Amtrak Prepares for Busy Thanksgiving Travel Week

[Save Our Trains Michigan]

News Release National Railroad Passenger Corporation

60 Massachusetts Avenue NE

Washington, DC 20002

www.amtrak.com

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

ATK-06-088

Contact: Media Relations (202) 906-3860

November 13, 2006

Amtrak Prepares for Busy Thanksgiving Travel Week

Passengers urged to buy tickets now

WASHINGTON – Anticipating the busiest travel week of the year, Amtrak is planning ahead for Thanksgiving and encouraging customers to do the same. Amtrak is ready to welcome thousands of passengers aboard, especially in the Northeast Corridor between Washington and Boston, where more trains will be added during peak travel times. Amtrak urges passengers to purchase tickets now to avoid disappointment later, as some trains sell out early.

The week of Thanksgiving – Tuesday to Monday – is typically Amtrak’s busiest travel period of the year, during which the railroad handled nearly 600,000 passengers last year. Nationally, Amtrak anticipates about 125,000 passengers on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, a spike in ridership of about 80 percent over an average Wednesday – making it the busiest day of the year for Amtrak. Over the span of the holiday week, Amtrak will carry approximately 30 percent more passengers than during an average week.

Amtrak takes several steps to ensure that passengers have an enjoyable trip. In the Northeast, 53 extra trains will operate during the week, with most of the added trains running on the two busiest travel days, Wednesday, Nov. 22 and Sunday, Nov. 26.

All Amtrak trains in the Northeast require reservations, year-round – including Harrisburg-Philadelphia Keystone Service trains and New Haven-Springfield Shuttles. All-reserved trains eliminate the crowded conditions that formerly occurred on unreserved trains during the holiday, but passengers should purchase tickets as soon as possible to obtain space on preferred departures.

There are more frequencies to and from Chicago this Thanksgiving, due to a doubling of state-supported service in Illinois. Including the three Lincoln Service round-trips, there are now five round-trips on the Chicago-St. Louis corridor, via Springfield and Bloomington-Normal. Between Chicago and Carbondale, via Champaign-Urbana, there are now three-round-trips, two of them sponsored by the Illinois Department of Transportation. There are also now two state-supported round-trips on the Chicago-Quincy corridor, via Galesburg and Macomb, Ill.

Amtrak has also added service on trains in the western region during this period. In the Pacific Northwest, ten trains are being added to the Amtrak Cascades route between Portland and Seattle throughout the busy holiday travel week. Extra cars will be added to selected trains on the Amtrak San Joaquin route in California between Bakersfield, Sacramento and Oakland. And in Southern California, extra cars will be added on the Amtrak Pacific Surfliner route (San Luis Obispo-Santa Barbara-Los Angeles and San Diego) and reservations will be required on these normally unreserved trains, Tuesday, November 21 through Monday, November 27.

Travel Tips

Amtrak offers the following tips for holiday passengers:

Avoid the Rush: Busiest travel days are Wednesday before and Sunday after Thanksgiving. Purchase tickets early using Amtrak.com, QuikTraksm ticket vending machines or ticket windows at staffed stations or calling 800-USA-RAIL. Allow plenty of time at stations prior to departure – at least 45 minutes if tickets need to be picked up.

Know the Limits: Note the limit of two carry-on bags per person (excluding laptops, purses, briefcases), and be sure all luggage is tagged with name and address.

Carry photo ID: Passengers are required to show valid photo identification when purchasing tickets. Make sure to carry valid photo ID at all times, as it may be requested aboard trains.

Passengers may obtain schedule information online at www.amtrak.com or by picking up a copy of Amtrak’s timetable. A special holiday timetable will be available in stations in the Northeast on November 8.

About Amtrak

Amtrak provides intercity passenger rail services to more than 500 destinations in 46 states on a 21,000-mile route system. For schedules, fares and information, passengers may call 800-USA-RAIL or visit Amtrak.com.

