Although ridership remains robust-particularly on long-distance trains-there are signs that the wave of new passengers may be subsiding somewhat as airlines inch toward resuming a greater number of flights.

For example:

Last week, when airports were closed or virtually shut down and thousands of travlers were stranded, Amtrak's revenue from ticket sales was up 60 percent, and Intercity ridership was up by 35 percent.

Amtrak has stopped automatically adding extra cars to Northeast corridor and long-distance trains, spokeswoman Kajai Jhaveri said this morning from Washington. Last week, Amtrak added 200 seats to each train on the Northeast corridor, and added cars to long-distance trains when possible Now extra cars are added based on reservations or anticipated passenger levels

On Tuesday, Amtrak dropped its blanket poliyc of honoring airline tickets. The railroad will consider honoring airline tickets on a case by-case basis, however, Jhaveri said.

Amtrak Intercity spokesman Kevin Johnson said although hard figures aren't yet available, ridership appears to be leveling off. "It's going to be interesting over the next couple of weeks," he said, to see what the impact of reduced flight schedules and public's fear of flying will have on the railroad.

On the Northeast corridor, ticket revenue this week is up 8 percent. "The long-distance trains have really been the ones that are full," Johson said, adding that it's hard to find sleeping car accommadations.

Amtrak has boosted capacity 25 percent on long-distance trains, where needed, buy adding a coach or two to the consist, Johnson said.

Despite the increased ridership and revenue, Amtrak is not banking on a fincial windfall. That's because its expenses are up as well, Johnson said.

Nonetheless, trains are proving more popular than buses. Greyhoud said that earlier this week its passenger loads had returned to normal levels.

Well guys what is your reaction to this.

The numbers to watch are not overall ridership figures but the percentage of the market that Amtrak gets compared to the airlines. If Amtrak maintains a greater share of the market than before the 11th then that could be a sign that travelers are more reluctant to fly.

I think Amtrak had a bit more than 1% before the attacks.

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Trust God, love your neighbor, and never mistake opinion for truth.
-Mr. Toy

What about the often heard statement that in the Northeast corridor, Amtrak handles more passengers than all the air shuttles combined? Can anyone verify this ?

To me, passenger miles is a much more important statistic than the number of passengers.

It should be noted that 1% corresponds with another figure. The US spends slightly less than 1% of its total transportation dollars on Amtrak. European countries spend anywhere from 15-25%.

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Trust God, love your neighbor, and never mistake opinion for truth.
-Mr. Toy

As for the figure about Amtrak carrying more passengers in the Northeast Corridor than the airlines combined, I saw this statement in a story by Don Phillips in the Washington Post on Sunday: "Amtrak already has 41 percent of combined rail-air travel between Washington and New York. If travel to intermediate cities such as Philadelphia is included, that percentage rises to 70 percent." Phillips is pretty reliable, and the story may still be on the Post website.

The most recent figures I've seen indicate that Amtrak had (in 1998) about 5.5% of the "air/rail" market, that is, the total passenger miles carried by air and Amtrak together. That was down from about 8% in 1988, even though Amtrak ridership had grown a bit. Air travel, until very recently, had been growing faster than rail travel.

To put a positive spin on their market share, Amtrak managers like to point out that they are, IIRC, the "fifth largest airline in the country" or something like that.