(The following appeared on the Central Valley Business Times website on November 21.)
OAKLAND, Calif. — More cars will be added to the trains plying the three passenger train routes in California next week to handle a sharp uptick in passenger volume, Amtrak says.
The week of Thanksgiving – Tuesday, Nov. 25 to Monday, Dec. 1 – is typically Amtrak’s busiest travel period of the year, carrying more than 665,000 passengers last year systemwide.
To accommodate more passengers traveling during this holiday week, more capacity will be added to the Amtrak San Joaquin, Amtrak Pacific Surfliner and Capitol Corridor routes.
Six additional cars will be added to the San Joaquin service (Bakersfield-Oakland/Sacramento) beginning Wednesday, Nov. 26 through Sunday, Nov. 30.
More than 700 seats will be added to Pacific Surfliner trains (San Luis Obispo-Santa Barbara-Los Angeles and San Diego). Reservations will also be required on all Pacific Surfliner trains.
More than 500 seats will be added to the Capitol Corridor service on Wednesday, Nov. 26, with trains 551 and 553 extending from Oakland to San Jose for that day only.
On what is anticipated to be the heaviest travel day of the year for Amtrak, Wednesday, Nov. 26, the railroad expects ridership nationwide to reach nearly 128,000 passengers – a 65 percent increase over the 78,000 passengers Amtrak carries on an average Wednesday.