The Amtrak Downeaster arrives in Portland. The regional railway reported record-setting ridership in fiscal year 2024. Ben McCanna/Staff Photographer

The Amtrak Downeaster reported its highest ever ridership and revenue during the 2024 fiscal year, carrying nearly 600,000 riders between July 2023 and June 2024, rail officials said.

The line, which carries rail passengers from Brunswick to Boston, saw 598,426 riders over the fiscal year, said Natalie Bogart, deputy director of the Northern New England Passenger Rail Authority, which oversees Downeaster service. This year’s ridership is about 4% higher than the previous record of nearly 575,000, set in 2019.

She added that the line broke ridership records in 10 out of 12 months.

Ticket revenue over the fiscal year topped $13 million – $2.63 million more than the previous record, set in 2023, Bogart said in an email.

She said the increased ridership has spread across each of the line’s five daily round trips.

“We’re seeing all ships rise with the tide,” Bogart said in a phone call Tuesday afternoon. “We are very lucky that we have a demand generator right at the end of our line at TD Garden. We’ve seen increased concerts, we’ve seen the Bruins have a banner year, we’ve seen the Celtics be champions. All of those things help with our leisure market.”

Bogart said the line also benefitted from a relatively low level of maintenance, which may have impacted service, during the year. She noted that much of the Downeaster’s route relies on a single strip of track, so maintenance issues can create significant bottlenecks or prompt closures.

Besides the overall increase in ticket sales, Bogart said the authority has seen a shift in commuting habits compared with before the pandemic. She said sales of multitrip passes, once a hallmark of the weekday commuter to Boston, have fallen to less than half their pre-pandemic levels.

“But we do think that people are traveling for business-related purposes and just not buying a monthly pass,” Bogart said. “They might be buying more one-way tickets.”

Bogart said the rail authority has seen new markets emerge since the pandemic, including increased travel within the state. She highlighted day trips up the coast or visits to Old Orchard Beach, where trains stop between spring and fall.

“We really tried to cultivate some of those markets, and we’ve kind of seen it stick,” Bogart said.

In an email, Bogart said the majority of trips on the Downeaster start or end in Maine, and trips between Maine and Boston make up a significant portion of ridership.

Bogart partly credited the strong ridership to the route’s staff, who she said have a reputation as among the friendliest on the Amtrak system. Customer satisfaction on the Downeaster was 90% for fiscal year 2024, she said.

The Downeaster has set several ridership records in the last decade, including in 2017 and 2019, Amtrak said. This year’s record reflects growing momentum since the pandemic.

Bogart said Amtrak has had a strong year nationwide, but “the Downeaster is kind of leading the pack for recovery” among state-supported lines.

Jason Abrams, a spokesperson for the national system, said the regional route’s recent performance matches national growth.

Abrams said Amtrak recorded 24.1 million riders across all its routes in the first nine months of the 2024 fiscal year. He said that represents about an 18% increase in year-over-year ridership, and the agency expects to see 33 million riders by end of its fiscal year in September – a system-wide record, if reached.

Amtrak hopes to carry 66 million riders each year by 2040, Abrams said.

“The Downeaster is helping us contribute to those goals, which we’re grateful for,” Abrams said, noting the legacy of the region’s railways. “People are very passionate (about rail travel) all across the country, but especially in Northern New England.”