Despite running just one daily cross-state train the first five months of the year, passenger counts for the Amtrak Missouri River Runner show numbers on the upswing from 2021 to 2022.
According to officials with the Missouri Department of Transportation, ridership for January-May 2022 was 34,074, compared to 24,992 for that same timeframe in 2021.
The number of passengers getting on in Jefferson City also increased during the first five months of the year, with 4,034 people boarding trains this year compared to 3,367 last year during that period.
People that got off the train at Jefferson City also went up, with 3,367 arrivals this year and 3,133 last year.
For calendar year 2021, there were 89,002 people who rode the River Runner service.
Two daily Amtrak round-trips across the state came to a halt at the start of 2022; they had been powered by state and federal COVID-10 relief funds. The River Runner service went back to once daily round-trip service with one train leaving Kansas City in the morning and one leaving St. Louis in the afternoon.
But two daily round-trips are coming back thanks to funding approved by the Legislature and signed by Gov. Mike Parson.
The service resumes July 18; tickets are on sale now at amtrak.com.
The increased level of service comes just as folks may be looking to use the trains more due to the cost of gasoline.
This may be the way the River Runner service runs for the near future, MoDOT officials said. By running a second cross-state train from July through the end of the year, the trains are serving more travelers as more people usually take the trains in the second half of the year, they said. Many of the passengers go to events such as the State Fair in Sedalia next month and various fall festivals such as Oktoberfest in Hermann.