And on what is anticipated to be the heaviest single travel day of the year for Amtrak, the railroad expects ridership nationally to reach 125,000 passengers.

At the Amtrak Station in Jefferson City Wednesday, there were a lot more people hopping on and off a train than normal work days. "It's just under 600 people traveling through Jefferson City on the train today, which is historically very high," said Rodd Massman, Administrator of Railroads for MoDOT. "On the first train heading to St. Louis today, about 80 people got on the train from Jefferson City and normally it's somewhere between 20 and 35."

The trains in Missouri go back and forth between St. Louis and Kansas City through Jefferson City twice a day, one in the morning and one in the afternoon. There are eight stops between St. Louis and Kansas City: Kirkwood, Washington, Hermann, Jefferson City, Sedalia, Warrensburg, Lee's Summit, and Independence. A ticket from Jefferson City to St. Louis or Kansas City is somewhere between $18 to $28.

According to the statistics released by MoDOT, the on-time performance of Amtrak trains in Missouri has been at least 90% since this January. Before that, the percentage ranged somewhere around 60% and 70%. The total ridership for fiscal year 2009 was more than 150,000 in Missouri.

Last year, 660,000 passengers rode Amtrak during the week of Thanksgiving.