|
 |
>Home >Moderator |  |
|
|
-- and have more trains to travel | |
For the latest news, click here. EMPIRE BUILDER, HIAWATHA RIDERSHIP UP Here's some brief ridership information for Amtrak trains serving Wisconsin between Oct. 1, 2007, and Sept. 30, 2008 -- the long-distance Empire Builder and the Hiawatha Service trains. EMPIRE BUILDER The Empire Builder, which runs between Chicago and the Pacific Northwest, remained the most popular long-distance train with 554,000 riders, a 10 percent increase over 2007. "It's our busiest, most-popular, highest-ridership overnight train," said Marc Magliari, an Amtrak spokesman in Chicago. In July, the Empire Builder saw 56,948 passengers, an increase of 6.3 percent over the previous July. In August, 57,563 passengers rode on that line, an increase of 11.1 percent over the previous August. Ridership also was up in June, with a 2.7 percent increase over last year to 48,981 passengers, but Magliari said it could have been higher. "It would certainly have been higher if not for all the flood-related disruptions we had in Wisconsin that spring," he said. The increased ridership was obvious throughout the summer at the Izaak Walton Inn in Essex, a flagstop station for Amtrak. "We noticed an increase in ridership on Amtrak," said Dorothy VanGeison, the inn's manager. "And we talked with a number of conductors who told us that the trains were quite full this season." HIAWATHA SERVICE The Hiawatha Service between Chicago and Milwaukee carried 750,000 passengers in 2008, a 26 percent increase over 2007. (The above was compiled from Amtrak, Associated Press and Gannett News Service reports.) (For a one-page printout of system-wide ridership and ticket revenue data by train for both FY2007 and FY2008, click here.) FAST FACT: Amtrak in 2008 posted its sixth consecutive year of growth in ridership and revenue, carrying more than 28.7 million passengers in the last fiscal year. Amtrak provides intercity passenger rail service to more than 500 destinations in 46 states on a 21,000-mile route system. For schedules, fares and information, call 800-USA-RAIL or visit Amtrak.com. 'JUST ASK US' ABOUT HIGH SPEED RAIL. The Wisconsin State Journal's "Just Ask Us" column Oct. 7, 2008, answered this question from a reader: "What happened to the potential plan for a high-speed passenger train from Madison to Minneapolis?" Read the answer here. |
|
|||
|
madison.com is operated by Madison Newspapers Inc., publishers of the Wisconsin State Journal, The Capital Times, Agri-View and Apartment Showcase. Copyright ©2009, Madison Newspapers, Inc. All rights reserved. |
||||
