Upbeat news for Amtrak’s new local service

Culpeper was No. 3 in the state in October for its year-over-year percent increase in passenger train travel, according to a recent report from the Virginia Department of Rail and Public Transportation.

Overall, the new Northeast Regional Amtrak that originates in Lynchburg and stops in Culpeper en route to D.C., New York and as far north as Boston is beating all expectations for ridership.

The state report, presented Wednesday to the Commonwealth Transportation Board, showed 52 percent more passengers rode the Amtrak from the Culpeper station this October — when the new Lynchburg passenger line launched — compared to October 2008.

This October, 750 passengers boarded or disembarked in Culpeper compared to 495 the same time last year. The station in Lynchburg led the state for percentage passenger growth at 68 percent, followed by Manassas at 54 percent. The Charlottesville station came in at No. 5 for percent passenger growth with 37 percent. Charlottesville was also No. 5 in the state for number of passengers in October, with 8,537 boarding or getting off the train at its station.

Further findings of the DRPT report showed:

1) Statewide, on-time performance for all Amtrak trains was 63.3 percent in October 2009, an increase of 9.4 percent over October 2008.

2) Total Northeast Regional route ridership in October credited to Virginia was 8,585, exceeding by 97 percent the monthly target of 4,340.

3) Total Northeast Regional revenue credited to Virginia in October was $414,410.

The DPRT recognized in its report that while the first month’s ridership results for the Lynchburg train were promising, they are not typical because it was the first month of the service.

The top five bi-directional city pairs for the new Lynchburg route, according to the DRPT, were: 1) Charlottesville - Washington, D.C. 2) Lynchburg – Washington, D.C. 3) Charlottesville – New York 4) Lynchburg – New York 5) Charlottesville – Philadelphia.

October’s results “are a good indicator that we can grow ridership in the territory,” Kevin Page, DRPT’s rail transportation chief, told the CTB this week.

Jennifer Pickett with the state agency said they were also “happy to see” that most of the passengers riding Amtrak in Virginia were heading into the state versus going northbound. She said such results are a positive indication of enhanced tourism for localities up and down the route.