Whats going on with amtrak and new routes. Here in atlanta, the old hub of the south, we cant even get from here to orlando via amtrak with out going to dc first. Do the airlines have a hold on amtrak not doing this cause of competition. The way the ads are going for travel to florida you would think that amtrak would jump on that route. The money that they are losing with that market certainly could be used for up grading their equipment. Even a route from atlanta to savannah would be helpful at the least. One train a day in the old hub of the south just doesnt hit it. They need to put some pressure on the frieght railroads to allow more passenger service. Not everybody likes to fly or drive.
The National Association of Railroad Passengers agrees with you. Copy and paste this link to see their vision for an Amtrak system that would connect Atlanta with both Savannah and Jacksonville:
http://www.narprail.org/cms/images/uploads/narpvision_highres.pdf
However, for some years Amtrak has had to fight just to exist and now its existence is more perilous than ever. As far as I know there are no plans for expansion.
Florida tourism does it’s own advertising in the markets of it’s choosing for it’s own reasons, without regard to Amtrak or airline transport abilities.
Since Atlanta is astride I-75, one of the main routes to Florida, it is the main avenue that Atlanta tourists use in their trips to Florida. During the formative years of Amtrak there was not sufficient passenger traffic on the Atlanta-Florida and Atlanta-Savannah routes to warrent Amtraks operation of those routes. Amtrak, as presently configured barely has enough equipment to service their presently existing routes, let alone go ‘prospecting’ on new routes that they would have to negotiate operating agreements over the existing freight railroads to serve.
Provide Amtrak a Billion or Two and I suspect they could serve the routes you desire.
It’s been studied a couple times by the state of GA. Bottom line: Best route is from Atlanta to Macon to Jesup, then south to Jax. Problem: even the best combo of speed and frequency still comes up short on covering operating costs. It’s actually fairly cheap to do the capital work. Existing alignment from Macon to Jesup is arrow straight.
Megabus has good service to FL from Atlanta (curbside at Civic Center MARTA stop) for cheap. Neighbor’s kid had used Megabus a bit - he likes it.
Megabus has two departures from Atlanta to Jacksonville each day. The morning one is at 7 am. Scheduled time is 6 hours and 10 minutes. There is also an evening departure a little after 8 pm.
Megabus does not have accessible restrooms. A passenger who needs an accessible rest room can use the rest room at any rest stop or can request an unscheduled rest stop. If an unscheduled rest stop is requested the driver will make a reasonable effort to find a place to stop after considering the request and other factors (such as scheduling issues). There is no guarantee that the driver will make the unscheduled rest stop.
The Megabus website does not provide information about scheduled rest stops on this route.
Do you really believe Amtrak could consider this route, Balt?
A connection with either Savannah or Jesup would be entirely within the state of Georgia. Georgia could consider providing the service but I would wonder about Amtrak providing it under the new restrictions to take place next October.
John
I haven’t lived in Atlanta for 25 years, but I would think services could be developed out of it as a hub. Equipment? Shut down several of the more senseless LD routes, such as the Cardinal.
John, I could not get your link to word; I was told that it could not be found.
If the train ran all the way between Atlanta and Jacksonville, would it be subject to the new restrictions for intrastate routes?
Johnny,
I didn’t give a link to the Megabus website. But here it is if you want it:
John
PS. You do have to copy and paste it. I tried it and it does work.
Dedicated money buys consideration!
GA would have to provide the operating subsidy - which has two chances in the current political climate, slim and none.
Extending service from Charlotte down to Atlanta might stand a better chance, but getting SC to play along will be like pulling teeth - and that route is ill-suited for improved speeds.
activated
If you want more AMTRAK routes and / or more freequent service then write your congressional persons. But do not expect any routes to be cut back… Ex the Cardinal – Loss in Va, West Va, Ky, Ohio, Indianna. .5 states you don’t think some one will howl long and hard ?
Congress has almost starved AMTRAK for 40 years and immediately when the RR had some surplus Heritage coaches they were scrapped for some one higher up requiring that action. Now there is a shortage of cars and the Viewliner - 2 cars now in production will not even fill the need for more seats. The new bi-levels will certainly help on western trains but the growth of passengers there may fill all the new seats.
There are still some cars that can be wreck repaired but they are probably already set to be assigned if repaired to existing NEC and short distance trains that are operating at capacity.
So what do you ask of congress — ?
Add more funds to both operating and capital projects.
Capital funding is usually easier to receive. –
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. continue funding NEC ROW upgrades. If BOS - WASH travel time is reduced by one hour that will free up two regional and 2 ACELA train sets for each scheduled round trip to those end points. These free ups can be used elsewhere or to lenghten existing train sets. A half hour reduction NYP - WASH will free up one regional and 1 ACELA per scheduled round trip. In addition operating expenses will be slightly reduced.
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continue upgrading Michigan - CHI and CHI - STL. An hour reduction in those scheduled running times would possibly and maybe ( due to schedule variations ) free up more train sets ?
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Other host RR upgrades will not be as dramatic.
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fund repairs for all repairable rolling stock + add funds for the inevitable future d
Streak,
Amtrak is going ahead to replace the existing catenary on the Northeast Corridor Line with a new constant tension catenary. Living along that line I am not inclined to ask for anything for my area of the country because I think other places have a much greater need for additional Amtrak service. And while I recognize that some routes recover much more of their costs than others I think it is important to realize that all routes are important to the places they serve.
John