Amtrak is preparing to announce a significant increase in fares that will push up the monthly cost of commuting for thousands of train riders in the Northeast by as much as 50 percent, according to railroad industry officials, commuter advocates and Congressional staff members.
Some commuters who travel regularly on Amtrak trains between Washington and Boston said ticket agents had warned them of a pending increase that could add hundreds of dollars to the cost of their monthly passes. By yesterday afternoon, people who work on Capitol Hill said Amtrak employees had told them an announcement about a big rise in fares was imminent, probably coming next week.
Representative Robert E. Andrews, a Democrat from Haddon Heights, N.J., said he had heard about the coming increase, which was characterized as a reduction of the discount on multitrip tickets. In other words, he said, "It would be a fare increase on monthly passes."
Mr. Andrews said he had not been told how big the increase would be.
But another person who said he had been briefed on the plan said the cost of monthly travel between some cities in the Northeast would rise more than 50 percent, though the increase would be much smaller for other tickets. This person, who had not been cleared by Amtrak to talk, said commuters would bear the brunt of the increase because they had been spared in previous price increases.
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