Amtrak Rail Numbers At Record High, But Worcester Way Down

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Saturday, March 30, 2013

Steve Balestrieri, GoLocal Worcester, Contributor

Traveling by rail, primarily by Amtrak, the primary US carrier is now at record levels with most of the country's major metropolitan areas responsible for nearly two thirds of total riders.

But that does not include the city of Worcester, according to a recent Brookings report. While ridership for Amtrak overall is up over 55 percent since 1997, numbers for Worcester have plummeted by over 43 percent during the same time period.

Those numbers are disputed by Amtrak officials who say that Brookings has it wrong about their ridership and are actually showing an increase from Worcester.

Short Distance Trips Are Key

Driving the connection between major metropolitan areas are short-distance routes traveling less than 400 miles, that carry 83 percent of all Amtrak passengers.

Amtrak, recently asked Congress to more than double its capital budget so it can buy more trains and improve its infrastructure.

The rail giant is looking for more money in legislation to expand service and decrease the travel time on the Acela and Northeast Regional lines between Washington and Boston, where its share of the rail-air market has doubled in the past decade. On reason for this can be tied to the cost of gasoline and the sheer number of cars on the road along with traffic and parking difficulties, where rail travel is easy, fast and cost effective.

Worcester Numbers Fine Say Amtrak

But what about the large drop in Worcester? With the giant still in financial difficulty since its inception, could this mean bad tidings and possible elimination of service for rail riders in Worcester?

Not so fast says Amtrak who disagree with the findings and claim that ridership on the Worcester line have actually increased in the last year.

Cliff Cole, Media Relations Director for Amtrak in the Northeast stated on Friday afternoon, "we can't speak to the Brookings report, but our data is very different," he said.

"Currently our only line in Worcester is the Lakeshore Line and by our records, we're showing an increase of riders between 2011 and 2012," he added. "Overall in the area, we've seen nine straight years of gains along the ridership on our routes."

Asked if the current proposal for more money would mean increased service and upgrades in Worcester, Cole said, time would tell and it would be addressed at a future time, currently there are none.

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• Grace Ross: How to Solve Worcester’s Public Transportation Problems
• NEW: Lt. Governor Murray: Transportation ‘Critical’ in Massachusetts

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