CA: Amtrak ridership hits record high nationwide, but California lags behind. Here's why

Like an old school train conductor, vest buttons bursting with pride, Amtrak announced this month that more people than ever are riding the nation's passenger trains.

But that's not the case in California. A Chronicle analysis of Amtrak's year-end reports for the past six years found that the Golden State is lagging behind the records being set in other parts of the U.S. where ridership is surging, particularly in the Northeast.

According to rail officials and passenger advocacy groups, California is still recovering from a post-pandemic malaise that has impeded a recovery in ridership. Other contributing factors include storm damage early this year that prevented passengers from riding trains on part of one line and a nationwide equipment shortage that's worse in the West.

In California, the number of passengers aboard all but one of the eight Amtrak routes that run within or through the state is considerably lower now than in 2019 — before the pandemic struck. Just one train, the Texas Eagle, which leaves Los Angeles' Union Station and makes three stops in California before leaving the state, saw an increase in riders. It amounted to just 1%.

The federal passenger rail corporation set a ridership record in fiscal 2024, which ended Sept. 30, by carrying 32.8 million customers nationwide on trains that run to 500 destinations on 45 routes in 46 states.

Three of those routes run only within California, where the state subsidizes all or part of their operating costs. Those routes are the Capitol Corridor from San Jose to Sacramento and Colfax; the San Joaquin between Bakersfield and Sacramento or Oakland (a split route); and the Pacific Surfliner from San Diego to San Luis Obispo.

Five of Amtrak's long-distance trains also run through California — the Coast Starlight from Los Angeles to Seattle; the California Zephyr from Emeryville to Chicago; the Southwest Chief from Los Angeles to Chicago via Arizona and New Mexico; the Sunset Limited from Los Angeles to New Orleans; and the Texas Eagle between Los Angeles and Chicago through Texas.

The Chronicle analyzed data from Amtrak's annual ridership reports, published every October. The available figures show ridership on the entirety of each route, so ridership on the long-distance trains includes passengers from outside the state.

Still, every route that runs in California except the Texas Eagle showed declines when this year's ridership totals were compared with pre-pandemic figures.

The Capitol Corridor line recorded the sharpest decline of all California trains since 2019, falling from 1.78 million riders that year to 1.03 million in 2024 — a drop of 42%. The Pacific Surfliner trains saw a fall of about 29%, from 2.78 million to 1.98 million. The other intra- California train, the San Joaquin, experienced a 15% dip in riders from 1.07 million to nearly 909,000.

Among long-distance trains, the Southwest Chief experienced the biggest fall — 23% — from 338,000 to 261,000. Ridership on the Sunset Limited dropped 17.1% from 93,000 to 77,000 — a decline of 17%. The Coast Starlight saw the number of passengers decline 16% from 426,000 to 359,000. The California Zephyr experienced a 15% drop from 411,000 to 351,000.

The Texas Eagle was the lone California train to see an increase — about 1% — with the number of riders rising from 322,000 to 326,000.

Long-distance trains, which typically run once a day, have much lower ridership than the state-supported lines, which operate multiple trains per day, often serving as both intercity trains and commuter lines.

Passenger rail officials and riders say California is regaining ridership but that it's slow going, much like mass transit ridership and the number of people returning to regular office schedules.

Both the Capitol Corridor and the Pacific Surfliner carry a lot of commuters, who even before the pandemic were beginning to split their work schedules between home and office. That trend picked up steam during the COVID-19 shutdown and seems to be becoming more ingrained as some workers and workplaces make hybrid schedules and working from home permanent.

"California is the epicenter of the work-from-home trend," said Steve Roberts, president of the Rail Passenger Association of California and Nevada. "So, compared to the Northeast Corridor, the post-pandemic rebound in traffic in California has been slower."

That could change, however, if President-elect Donald Trump orders federal employees to return to their offices full time, as he has promised, and if state workers face similar orders from Gov. Gavin Newsom, said Mike Setty, president of the Train Riders Association of California.

"That could lead to a significant increase in ridership," he said, particularly among state workers aboard the Capitol Corridor.

California's Amtrak routes are also recovering in another way from the pandemic. When ridership plunged, some of the state-subsidized routes, like the Capitol Corridor, cut some service and leased some of the unused rail cars and locomotives to other rail agencies.

The Capitol Corridor and San Joaquin services still haven't restored all their service or been running full-length trains. Vernae Graham, a spokesperson for the Capitol Corridor, said the service expects to be back to full strength by mid-2025. David Lipari, a spokesperson for the San Joaquin Joint Powers Authority, which oversees operation of the San Joaquin trains, said it's still running just six of its seven daily round-trip trains but expects it will be rolling again in spring.

"In terms of reaching pre-pandemic numbers, (the authority) anticipates the San Joaquin's to continue to grow steadily which would be just north of one million riders," he said. Ridership on the trains through the Central Valley increased last year but is still behind prepandemic levels.

The Capitol Corridor also expects to see its ridership continue to climb in 2025 as it has the past two years, Graham said. With the work-from-home trend increasing, the Capitol Corridor has focused on drawing new riders by adding service to and from events like 49ers games and concerts at Levi's Stadium.

In Southern California, the Pacific Surfliner attributes a significant share of its ridership decline and slow post-pandemic recovery to Mother Nature. In late January, the latest in a series of landslides in the San Clemente area damaged the tracks and halted train service through the area for two months. Riders were offered a bus link to bypass the damaged portion of tracks, but many chose to avoid the Surfliner trains altogether.

The four long-distance lines Amtrak runs through California have been hampered by an equipment shortage — not enough passenger rail cars — that limits passenger capacity, Roberts said. The shortage is worse in the West where the long-haul trains use two-level Superliner rail cars, which are in shorter supply due to Amtrak falling behind in maintenance and overhaul during the pandemic.

In other words, fewer people are riding Amtrak's long-distance trains because fewer seats are available.

"This lack of capacity is driving the ridership shortfalls," Roberts said. "The current long-distance trains have fewer cars than they had in 2019. This is a major factor in the ridership differences."

While Amtrak has stepped up repairs and rehabilitation, the equipment shortage is expected to continue to limit the number of passengers the railroad can carry on its long-distance trains, he said.

In addition to putting more equipment on the tracks, rail experts suggest that Amtrak needs to adapt to the changing times by using selective fare reductions designed to increase ridership on certain lines and locations and times when ridership is light; increasing the frequency of service on shorter lines; and configuring schedules so that trains leave at more regular times — for example, on the hour — to make riding more convenient.

"Hybrid work schedules have shifted the travel landscape, moving away from daily commuting patterns, and allowing us to adapt and seek new riders," Graham said.

___
(c)2024 the San Francisco Chronicle
Visit the San Francisco Chronicle at www.sfchronicle.com
Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.