Amtrak posts ridership records

More people traveled on Amtrak last year than ever before, with many routes passing through Philadelphia posting ridership gains.

Nationwide, Amtrak saw a record-high 31.6 million riders in fiscal year 2013, the transit agency said.

On the Northeast Regional, Amtrak's main route between Boston and Washington, D.C., there were 8,044,216 passengers in fiscal 2013, a 0.4-percent increase from the year before and a record high.

Amtrak said the rise in passengers on Northeast Regional trains showed that ridership rebounded after Superstorm Sandy.

The high-speed Acela Express, however, saw a 1.5-percent decrease in ridership, with 3,343,143 travelers last year.

Northeast Corridor trains overall served 11.4 million passengers, the second-highest total ever, but a 0.2-percent decline from fiscal 2012, Amtrak said.

Two Pennsylvania-centric routes saw increases in riders. Keystone Service, which travels between New York City and Harrisburg, had a 3.2-percent increase with 1,466,504 riders, while the Pennsylvanian, which runs from New York to Pittsburgh, saw a 3.3-percent rise with 218,917 passengers.

Some other long-distrance trains that make stops in Philadelphia also saw ridership increases.