Amtrak’s Hopeful Break-Even Year Projected to Turn to a $700 Million Loss
Photo Credit: Empty trains like this one have become all too common. Amtrak ridership is down 95 percent this month. Unsplash / Hansel Wong
Skift Take
Amtrak wanted to break even this year on an operating basis. That was a nice goal, but it was all academic. Amtrak is the U.S. national railway, and the government will do what it must to keep it running.
Ridership at Amtrak, the U.S. railway system, is down 95 percent this month, and leaders project it will suffer at least $700 million in annual adjusted operating losses during a fiscal year in which it expected to break even for the first time in its 50-year-history.
The railway's prior CEO, Richard Anderson, made a big deal of breaking-even, and reaching that goal may have given Amtrak a boost in Washington, where some politicians ask if the company deserves so many government subsidies. But Amtrak is the national railway — it serves not only big cities, but also small towns — and the truth is, it probably doesn't need to eke out a profit. It's why Congress is expected to help Amtrak navigate out of the Covid-19 crisis.
"It was always about being good stewards of the money and less about what the specific P&L impa
