Amtrak says it set holiday records

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WASHINGTON, Dec. 10 (UPI) -- Amtrak said its East Coast rail service was ready for Thanksgiving and that nationally it carried a record number of passengers during the holiday.

"Amtrak recovered quickly from Superstorm Sandy," the company said in a statement, referring to the major hurricane that devastated the East Coast in late October.

In the Northeast Corridor, the rail service carried the same number of holiday travelers as it did in 2011, Amtrak said.

But nationally it carried a record 737,537 passengers Nov. 20-26, a gain of 1.9 percent compared with the same period of 2011.

Ticket revenues also set a holiday record at $56.1 million, up 8.4 percent from 2011. In addition, the Wednesday before Thanksgiving was the rail service's busiest day ever with 140,691 passengers riding the rails.

Amtrak said it added trains to many of its routes and that the eTicketing system went national "helping smooth the way," for passengers.

The system allows passengers to "print their own boarding documents or have their smartphones scanned by Amtrak conductors," which reduced lines at ticket windows and kiosks.