Over a year ago, Amtrak began offering discount fares of around 25% on several of its Northeast Regional lines. And after extending them last November they’ve decided to keep them indefinitely.

The fares had been set to expire yesterday, but they’ve resulted in increased ridership on Amtrak since being introduced in Feb. 2009, so it was only sensible that the discounts continue.

“With ridership up on the Northeast Regional service so far this fiscal year, it is obvious these new low fares are popular with our passengers,” said Amtrak VP of marketing and product development, Emmet Fremaux.

To take advantage of the discounts, you’ll need to book your tickets at least 14 days in advance. But if you do have the lead time, there are some decent savings to be had.

I did a little test on Amtrak.com, looking at prices for tickets to Boston and Washington, D.C., from New York City. If I were to travel next week, I’d be looking at paying $64 each way for the Boston trip and $74 each way for D.C.

But by picking dates later in the month, tickets for the same trains were available for $49 each way for both destinations. That’s around 23% off for the Boston tix and approx. 34% off the D.C. trip.

The Northeast Regional line connects Boston to D.C. and continues as far south as Lynchburg and Newport News in Virginia. For a complete list of stations served by the line, go here.

Amtrak makes fare discounts permanent [Washington Business Journal]

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