 

[Superliner Diner]

Here are specifics on the additional Seattle-Portland trains:

Passenger Service Notice

Extra Amtrak Cascades Train Service Over the Thanksgiving Holiday

November 22, 23, 25 and 26

On the dates shown below, Amtrak Cascades will offer extra train service between Seattle and Portland for the Thanksgiving holiday. Ten more trains, operating with Amtrak Horizon equipment, will make the same stops as the regularly scheduled service at Tukwila, Tacoma, Olympia-Lacey, Centralia, Kelso-Longview and Vancouver. Checked baggage and Business class service will not be available on these trains.

Extra Holiday Train Service

Wednesday, Nov. 22

·Train 511 departs Seattle at 1:45 pm and arrives in Portland at 6 pm

·Train 514 departs Portland at 7 pm and arrives in Seattle at 11:15 pm

Thursday, Nov. 23

·Train 505 departs Seattle at 8:30 am and arrives in Portland at 12:45 pm

·Train 502 departs Portland at 8 am and arrives in Seattle at 12:15 pm.

Saturday, Nov. 25

·Train 502 departs Portland at 8 am and arrives in Seattle at 12:15 pm

·Train 511 departs Seattle at 1:45 pm and arrives in Portland at 6 pm

Sunday, Nov. 26

·Train 502 departs Portland at 8 am and arrives in Seattle at 12:15 pm.

·Train 511 departs Seattle at 1:45 pm and arrives in Portland at 6 pm.

·Train 515 departs Seattle at 6 pm and arrives in Portland at 10:15 pm.

·Train 514 departs Portland at 7 pm and arrives in Seattle at 11:15 pm.

During this busy travel period, passengers may avoid ticket counter

lines by using Quik-Trak ticket machines in stations to purchase tickets. Travelers should also allow ample time to board the train and make sure all baggage is tagged with your name and address. Valid ID is required to purchase tickets.

Please visit http://www.Amtrak.com/ or http://www.AmtrakCascades.com/ or call 1-800-USA-RAIL for reservations and information. Thank you for riding Amtrak Cascades and have a safe and happy Thanksgiving.

-source: AMTRAK

 

[battalion51]

Will Cafe Service be available on the Cascades extras?

 

[The Metropolitan]

Got bored so I did a little digging. Here's the status of the LD trains for the next 6 days (27/28, 448/449. and Heartland Flyer not included)

NO	   TRAIN			11.21   11.22   11.23   11.24   11.25   11.26
1  SUNSET LTD (NOL-LAX)  OFFDAY	129   OFFDAY	203   OFFDAY  OFFDAY
2  SUNSET LTD (LAX-NOL)  OFFDAY	203   OFFDAY	129   OFFDAY	253

3  SWST CHIEF (CHI-LAX)	273	 273	 273   CSOLD   SCSOLD	273
4  SWST CHIEF (LAX-CHI)  SCSOLD  CSOLD	 218	 218	 273	 273*

5  CAL ZEPHYR (CHI-EMY)   CSOLD	276	 276   CSOLD	CSOLD   CSOLD
6  CAL ZEPHYR (EMY-CHI)	276	 276	 221   CSOLD	 276	 221

7  EMP BUILDR (CHI-SEA)   CSOLD   CSOLD	141	 309	CSOLD   CSOLD
8  EMP BUILDR (SEA-CHI)   CSOLD   CSOLD	141	 309	 309	 141

11 COAST STAR (SEA-LAX)   CSOLD   CSOLD	139	 174	CSOLD  SCSOLD
12 COAST STAR (LAX-SEA)  SCSOLD   CSOLD	 89	 174	CSOLD	174

19 CRESCENT   (NYP-NOL)  SCSOLD  SCSOLD	152	 238#   CSOLD  SCSOLD
20 CRESCENT   (NOL-NYP)  SCSOLD	238	 152	 238#	238#   CSOLD

