What new route do you want Amtrak to use

[railfangns]

How About

Houston, Dallas-Ft Worth Abileen,Midland-Odessa to El Paso and connect with the sunset limited there

I went one trip on the sunset from San Antonio to Ft worth via the eagle route then out through abileen

Midland-Odessa, Big Springs into El Paso because the SP had a big freight derailment in Sanderson TX

We were 12 hours late getting into El Paso and 15 hours late getting into LA.We had a UP crew work from

Ft worth to Big Springs and we had to fuel of our 2 engines and a crew change was made there where

another UP crew took over.We had the P30CH engines on our train and we met train 2 west of Fort

worth they got rerouted also.I dont think the UP crews were too fond of the P30Ch units as i heard one

of them talking about them in the dining car.More food and supplies got loaded on at Fort Worth. I seen

boxes of food that someone had went to a store and bought.Funny thing about that trip we ended up

in Phoenix at noon and i heard it was 105 degrees outside so i asked the conductor can i step out so i

could see what that desert heat felt like.He let me step out and it really didnt feel bad because it was a

dry heat unlike our heat here in GA.Got into LA at 10 pm instead of 7 am so i missed my connection

with the coast starlight so amtrak bussed us to San Franciso then i made the first flight of my life on

Alaska airlines to Seattle.Great flight and they even fed us lunch after we took off.Try getting food on

the airlines now days.That is a heavily populated area of Texas more so than the current sunset route

that travels through Del Rio Sanderson and Alpine.Also put Phoenix back on the sunset route they are

missing a huge city by not stopping there.

 

[frj1983]

There are two major obstacles you have to overcome, getting the line in good enough shape to run competitive service and getting the freight companies to agree to run it. For the two big boys in this market (CSX and NS) there is a lot of money in high priority Intermodal and Auto Rack trains that they don't want to see quelled by Amtrak. There would be big Infrastructure demands, including more ballast, heavier rail, new ties, double track, CTC, new sidings. etc. none of which are cheap. So this project would require a lot of resources from the States and the Feds to happen. Also, to be able to run competitive service you'd have to get the track up to 70 MPH (the fastest you can run the Carriers at) otherwise the highways will continue to dominate.

I agree,

Also where would they put the station? It would have to be close to the freight line, and would have to be set up like Sanford, close to the city and easy to get to. This means big bucks to purchase the land needed and to put down the trackage needed. As well as hiring personnel to handle the loading and unloading of vehicles...and with Amtraks penchant for getting rid of employees these days, I don't see them doing this any time soon.

I do, however, believe that there is an untapped market for passengers from the Midwest to Florida on a more direct routing than currently done.

 

[~guest~]

dc/baltimore to Ocean City, Md.... see...

http://discuss.amtraktrains.com/index.php?showtopic=5325 post #8

 

[RailThunder]

Very interesting thread. My top pick would be a midwest to Florida service also. Perhaps what I would love to see most is for states to form a consortium to purchase abandoned rail routes between city pairs and turn them into absolute racetracks with 90-110mph running. While it would be very expensive the long term benefits could be terrific. An example of this would be the route segment that CSX abandoned from Petersburg, Virginia to Raleigh, North Carolina (there is still local freight service north of there a ways to Norlina I believe - the former route of the Silver Star until 1986). Imagine being able to run at high speed with no freight interference!

Now back to the Midwest to Florida service with the abandoned corridor revitalization approach. I had the priviledge of taking Amtrak's Floridian twice before it's discountinuance in October of 1979 and would agree it was quite a long trip from Florida to Louisville. I would prefer a City of Miami route, but with a twist. My logic would be for states/federal monies etc. be used to reinstall the 2nd track on the former IC from Chicago south to Memphis with concrete ties, welded rail, advanced signaling etc. allowing 90-110mph operation. The abandoned corridor approach would be used on the abandoned City route from Memphis to Birmingham. From Birmingham to Montgomery pour millions into the CSX route with sections of double track etc. At Birmingham there would also be a connection to the Crescent to Atlanta. Now for the major twist part. I think another slow part of the original Floridian route was meandering route across southern Alabama and Georgia all the way over to Jacksonville. The new route would be from Montgomery south to Tallahassee, Florida (the former ACL right of way) revitalizing in some parts for high speed running. At Tallahassee connect with the the Sunset and/or Gulf Wind variant to Jacksonville and/or split the train with one section continuing to Jacksonville and Orlando connecting with other current Florida service. The City would then proceed south to Tampa on the revitalized corridor (former ACL all currently abandoned with exception of a very small route segment). The former ACL had many long tangents that would be ideal for high speed running. At Tampa pick up the current Silver Star route on into Miami.

