. The National Network Account Balance now has a balance of $95.8 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 $4.5 billion. Amtrak has also obtained from other capital sources $1.2 billion for the entire system.
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 $3.2 billion in available-for-sale securities. As of October 1, 2023, this brought total cash reserves to $3.664 billion. The current ratio (Current Assets divided by Current Liabilities) was 1.98, making Amtrak quite credit worthy for any fresh borrowings.
In October 2023, Amtrak’s burn rate (Operating revenues minus Operating expense minus Debt service capital expenditures) was $278.584 million.
In November, the burn rate was $247.7 million.
In December, the burn rate was $185.7 million.
In January, the burn rate was $495.2 million.
In February, the burn rate was $388.3 million.
In March, the burn rate was $549.5 million.
In April, the burn rate was $388.7 million.
In May, the burn rate was $389.8 million.
In June, the burn rate was $404.1 million.
In July, the burn rate was $432.5 million.
In August, the burn rate was $873.0 million.
In September, the burn rate was $605.8 million.
In their tradition of changing reporting of Capital Spending for the year, several categories were renamed and gathered into larger categories:
Capital Renewal(fornerly Engineering): $1.4 billion;
Mechanical: $447.5 million;
Operations was $22.4 million;
Digital Technology was $348.5 million;
Commercial and Marketing is no longer listed as separate category.
ADA was $145.0 million;
Stations & Facilities was $95.7million;
Amtrak Police & Emergency Management was $13.1 million;
Safety was $4.0 million;
Environmental was -$9.1 million;
Procurement and other was $9.9 million;
Acela 21: $229.2 million ($64.6 million in September);
Mega Program (Formerly Gateway) was $637.6 million;
Real Estate, Strategy & Planning (formerly Planning & Strategy) was $531.0 million ($28.7 million increase in September);
B&P Tunnel was $167.2 million;
Intercity Trainsets was $236.8 million (an increase of $139.4 million in September);
Major Stations was $170.1 million;
Long-Distance Equipment Procurement was $6.4 million;
The total was $4.4 billion, which is $1,586.5 million more than FY2023 for the same period.
Trying to figure out how Environment expenses went to a negative figure. (Amtrak sold whatever contents they dug up to another party for a profit.) However, the figure for September is $.5 million more than August's, so we can assume that they did some environmental work in September.
The GAAP Loss for the year appears to be $1,809.4 million, which is $58.5 million worse than in FY2023. However, the cash operating earnings for the year were $67.0 million better than in FY2023. This is because GAAP includes depreciation and amortization, which are non-cash items.
For cash operating earnings, the corporation is $9.0 million ahead of their prediction for the year. The GAAP figure is $49.0 million better than the Previous Forecast.
The number of product lines showing a measurable operating surplus for the period was 3. They were:
Northeast Regional $146.4 million
Acela $134.0 million
Auto Train $6.6 million
The four Virginia product lines generated a total loss of $34.0 million.
Amtrak is still not showing costs based on Frequency Variable Costs, Route Variable Costs, and System Fixed Costs.
Ridership for the Fiscal Year is more than 4,270,000 from FY2023. For the year, it stands at 32,806.50 (Amtrak reports ridership to the nearest 100). The total for the year now exceeds the total number of riders for the entire FY2023, which was 28,536,600. The total number of riders in July was 2,819.800. Amtrak set a new record for ridership for all of FY2024.
The situation with the long-distance trains shows a gain of riders across most product lines, except the Sunset Ltd. and Auto Train. The Auto Train had a record ridership in FY2023, so it has reverted to previous levels. The Capitol Ltd. is now the biggest winner at +29.3% gain in the new fiscal year with the restoration of additional equipment. The line that showed the smallest ridership gains after those two in hostile territory was the Southwest Chief. With a 3.0% gain. The Acela gained 9.4%.( With the consolidation of the Capitol with the bulk of the Silver Star, the comparison will be meaningless for the two trains. I will no longer be reporting the winners and losers of the long-distance trains.)
There has been no new movement in Congress towards passing any of the 12 budget bills. However, a CR extending the existing level through December 20, 2024, is closing. Neither the House nor the Senate have moved towards passing a single one of the 12. Most likely, an agreement will be reached for another extension. An omnibus bill may be worked out before then.
The first of three preconstructed arches has been received adjacent to the new North Portal Bridge. The bridge is on target to be operational in FY2026.
Former President Trump has nominated former congressman Sean Duffy as the new Secretary of Transportation in his second administration. While his votes in Congress were not favorable to Amtrak, much of these were because his district had no Amtrak service. Hopefully, he can be educated about the need for a National Rail Passenger System.
The Biden administration is releasing its accumulated appropriated funds, particularly in the passenger rail sector. Many nuts and bolts projects on the Northeast Corridor have been awarded funds.
Steve Musen, Representative from Rhode Island to NARP's Council of Representatives