During the first six months of the FY ’10 fiscal year, Amtrak carried a record high of 13,619,770 passengers — a 4.3 percent increase over last year and roughly 100,000 more than the same period in FY ’08, when the company set its all-time record for annual ridership. A slowly improving economy and continued high fuel prices are contributing factors in ridership growth.

Comparing March 2010 to March 2009, ridership increased by 13.5 percent to a record 2.47 million passengers for the month. In addition, every single Amtrak route carried more passengers, with several experiencing double-digit growth.

This report comes from Amtrak This Week, a weekly newsletter for Amtrak employees.