Amtrak rides high with record passengers in Northwest, nationally

Amtrak is riding high, with a record number of train passengers in the Pacific Northwest and nationally.

The Amtrak Cascades service, which includes trains from Seattle to Portland and Vancouver, B.C., was particularly successful. More than 674,000 passengers rode its trains in the 2007 fiscal year (which ended Sept. 30), up 7.4 percent from the year before.

Northwest train travel likely will be even more popular next summer when Amtrak Cascades plans to start a second daily round-trip train between Seattle and Vancouver, B.C.

Amtrak Cascades, which is operated by Amtrak under contract with the Washington and Oregon Departments of Transportation, also made more money, topping $18 million in ticket sales for the fiscal year, up 9.9 percent from the previous year.

"We are pleased with the Amtrak Cascades ridership increases," said Scott Witt, the Washington State Rail and Marine director. Witt attributed the rise to high fuel prices (which induced travelers to take the train instead of drive) and increased service to Portland (a fourth daily round trip between Seattle and Portland was added last year).

The increase in passengers and earnings came despite weather problems that hampered Amtrak Cascades service earlier in the year and the sidelining of its Talgo train cars for repairs in recent months. Service between Seattle and Eugene, Ore. should be back to normal starting Monday with the Talgo trains in use again; the older Superliner trains will continue to substitute on the Vancouver, B.C., route through Dec. 31.

Nationally, Amtrak had 25,847,531 passengers for fiscal 2007, the most since it began operating in 1971.

Kristin Jackson: kjackson@seattletimes.com