Central Valley Business Times

Central Valley Business Times

Amtrak’s San Joaquin trains packed

OAKLAND
December 14, 2011 5:20am

• Amtrak says it help railroad set new record for passenger volume
• Jumps by 6 percent

With 724,051 passengers, more people rode Amtrak this Thanksgiving holiday than ever before, the company says. A surge in ridership on the “San Joaquin” trains -- Amtrak’s route through the Central Valley – helped in setting the record.
In addition, travel on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving was the railroad’s single busiest day ever with 138,736 passengers and the Sunday after Thanksgiving was close behind with 130,093 riders, according to figures released this week.
“Strong ridership increases over the holiday were seen on routes across the country,” says Amtrak President and CEO Joseph Boardman.
The previous Thanksgiving record was set in 2010 with 704,446 passengers. The 2011 Thanksgiving travel holiday week extended from Nov. 22 through Nov. 28.
In the West, ridership on San Joaquin trains (Oakland/Sacramento – Bakersfield) was up 6.4 percent. The Capitol Corridor service (Auburn/Sacramento – SF/Oakland – San Jose) was up 9.1 percent over the same period last year and the Pacific Surfliner service (San Luis Obispo – Santa Barbara – Los Angeles – San Diego) was up 3 percent.
In preparation for the anticipated heavy passenger volume during Thanksgiving, Amtrak says it operated every available passenger rail car in its fleet and scheduled extra trains to accommodate additional passengers in the Northeast and on the West Coast. The Amtrak equipment fleet was slightly larger this year due to rehabilitated and refurbished railcars and locomotive engines that were recently restored to service.
Amtrak says it expects continued strong ridership for December, following the busy November and the all-time record of 30.2 million set in its fiscal year ending Sept. 30, 2011.