August 2023 Amtrak Financial Report
The August Report was dated September 29, 2023, and posted on October 4, 2023.
The NEC year to date generated a cash operating surplus of $161.8 million (as determined by their accounting system). The remainder of the system had an operating cash loss of $815.3 million. Combined, the entire system had a cash operating deficit of $653.4 million.
Year to date, the NEC made debt service payments totaling $172.7 million and capital expenditures of $1.5 billion. Counting all capital sources, the NEC Account has a positive balance of $686.7 million. Amtrak also has the cash reserves remaining from previous years.
For the rest of the National System, $6.2 million was needed for debt service and $1.1 billion was spent on capital expenditures. The National Network Account Balance has a positive balance of $218.5 million. It also has the accumulated surplus from previous years.
The amount of appropriated money for the combined NEC and National Network, received year to date was $3.5 billion. Amtrak has also received from other capital sources $849.1 million for the entire system.
The combined accumulated reserves at the beginning of the 2023 fiscal year totaled $299.1 million in cash and cash equivalents, $123.9 million in short-term investments, and $2.9 billion in available-for-sale securities. This brings total cash reserves as of October 1, 2022, to $3.3 billion. The current ratio (Current Assets divided by Current Liabilities) was 1.894, making Amtrak quite credit-worthy for any fresh borrowings even though it is slightly down from last year.
In October 2022, Amtrak’s burn rate (Operating Revenues-Minus Operating Expense-Minus Debt Service-Capital Expenditures) was $210.269 million.
November, the burn rate was $318.838 million
December, the burn rate was $256.446 million
January, the burn rate was $271.720 million
February, the burn rate was $295.232 million
March, the burn rate was $324.201 million
April, the burn rate was $273.891 million
May, the burn rate was $345.158 million
June, the burn rate was $412.808 million
July, the burn rate was $388.833 million
August, the burn rate was $354.960 million
Capital Spending for the year to date was:
Infrastructure Services $1,014.5 million
Mechanical $326.4 million
Operations $11.6 million
Digital Technology $260.6 million
Commercial and Marketing $3.5 million
ADA $117.8 million
Real Estate Stations & Facilities $63.1 million
Amtrak Police & Emergency Management $7.7 million
Safety $6.0 million
Environmental $5.1 million
Procurement $4.9 million
Acela 21 $156.3 million
Gateway $215.8 million
Planning & Strategy $84.2 million
B&P Tunnel $81.3 million
Intercity Trainsets $270.1 million
Total was $2,619.6 million, which is $738.1 million more than the same period last year.
The GAAP Loss for the year so far appears to be $1.6 billion which is $157.6 million better than FY2022. The cash operating earnings for the year was $200.2 million better than in FY2022.
For cash operating earnings, the corporation is $5.4 million ahead of its forecast. The GAAP figure is $26.3 million better than the Forecast.
The number of product lines showing a measurable operating surplus for the period was 6. The four with a surplus over $1 million were:
Northeast Regional $111.1 million
Acela $95.5 million
Auto Train $18.2 million
Adirondack $ 1.1 million
The Hoosier State (which has not run for several years) is still shown as profitable with a $0.9 million surplus and listed as one of those six.
The four Virginia product lines generated a total loss of $21.9 million.
Amtrak is now showing costs based on Frequency Variable Costs, Route Variable Costs, and System Fixed Costs. Most trains covered their Frequency Variable Costs. The exceptions were all of the long-distance trains except the Auto Train, Silver Meteor, Lake Shore Ltd., and Palmetto. The Gulf Coast Ltd., which has not started running, is shown as not meeting its variable costs.
The capacity of most long-distance trains remains constrained. The Capitol Ltd. is still running with only one coach, one sleeper, and a cross-country diner. Consequently, it is showing a significant loss of passengers compared to the previous year.
Ridership for the Fiscal Year to date is more than 5,144,500 from FY2022. For the year, it stands at 25,825,400 (Amtrak reports ridership to the nearest 100). In fact, the total number of riders in August was 2,736,500. The long-distance trains show a gain of riders across most product lines, except the Silver Star, Coast Starlight, and Capitol Ltd. The Star has lost riders to the Silver Meteor now that it has been restored. The Coast Starlight was annulled several times because of wildfires. The Silver Meteor was the biggest winner at +227.5% gain in the new fiscal year so far. The City of New Orleans was second at 48.2% gain. The lines that showed the smallest ridership gains after the Star, Starlight, and the Capitol. Ltd was the Auto Train at +1.9%, and the Cardinal at +3.7%. The Acela gained 40.8%.
Congress passed a continuous resolution at FY2023 levels through November 17, 2023. Since the CR was passed, the Senate has not used any of the time to advance any of the twelve budget bills or other must-pass legislation, such as the FAA reauthorization. Skeptics are afraid that Majority Leader Schumer will wait until the very last minute to introduce a 2,000-page or more omnibus bill that will include several reauthorizations and, due to negotiation, request another CR to finalize the bill. The House fired Speaker McCarthy and then went into another week-long recess without passing the two additional budget bills that were scheduled to be voted on. The Senate also went on recess to attend the funeral of Senator Feinstein. The House and Senate are now back, but so far, all the House has done is to reject candidacies for speaker. That could change soon.
The Amtrak OIG issued a scathing report on the equipment orders for new rail passenger cars.
Steve Musen, Representative from Rhode Island to NARP’s Council of Representatives.