Amtrak

Here's an idea for a leisurely autumn trip that's scenic and saves money: Amtrak is taking 25% off tickets on a stretch of the Coast Starlight route between Los Angeles and Davis, Calif. The sale applies to destinations such as Oakland, San Jose, Paso Robles, Santa Barbara and others. -- The deal: The Coast Starlight runs between Los Angeles and Seattle, but the Book Early and Save 25% offer covers only the southern leg of the line. The discount also applies to up to two children, ages 2 to 15, who travel for half fare with the purchase of an adult ticket.  -- When: The offer is good for travel Oct. 13 through Nov. 17. But you must buy tickets by Sunday.

E-ticketing on Amtrak has finally arrived - sort of. As of this week, rail passengers on Northern California routes may print out their train tickets before heading to the station, Amtrak says in a statement. Electronic ticketing is scheduled to be available for Southern California routes such as the Pacific Surfliner and others by the end of summer, though no start date was specified. Electronic ticketing is now offered for one-way and round-trip travel on the Capitol Corridor (Auburn-Sacramento-Oakland-San Jose)

A call for a "no-ride" list to tighten security on Amtrak passenger trains, floated this week by Sen. Charles Schumer (D-New York), has drawn cautious responses from Amtrak and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security . Schumer on Monday called on the U.S. government to expand its Secure Flight Program , which cross-checks air travelers against a security watch list, to keep anyone on the no-fly list off trains....

College-bound students can get a half-off deal on fares this year if they take the train to scope out campuses. But they'll need to read the footnotes on this Amtrak offer, which comes with restrictions. The deal: “ Buy One, Get One 50% Off with Campus Visit ” provides 50% off a companion Amtrak ticket with the purchase of a regular adult fare. The qualifying adult must be a junior- or senior high school student visiting a college or university, with one parent or guardian traveling as a companion.

The Amtrak Sunset Limited from Los Angeles to Miami with 206 people aboard hurtled off an aging trestle early Wednesday and plunged like a steel stone into a foggy Alabama bayou, killing 44 and leaving at least three others trapped in wreckage that sank into an ink-black swamp crawling with snakes and alligators. A locomotive erupted into flames, burning its crew. Fire spread to the wood-and-steel trestle. One of the coach cars hung over the edge of the 84-year-old structure but did not fall.

Amtrak 's online ticketing and reservation services are up and running after a two-day outage, caused by a website upgrade, that thwarted customers and provoked angry comments on Facebook and Twitter. As of noon Tuesday, the website of the passenger rail operator appeared to be running normally. The upgrade to the ticketing service began Sunday and was supposed to be completed the same day. But problems extended into Monday, when at some points the company's entire website , not just the reservations section, was inaccessible.

Amtrak is celebrating its 40th year by letting kids ride free with fare-paying adults. And that's reason enough for a short side trip into U.S. rail history: The golden age of passenger train travel peaked in the 1930s and '40s and then flagged after airplanes and cars became more popular. To pump new life into rail travel, Congress in 1970 created the private company that we know today as Amtrak, and service began a year later. Amtrak's routes stretch across the country. The deal: This is a great way to get children excited about taking a train ride and traveling in something other than the back of an SUV. With Kids Ride Free , you get one free child's ticket (ages 2 to 15)

Ever since Amtrak banned passengers from bringing firearms onto its trains, a step it took shortly after 9/11, the gun lobby has been working hard to get weapons back on board. While this campaign would hardly seem appropriate for a country with terrorism concerns, such has been the case. Part of the eight-year delay has been due to the difficulty of resolving security issues. One problem, for instance, is that many Amtrak stations across the country are little more than a platform and two tracks, and they don't have the personnel to inspect or check luggage, let alone monitor whether weapons are properly stored and secured.

E-ticketing on Amtrak has finally arrived - sort of. As of this week, rail passengers on Northern California routes may print out their train tickets before heading to the station, Amtrak says in a statement. Electronic ticketing is scheduled to be available for Southern California routes such as the Pacific Surfliner and others by the end of summer, though no start date was specified. Electronic ticketing is now offered for one-way and round-trip travel on the Capitol Corridor (Auburn-Sacramento-Oakland-San Jose)

Amtrak 's online reservation and ticketing service remained unavailable Monday because of work being done to the passenger rail's website. The upgrade began Sunday and was supposed to be completed the same day. But as of Monday, service was still down. I checked at 1:15 p.m. PDT and couldn't access the ticket purchasing option. During some checks, the entire website , not just the reservations section, was inaccessible. Amtrak spokeswoman Vernae Graham said the website should be back in operation sometime Monday, but she had no time frame.

