PORTLAND (AP) — The Northern New England Passenger Rail Authority says the Amtrak Downeaster train’s ridership for fiscal 2017 exceeded last year’s total and this year’s goal.

The authority says more than 511,000 people rode the Downeaster in fiscal 2017, which ended on June 30. It says that total exceeded fiscal 2016 ridership and fiscal 2017 ridership goals by nearly 9 percent.

The rail authority says ridership records were set in the months of July and September 2016 and January, February, April and June of 2017.

The Downeaster runs from Brunswick, Maine, to Boston.

The Downeaster’s highest ridership for a fiscal year was in fiscal 2014, when more than 518,000 people rode the train. Gas prices were nearly $1.40 higher per gallon at that time.