“Train Kept a Rollin” – AMTRAK’s busiest stations

Source: commons.wikimedia.org

Below is a list of the 25 cities/intercity railroad stations with the largest AMTRAK ridership in fiscal year 2011.  As a rider/supporter of AMTRAK and as an avid fan of railroad travel in general, I was quite surprised by some of the cities/stations that made the Top 25 – one might think of California as a car-culture state, but AMTRAK ridership is surprisingly strong with Los Angeles in 5th, Sacramento 7th, San Diego 10th, Irvine 16th, Emeryville (San Francisco/Oakland) 20th, and Bakersfield listed as 24th.

In a ranking of stations by state, California finishes first with six, Massachusetts and Pennsylvania with three, and New York and Maryland with two stations each.

1	Penn Station	New York City	New York	8,995,551
2	Union Station	Washington	District of Columbia	4,850,685
3	30th Street Station	Philadelphia	Pennsylvania	3,872,392
4	Union Station	Chicago	Illinois	3,393,695
5	Union Station	Los Angeles	California	1,606,121
6	South Station	Boston	Massachusetts	1,360,162
7	Sacramento Valley Station	Sacramento	California	1,175,046
8	Penn Station	Baltimore	Maryland	953,170
9	Albany–Rensselaer Station	Rensselaer	New York	769,626
10	Union Station	San Diego	California	753,739
11	Union Station	New Haven	Connecticut	740,902
12	Wilmington Station	Wilmington	Delaware	717,772
14	King Street Station	Seattle	Washington	672,485
15	Union Station	Portland	Oregon	665,677
13	Penn Station	Newark	New Jersey	683,626
17	BWI Airport Station	Linthicum	Maryland	662,453
16	Irvine Station	Irvine	California	664,263
18	Providence Station	Providence	Rhode Island	625,995
19	Milwaukee Intermodal Station	Milwaukee	Wisconsin	617,800
21	Harrisburg Transportation Center	Harrisburg	Pennsylvania	543,423
20	Emeryville Station	Emeryville	California	583,865
22	Lancaster Station	Lancaster	Pennsylvania	539,338
23	Back Bay	Boston	Massachusetts	479,951
24	Bakersfield	Bakersfield	California	476,767
25	North Station	Boston	Massachusetts	456,198

Source: en.wikipedia.org