Amtrak's Most Popular Stories of 2013

This year we launched our brand new blog! And special thanks goes to you, our customer!

You’ve made reporting on Amtrak and our more than 500 destinations and 31.6 million customers an awesome adventure. As we wind down the year, here are the blog’s 10 most popular stories from 2013.

10. We’ve Got a Big Announcement
We had big news to share with our more than 31 million customers this summer and used this awesome video to give them clues! At the end of the week we revealed a custom-painted locomotive and a new hiring commitment for veterans called #AmtrakVets.

9. Amtrak Stations Among World’s Most Beautiful Train Stations
Of the 15 stations highlighted by the travel publication Travel + Leisure, three are in the U.S. and two are served by daily Amtrak service. The third U.S. station was New York City’s Grand Central Station, which serves commuter lines in and out of Manhattan.

The ACS-64 is tested in Pueblo8. Sneak Peek of Our New Locomotives
We debuted the first round of our new electric Siemens locomotives in Sacramento with tons of photos. They’re called Cities Sprinters and they’ll replace our entire electric fleet in the Northeast Corridor by 2016.  That’s 70 locomotives, a $466 million investment and the creation and preservation of jobs in 60 cities across the country.

7. Army Reserves Veteran Is Fit for Amtrak
In a continued effort to support the nation’s service men and women, Amtrak set a goal of ensuring 25 percent of its new hires are veterans by 2015. Here, we meet Natoya who was in the best shape of her life after being deployed and refused to take a desk job when she returned home. Instead she joined the Amtrak Police Department!

6. A Photo Tour of a Train Bedroom
Our Superliner bedrooms are larger than roomettes but not as large as the bedroom suites that we offer. They sleep two adults plus luggage. Here we show you tons of pictures and outline exactly what you can expect!

5. Five Weird Things People Photograph on Amtrak
Since we’re handling the driving, passengers tend to snap tons of photos on our trains. In fact, you’re adding about 1,000 photos a week on Instagram. That’s awesome because all your friends can share in your train adventures (tagged #Amtrak), but your pics also get a little weird …

New Long Distance Car at CAF4. Coming Soon: New Long-Distance Cars
Manufactured by CAF USA in Elmira, N.Y., these new passenger cars have a little bit of everything and a whole lot of improvements. We could talk about how cool these new cars are forever, but to keep it short and sweet, we listed the 5 facts you need to know about the new cars.

3. 10 Tips for Sleeping in Coach
You’re in luck! It IS possible to sleep in a coach seat. Our wide reclining chairs with tons of legroom and adjustable footrests will have you sleeping like a … well … you know … a baby. From essential cell phone accessories to your must-have toiletries, this list covers it all. Quickly.

2. Tour a Roomette with a View or Two
Here we walk you through just a few of the perks of Amtrak long-distance train travel. Our long-distance coach seats are comfortable recliners that are bigger than our traditional seats, but for this post, we focused on the Viewliner Roomette (featured on our East Coast long-distance trains). Think of it as your home away from home on the train.

1. Google Helps Track a Train
We launched a new interactive tool that we created with Google to help you track any of our more than 300 daily trains and more accurately predict arrival times. The new train location tracking map on Amtrak.com gives you train statuses, estimates of arrival times and even station information for every Amtrak train across the entire Amtrak system. That means the map covers coast to coast movements, 365 days a year and can be accessed 24 hours a day with just the click of a mouse.

Track an Amtrak Train

What was your favorite Amtrak blog post this year? Tell us in the comments below!

Read More All Aboard!: 5 Weird Things People Photograph on Amtrak