Does anyone know if Amtrak going to run specials to New Orleans for the Superbowl? If so, when and what routes.
Do you mean run a special train just for the Superbowl? I’ve never heard of Amtrak doing any such thing. However, private railroads used to run special trains to Mardi Gras. When you arrived the train was parked in the city and you used it as your hotel for the holiday.
Frankly, I wish Amtrak would just restore the service between Jacksonville and New Orleans which was suspended after Katrina.
The slow train thru nowhere running at right angles to the market. The New Orleans to Mobile part might be workable, but east of there…oh boy. The FL panhandle is pretty sparsely populated except for the “shore towns” - most of the traffic is vacationers from points north - not east and west. And, those folk are travelling with their SUVs full to the gills - not easily converted to train travel.
The eastern part of the Sunset was a “connect the dots” route. Looked good on a map. Didn’t have a real purpose. I’m sure the route is on “Grid and Gateway”…
New Orleans to Mobile would be welcome. After Katrina casinos came back to the Mississippi Gulf Coast bigger than ever. Now there are more people than ever there. However, perhaps it should be another train. When the Sunset Limited ran there it went through in the middle of the night.
CRESCENT going and coming has space + sunset / coast starlight has space as well. Chicago connections + CNO TO both destinations have space so why run a special train ? Now if Atlanta had gone ???
NOL, Mobile, Montgomery, Atlanta - almost a corridor. There a better ones to do first, though.
Was on a 2nd section of the Crescent for the 1976 Sugar Bowl between Georgia and Pitt. Was put on specially to carry Dawg fans from Atlanta to NOLA. Could bring your own cooler on board. Of course, those were the good old days, with Southern still running the Crescent and using linen, flatware and china in the dining car. I believe we would have seen something like it by Amtrak if the Falcons had made it this year.
Sports pecking order for the population of Atlanta
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UGA Dawgs
-
GT Yellow Jackets
-
Auburn
-
Clemson
-
Alabama
-
Any other SEC school (east or west)
7-23. watching grass grow
- Braves
25-46. killing fire ants
- Falcons
…this just ain’t a pro sports town. Really hard for NY/NJ people to grasp. Think NY football Giants = UGA Bulldogs. Falcons = Rutgers.
They might have found an extra coach for the Crescent…
Still space on these trains so no extra sections. Maybe putting cars on as demand dictates ??
One thing to remember about the Super Bowl; It is not designed to cater to the fans of the teams involved or blue collar fans in general. The face value of the low price ticket to this years game is $850. I believe the face value of the top ticked is $12,500. (Scalpers jack the prices up even higher) With prices like that, the SB is catering to the corporate ‘fat cats’ that are using the SB for much more than the opportunity to watch a championship football - it is the top rung of the corporate entertainment ladder.
Participating teams are each allocated a allotment of tickets, that the teams will make available to it’s season ticket holders through such means as each team thinks is equatable for the season ticket holders.
Going to the Super Bowl in New Orleans likely has little or nothing to do with actually going to the game! [<:o)]
Mobile - Jax is not wasteland. Talahasee for one thing, with UofF and good source for Amtrak patronage if done right.
Not wasteland, but pretty sparsely populated outside of the beach towns. The main flow of traffic is north/south, not east/west, and the primary source of trips is vacationers who rent places by the week and tote a whole family’s worth of junk in their SUV.
There are much, much better places to spend scarce Amtrak capital in the south than on “the missing link”. How about Jax - Orlando - Miami, for starters (FEC project not withstanding)? Or, Atlanta- Buford - Clemson (Anderson) - Greenville- Spatansburg - Gastonia - Charlotte (and points north)?
Don is correct; the population density and travel directions favor the ATL north route. A departure from ATL around 0700 could then be a continuation of the Piedmont from Charlotte and give an alrernate route for ATL - WASH riders. Once the HrSR Raleigh - Petersburg is complete the travel time will equal the Crescent’s time. Might give an immediate new Piedmont to provide that route 4 round trips.
You have just committed the Cardinal Sin of Florida - UofF locates in Gainesville. Florida State is in Tallahassee as well as Florida A&M.
Let’s not mention Florida State [:'(]
Careful, let’s not get this thread locked.[:D]
signed: Auburn-LSU-Alabama supporter (all in the West).
Sorry, I meant Florida State U and forgot about Florida A&M. Mea culpa!
Or in the local talk: Slicha! or Anas!
I’m a 1974 graduate of Northern Illinois, of course I’m not thrilled about Florida State.
Being a 70 grad of Kent State - I am not thrilled about Northern Illinois[8-|]