CHICAGO — Amtrak faces a new problem: The passenger rail service that once struggled to woo riders has become so popular amid soaring gasoline prices that it fears it soon won’t have enough trains to meet demand.
Already record-high ridership is expected to grow to 50 million riders a year in 10 years, from about 25 million now, meaning Amtrak must double its fleet to meet demand, its president and chief executive officer, Alex Kummant, said Wednesday.
Nationally, 2,750,278 passengers used Amtrak in July, a 14 percent increase from the year before and the highest ridership for a single month in the service’s 37-year history.
“In a way, it’s a good problem to have,” said Amtrak spokesman Marc Magliari. “But we can’t meet demand with the current fleet.”
