May 2025 Amtrak Financial Report

• The May Report was dated June 30, 2025, and posted on July 2, 2025. 

• The NEC generated for the year so far, a cash operating surplus of $226.628 million (as determined by their accounting system), and the remainder of the system had an operating cash loss of $688.709 million. Combined, the entire system had a cash operating deficit of $462.1 million for the period.

• Year-to-date, the NEC has made debt service payments totaling $455.016 million and capital expenditures of $2.3 billion. Counting all capital sources, the NEC Account has a negative balance of $164.2 million. It also has the cash reserves remaining from previous years. 

• For the rest of the National System, $0.00 million was needed for Debt service, and $1.1 billion was spent on Capital Expenditures. The National Network Account Balance now has a negative balance of $438.7 million. It also has the accumulated surplus from previous years.

• The amount of appropriated money for the combined NEC and National Network received for the year to date was $2.8 million. However, in April, it was listed as $3.2 billion. Obviously, one of these two amounts was an error. (see the June Report for the correction)  Amtrak has also received from other capital sources $884.9 million for the entire system. 

• The combined accumulated reserves at October 1, 2024, totaled $254 million in cash and cash equivalents,

  • $222 million in short-term investments

  • $3.2 billion in available-for-sale securities

  • This brings total cash reserves as of October 1, 2024, to $3.7 billion.

  • The current ratio (Current Assets divided by Current Liabilities) was 1.43, which would make Amtrak quite creditworthy for any fresh borrowings.

• In October 2024, Amtrak’s burn rate (Operating Revenues-Minus Operating Expense-Minus Debt Service-Capital Expenditures) was $412.9 million.

  • In November, the burn rate was $437.394 million.

  • In December, the burn rate was $419.605 million.

  • In January the burn rate was $645.293 million.

  • In February, the burn rate was $707.837 million.

  • In March, the burn rate was $516.407 million. 

  • In April, the burn rate was $737.818 million.

  • In May, the burn rate was $454.289 million.

• The total Capital Spending for the year to date is $3.4 billion and breaks down into categories:

  • Capital Renewal $610.0 million

  • Mechanical $415.2 million

  • Operations $18.7 million

  • Digital Technology $202.5 million

  • ADA $118.8 million

  • Stations & Facilities $57.1 million

  • Amtrak Police & Emergency Management $0.0 million

  • Safety $1.2 million

  • Environmental $2.4 million

  • Procurement and other $1.7 million

  • Acela 21 $98.0 million

  • Gateway is separated into two categories;

    • Bridges and Tunnel $812.0 million

    • Mega Program at $27.9 Million.

  • Strategy & Planning $150.0 million 

  • B&P Tunnel $236.6 million

  • Iintercity Trainsets $31.0 million

  • Major Stations $141.9 million

  • Long-Distance Equipment Procurement $5.0 million.

  • Facilities $212.4 million

  • Power $13.6 million

  • Total was $1.1 billion more than FY2024 for the same period.

• The GAAP Loss for the year so far appears to be $1.2 billion, which is $90.4 million better than the same period in FY2024.  The cash operating earnings for the year were $121.5 million, surpassing those of FY2024.

• For cash operating earnings, the corporation is $15.2 million ahead of its year-to-date prediction. The GAAP figure is $164.8 million better than the Forecast.

• The number of product lines showing an operating surplus for the period was five. The four that were measurable:

  • Acela $117.3 million

  • Northeast Regional $121.0 million

  • Auto Train $8.4 million

  • Maple Leaf $2.5 million

• The four Virginia product lines generated a total loss of $17.5 million.

• Ridership for the Fiscal Year so far is more than 1,186,700 from FY2024. For the year, it stands at 22,484,300 (Amtrak reports ridership to the nearest 100). The total number of riders in May was 2,966,600.  

• Amtrak has announced that the New Orleans-Mobile Service will commence on August 18, 2025. It looks like they scraped together a few Amfleets.

• Amtrak issued a request for FY2026 appropriations that mirrored President Trump's budget.

• However, the House THUD Budget proposes some cuts to the National Network and the Federal/State Partnership by reallocating funds from the Federal/State Partnership to cover the appropriated money in the National System. 

Steve Musen, Representative from Rhode Island to NARP's Council of Representatives