Trails & Rails ... & Podcasts?

According to the National Park Service’s web site, the Trails & Rails program

“is an innovative partnership program between the National Park Service and Amtrak. This program provides rail passengers with educational opportunities that foster an appreciation of a selected region’s natural and cultural heritage; it promotes National Park Service areas and provides a value-added service to encourage train ridership. It also renews the long tradition of associating railroads with National Parks.”

The “educational opportunties” are typically a very knowledge volunteer or two that are on-board the train and they give a verbal presentation and are available to respond to traveler’s questions.

I feel that the Trails & Rails program is very cool and can add tremendous value to one’s trip.  Deb and I would often wonder what the local history of the area was that we were traversing through during our many road trips.  In fact, her and I even thought of creating a product that travelers like us could play a CD that would describe the local history through a narrative and play music that fit the scenery and story, but like our other ideas, we had no funding for such an endeavour. So I think it is great that this program is available for others to enjoy.

From what I gleaned from the Trails & Rails web site, the program is only offered on some of the trains that Amtrak offers and only on a portion of the route as well.  That’s OK. Something is a whole better than nothing. However, there is now another option for train travelers - podcasts.

Here is an explanation from a page about the podcasts at the NPS’ Trails & Rails web site:

The National Park Service’s Trails & Rails program is expanding the Amtrak ® traveler’s experiences with another opportunity to learn about the nation’s national parks.

NPS has staff and volunteers on key Amtrak® trains promoting the national park sites, answering park questions, etc. and some Amtrak passengers can now be able to download audio podcasts highlighting the history and sites of interest along their route. The podcasts are accessible via smartphones, computers and strategically played at “on board” display screens on key Amtrak® trains, providing an audio guide, NPS anecdotes and fun facts.

Passengers can also download a printed version of the podcast, a perfect format for both teachers and the hearing-impaired. The podcast is a feature of the NPS Trails & Rails program, and was developed as a partnership between Amtrak®, the Department of Recreation, Park and Tourism Sciences at Texas A&M University and the National Park Service.

Volunteer at http://www.nps.gov/getinvolved/volunteer.htm 

Route of Amtrak’s Sunset LimtiedCurrently there is only one offering and that is for Amtrak’s Sunset Limited which provides service between Los Angeles and New Orleans but I am certain more are planned.  The podcast appears to cover all of the key points along the route and some less known locations as well.  You can print out the narrative as a .PDF file if you prefer to read the information or for the hearing impaired traveler.

If you think about, now you have one more reason to travel by train besides you can keep your shoes on and use the bathroom whenever you desire.  Because railroads operate at “ground level” instead of 35,000 feet there is a lot to see.  Not only can you see beautiful scenery, you also get to see many areas that you cannot see any other way because, often, rail corridors are in remote regions and predate the interstate system.

Good job Amtrak and the National Park Service for combining two wonderful aspects of America and keeping it current and accessible. If only the system had GPS capabilities…Shhh…nevermind!