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USA Knowledge Amtrak The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, popularly known as Amtrak, is a passenger railroad service that provides medium and long-distance inter-city rail service in the United States and to nine cities in Canada. Amtrak is a blend of the words America and trak. Founded in 1971 as a quasi-public corporation to operate many U.S. passenger rail routes, Amtrak receives a combination of state and federal subsidies but is managed as a for-profit organization. Amtrak serves more than 500 destinations in 46 states and three Canadian provinces, operating more than 300 trains daily over 21,400 miles of track. Amtrak owns approximately 623 miles of this track and operates an additional 132 miles of track. It owns 23 tunnels and 1200 bridges. In fiscal year 2018, Amtrak served 31.7 million passengers, while employing more than 20,000 people. Nearly 87,000 passengers ride Amtrak trains daily. Nearly two-thirds of passengers come from the 10 largest metropolitan areas. Every day, more than 2,200 trains operate over some portion of the Boston-to-Washington corridor. That includes both Amtrak and commuter trains. Between New York and Washington, Amtrak carries three times as many passengers as all the airlines combined. Amtrak operates 15 long-distance trains; the longest route is 2,728 miles (the Texas Eagle), from Chicago to Los Angeles by way of San Antonio. The Auto Train, operating between Lorton, Virginia, and Sanford, Florida, is one of the longest passenger trains in the world with 40 cars, for passengers and automobiles. In 1976, Amtrak purchased the Northeast Corridor, which included trackage, bridges, stations, communication and signal systems. Southern Railway was one of a handful of railroads that did not turn over its passenger operations to Amtrak in 1971. Amtrak finally took over in 1979 and renamed it Crescent.
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October 2021
