According to Amtrak, the only long-haul passenger railroad in the United States, ridership has fallen by more than 5 percent, or 1.5 million passengers, in the most recently completed fiscal year. While the recession’s impact on businesses could be partially blamed on such a figure, Amtrak has placed blame specifically on reduced business travel throughout the last fiscal year.
The news ends something of a winning streak for Amtrak, which had posted a string of annual increases since 2002 and a record number of 28.7 million passengers last year as high fuel prices forced many Americans to seek alternative forms of …read more

The US train system has long been the laughingstock of developed countries, with their high speed trains and comprehensive rail networks. We had that once too, and although it will never be like it was increasing oil prices have also led to increased ridership for the struggling US rail system.
Now, it’s not going to bring us to a car-free society any time soon, but it has led to a mood swing in Washington which should yield Amtrak a little more money than it’s used to.
image courtesy of Joseph Barillari via Wikipedia