Are you sickened by the prospect of spending $45 to store your carry-on bag in an overhead bin on a flight that already cost you an arm and a leg? Amtrak hopes you are.
The national railroad leader is hoping the hassle and growing expense involved with flying to your vacation destination will prompt you to ride the rails this summer… and beyond. To lure frequent flyers to railroad tracks, Amtrak has been working hard to improve its services and amenities.
“We are investing in our infrastructure to improve the reliability, safety and security of our operations,” said Amtrak President and CEO Joseph Boardman in a recent interview with news reporters.
Some of the improvements include upgraded sleeping cars, free Wi-Fi on all high-speed Acela Express trains, and $1-billion worth of new construction projects, such as rehabilitating out-of-service cars and locomotives in Indiana, restoring tracks in Illinois and Louisiana and replacing the 1907 Niantic River Bridge in Connecticut.
In addition, Amtrak has also added a travel-planning website that highlights the benefits of visiting national parks by train. It currently features eight routes that covers nearly 60 parks, and provides details on amenities and package deals. Each deal is designed to help travelers save as much money as possible on rail and trail fees. For example, the Philadelphia National Parks package includes round-trip rail from Washington, D.C., two nights’ hotel and a tour for $260. Meanwhile, the Glacier National Park package offers round-trip rail from Seattle, two nights’ lodging and a park tour for $620. Amtrak is quick to point out that there is no way you could stretch your dollar that far if you chose to fly on a commercial airliner to the same destination.
Whereas we won’t be riding the rails for days, I promised my daughter that this summer she could take her first official train ride. We plan to board Amtrak in Wisconsin and travel to Chicago for the day. It may not be the Glacier National Park package, but it’s a start. Here’s hoping we are impressed enough with the new improvements to make Amtrak our future vacation vehicle of choice.
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