NO! Many local towns along the CSX portion of the route spent both local and goverment money to build or re-build stations and these towns would lose all Amtrak service. Also, there is no east route to/from Florida to the southwest if the New Orleans - Orlando section is dropped. The idea of going to LA, or the Grand Canyon via Washington, Chicago is not nearly as attractive as riding the Sunset.
If the equipment and personnel could be redeployed elsewhere with better results, then YES! (How about Jacksonville, to Jesup (CSX) to Atlanta to Birmingham to Meridian (NS) to Dallas (KCS) to Amarillo to LA (BNSF) instead?)
If a sacrificial lamb was needed to keep the wolves at bay and keep the rest of the network going, then YES!
If there is no hope of the UP ever getting any better, then YES!
But, “just because”, then no.
I think the decisdion has already been made. If the Sunset was to resume after Katrina, one would think it would have happened by now, over 13 months later.
LC
Perhaps they should have separate trians on either side of New Orleans, until Union Pacific finishes double-tracking their line. Is there more of the eastern equipment available ?
The Sunset Limited is the poster boy for all that ails Amtrak. If this route were a patient in a hospital, some serious discussions about living wills would have taken place. Talk about a slow boat to China…I think passengers should sign a disclaimer prior to boarding about aversions to being confined to small spaces for an extended period of time. The name should be Sunsets Unlimited. Kill it…please…at least, critics could claim there is actually some rational decision making surrounding this political albatross.
As much as I’d like to see Amtrak go zipping by down here, you can pretty much hang up any Amtrak trains running between Atlanta and FL. The NS mainline on this route is currently averaging 22 trains a day on track warrant/ABS control south of Macon, and 40+ north of town. The CSX Waycross/Manchester routing is currently pushing over 50 a day, with estimates shooting for 60+ by next June. Both have shot down proposals for Amtrak trains many times in the past. Running them through Augusta and Jesup might be feasible, but persuading either NS or CSX to take on another Amtrak train is like trying to make a prostitute abstain from sex. Not gonna happen!
…well not without sufficient money, anyway.
You can get from Atlanta to Macon on the old Central, if the state ever antes up the money for the commuter service. From Macon south, it would take some “upgrade” bucks from somebody to get it done. Either sidings and CTC on NS or double track on CSX south of Jesup.
Sufficient money indeed! The state will have to basically come in there on the Griffin line and rebuild it from the ground up. The current jointed rails saw steam in regular service, and the crossties could best be described as termite-infested woodchips. The funny part: this line used to be CTC’ed all the way to Atlanta, until the Southern came in and cut down all the signals…biggest mistake ever! Watching any train come down this ribbon of rust is better entertainment than watching TV. You never know when a car will hit the ground! The Brunswick/Jesup line shouldn’t be as much of a problem as the Central moneywise. Believe it or not, there has been talk of CTC’ing the line from Macon to Jacksonville. (or at least install some remote-controlled Hydra switches) Not holding my breath on that one either.
In a word YES. The following is a copy of a message I posted a while back on the Railfan.net forums in respose to the same question.
I’ll probably get jumped on for saying this but IMHO the Sunset from LA to Orlando is the best example of a route that should be dropped. It brings out all of Amtrak’s flaws. It is the longest in distance and length of time and a trip over the entire run even for a railfan is an endurance contest even if it ran on time which seldom happened. It does not pass through much if any scenery that is noteworthy. Enroute there is virtually no back up equipment available making it most suceptible to major delays and cancellation due to even minor mechanical problems. I believe it is Amtrak’s biggest money loser and certainly has one of the poorest on time records. The UP and CSX neither of which under the best of circumstances can be considered passenger train friendly treat it like a red headed stepchild. It no longer even offers the gracious dining which was always a plus on long distance trains. Its only asset that I can think of is its consist of Superliner cars.
Even as a boy and young man I was happy to get off the train after a 36 hour trip to my destination on the Chicago-Florida streamliners. Imagine double that time for the entire Sunset run. Before I took that trip I’d have to have absolutely no other travel options available and would spend all my waking hours in the lounge car getting well oiled so I could sleep at night and forget the ardours of such a journey.
Portions of the Sunset route offer some possibility of becoming viable Amtrak service. I think a daytime San Antonio-Houston-New Orleans-Biloxi train might work. Similarly a daytime Jacksonville-Tallahassee-Pensacola-Biloxi train has some potential. I 'm not suggesting through San Antonio- Jacksonville service but passengers travelling between some of thes points could layovernight in Biloxi and catch the other daytime t
The Sunset Limited has virtually been a poster child for the decline of American passenger trains since shortly after SP re-equipped it in 1950. SP had tried to discontinue it several times and in the mid-1960’s was a coach-only operation with one of SP’s automat cars providing food service. Ridership was minimal even after SP and SR started a triweekly transcontinental sleeping car (NY-LA) about 1968 or 1969. The New Orleans-Los Angeles route was not included in the original 16 proposed Amtrak routes and was added only after the public commentary period. I’m not sure how it made the cut in the round of Amtrak cutbacks in the late 1970’s that killed the National Limited and the Floridian. Amtrak would probably do well to cut it back to a triweekly San Antonio-Los Angeles extension of the Texas Eagle.
Atlanta to Lovejoy portion will start being done next year, I hear.
[quote user=“KCSfan”]
In a word YES. The following is a copy of a message I posted a while back on the Railfan.net forums in respose to the same question.
I’ll probably get jumped on for saying this but IMHO the Sunset from LA to Orlando is the best example of a route that should be dropped. It brings out all of Amtrak’s flaws. It is the longest in distance and length of time and a trip over the entire run even for a railfan is an endurance contest even if it ran on time which seldom happened. It does not pass through much if any scenery that is noteworthy. Enroute there is virtually no back up equipment available making it most suceptible to major delays and cancellation due to even minor mechanical problems. I believe it is Amtrak’s biggest money loser and certainly has one of the poorest on time records. The UP and CSX neither of which under the best of circumstances can be considered passenger train friendly treat it like a red headed stepchild. It no longer even offers the gracious dining which was always a plus on long distance trains. Its only asset that I can think of is its consist of Superliner cars.
Even as a boy and young man I was happy to get off the train after a 36 hour trip to my destination on the Chicago-Florida streamliners. Imagine double that time for the entire Sunset run. Before I took that trip I’d have to have absolutely no other travel options available and would spend all my waking hours in the lounge car getting well oiled so I could sleep at night and forget the ardours of such a journey.
Portions of the Sunset route offer some possibility of becoming viable Amtrak service. I think a daytime San Antonio-Houston-New Orleans-Biloxi train might work. Similarly a daytime Jacksonville-Tallahassee-Pensacola-Biloxi train has some potential. I 'm not suggesting through San Antonio- Jacksonville service but passengers travelling between some of thes points could layovernight in Biloxi and cat
What about scrapping service to houston until the traffic nightmare is cleared up. run a day train east from SA to Shreveport and south to New Orleans via Baton Rouge on KCS track (I believe the current service being kicked around for New Orleans is using this track). The Eagle coudl continue to split with one section going south to Monterrey via Nuevo Laredo and the other being the LA portion. I’d like to see more attention paid to capacity than simply adhering to historical routes (I know, heresy in the railroad world). The day train concept is consistent with growth in passenger traffic. Quite simply, people are showing that they want to ride these intercity trains and they cost far less to perate than the LD routes. in short, you get more bang for your buck both in terms of service and getting more people on trains.