About Amtrak®
Amtrak is America’s Railroad®, the nation’s intercity
passenger rail service and its high-speed rail operator. A record 31.2
million passengers traveled on Amtrak in FY 2012 on more than 300 daily
trains – at speeds up to 150 mph (241 kph) – that connect 46 states,
the District of Columbia and three Canadian Provinces. Amtrak operates
intercity trains in partnership with 15 states and contracts with 13
commuter rail agencies to provide a variety of services. Enjoy the
journey® at Amtrak.com or call 800-USA-RAIL for schedules, fares and
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Amtrak Fact Sheet, Fiscal Year 2012
State of California
California FY12 at a Glance
- Approximately 70 Amtrak trains a day
- Nearly 12 million train riders at California stations
- Over $170 million in Amtrak procurement
- 2,591 residents employed by Amtrak
- Total resident employee wages, nearly $190 million
- Over 408,000 California residents are members of the Amtrak Guest Rewards
- frequent user program
- Amtrak-State partnerships: Pacific Surfliners, San Joaquins, Capitol Corridor
Amtrak Service & Ridership
Amtrak operates approximately 70 intercity trains and 100 commuter
trains per day in California. This includes the following long-distance
trains through California:
•The California Zephyr (daily San Francisco Bay Area-Salt Lake City-Chicago)
• The Coast Starlight (daily Los Angeles-Oakland-Seattle)
• The Southwest Chief (daily Los Angeles-Albuquerque-Chicago)
• The Sunset Limited (tri-weekly Los Angeles-New Orleans-Orlando)*
* Sunset Limited service suspended east of New Orleans.
Amtrak also partners with the State of California to operate these high-frequency, state-supported trains:
• Capitol Corridor (San Jose-Oakland-Sacramento-Auburn) 7 daily round trips San Jose-Oakland, 15 round trips Oakland-Sacramento (11 on weekends) with one extending to Auburn.
• Pacific Surfliner (San Diego-Los Angeles-Santa Barbara-San Luis Obispo) 11 daily round trips San Diego-Los Angeles (12 on weekends), 5 round trips Los Angeles-Santa Barbara-Goleta, with 2 extending to San Luis Obispo.
• San Joaquins (Oakland/Sacramento-Fresno-Bakersfield, with motorcoach connections to Los Angeles) 4 daily round trips Bakersfield-Oakland, 2 daily round trips Bakersfield-Sacramento.
During Fiscal Year 2012 Amtrak served the following California locations:
City Rail Boardings + Alightings (Amtrak Government Affairs: November 2012)
Anaheim 358,810
Antioch-Pittsburg 39,001
Auburn 28,396
Bakersfield 507,058
Barstow 3,433
Berkeley 152,096
Burbank 47,217
Camarillo 37,393
Carpinteria 20,587
Chatsworth 52,543
Chico 11,009
Colfax 4,377
Corcoran 29,072
Davis 445,416
Dunsmuir 5,385
Emeryville 586,876
Fremont 43,737
Fresno 394,074
Fullerton 310,694
Glendale 40,070
Goleta 57,033
Great America (Santa Clara) 121,246
Grover Beach 18,005
Guadalupe 11,250
Hanford 210,682
Hayward 35,342
Irvine 421,619
Laguna Niguel/Mission Viejo 2,125
Lodi 8,439
Lompoc-Surf 7,096
Los Angeles 1,657,446
Madera 24,770
Martinez 475,909
Merced 125,316
Modesto 118,226
Moorpark 14,431
Needles 9,118
Oakland 416,800
Oakland Coliseum 26,272
Oceanside 344,562
Ontario 5,185
Orange 2,302
Oxnard 81,231
Palm Springs 4,945
Paso Robles 11,728
Pomona 1,614
Redding 12,059
Richmond 281,999
Riverside 12,197
Rocklin 32,993
Roseville 62,233
Sacramento (b) 1,186,958
Salinas 19,879
San Bernardino 11,554
San Clemente Pier 9,912
San Diego (c) 708,934
San Diego-Old Town 61,188
San Jose 234,767
San Juan Capistrano 244,992
San Luis Obispo 108,439
Santa Ana 201,842
Santa Barbara 304,382
Santa Clara (University) (d) 1,633
Simi Valley 40,697
Solana Beach 421,614
Stockton (Downtown) 40,056
Stockton (San Joaquin St.) 277,926
Suisun-Fairfield 200,402
Truckee 9,450
Turlock-Denair 25,308
Van Nuys 73,665
Ventura 47,482
Victorville 6,764
Wasco 21,117
Total California Station Rail Usage: 11,990,378
Ridership notes:
a) Los Angeles is the 5th busiest station in the national Amtrak System
b) Sacramento is the 7th busiest stati
on in the national Amtrak System
c) San Diego is the 12th busiest station in the national Amtrak System
Procurement/Contracts
Amtrak spent $170,241,943 on goods and services in California in FY12. Much of this amount was in the following locations:
On October 28, 2010, Amtrak announced an order of 70 new electric
locomotives from Siemens AG. The six-year, $466 million contract will
create 250 jobs, primarily at a facility in Sacramento, but also at
plants in Norwood, Ohio, and Alpharetta, Georgia.