21 TEXS EAGLE (CHI-SAS)	222*	113	 142	 142	 177	 142
22 TEXS EAGLE (SAS-CHI)	222	 177	 142	 142	 177#	177

29 CAPITL LTD (WAS-CHI)   CSOLD   CSOLD	 97	  97	 152#	152#
30 CAPITL LTD (CHI-WAS)	122	 152	  78	 122	CSOLD	122

43 PENNSYLVAN (NYP-PGH)	118#  ALSOLD	 75#	 60#	 94   ALSOLD 
42 PENNSYLVAN (PGH-NYP)  ALSOLD  ALSOLD	 60#	 60	  94#  OFFDAY
44 PENNSYLVAN (PGH-NYP)  OFFDAY  OFFDAY   OFFDAY  OFFDAY  OFFDAY ALSOLD

48 LAKE SHORE (NYP-CHI)   CSOLD   CSOLD	101	 157	 157	CSOLD
49 LAKE SHORE (CHI-NYP)   CSOLD	157	  80	 157	CSOLD	157

50 CARDINAL   (NYP-CHI)  OFFDAY  SCSOLD   OFFDAY   157   OFFDAY  SCSOLD 
51 CARDINAL   (CHI-NYP)  SCSOLD  OFFDAY	 80   OFFDAY	157#  OFFDAY

52 AUTO TRAIN (SFA-LOR)	111	 111	  89	 140	 217	 140
53 AUTO TRAIN (LOR-SFA)	140	 111	  89	 111	 140	 111

54 VERMONTER  (WAS-SAB)  OFFDAY  OFFDAY  ALSOLD  OFFDAY  OFFDAY  ALSOLD
56 VERMONTER  (WAS-SAB)  ALSOLD  ALSOLD  OFFDAY	111	 128   OFFDAY
55 VERMONTER  (SAB-WAS)  ALSOLD  ALSOLD	 94	 111   OFFDAY  OFFDAY 
57 VERMONTER  (SAV-WAS)  OFFDAY  OFFDAY  OFFDAY  OFFDAY	128   ALSOLD

58 CTY N ORLN (NOL-CHI)	206	 165	 105	 165	 206	CSOLD
59 CTY N ORLN (CHI-NOL)	206#   CSOLD	105	 206   SCSOLD	206

63 MAPLE LEAR (NYP-TWO)  ALSOLD  ALSOLD  ALSOLD	 88	 113   ALSOLD  
64 MAPLE LEAF (TWO-NYP)  ALSOLD  ALSOLD	113	  88	 113   ALSOLD

68 ADIRONDACK (MTR-NYP)  ALSOLD  ALSOLD	 73#	 73#	 73#  ALSOLD
69 ADIRONDACK (NYP-MTR)	 65   ALSOLD  ALSOLD	 64#	 64#	 73#

79 CAROLINIAN (NYP-CLT)  ALSOLD  ALSOLD	219*	143	 180   ALSOLD
80 CAROLINIAN (CLT-NYP)  ALSOLD  ALSOLD	143	 116	 219*	180#

91 SILVR STAR (NYP-MIA)   CSOLD   CSOLD	147	 190	CSOLD   CSOLD
97 SILVR METR (NYP-MIA)  SCSOLD  SCSOLD	147	 248	 248	CSOLD
92 SILVR STAR (MIA-NYP)  SCSOLD   CSOLD	147	 248   SCSOLD	248
98 SILVR METR (MIA-NYP)  SCSOLD   CSOLD	190	 248	CSOLD  SCSOLD

89 PALMETTO   (NYP-SAV)  ALSOLD  ALSOLD	173#	103#	226#  ALSOLD
90 PALMETTO   (SAV-NYP)  ALSOLD  ALSOLD	103	 103#  ALSOLD  ALSOLD

KEY: 
# - COACH ONLY AVAILABLE
* - BUSINESS/LOWER ONLY AVAILABLE
CSOLD - COACH SOLD OUT
SCSOLD - SLEEPERS AND COACH SOLD OUT
ALSOLD - NON SLEEPER TRAIN ALL SOLD OUT.

 

[battalion51]

Are those numbers you have posted the top out numbers for the train?

