Skip to main content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Correspondence

Date

Semiannual Report on Amtrak's Financial and Operating Performance and Savings from Reform

Project ID
J2012001
File Attachment

On December 21, 2011, as mandated by the fiscal year 2010 Consolidated Appropriations Act, we issued our semiannual report to the House and Senate Appropriations Committees on Amtrak’s savings from operational reforms and year-end financial performance. The report also includes an update on Amtrak’s use of its Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) to improve company performance and assess progress of improvement initiatives. 

Despite records in both revenue and ridership, Amtrak’s operating loss for fiscal year 2011 was $37.6 million (9.0 percent) greater than its operating loss for fiscal year 2010. However, Amtrak anticipated the greater loss in its fiscal year 2011 budget projections, and the actual operating loss that resulted was $104.4 million (18.6 percent) less than what the company projected. The year-over-year increase in operating loss was due primarily to increased expenditures on salaries, wages, and benefits, while the less-than-budgeted operating loss was due mostly to greater-than-expected ticket revenue. 

Amtrak had partial success generating new revenue from its fiscal year 2011 improvement initiatives. KPIs show that core expenditures increased as much as core revenue growth on a per-mile basis, however, the company projects that its improvement initiatives will have high upfront costs but long-term benefits.