Amtrak’s Southwest Chief set an all time ridership record for the 2011 fiscal year that ended September 30th.

The Chicago to Los Angeles train that makes a stop in Hutchinson carried 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%.

Ridership on Amtrak’s long distance trains increased by just over 1% despite long and costly disruptions in traffic including the California Zephyr and Empire Builder, which suffered through a whole summer of flooding along the Missouri River. Revenue for the long distance trains also increased by 6%.

System wide Amtrak surpassed 30-million riders for the first time in its 40-year history.