Capitol Corridor ridership breaks records
Sacramento Business Journal - by Melanie Turner Staff writer
Californians are riding trains in unprecedented numbers this year as gas prices spike and more people leave their cars and trucks at home.
Ridership on the Capitol Corridor and other intercity trains hit record levels in the year ending Sept. 30, California Department of Transportation and Amtrak officials reported Monday.
Capitol Corridor, which operates Amtrak trains between Auburn and San Jose, carried 1.69 million riders, a 16.8 percent jump from the previous 12 months. The Amtrak San Joaquins, meanwhile, had close to 1 million riders. Ridership in July was 32 percent higher than the same month in 2007, rising above 100,000 for the first time. The route from Bakersfield to Oakland and Sacramento is the sixth-busiest Amtrak line in the country. The Capitol Corridor route is the third busiest.
Amtrak ridership in fiscal year 2008 increased to 28.7 million, marking the sixth straight year of gains, and setting a record for the most passengers using Amtrak trains since the National Railroad Passenger Corporation started operations in 1971. A record 5.5 million passengers rode California’s state-supported intercity passenger trains during that same 12 months.
The announcement about train ridership came six days after Californians approved Proposition 1A, a $9.95 billion bond issue which provides initial funding for a planned high-speed train system linking the state’s major cities.
“The governor’s Proposition 1B funding, plus $190 million included in the high-speed rail bond ... will give California a competitive edge seeking federal matching funds,” said Eugene Skoropowski, managing director of the Capitol Corridor Joint Powers Authority, in a news release. “California’s intercity rail program is a model for the nation.”
Proposition 1B, a transportation bond championed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and approved by voters in 2006, provides Caltrans $400 million to improve the state’s intercity rail service, including $125 million to buy more rail cars and locomotives.
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