Train Travelers Deserve Bonuses, Too

Although it can be easily forgotten, it is indeed possible to travel throughout many of these united states by train. Sure, train travel here lags behind most of the rest of the developed world’s in speed and coverage, but we do have a national rail system. Its name is Amtrak.

Some fun facts from Amtrak’s website:

• Amtrak operates a nationwide rail network, serving more than 500 destinations in 46 states on 21,000 miles of routes, with nearly 18,000 employees.
• During its last fiscal year, Amtrak welcomed aboard more than 28.7 million passengers.
• An average of more than 78,000 passengers ride on up to 300 Amtrak trains per day.
• If included among U.S. airlines in 2008, Amtrak would rank 8th in the number of passengers served. On average, there are nearly twice as many passengers on an Amtrak train as there are on a domestic airline flight.

As do the airlines with which it often competes, Amtrak has its own loyalty program, Guest Rewards. And for travel between March 16 and May 8, program members will earn double Rewards points for the first four Amtrak train trips, and triple points for the fifth and subsequent trips. For travel on National Train Day, Saturday, May 9, they’ll earn quadruple the normal points.

Unlike most previous Guest Rewards promotions, this one applies to trips on all trains, on all routes. Registration is required.

If you haven’t considered hopping a train lately, this might just be the ticket to get back onboard.