 

[The Metropolitan]

Are those numbers you have posted the top out numbers for the train?

The numbers are the quoted prices of a coach ticket in the trains when they're not sold out.

 

[Trogdor]

Now for my very exciting life story: Since I thought I had to work this Friday, I decided to go to Milwaukee for Thanksgiving instead of visiting the other relatives in Detroit. Then I decided to try to go to Detroit for a Saturday/Sunday turn.

When I first checked, last week Sunday, all trains were sold out DET-CHI for Sunday November 26. The next day, I saw that train 353 had coach seats open up, so I booked 350(25) in business class and 353(26) in coach. However, I kept checking for the 26th each day to see if business class was available. This morning, I found that a business class seat on 355(26) became available, so I grabbed it. The only extra money I had to pay was the upgrade price of $11 for business class (since the coach buckets were the same), all thanks to Amtrak's very fair fare rules that permit such changes without penalty.

 

[AMTK1007]

Hiawatha Update:

329(21) Departed Chicago with a Horizon Food Service car on the west end as an extra coach.

will operate on 329-332-333-336-337-340-341 today then flip to 330-331-334-335-338-339-342 tomorrow.

I do not know if the other set HAS 5 cars or will get it's 5th car tonight when 342 goes to the yard. I would expect that set to also receive a food service car in lieu of a coach.

 

[Trogdor]

Cool. I'll have to check it out when I ride on Thursday.

If they have the food-service car in the consist, would the LSA use that instead of the cart?

 

[AMTK1007]

My understanding is that they will continue to use the Cart on the Hiawatha's. Grand Rapids has gone to Superliners for the week and the LSA will work out of the Snack Coach due to the inability to get the cart up stairs.

Cool. I'll have to check it out when I ride on Thursday.
If they have the food-service car in the consist, would the LSA use that instead of the cart?

 

[AMTK1007]

Wednesday PX511 will run with a doubled up set of Amfleet/Horizon cars, Half the set will turn back to Seattle on PX514

 

Thursday PX505 and PX502 will each run with an Amfleet/ Horizon set

 

No PXs Friday.

 

Saturday there will be a PX 502 and PX505. Each set running one way.

 

Sunday there us a PX502, PX511,PX512,and PX514 PX511 and PX514 will run with one setSEA-PDX-SEA while PX502 and PX515 run with the other set PDX-SEA-PDX. Look for this set to deadhead to Seattle on Monday.. don't know if it will be combined with another train or a seperate move.. Maybe cut in on the head end of 14?

Here are specifics on the additional Seattle-Portland trains:
Passenger Service Notice

Extra Amtrak Cascades Train Service Over the Thanksgiving Holiday

November 22, 23, 25 and 26

Extra Holiday Train Service

Wednesday, Nov. 22

·Train 511 departs Seattle at 1:45 pm and arrives in Portland at 6 pm

·Train 514 departs Portland at 7 pm and arrives in Seattle at 11:15 pm

Thursday, Nov. 23

·Train 505 departs Seattle at 8:30 am and arrives in Portland at 12:45 pm

·Train 502 departs Portland at 8 am and arrives in Seattle at 12:15 pm.

Saturday, Nov. 25

·Train 502 departs Portland at 8 am and arrives in Seattle at 12:15 pm

·Train 511 departs Seattle at 1:45 pm and arrives in Portland at 6 pm

Sunday, Nov. 26

·Train 502 departs Portland at 8 am and arrives in Seattle at 12:15 pm.

·Train 511 departs Seattle at 1:45 pm and arrives in Portland at 6 pm.

·Train 515 departs Seattle at 6 pm and arrives in Portland at 10:15 pm.

·Train 514 departs Portland at 7 pm and arrives in Seattle at 11:15 pm.

-source: AMTRAK

 

[Dinker]

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html...752C1A967958260

This is interesting. From 1991 NY Times, link above:

November 17, 1991

TRAVEL ADVISORY; Thanksgiving On Amtrak

For most, Thanksgiving is turkeys and cranberries and football games, but for the folks at Amtrak, Thanksgiving is the single biggest travel period of the year.

