Amtrak’s Southwest Chief recorded a record number of riders in the fiscal year just ending, but only a small number of those passengers arrived or left from Hutchinson.

If you ask many residents in the area, few even know of Amtrak stopping in the city in the wee hours of the morning, and most who know of the passenger train, still think they have to go to Newton to board. Of the six stations Amtrak serves in Kansas, Hutchinson had the fewest number of passengers board or the train with 5,185 in 2011.

Newton, which serves the Wichita area, had the most with nearly 14,000. Topeka and Garden City were second and third on the list.

All of those stations are staffed and open during the hours the train runs.

Hutchinson hasn’t had an open station for years. And with the building more of a coffee shop than a train station, there’s very limited seating inside if the weather is bad.

The Southwest Chief set an all time ridership record for the fiscal year carrying nearly 355-thousand passengers, an increase of 3.7%. Revenue for the train also increased from 41.6 million dollars in 2010 to just over 44.1-million this year, an increase of 6.2%.