All of this for one train? I must be crazy! Actually within each state there would be additional corridor potential. Granted this would be a monumental undertaking with huge investment and politics would surely be hot. This proposal also potentially avoids current major frieght bottlenecks and frieght train interference which would be a huge plus. By having 90-110mph running from Tampa north, the train could essentially have much faster travel times than any midwest to Florida service ever had.

 

[frj1983]

Very interesting thread. My top pick would be a midwest to Florida service also. Perhaps what I would love to see most is for states to form a consortium to purchase abandoned rail routes between city pairs and turn them into absolute racetracks with 90-110mph running. While it would be very expensive the long term benefits could be terrific. An example of this would be the route segment that CSX abandoned from Petersburg, Virginia to Raleigh, North Carolina (there is still local freight service north of there a ways to Norlina I believe - the former route of the Silver Star until 1986). Imagine being able to run at high speed with no freight interference!
Now back to the Midwest to Florida service with the abandoned corridor revitalization approach. I had the priviledge of taking Amtrak's Floridian twice before it's discountinuance in October of 1979 and would agree it was quite a long trip from Florida to Louisville. I would prefer a City of Miami route, but with a twist. My logic would be for states/federal monies etc. be used to reinstall the 2nd track on the former IC from Chicago south to Memphis with concrete ties, welded rail, advanced signaling etc. allowing 90-110mph operation. The abandoned corridor approach would be used on the abandoned City route from Memphis to Birmingham. From Birmingham to Montgomery pour millions into the CSX route with sections of double track etc. At Birmingham there would also be a connection to the Crescent to Atlanta. Now for the major twist part. I think another slow part of the original Floridian route was meandering route across southern Alabama and Georgia all the way over to Jacksonville. The new route would be from Montgomery south to Tallahassee, Florida (the former ACL right of way) revitalizing in some parts for high speed running. At Tallahassee connect with the the Sunset and/or Gulf Wind variant to Jacksonville and/or split the train with one section continuing to Jacksonville and Orlando connecting with other current Florida service. The City would then proceed south to Tampa on the revitalized corridor (former ACL all currently abandoned with exception of a very small route segment). The former ACL had many long tangents that would be ideal for high speed running. At Tampa pick up the current Silver Star route on into Miami.

All of this for one train? I must be crazy! Actually within each state there would be additional corridor potential. Granted this would be a monumental undertaking with huge investment and politics would surely be hot. This proposal also potentially avoids current major frieght bottlenecks and frieght train interference which would be a huge plus. By having 90-110mph running from Tampa north, the train could essentially have much faster travel times than any midwest to Florida service ever had.

Actually,

I kind of like that idea of a dedicated right of way for passenger service. I just wish I had my beaten up railroad atlas sitting in front of me so I could view the pieces you are talking about. I also like your "corridor revitilization" approach. That may be the kind of thing that could get federal monies for demonstration purposes. Select a good city pair and see what happens!

If such a train had existed in September, my Wife and I would have headed to Florida by train rather than by plane!

 

[battalion51]

I'm sorry but it seems like if this sort of service were to be brought back in today's day and age, you don't go via Tallahassee (as much as I love this town) and Birmingham, you go via Atlanta. The state of Georgia would probably be very willing to throw down some bucks if service from Savannah to Atlanta could be put in place, and possibly even if there is service from JAX to ATL without going through SAV, go via Tifton. From Atlanta you have a variety of different ways to go, but I'd head towards Louisville and Indianapolis and follow the Cardinal route in to Chi-town.

 

[AmtrakWPK]

And if ATL-SAV or ATL-JAX were to be instituted that would salvage the southern transcontinental route that Sunset used to provide, since Amtrak's corporate nose keeps getting longer and longer as they keep saying Sunset east of NOL hasn't been discontinued. It would mean Sunset from Los Angeles to NOL, Crescent NOL-ATL, then (new train) ATL-JAX or ATL-SAV, and finally Silver Service from there south into Florida or north into the Georgian-Carolina coastal areas.

