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Amtrak Prepares For Busiest Thanksgiving Travel Day

CHICAGO (CBS) -- Amtrak is calling Sunday the busiest day of the Thanksgiving travel week.

At 3 p.m., there was a sea of Amtrak passengers rolling their luggage through Union Station, eager to get home after the long holiday week. WBBM's Michele Fiore reports.

Lauren Krivoshia took time to admire the Great Hall's Christmas tree.

"Not bad on the train, I can't really complain," Krivoshia said.

But, spokesman Marc Magliari tells WBBM trains were packed this weekend.

Marc Magliari said in Chicago, two trains alone carried 750 passengers Sunday afternoon. To accommodate the increased demand, Amtrak added routes this holiday week, including ones to Milwaukee and to downstate Illinois.

And to keep things flowing, Amtrak did this...

"People get boarding passes and numbers to check in, so people are not standing for an hour or more trying to be the first to get in," Magliari said.

Magliari estimates some three quarters of a million people used Amtrak to get to their holiday destination across the country between the Monday before Thanksgiving, and the Monday after Thanksgiving.

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