Amtrak's Anniversary Train Rolls Into Boston's South Station
BOSTON (CBS) - Forty years of rail history will be on display this weekend, August 6 and 7 when Amtrak's Anniversary Train makes a weekend stop at Boston's South Station.
To mark the anniversary, Amtrak has assembled this special four-car train and engine that will welcome visitors from 10 am to 4 pm. People will see photos, displays, videos and other rail-related memorabilia. The last car has a gift shop of rail merchandise, including a book depicting the growth of Amtrak.
There will be seven railroad groups exhibiting at South Station over the weekend. They include: Amtrak, Amtrak Vacations, Cape Cod Central Railroad, Greater Boston Convention & Visitors Bureau, Mass. Bay Rail Enthusiasts, Mystic Valley RR, The National Association of Rail Passengers and Operation Life Saver.
Amtrak Vacations packages rail, air and hotel packages for passengers that stretch across the country. Its most popular destination is a rail excursion from Chicago to the Grand Canyon.
The Anniversary Train comes to Boston at a time when Amtrak is doing record business. Ridership in the fiscal year ending October should exceed 30 million passengers. In June, Amtrak served 2.6 million people, a 4.1 percent increase over the same month last year.
The Northeast Corridor continues to be the number-one growth area in the U.S. for Amtrak.
When the high-speed Acela train began service between Boston and New York, Amtrak had about 20 percent of the air-rail market. A decade later that number has risen to over 50 percent of the city-to-city corporate travel business.
The next stop of the Anniversary Train, as it moves across the country from east to west, is Portland, Maine, where it will arrive next weekend.
