Amtrak plans multi-city celebration of 'National Train Day'
WASHINGTON, D.C. (AP) - Amtrak is hoping live entertainment, exhibits and a national TV personality will lure people who don't normally take the train into its stations - and then inspire them to return to ride the rails another day.
Dubbed "National Train Day," the May 10 effort includes a performance by singer-songwriter Sara Bareilles in Washington's Union Station. Al Roker, of NBC's "Today" show, is serving as the official spokesman and will host the Washington events.
Elsewhere, the Harlem Globetrotters will perform in New York City's Penn Station. Amtrak also is sponsoring events in Chicago and Los Angeles, and other groups are organizing smaller-scale festivities around the country.
The national passenger railroad is using train day to trumpet its recent success. Amtrak has seen its ridership grow to new heights: Some 25.8 million passengers rode the railroad in fiscal 2007, an increase of 1.5 million over the previous year.
Still, future growth likely depends on federal funding, which the Bush administration and others would like to drastically scale back. Amtrak and its allies say it is unrealistic to expect the company to ever be completely self-sufficient.
Rail supporters are using train day to call for increased investment in passenger rail.
"The capacity that Amtrak has ... is very limited," said Ross Capon, executive director of the National Association of Railroad Passengers. "All of the ridership increases are going to pretty soon run afoul of those limits unless policy changes."
In Washington, Chicago, Dallas and possibly other cities, National Train Day will include "equipment displays," giving people the opportunity to walk through Amtrak's trains. At Washington's Union Station, for example, the company will be showing one of its plush Acela Express trains, which run at high speeds between Washington, New York and Boston. Model train displays also are planned.
"Our equipment is definitely the biggest draw, so we needed some way to get people into the stations who maybe don't normally take the train," Amtrak spokeswoman Karina Romero said.
Amtrak hopes the activities will appeal to families with children. The performance by Bareilles, best known for her hit single "Love Song," is intended to draw the 17 to 24 age group, Ms. Romero said.
The timing for the events is good, said Matt Melzer, who is helping to organize National Train Day. Young people are becoming more aware of train travel, and many embrace its environmental advantages, he said.
"There's really a cultural shift," Mr. Melzer said. "It's not just retirees."
Amtrak is spending $2.2 million on train day, Ms. Romero said. The cost includes general Amtrak advertising that the company has tagged with the train day promotion.
Amtrak chose May 10 for National Train Day because it is the anniversary of the first transcontinental railroad at Promontory Point, Utah, in 1869.
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