Amtrak sees significant ridership increase at Elkhart

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Amtrak sees significant ridership increase


An Amish couple, center, waits with other travelers at the train station in downtown Elkhart as the Amtrak Lake Shore Limited arrives at the station on Tuesday, June 7, 2011. Ridership numbers have increased significantly this spring.

by: Tara McElmurry
Posted: 6/10/2011 12:00:00 AM - The Elkhart Truth

ELKHART - The Elkhart Amtrak station has seen a significant increase in travelers as Amtrak breaks more ridership records this year.

This April, Amtrak posted its best April on record along with an 18-month increase in month-over-month ridership from the same month of the previous year.

Mary Ann Stroup, the caretaker at the Elkhart Amtrak station, said she has seen this ridership increase at the Elkhart station.

There have been more than 7,000 riders so far this year, according to Stroup. Last year's total at the station was 16,000, almost 3,000 more than 2009.

Stroup believes the increased ridership is due to the rise in gasoline prices and the cost of air travel.

"There was a couple that visited Elkhart and stayed for a few days who said they couldn't have done that if it weren't for the lower prices of Amtrak," she said.

Stroup said she's seen more than 50 people in the station at one time, and some of those train travelers aren't domestic travelers. Stroup has met people traveling from Germany, the Netherlands, Australia and New Zealand.

The Elkhart station services the Capitol Limited and Lake Shore Limited routes. Four Amtrak trains come through Elkhart every day. The Elkhart station does not have ticket office hours.

The Capitol Limited route goes from Washington, D.C., to Chicago. The Lake Shore Limited route goes from New York and Boston to Chicago.

Lake Shore Limited ridership is up 15.3 percent from 2010, and the ridership for the Capitol Limited route is up 13.2 percent, according to an Amtrak press release.

Ron Troyer, former coordinator at the Elkhart's National New York Central Railroad Museum, said the lower cost of rail travel is the main reason for increased ridership, but there are other reasons as well.

More reliable time schedules than in the past, people's improving perception of rail travel, Amtrak's accommodation methods and Amtrak's marketing image are helping ridership grow, Troyer said.

Chicago adds to the traffic through Elkhart. Riders heading for Chicago from the east must come through the Elkhart station.

Troyer said when he was coordinator, the museum and the city were working together to plan travel packages to Chicago for holiday shopping trips and ball games to make it even more affordable for residents to travel by train.

Over the last 10 years, ridership for Amtrak nationwide has increased 36 percent.

With gasoline prices fluctuating, rail travel can be seen as a more stable mode of transportation, according to an Amtrak Energy Efficiency report, because trains are less vulnerable to swings in crude oil prices. Fuel was only 7.5 percent of Amtrak's 2007 fiscal year operating cost. The Air Transport Association, by comparison, reported fuel costs making up 35 to 50 percent of their operating costs.

Some of the riders coming through the Elkhart station are just passing through and others are staying a few days to visit the area, Stroup said. Either way, the riders are getting an impression of Elkhart.

Full article with several photos of the Lake Shore Limited arrival at the historic NYC depot:
http://www.etruth.com/Know/News/Story.aspx?ID=543861

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This is great to see! Some of you may know that I volunteered with MaryAnn at the Elkhart Station in the fall of 2007 while I was interning at the New York Central museum. I assisted her with a few projects at the station. Most importantly, I restored several areas of the historic brick station platform which had buckled and become dangerously uneven. I've always been interested in the old Elkhart LS&MS depot, which I've been visiting since I was a little kid while in Elkhart to see my Grandparents. In 2010, Elkhart's ridership eclipsed the level from the year 2000, when not only was a station employed and checked baggage offered, but an additional roundtrip (the Pennsylvanian) was offered each day (for a total of six departures daily). The agent was cut in 2001, as was the Capitol Limited; the Pennsylvanian was cut in 2003, and Elkhart was down to 2 departures per day by 2004. Elkhart's ridership dropped to just over 6,000 in 2003 from over 15,000 in 2000. Ridership has been slowly building since 2003 and 2010 saw 16,080 passengers. I get a little personal satisfaction from seeing ridership continuing to increase.

To keep this Michigan related, a sizable number of riders who use the Elkhart station are from southwest Michigan, departing or arriving from points east where Michigan Amtrak trains do not go.

[justalurker66]

I wish the parking was better ... I do feel better parking in Elkhart than at the South Bend station although statistically I don't know if the level of crime is higher. In Elkhart one is downtown with plenty of traffic past the station and other businesses present. In South Bend it is just the parking area with a station that is usually closed.

It is good to see Elkhart surviving and thriving - and I'm glad to see all Amtrak trains stop. No trains just passing through.

Unfortunately the future "High Speed Rail" has proponents that would run the line south via Valparaiso, Plymouth and Fort Wayne to Toledo. When the powers that are speak of the future HSR line in Fort Wayne it is said in terms of "it is a done deal that it will go through Fort Wayne". When they speak in South Bend it is said in terms of "the option is still open for a northern route". Those powers forget that we have the Internet and can follow them wherever they speak.

So while I enjoy my local Amtrak stations I know that their days are numbered. Unless the planners change their mind we'll be losing our service. HSR is one of the few things people WANT in their back yard. I see no reason to support HSR if it bypasses my region (Michiana) and reduces the level of passenger service provided.

It is a shame there isn't an Elkhart to Fort Wayne connection that would allow HSR to serve everyone in Northern Indiana instead of choosing between Michiana and Fort Wayne. Unfortunately when HSR comes Michiana will, at best be stuck in the same position as Michigan ... needing to take a train west to Chicago to go east or drive many miles south to get to the service.

But for now at least the significant ridership should keep the station open. And that is a good thing.

[Norm]

Somewhat off topic, but in the seven months I was in Durand, I was amazed at the number of people boarding 365. It was usually twenty or more, and sometimes as many as forty. Not too shabby for a small town in the middle of nowhere. Usually there were six coaches (occasionally eight) with power on both ends being more common than a 'cabbage car' on one end.

OTOH, The Bluewater seems to be doing well, and I think it's because taking the train is less expensive than driving to Chicago, and you don't have to find an expensive place to park. It's good to see that Amtrak ridership is up. The days of passenger rail are still alive and well.