Meridian Events Showcase Excellent Year for Mississippi Amtrak Service

The traveling public and members of the Mississippi Legislature will have an opportunity to tour Amtrak equipment today and tomorrow as part of a two-day event promoting tourism in Meridian, Miss., and rail passenger service throughout the state.

Amtrak will display a P-40 diesel engine, a Viewliner sleeper, a Horizon lounge car and a refurbished coach at Meridian's Union Station (1901 Front Street) on Friday,Oct. 20, from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. The equipment will also be on display all day Saturday, Oct. 21, as part of the community's annual Union Station Railfest.

"As service is expanded from Meridian west to Dallas/Fort Worth and as the Gulf Coast High-Speed Corridor continues to evolve, passenger rail in our state will become a major component of our transportation system," said Meridian Mayor John Robert Smith, a member of the Amtrak Board of Directors. "I'm excited to be a part of Amtrak's business turnaround and pleased that members of the public and the Mississippi Legislature will have the opportunity to see firsthand what rail travel has to offer."

Amtrak's New Orleans-New York Crescent and New Orleans-Chicago City of New Orleans, which both operate through Mississippi, collectively recorded impressive ridership and revenue gains during the recently completed fiscal year.

Together, the two Gulf Coast long-distance trains posted a ridership gain of 2.7 percent and a revenue jump of 9.1 percent during fiscal year 2000 (Oct. '99 through Sep. '00). Nationally, Amtrak set all-time ridership and ticket revenue records across its 22,000-mile national network for fiscal year 2000. More than 22.5 million guests rode Amtrak generating just over $1.103 billion in ticket revenue during the last fiscal year.

The Crescent saw a 1.4 percent increase in passengers and an 8.9 increase in revenue during the same period. The train carried 267,923 passengers during the year, an increase of 3,803 passengers over fiscal year 1999.

The City of New Orleans recorded a 4.3 increase in passengers and a 9.4 percent increase in revenue in fiscal year 2000. The train carried 200,798 passengers during the year, an increase of 8,313 over fiscal year 1999.

These two Mississippi trains have also been some of Amtrak's best on-time performers. Together, the trains operated on time 81.4 percent of the time during the past fiscal year.

The success of these Mississippi trains can be attributed to an aggressive marketing plan, coordinated through the Crescent Promotional Office in Meridian, which includes targeted promotions and communications for the train. Other contributing factors include better service, consumer frustrations from air and auto congestion and costs, and strong seasonal travel. This year Amtrak also introduced it's unconditional Satisfaction Guarantee, the only such guarantee offered by a national transportation carrier. Guests who believe their experience falls short may request a satisfaction guarantee certificate, no questions asked.

Amtrak is successfully continuing along the congressionally-mandated glidepath to end federal operating assistance by fiscal year 2003. This glidepath reduced Amtrak's federal operating assistance from $484 million in fiscal year 1999 to $362 million in fiscal year 2000 and is slated to be further reduced to $242 million in fiscal year 2001.