HUTCHINSON, Kan. — Like the overall figures, the number of passengers that boarded or detrained on Amtrak's SW Chief fell by nearly half in Kansas for 2020.
According to figures released by Amtrak, only 28,863 passengers used Kansas stops for the year. That compares with 46,482 in 2019. All of the lower numbers were driven by the pandemic, which forced Amtrak to reduce the number of operation days for the Chief to three times per week.
Hutchinson had the lowest numbers with just 2,661 using the Hutchinson stop compared with 4,059 the previous year. Newton, which serves Wichita and cities south to Oklahoma City, was the highest at 8,618. That compares with 13,764 passengers in 2019.
Overall, the Chief saw ridership fall to just 186,470 passengers in 2020 compared with 327,276 in 2019.
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