Washington - Amtrak officials say their trains carried more than 30 million passengers in the past 12 months, the most in one year since the passenger railroad was created four decades ago. The company said in a statement released Thursday that ridership during the year ending on Sept. 30 was up 5 percent over the previous year and ticket revenue is up by more than 8 percent despite significant weather-related disruptions in much of the country. Amtrak has set ridership records in eight out of the last nine years.

Despite its success in attracting riders, Amtrak's critics in Congress are squeezing the railroad's federal subsidies and trying to take away its most valuable routes in the rail corridor that links Washington, Philadelphia, New York and Boston.

-Associated Press