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Amtrak reports ridership and revenue gains, plans extra World Cup round trip
Summary
An Amtrak representative told Washington’s transportation committee that River Runner ridership rose about 4.2% and revenue about 9% in the last fiscal year, noted a derailment that damaged roughly six miles of ties, and said Amtrak plans a third round trip during June–July 2026 for the World Cup.
An Amtrak representative told the Washington Area Transportation Committee that the River Runner line posted gains in the last fiscal year and is planning service additions tied to the 2026 World Cup.
“They announced that they did complete a great fiscal year. They're up 4.2% across the board in ridership and 9% in revenue,” Craig said, summarizing Amtrak’s regional report. He said Amtrak and Union Pacific worked through on-time performance problems in June and July after a train-car incident damaged about six miles of railroad ties, and that August showed improved performance.
Craig said Amtrak officially intends to add a third round trip on the River Runner during the World Cup peak in June and July 2026, though a timetable has not yet been released. “They finally announce officially that they were gonna do the third round trip, this coming fiscal year for the World Cup,” he said.
The representative also described efforts to resume a bicycle-on-train pilot designed to increase capacity for bikes and groups; staffing and storage problems had paused an earlier pilot. Craig said Amtrak will renew its 2026 economic-impact study, based on 2024 numbers, to quantify how the service benefits towns along the route and to support advocacy with state representatives.
Committee members thanked Craig for the update and asked staff to circulate the on/off passenger data when available.
The committee did not take a formal vote on Amtrak service at this meeting. The public can expect more detailed ridership and schedule data from staff and Amtrak before future meetings.
