At its best, traveling by train combines comfort with breathtaking views of one’s surroundings. While the U.S. does not yet have the high-speed rail capacity of other countries around the world, Amtrak service remains popular — and that popularity appears to be growing. As Bob Johnston notes at TransPRO, data from Amtrak shows that both overall revenue and the total number of passengers were up for the latest financial year.
That financial year ended on September 30, 2025; as Johnston points out, ridership increased by 5% compared to the previous fiscal year, while revenue was up by 11% compared to the same period. Amtrak’s data shows where ridership was up the most: on its Northeast Corridor lines, where the total number of passengers rose by 8% compared with last year.
Amtrak’s increase in ridership represents an increase from what it was in 2024, but it also seems to be a pleasant surprise for the agency’s management itself. Comments included with the September 2025 data note that the actual ridership data for 2025 “is trending 1% better than AOP.” That is due in part to upticks in the total number of riders on all of Amtrak’s lines nationwide.
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Including faster trains and more food optionsIn Johnston’s analysis of Amtrak’s data for TrainsPRO, he attributes some of the increase in revenue to Amtrak “[cashing] in on last-minute customers” with higher fares. As for what Amtrak’s ridership and revenue will look like for the rest of the calendar year, one assumes they will be relatively high, given the coming holiday travel season. Last month, Amtrak announced that it would add extra cars on its Northeast Corridor trains in the days around Thanksgiving.
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