Restoration of New Orleans - Mobile - Jacksonville Gulf Coast Service

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Dumb question maybe but why not just return the Sunset Limited to the route like it once had previously? If not extending it to Miami or Orlando, terminate in Jacksonville?....
Basically, the Sunset between Mobile and the east coast just didn't work. The whole run was made a oh-dark-thirty. An every-other-day train that runs on a glacial time-table and doesn't connect to any other train in New Orleans, does not serve the market. Furthermore, there are big questions about the availability of the tracks east of P'cola.

FWIW, a day trip from Pensacola to Orlando on the pre-Katrina SL averaged 36.5mph. And a day trip on the remaining SL leg from NOL to SAS averages 29.4mph....
And the train just wasn't useful. Maybe some folks rode it across the USA but it wasn't useful to regional customers. It's much more useful to have multiple runs per day that may actually connect to other trains in New Orleans. Who knows, if this works, it might eventually be extended to Birmingham, giving a connection to the Crescent.

Whatever they do, it will have to be built on success. Nostalgia and dreams won't cut it.
 
I would amend that slightly: it *either* has to be roughly as fast as driving, *or* it has to offer me the ability to do something I can't while driving or flying --- for instance, I can sit and read, or work offline on a laptop, much more easily on a train than I can while driving (or while a passenger in someone else's car, or while flying.) In my part of the world, with 80mph speed limits on all the interstates and very few traffic jams, the train never wins on speed alone.

There is a market for slow-but-comfortable. There's a market for moving offices, fully equipped with phone service and fast internet.
There's a market for "isn't it nice to get directly from downtown to downtown without having to be at the wheel in a traffic jam."

None of these markets is "everybody." But they are all legitimate markets. Slower than but more comfortable than a plane is a big market over distances of a few hundred miles. Slower than driving but less stress than fighting traffic and looking for parking describes a lot of suburban service. (And in a few cases - in the NEC, and for instance a subway under a gridlocked downtown - the train is actually faster.)

Now which of those markets should Amtrak stress?
There was a time when the social and relaxed atmosphere was a big selling point. It seems to be less so now (and the lack of wifi and cell service on western trains is turning into a sizable negative.)
Maybe selling electronically capable roomettes to businessmen for day trips is a real new market to consider. Maybe Japanese style sleepers for 10-hour trips is a real new market.

Most of that marketing relates to the onboard amenities. ALL of those markets require the train to be frequent and on time.
I'm guessing "all of the above" isn't an option.:(
 
Basically, the Sunset between Mobile and the east coast just didn't work. The whole run was made a oh-dark-thirty. An every-other-day train that runs on a glacial time-table and doesn't connect to any other train in New Orleans, does not serve the market. Furthermore, there are big questions about the availability of the tracks east of P'cola.


And the train just wasn't useful. Maybe some folks rode it across the USA but it wasn't useful to regional customers. It's much more useful to have multiple runs per day that may actually connect to other trains in New Orleans. Who knows, if this works, it might eventually be extended to Birmingham, giving a connection to the Crescent.

Whatever they do, it will have to be built on success. Nostalgia and dreams won't cut it.

I agree that the schedule needs to work well for the locals. I also think a connection to the City of New Orleans would be really valuable.

We recently vacationed on a spring break down in the Dauphin Island area outside of Mobile. We decided to drive on that trip. We stayed with a family friend who is from Kalamazoo Michigan originally. She lamented the fact that she couldn’t take the train back-and-forth to Kalamazoo from Mobile without somehow finding her way to and from New Orleans. The Gulf Coast train if it has any connection at all to the city of New Orleans will provide that for her.
 
I've never understood the scheduling of the Sunset Limited, nevermind the three day a week thing.
As stated elsewhere, the impossibility of connecting in New Orleans with trains or planes without an overnight, San Antonio in the middle of the night, crack of dawn arrival in LA is not too bad, and the 10PM LA departure is at times convenient. The ONLY convenient part of the sked.
Mayhap they have fingered this out to minimize freight delays?
HINT:>> It hasn't worked!
 
On post-after-post throughout this forum people keep saying they take the train "for the ride" - not because it is "fast" ... now we want to complain that a train that will offer the splendid view of the Gulf Coast and the panhandle of Florida is "too slow" - and yet, the winding trek through the Rockies is "spectacular" and shouldn't be missed?

I have, in the past, advocated rerouting the Southwest Chief through Wichita and Amarillo (faster, more online population) and I've advocated rerouting the California Zephyr through Wyoming (faster) while retaining a daily Ski Train route from Denver to Grand Junction (keeping most of the online population -- Green River and Helper often have no passengers).

So I'm not one of the people who believes in running artificially slow train routes "for the ride". You may be thinking of someone else.
 
On post-after-post throughout this forum people keep saying they take the train "for the ride" - not because it is "fast" ... now we want to complain that a train that will offer the splendid view of the Gulf Coast and the panhandle of Florida is "too slow" - and yet, the winding trek through the Rockies is "spectacular" and shouldn't be missed?
I see no conflict. When I want to see the scenery and take the train for the ride, I do so. When I want to take the train but avoid flying, I want a fast train. And higher speeds don't mean you miss the scenery - it just goes by a little faster at 80mph than at 40mph.
 
This is good news. Multiple frequency corridor service is alot more useful to locak residents than a thrice weekly long distance train. Will Mobile be a terminus or will this be extended up to Birmingham?
 
It needs to be restored to JAX
Get Senators Marco Rubio and Rick Scott to send some Federal $$$$ to Florida to allow the State of Florida to contribute to the service. Hey, right now the Senate is working on that Covid Relief Bill, some $$$$ for this service in return for their bipartisan support for the bill would get the funding to the state real quick. On the other hand, I believe that Sen. Scott, back when he was governor of Florida, turned down Federal $$$ for corridor service to Tampa, so maybe the people of Florida don't really care about whether or not they have train service between New Orleans and Jacksonville.
 
Get Senators Marco Rubio and Rick Scott to send some Federal $$$$ to Florida to allow the State of Florida to contribute to the service. Hey, right now the Senate is working on that Covid Relief Bill, some $$$$ for this service in return for their bipartisan support for the bill would get the funding to the state real quick. On the other hand, I believe that Sen. Scott, back when he was governor of Florida, turned down Federal $$$ for corridor service to Tampa, so maybe the people of Florida don't really care about whether or not they have train service between New Orleans and Jacksonville.

Give them a gameday train that goes from Gainesville to Jacksonville for Florida/Georgia and another one from Gainesville to Tallahassee for FSU/UF and you might get senators in the state talking about train service (hahaha).
 
That is a single track, rarely used, that backtracks through Starke to Baldwin before it could head to Tallahassee - definitely not a direct route.

Although you could manage a trip to JAX from those tracks - there is nowhere to board a train. Those tracks have only been used to service the power plant with fuel.

Even thought the map shows the tracks ending on 23rd near 6th st - they no longer run that far. They terminate at 84 Lumber near 53rd St and 441
 
I understand it's not a direct route to Tallahassee, it's more about getting people to acknowledge that trains could help Florida. That spot at 23rd near 6th looks like it would be a great place for Transit Oriented Development.
 
Great news.

If it weren't for the delays, I would love the Sunset to go back to Florida. I would definitely take it.

Maybe, if the SAS-LAX portion of the TE goes daily, the stub train will continue on to Florida?
 
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