When the Obama administration gave California $3.4 billion in startup money for a high-speed rail system, it insisted on a guarantee that the project would not become a white elephant -- something critics could brand as a train to nowhere. The first section of track had to run down the spine of the Central Valley and have another use, should the rest of the bullet train project collapse. Those requirements are now at the center of an intensifying political battle, waged by critics who say the state's fallback plan to use a 130-mile stretch of track for slower Amtrak service is a sham because there's no guarantee the national rail service will ever use it. Amtrak said it has no agreement to operate on the track and has not analyzed the possible negative effects on one of its most successful rail lines.

Heads up for those thinking about hopping on a train this weekend to go Christmas shopping in Orange and San Diego counties. Metrolink and Amtrak are canceling some rail service this weekend because construction crews will be installing a second main track and rail bridges along the L.A.-San Diego-San Luis Obispo rail corridor. Metrolink will cancel service on its Orange County and Inland Empire lines on Saturday and Sunday. It's also canceling trains 644 and 645 on Friday.

Here's an idea for a leisurely autumn trip that's scenic and saves money: Amtrak is taking 25% off tickets on a stretch of the Coast Starlight route between Los Angeles and Davis, Calif. The sale applies to destinations such as Oakland, San Jose, Paso Robles, Santa Barbara and others. -- The deal: The Coast Starlight runs between Los Angeles and Seattle, but the Book Early and Save 25% offer covers only the southern leg of the line. The discount also applies to up to two children, ages 2 to 15, who travel for half fare with the purchase of an adult ticket.  -- When: The offer is good for travel Oct. 13 through Nov. 17. But you must buy tickets by Sunday.

Carmageddon, as the partial shutdown of the 405 Freeway this weekend has been dubbed, is prompting Amtrak to offer half off train travel between Union Station in downtown Los Angele s and Bob Hope Airport (BUR) in Burbank to help airline passengers get to their flights on time. The ticket discount, which brings the fare down to $3 for adults and $1.50 for children ages 2 to 15, will apply to travel Friday through Sunday. The idea is to keep travelers from getting stuck on alternate freeways, such as the 110, 5, 134 or 101, on their way to the airport.

Can't face "Carmageddon"? Consider taking a train trip out of town to Santa Barbara or San Luis Obispo. If you act quickly, you may score discounts for the weekend too. The Carmageddon wildcard, of course, is that no one knows exactly what will happen to traffic Saturday when the 405 Freeway shuts northbound along a 10-mile section between Interstate 10 and the 101 Freeway, and southbound between the 101 and Getty Center Drive....

Three days after a horrific crash involving an Amtrak train and a big rig outside Reno left at least six people dead, investigators had more questions than answers Sunday. National Transportation Safety Board member Earl Weener said the number of missing had been "whittled down" from an earlier estimate of 28, but further information would have to come from local officials — who referred questions back to the NTSB. Amtrak analyzed the westbound California Zephyr's manifest and determined that 196 passengers had been aboard when it was struck by the truck Friday morning.

College-bound students can get a half-off deal on fares this year if they take the train to scope out campuses. But they'll need to read the footnotes on this Amtrak offer, which comes with restrictions. The deal: “ Buy One, Get One 50% Off with Campus Visit ” provides 50% off a companion Amtrak ticket with the purchase of a regular adult fare. The qualifying adult must be a junior- or senior high school student visiting a college or university, with one parent or guardian traveling as a companion.

Amtrak is having a winter sale that that could take you far -- or as far as you want to go -- by taking 20% off the price of coach tickets through mid-April. The deal: The Winter Sale discounts rail travel between a number of cities nationwide. For instance, one-way discounted tickets from Los Angeles cost as little as $48 to Flagstaff, Ariz.; $50 to Albuquerque; $42 to San Francisco ; $109 to New Orleans; prices don't include tax. These rates apply to coach seats.

Who would take a road trip when gasoline is hovering near $4 a gallon? Well, you might, especially if you're taking the family. Sometimes it's cheaper to drive. "Driving makes sense if you have three people traveling, heavy baggage or fragile sporting equipment," said George Hobica, founder of Airfarewatchdog.com , an airfare deals blog. Baggage fees, which put almost $3.4 billion into airlines' coffers last year, can cost as much as $35 a bag (Allegiant, paid at the airport)

A call for a "no-ride" list to tighten security on Amtrak passenger trains, floated this week by Sen. Charles Schumer (D-New York), has drawn cautious responses from Amtrak and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security . Schumer on Monday called on the U.S. government to expand its Secure Flight Program , which cross-checks air travelers against a security watch list, to keep anyone on the no-fly list off trains....