Amtrak Borealis Trains Serve 18,500 Passengers in the First Full Month

The Amtrak Borealis train, first launched earlier this month, has proven to be quite the success story, with the Midwest line serving more than 18,000 passengers in its first full month in service.

In a press release shared by the rail company, it was revealed that the Borealis — which services Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Illinois and stops between St. Paul and Chicago — served an average of 300 people a day.

“Amtrak and our state partners have always believed the Twin Cities-Milwaukee-Chicago corridor was a great one with tremendous opportunity,” said Ray Lang, vice president of Amtrak State Supported Service, in a statement in the press release. “The ridership numbers we have seen so far confirm our belief and we expect this trend to continue as the service matures and we head into the peak summer travel season.”

The statement continued: “With strong college and university markets on this route, we are confident Borealis will continue to perform well when students and staff travel in greater numbers this fall.”

Amtrak ridership is currently on course to set an all-time ridership record for 2024, in part due to the popularity of the new Borealis line, which offers a variety of premiums including daily discounts for kids between the ages of 2 and 12, elderly, veterans, serving members of the armed forces, families, and other groups. The trains also provide a café car with local fare, as well as coach and business class options.

Along with large, reclining seats with plenty of legroom and no middle seats, free Wi-Fi is another perk for patrons. There are excellent beautiful views of the Mississippi River both ways between St. Paul and La Crosse, Wisconsin.

Meanwhile, Amtrak service on the East Coast leaves much to be desired. Earlier this week, the company restored service between New York and Boston following a temporary suspension caused by a power outage.

The lines connecting Union Station in New Haven, Connecticut, and Penn Station in New York were affected by a malfunctioning circuit breaker, which caused the inconvenience. Amtrak eventually determined that the primary cause of the disruption was a lightning strike.

Since then, Amtrak has verified that full service has been reinstated throughout the route. Amtrak was proactive in reaching out to impacted customers personally in reaction to the disruption, providing them with choices for rescheduling their travel arrangements. The rail service also said that it would not charge extra for clients who had to modify their reservations as a result of the service outage.