In anticipation of its busiest travel week of the year, Amtrak is adding 18 additional trains to operate to and from Michigan during the Thanksgiving holiday season.

The holiday is the busiest travel week of the year, and to accommodate the expected surge of riders, Amtrak will operate every available passenger rail car in its fleet and is scheduling extra trains and adding capacity on other routes.

The busiest travel days are the Tuesday and Wednesday before Thanksgiving and the Sunday after the holiday. Other than Thanksgiving Day, morning trains typically have more available seats than those in the afternoon and evening.

The attached schedule (also on Amtrak.com) provides information on these extra trains that will operate in addition to the Amtrak Wolverine Service, Blue Water and Pere Marquette trains sponsored by the Michigan Department of Transportation.

Amtrak carried a record 737,537 passengers during the 2012 Thanksgiving travel period, up 1.9 percent over the previous year and the prior record set in 2011.