 

[RailThunder]

I'm sorry but it seems like if this sort of service were to be brought back in today's day and age, you don't go via Tallahassee (as much as I love this town) and Birmingham, you go via Atlanta. The state of Georgia would probably be very willing to throw down some bucks if service from Savannah to Atlanta could be put in place, and possibly even if there is service from JAX to ATL without going through SAV, go via Tifton. From Atlanta you have a variety of different ways to go, but I'd head towards Louisville and Indianapolis and follow the Cardinal route in to Chi-town.

I would agree that from a marketing standpoint Atlanta is a major population zone and any new rail service to/from that city would be beneficial. I would eagerly welcome new services over existing rail corridors to Jacksonville and Savannah as well as to other existing city pairs. Thinking long term however there have been many studies over the years regarding passenger rail service to and through that city, as well as commuter rail studies. The one major mitigating factor in all of their findings was freight congestion by both freight carriers (NS and CSX). Due to topography of the land north of Atlanta (mountainous terrain) there would be tremendous expense in easing freight congestion and the time benefit maximization wouldn't be as advantageous vs. the automobile. Granted I know there have been other high speed studies done in other states as well.

My scenario for the City of Miami route would do several things. The infrastructure cost would be less account not having to move mountains etc. and using abandoned corridors would be a terrific new economic benefit. Instead of having a rails to trails program create a new program of "Trails to Fast Rails". One major benefit is vastly improving travel times over the automobile, as well as avoiding freight interference which is a major delay factor in this day and age. By using an approach such as this many big cities such as Atlanta would say "I want that in my part of the country!" and it would open up other corridors nationwide. Look at the light rail boom our country has had since the 1980s, once one community got light rail others wanted it such as Sacremento, Portland, Los Angeles, San Diego, Baltimore, St. Louis and others. Kansas City just voted to have a light rail system. The light rail systems have used parts of abandoned rail corridors throughout these communities. My theory is to do a similiar thing except on an inter-city scale. Lastly, by making long distance services faster it would make them less of a political target as they would have better patronage. Higher speed sells...

By adding capacity improvements along with infrastructure improvements on previous high speed corridors i.e. Chicago - southern Illinois there would be a benefit for the freight carriers also. Another example of this same approach could be used on the Florida East Coast Railway and CSX by re-installing double track all the way from Miami to Jacksonville to Richmond, Virginia and having that track as a dedicated passenger track with expounded superelevation for fast running.

 

[George Harris]

The City of Miami Route did not go through Memphis. It left the main line at (actually tnat is, it continued on the original main line sout of) Fulton KY and went to Jackson, Tenn, and from there followed a stitched together route of GM&O trackage rights, its own track, Southern Ttrackage rights, Frisco trackage rigths to Birmingham. Abotu 40 miles of the IC owned part in northern Alabama has been abandoned, and the the remainder from there north to Fulton KY is now operated as short lines. The Frisco and Southern parts need major curve straightening, but north of there, your major track upgrade should give you a lot of 90 mph plus track.

It appears that what you are thinking of south of Tallahassee is the Perry Cut Off, which was used by the Southland (Chicago - Cincinatti - Atlanta - Tampa/St. Petersburg) prior to its discontinuance in the late 50's. This line crossed teh South Wind route at Thomasville GA and passed about 20 miles or so east of Tallahassee, but you could go through Tallahassee by turning south at Bainbridge GA on the ex SAL line that ran Talahassee to Columbus GA, then go east from Talahassee on the line toward Jacksonville until you hit the Perry Cut Off and turned south.

 

[Ken]

Surprised that no one has mentioned Minneapolis - Des Moines - Kansas City - Dallas - Houston / San Antonio

best with conection with the Southwest Chief at Kansas City, then you can have Chicago to Texas and Twin Cities to California through service by some switching.

Now reschedule toe Eagle to an early am arrival late pm departure at Dallas, have a Houston section that combines at Longview, throw on some through cars to Memphis out of Little Rock, then extend as a day train to Chicago, which is already there north of Carbondale, and you have increased the service possibilities far beyond the increase in train miles. Oh yeah, this train should continue directly west from Dallas to El Paso, maybe even Los Angeles. You could also continue east of Memephis on the old route of the Tennessean, except daytime to east Tennessee, all the way to Washington or New York. This might work to combine with teh Crescent, but maybe not. That combination should occr at Lynchburg, not Charlottesville, by the way.

