The rail company began its online reservations service in July. The Thanksgiving holiday season is the busiest of the year for Amtrak, with ridership jumping 50 percent on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving and the following Sunday. Other routes seeing additional service throughout the weekend are New York to Albany and Philadelphia to Harrisburg. Amtrak has published a special Northeast Corridor Thanksgiving holiday timetable, available at Amtrak ticket offices, providing details about the additional service. In the Pacific Northwest Corridor, Amtrak will operate extra train service between Seattle and Portland, Ore., with one additional train running on Nov. 26 and Nov. 27, and two additional trains on Nov. 30.
Space is limited and reservations are required for overnight train service.
Avoid the Rush. Customers may want to choose a time to travel other than Wednesday afternoon and Sunday evening, when Amtrak serves almost double the number of customers who normally travel on these days. Peak fares will be charged on most routes on those days. Purchase round-trip tickets early to avoid long lines at the stations. Obtaining your return ticket at the same time eliminates another delay later.