Amtrak sets Thanksgiving holiday ridership record

If you traveled on Amtrak over the Thanksgiving holiday period, Nov. 24-30, this won't surprise you: The trains were jammed. The passenger railroad set a ridership record of 685,786 passengers over the seven-day period, including 127,577 who rode on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving.

The previous holiday record was 666,716, set in 2007. The economy last fall depressed ridership modestly. Amtrak said ridership increased 5.5 percent in the Northeast Corridor, 12.5 percent on its Keystone line to Harrisurg and 4.7 percent on long-distance trains, all compared with last year.