American Passenger Rail Heritage Foundation (APRHF) display
featured Jackie Hadnot's
13 ft. x 4 ft. Golden Spike Ceremony wood relief carving.
Many more of Jackie Hadnot's rail-related wood carvings are in the
Silver Rails Gallery in La Plata, Missouri. This piece will
probably tour some railroad museums then find a permanent home in La
Plata, Missouri's Silver Rails Gallery.
LA Rail's Booth
LA Rail's booth was directly in front of the former Harvey
House. The Harvey House had no activities taking place within and
was not even open for tours.
Flagstaff Convention and Visitors Bureau had a nice display, magnets, maps, and brochures.
I was happy to see Reno Gazzola with the Pullman Rail Journeys display.
All the booths were located between the Station and the Harvey House in the high-ceilinged open portico.
Through the Great Hall, and tunnel to the tracks, was the
Equipment Tour. Left in the above photo was the Traxx Restaurant
where I selected an outdoor table on the north patio for lunch.
Reuben sandwich at Traxx Restaurant in Los Angeles Union Station.
On the platforms, the guests could tour several Amtrak cars, above, including the Pacific Parlour Car from the Coast Starlight.
Equipment List from National Train Day's Facebook Page:
A highlight in the Equipment Tour for me and many other railfans,
were the Santa Fe No. 3751 and Silver Solarium - Dome/Observation car
(above).
No. 3751, which ran in the 1930 - 1950s, seemed perfectly aligned
with the 1948 Silver Solarium to make a historically correct photo.
Inside the rounded end-car Silver Solarium. The tracks in
Los Angeles stub up to a position above Hwy. 101. You can see
green freeway exit signs through the Solarium's right window. More information at railjourneyswest.com.
Silver Splendor
- Dome/Lounge/Dining - features a full kitchen and bar and has a
daytime capacity of 60 guests. The car can also accommodate 48
people for sit-down dining with 24 in the dome and 24 on the main
level. Learn more at heritagerailways.us
The ACOMA
was the first full-sized, all stainless steel streamlined Lounge car
built for any railroad. It was named after a southwestern American
Indian pueblo. It has a central cocktail lounge seating 29, with
a barber shop and crew dormitory at either end. Furnished with
exotic materials such as zebrawood veneer on the bar.
Ron, one of the ACOMA owners,
is standing at the bar. Interiors are authentic to this 1936
car. More information at Southwest Rail Car Limited.
A historic 1940s Railway Express Truck, luggage cart, and Cadillac made a nice vignette next to the Santa Fe 3751.
Riverside Live Steamers had an excellent display as well. This
looks like the same size as the No. 3751, but notice the head of one of
the workers above the tender.
Nearby were modern locomotives on display.
I had left Fullerton, CA, at 9:13
to come to Los Angeles Station, arriving before 10 a.m. There was
a returning surfliner about noon, but I stayed at the LA Station to
have lunch and a refreshing frappachino at the Starbucks in the station
before heading for my 3 pm departing train. It was too warm to
wait between the idling locomotives, so I walked to the north end of
the platforms and with about 40 minutes waiting time, I took some more
HDR photographs of the locomotives positioned to highball it out of Los
Angeles when their work was done there.
No. 456 was eventually on point to lead my Surfliner 580 and drop me at Fullerton and head on south to San Diego.
No. 461, stationary with the display Amtrak train, obviously had been repainted and had yet to go out on the road.
Next to No. 461was a Genesis in 40th Anniversary paint scheme.
Because No. 461 was tied up to the stationary display cars, this
becomes an unusual photo with three Surfliners abreast in LA
Station. Both locomotives left about 3 pm, one headed to San Luis
Obispo, north, and the other for San Diego, south.
