From Capitol Corridor Managing Director Gene Skoropowski

We have just received the November 2007 stats from Amtrak, the second month of the FY08 federal fiscal year.

For the Capitol Corridor, the ridership and revenue numbers again show continue substantial growth. There was also substantial ridership growth on the San Joaquins, and continued modest growth in Pacific Surfliner ridership and revenue, and in the revenue growth on the San Joaquins.

Amtrak reports for:

Capitol Corridor (November 2007):

136,650 passengers +13.0% vs. 2006, and another record for the month
(and now also the second highest month ever)
$1,823,503 +14.2% vs. 2006

The on-time performance for November was 84.4%, a couple of percentage points improvement above October 2007, but not quite up to September’s 86%. November had fewer ‘unusual incidents’ and there were no ‘cascading
delays’ like were experienced in October. Union Pacific performance was above 90% for the month, showing a sustained performance level, incrementally increasing each month.

This year, we worked with Amtrak to advance the Preventative Maintenance cycle of the coaches in preparation for the big Thanksgiving ‘crunch’. That effort paid off, in that 80 of the 82 cars in the Northern California ‘equipment pool in Oakland’ were assigned to revenue trains on the San Joaquins and Capitol Corridor trains. There were only one or two reported instances of standees.

People are continuing to climb aboard our trains, all over California. As I said last month, I guess compared to disruptions on the highways, and now
the cost of driving, California’s trains are an increasingly attractive travel option.

The revenue-to-cost ratio for November is 56.6%, the highest recovery ratio ever, and with last month’s 51% we are well on our way to meeting or exceeding the state’s goal of 50%. Again, this is the best start we have ever had to a fiscal year.

Pacific Surfliners (November 2007):

226,503 passengers +3.7% vs. 2006
$4,262,448 +5.0% vs. 2006

San Joaquins (November 2007):
78,577 passengers +13.1% vs. 2006
$2,485,599 +5.3% vs. 2006

Eugene K. Skoropowski
Managing Director,
Capitol Corridor Joint Powers Authority