Amtrak Gears Up For Holiday Travelers

BALTIMORE (WJZ) — This week is surely one of the busiest travel times of the year. We always talk about traffic on the roads and the crowds at the airport, but what about Amtrak?

Railroad travel is up this year and its busiest travel days are approaching.

It's been a record year for Amtrak, with travel along the northeast corridor seeing nearly 12 million, and more 31 million passengers nationwide.

Chelsea Kopta, with Amtrak says this past year has been their best year ever.

"That's very exciting and we think there are a number of reasons for that.  The fact that we travel to 500 destinations, the fact that we offered free wifi to more than 90% of our customers, that fact that we have a pets and bikes program," said Kopta.

The increased ridership for Amtrak is suspect to spill into the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday travel, with Tuesday and Wednesday being the busiest travel days this week.

"Thanksgiving is the busiest time of year for Amtrak. Last year we had about 751,000 customers and we hope to have the same demand this year," said Kopta.

"To prepare for the amount of customers that we will be seeing, we have additional trains and additional seats," she said.

Those kinds of bonuses will hopefully make the trip to visit loved ones this holiday, a good one.

This year for the first time Amtrak will hold a black Friday sale, which is being called Track Friday.

During the holiday week, there will also be an extended schedule for Amtrak, with more frequent departures and added seats between Washington, D.C. and Boston.

Additional perks, includes a bag policy that allows customers can have two bags and two carry-ons up to 150 pounds for free.

There is also a pets program.