To accommodate the people trying to rush home for their holiday feast, Amtrak is scheduling 86 extra trains along the Northeast corridor. A special Thanksgiving schedule will be in effect from Tuesday, Nov. 26, through Sunday, Dec. 1. for travel between Boston and Washington. Other Amtrak areas of operation will have holiday period service extended through the use of extra cars on regularly scheduled trains.

Wednesday, Nov. 27, will be the peak day, with almost twice as many people using the system as on an average day. Amtrak anticipates that about 16,000 people will pass through New York City's Pennsylvania Station on Wednesday evening alone

AND

from this year (many sites carried this story from the AP):

http://abclocal.go.com/wpvi/story?section=...&id=4733712

Amtrak Adding Rail Service for ThanksgivingWASHINGTON (AP) - November 13, 2006 - Amtrak crews are bracing for the busiest travel period of the year as the nation prepares to mark the Thanksgiving holiday.

Along the Northeast corridor, 53 extra trains are being added for the Boston to Washington run.

Amtrak officials are urging train travelers to buy their tickets early because many trains are likely to sell-out in advance.

Amtrak expects to handle about 125-thousand passengers next Wednesday. That's up about 80 percent from average Wednesday ridership rates.

During the seven day Thanksgiving holiday travel period, which begins next Tuesday and ends on Monday, November 27th, Amtrak expects to carry about 600-thousand passengers. That's up about 30 percent from an average week.

_______________________________

Summary of what is interesting: in 1991, Amtrak added 86 more trains NEC for Thanksgiving. In 2006, they added 53. What happened to those 33 trains? Interestingly, the 2006 count seems to be for Tuesday through Monday (seven days) while the 1991 count is for Tuesday through Sunday (six days).

 

[AlanB]

Summary of what is interesting: in 1991, Amtrak added 86 more trains NEC for Thanksgiving. In 2006, they added 53. What happened to those 33 trains? Interestingly, the 2006 count seems to be for Tuesday through Monday (seven days) while the 1991 count is for Tuesday through Sunday (six days).

The difference I believe is simply due to the fact that Amtrak under normal daily circumstances now runs more trains regularly in 2006 than they did in 1991. This is especially true on the Boston to NYP leg, where I believe service is much fuller than it was years ago.

I also wouldn't be surprised if the fact that there is more commuter service now, as opposed to back in 1991, isn't having some affect too.

 

[PRR 60]

Here is the on-time performance of Acela on Wednesday, November 22. A pretty good showing on a miserable day for travel with the rails as crowded as they get. Conditions at the NEC airports and on I-95 and the Jersey Turnpike were "challenging" yesterday.

Acela On-time for Rate for 22-Nov-06

Boston to New York 81.8%

Average trip time (hr:min): 3:40: average trip (min:sec) 09:36 late

Trips scheduled 11; trips 15 or more minutes late 1; trips cancelled 1

New York to Boston 90.9%

Average trip time (hr:min): 3:37: average trip (min:sec) 02:27 late

Trips scheduled 11; trips 15 or more minutes late 1; trips cancelled 0

New York to Washington 80.0%

Average trip time (hr:min): 2:52: average trip (min:sec) 06:56 late

Trips scheduled 15; trips 15 or more minutes late 2; trips cancelled 1

Washington to New York 93.3%

Average trip time (hr:min): 2:49: average trip (min:sec) 04:04 late

Trips scheduled 15; trips 15 or more minutes late 1; trips cancelled 0

All trips 86.5%

Average trip (min:sec) 05:37 late

Trips scheduled 52; trips 15 or more minutes late 5; trips cancelled 2

The fine print: The NYC/WAS and NYC/BOS city pairs are each counted separately. Through trains between Washington and Boston are counted as two trains. On-time is arrival early, on-schedule, or up to 14 minutes behind schedule (DOT Airline Reporting Criteria). Cancelled trains include all trains that either did not run or did not complete the trip. Data is from the Amtrak.com train status feature.

