After seeing almost record-setting ridership numbers for 2015, Connersville’s local Amtrak stop went in an entirely different direction for 2016.
Recently-released figures from Amtrak, for fiscal year 2016, show that ridership – at the Connersville station – for Amtrak’s Cardinal line fell roughly 24 percent from 2015, a year in which the station almost matched its ridership high over the past decade.
The Cardinal passenger train is a tri-weekly train stopping in Connersville, at Amtrak’s station located at 1012 N. Eastern Ave., as it makes its way between Chicago to New York City and back.
The Connersville Amtrak station had 586 boardings and alightings in 2016 for the Cardinal line, compared to 770 such boardings and alightings in 2015 – a 23.9 percent decrease. It breaks what had been a four-year streak of at least 690 riders boarding the Amtrak Cardinal from the Connersville station.
The figure for Connersville also marked the lowest number of riders, in 2016, of any of Amtrak’s 11 stations throughout Indiana. The next lowest ridership total was at Amtrak’s Rensselaer station, which had 1,963 riders in 2016.
The decline in ridership for the Connersville Amtrak station also resulted in a 23.2 percent drop in station revenue, as the station brought in $37,650 for fiscal year 2016, compared to $48,990 in revenue during fiscal year 2015.
The figures for Connersville’s Amtrak station, however, were not an anomaly for Amtrak overall in Indiana, as the company’s overall Indiana Station Usage for fiscal year 2016 was 134,012 riders, down approximately 1.1 percent from fiscal year 2015, when it had 135,509 riders.
Amtrak had other news regarding the Connersville Amtrak station besides its ridership numbers, as well, noting that for fiscal year 2017, it will begin construction at its local station to bring it in compliance with the federal Americans with Disabilities Act.