Amtrak passengers from the metropolitan planning area (MPA) are served through the Illinois Terminal station. Opened in 1999, the Illinois Terminal is a major transportation hub for the Champaign-Urbana area. On-time performance is one of the barriers to increased Amtrak ridership in the region despite a new, centrally located terminal. According to Amtrak’s 2019 Host Railroad Report Card, the Illini/Saluki and the City of New Orleans passenger routes arrive on-time 30 and 73 percent of the time, respectively. Amtrak attributes these frequent delays to the lack of Amtrak railroad track ownership and discretion of the host freight companies. More detailed information about on-time performance is located in Amtrak’s monthly host railroad reports.
In 2019, 180,427 passengers boarded or alighted an Amtrak train at Illinois Terminal, an increase of 4.2 percent from 172,877 in 2015. Despite a significant increase in ridership from 2018, this measure receives a neutral rating because it fell short of the objective of a 5 percent increase by 2020.
Annual Amtrak Ridership in Illinois Terminal
| Year | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Passengers | 76,236 | 68,625 | 62,186 | 73,306 | 78,115 | 82,591 | 92,750 | 136,326 | 151,359 | 138,044 | 142,406 | 171,419 | 172,246 | 189,940 | 179,009 | 172,877 | 162,050 | 158,951 | 153,470 | 180,427 |
Note: In FY14, Amtrak began counting actual lifted ridership for multi-ride tickets (due to eTicketing) rather than the estimated multi-ride ridership used previously. This change may have a small negative impact on the reported ridership for some stations beginning in October 2013 (FY14).