Here in Mmephis Tn, Tn transportation is trying to get a train that will go from Memphis-Tn. They said this would cut traffic on the highway and cut trucks off the road also. They also said that the TN transportation will be getting money for the transportation and thay will use it on the new Amtrak route. Lets hope it works out. 
To and from Memphis where?
I believe that this is supposed to be a route across Tennessee by way of Nashville and Knoxville, into Virginia.
The last east-west service out of Memphis, the Memphis-Chattanooga remnant of Southern’s “Tennessean”, was discontinued in the late 1960s.
What possible market could there be for that? Sounds like it would be a part of the so-called Trans Virginia Express from Bristol to Richmond or Washington. Certainly the Virginia part is a darling in the hearts of some, but no credible marketing/operational study supports it. If so, I wonder how many days it would take to get from Memphis to Washington? gdc
Memphis already has service with the City of New Orleans, Chicago to New Orleans.
With a shortage of cars, I doubt whether Amtrak can put another Tennessee train into operation. We are still waiting for the Texas Crescent service here in Dallas, it has been two years since Amtrak announced this service.
Don’t hold your breath! The Crescent itself is on shakey ground.
I’d say that Bush, Cheney, & Co. will have lots of passenger equipment available as soon as they can.
Amtrak still hasn’t received next year’s budget from Congress, yet.
Hopefully Mr. Gunn noticed it takes a long time to cross this continent on a train. Instead of serving us several slow transcontinental trains, Amtrak should be serving the area east of the Rockies with high speed trains able to reach the end of the line in less than 9 hours.
Amtrak especially needs to service Texas better. After all Texas is the second largest state in the country, and in thirty years Texas will probably pass California by.
While we have a slow train to Chicago (Midwest), and a slow train to California and Florida, Texas desperately needs a train to serve directly the Northeast Corridor (New York City). Furthermore we are still waiting for the local to Houston from Dallas, the two closest large cities in America without a direct passenger rail link!
How about . . . .
The old CNW track between Madison & MKE has been torn up. CNW used to have a line between the two cities that virtually paralleled the Interstate. If one improved the rails and roadbed on the track that goes from Madison to MKE via Whitewater, this would leave the train in good arrangement to go on the old M&P line to Portage (and the CP main) without having to do extensive reverse movements within Madison. That would be one way of adding an Amtrak route without having to purchase new trainsets, expensive right-of-way additions, etc., and it would give service to some local towns in WI that are nowhere near the Interstate. Madison, Whitewater, & MKE all have Universities, and the students would have more travel options by re-routing the Builder ( or whatever succeeds it in the MWHSR) over this route. Obviously, trackwork would be necessary in order to correct the years of deferred maintenance over that line, but in the long run I think it may be viable at higher speeds. One other suggestion is to get rail service over the ex-CNW Twin Cities-MKE-CHI main again. This other route would also go past several universites as well, with student and other groups of people who would use the service.
In reality, what we should consider doing first is increasing the frequency of service over existing Passenger routes before considering the addition of even one single new route. This is the most wise course of action. Having only one train per day is a larger deterrent to people choosing other modes of travel than Amtrak.
We would all like to see new routes developed. However, unless very much larger sums of money are made available, at least for the immediate future, making better use of exisiting routes is more viable:
Upgrade infrastructre and stock to be faster, more reliable and more comfortable.
Increase frequency of services by making tri-weekly services daily. What use is a tri-weekly service? No wonder people don’t use them.
Would it be possible to actually run the California Zephyr coast-to-coast? How would you run it>? A morning and afternoon departure? This would be an interesting aspect to work on. Not having to change trains. Line speeds would have to be higher - you would have to average 100 mph or better to make it attractive enough. Ideally you would want to travel coast to coast in 24 hours or less
Fill in obvious gaps in the network to make the transition smoother.
Longer term; more routes.
Above all, though, a properly-funded rail network is needed. If it runs at a profit, fine. If not, then okay, it is a social good for the good of the country.
I thought California was the fifth richest economy in the world, and Los Angeles county the 10th?