 

[Trogdor]

This morning, I rode an Amfleet Club-Dinette on the Hiawatha (train 331), and managed to be the only passenger in that car. Other folks settled for the Horizon long-distance coach, or one of the regular Horizon corridor coaches. If only they'd thought to walk one more car forward...

I won't have the chance to ride either consist back to Chicago, but with the club-dinettes on the west (Milwaukee) end, I wonder how they handle the "quiet car" deal. It's normally the last car on the train, but if that car only has 15 seats (plus tables on the other side), and more than 15 people want to ride in the quiet car, I suppose it could get somewhat challenging. Then again, it's possible that not more than 15 people per train even know what the Quiet Car is. In any event, my car was pretty quiet since 1) I was the only one there (the conductor didn't even realize I was there to take my ticket until halfway between Glenview and Sturtevant), and 2) the PA announcements weren't working in that car.

 

[battalion51]

Well I'd be kind of surprised if during this time of year if they were offering Quiet Car service. It seems like with the trains packed as they are they would be suspending it temporarily just so everyone can get a seat and not have to worry about whether it was Quiet Car or not. But again I could be wrong.

 

[Dinker]

The difference I believe is simply due to the fact that Amtrak under normal daily circumstances now runs more trains regularly in 2006 than they did in 1991. This is especially true on the Boston to NYP leg, where I believe service is much fuller than it was years ago.

Good point. I wonder how ridership compares.

 

[AmtrakFan]

Chicago Update..... Was by the Yards today and the Shop Tracks were nearly empty, only 2 Baggage Cars, and 1 Coach on Side A, on the other side there was a Sleeper and Diner. Now on to the Trains 370(23) had 5 Superliners, 393(23) had 1 Cafe, 4 Coaches (1 a Amfleet 2), 307(23) had 6 Coaches.

 

[TransAtlantic]

Almost all the Pacific Surfliners were standing-room-only for most of the trip between San Diego and LA yesterday and today - and for equipment buffs, there was an extra consist made up of 3 Horizon cars (2 coaches, 1 cafe) - not all that unusual for heavy days, despite the fact that it was operating SOUTH of L.A., but also made up of 3 Amfleet cars, which are almost nonexistent on the West Coast these days!

 

[battalion51]

You know I'm curious if the 20 some odd Amfleets that were on standby in NOL for Hurricane evacuations were used. IIRC they needed COT&S and a few other items to be rodworthy on a consistent basis, but could roll if needed.

 

[AmtrakWPK]

Yeah, didn't they get a special FRA waiver in order to take them down there in the first place?

 

[PRR 60]

You know I'm curious if the 20 some odd Amfleets that were on standby in NOL for Hurricane evacuations were used. IIRC they needed COT&S and a few other items to be rodworthy on a consistent basis, but could roll if needed.

I believe the FRA waiver was only for emergency evacuation use. The cars are still considered as stored and out of service.

 

[The Metropolitan]

For anyone interested, here are two videos of the corridor action yesterday including three runbys of the Holiday Extras featuring NJT and MARC equipment. All videos have full sound.

First link is the Holiday Extras, Second link are some other runbys of the day - each is about 1:20 in length and 5MB in size. Original footage was 640x480, but for the web, that wasn't portable enough . Thankfully, this size is just good enough to keep the sound quality good, not tinny.

http://www.btco.net/sounds/nec1126_0002.wmv

http://www.btco.net/sounds/nec1126_0003.wmv

On the first video, the first two runbys are at Bowie State MARC Station (about 5 minutes above New Carrollton, and the last is at Odenton, about 5 minutes south of BWI Airport. First train shown is 3095, second is 3078, and third is 3096.

The second clip of the regionals and Acelas are trains unknown, but I'm sure I could look them up. Unfortunately, we seem to have gotten to Bowie about 15 minutes too late to get the Southbound Silver Star, and we left Odenton after dark, having given up on the Southbound Crescent.