WASHINGTON — Figures released by the Amtrak Reform Council (ARC) contradict Amtrak’s projections that train ridership blossomed in the days and weeks after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, a wire service reports.
Nationwide ridership was actually lower each day in the week after the attacks compared to the week before, according to numbers released by the congressionally appointed ARC.
Overall, Amtrak’s ridership was down 6 percent in September and 1 percent in October, compared with a year earlier.
Amtrak spokesman Bill Schulz said Friday that the railroad’s early projection of a 17 percent boost in ridership the week following the attacks was based on an established formula based on tickets sold.
As it turned out, an unusually high number of prospective passengers canceled their plans or traded in their tickets, he said.
Ross Capon, executive director of the National Association of Railroad Passengers, said Amtrak has done well, given the difficult climate for travel in general.
Capon noted that the Air Transport Association estimated that airlines registered a 23 percent drop in passengers in October, compared to Amtrak’s 1 percent decline.
Capon said Amtrak advocates are pleased by increased interest in long-distance sleeper cars and frequent sellouts on its high-speed Acela Express service in the Northeast.
Amtrak has reached a major crossroads in its 30-year history.
The reform council declared Nov. 9 that the railway will fail to achieve financial self-sufficiency by a Dec. 2, 2002, deadline set by Congress. By law, that finding means Amtrak must write a plan for its own liquidation, although only Congress can put it out of business.
Capon, whose group is independent but supportive of Amtrak, said he is hopeful the attention generated by the council’s decision will result in more money for a transportation alternative that he says always has been underfunded.
“We never get anything done in the United States without a major crisis,” Capon said. Still, he said talk of liquidation is unrealistic and threatens to harm Amtrak’s standing with lenders.