I think that the Lakeshore Limited route could support about three daily trains spaced out, and you could split at least one at Cleveland to go Columbus-Cincinatti and another to go Indinapolis-St. Louis-Kansas City.

I am not forgetting the need for midwest to Florida already mentioned by others. But as has been noted, there is considerable expense required to make a reasonable and realiable schedule possible. In the 50's early 60's, the City of Miami / South wind left Chicago around 9:00 am arrived Chicago aroudn 6:00 pm and took about 23 hours to Jacksonville. They were around 30 to 32 hours Chicago to Miami.

The problems there:

City of Miami route: no longer possible. several sections abandoned others now branch line status.

South Wind route: different Chicago to Indianapolis. major work needed Indianapolis to Louisville and quite of bit of work also needed Montgomery to Waycross.

Dixie Flagler Route: all still in place, all still main line. Heavily congested with freight. Even double tracking throughout might not be enough to ensure reliability. This was alwasy the tightest schedule of the three due to a very curvey route through Georgia nad parts of Middle Tennessee. No part south of Evansville ever had over a 70 mph limit and most south of Nashville was 60 mph, curves permitting.

George

 

[Ken]

Surprised that no one has mentioned Minneapolis - Des Moines - Kansas City - Dallas - Houston / San Antonio

best with conection with the Southwest Chief at Kansas City, then you can have Chicago to Texas and Twin Cities to California through service by some switching.

Now reschedule toe Eagle to an early am arrival late pm departure at Dallas, have a Houston section that combines at Longview, throw on some through cars to Memphis out of Little Rock, then extend as a day train to Chicago, which is already there north of Carbondale, and you have increased the service possibilities far beyond the increase in train miles. Oh yeah, this train should continue directly west from Dallas to El Paso, maybe even Los Angeles. You could also continue east of Memephis on the old route of the Tennessean, except daytime to east Tennessee, all the way to Washington or New York. This might work to combine with teh Crescent, but maybe not. That combination should occr at Lynchburg, not Charlottesville, by the way.

I think that the Lakeshore Limited route could support about three daily trains spaced out, and you could split at least one at Cleveland to go Columbus-Cincinatti and another to go Indinapolis-St. Louis-Kansas City.

I am not forgetting the need for midwest to Florida already mentioned by others. But as has been noted, there is considerable expense required to make a reasonable and realiable schedule possible. In the 50's early 60's, the City of Miami / South wind left Chicago around 9:00 am arrived Chicago aroudn 6:00 pm and took about 23 hours to Jacksonville. They were around 30 to 32 hours Chicago to Miami.

The problems there:

City of Miami route: no longer possible. several sections abandoned others now branch line status.

South Wind route: different Chicago to Indianapolis. major work needed Indianapolis to Louisville and quite of bit of work also needed Montgomery to Waycross.

Dixie Flagler Route: all still in place, all still main line. Heavily congested with freight. Even double tracking throughout might not be enough to ensure reliability. This was alwasy the tightest schedule of the three due to a very curvey route through Georgia nad parts of Middle Tennessee. No part south of Evansville ever had over a 70 mph limit and most south of Nashville was 60 mph, curves permitting.

George

What about a Detroit-Florida and Chicago-Florida passenger train that joins at Cincinnati and then south to Atlanta and then to Savannah and from there on the existing Silver Service lines but with Florida west coast service extended south from Tampa to Ft. Myers. The Detroit portion could follow a routing: Port Huron (connection with VIA)-Mt. Clemens-Detroit (connection with VIA)-Monroe-Toledo-Dayton-Cincinnati. A third feeder could even be added from Cleveland-Columbus-Cincinnati. Everyone I knows goes to Florida at least once per year; an alternative to flying would be interesting alternative for some.

 

[George Harris]

What about a Detroit-Florida and Chicago-Florida passenger train that joins at Cincinnati and then south to Atlanta and then to Savannah and from there on the existing Silver Service lines but with Florida west coast service extended south from Tampa to Ft. Myers. The Detroit portion could follow a routing: Port Huron (connection with VIA)-Mt. Clemens-Detroit (connection with VIA)-Monroe-Toledo-Dayton-Cincinnati. A third feeder could even be added from Cleveland-Columbus-Cincinnati. Everyone I knows goes to Florida at least once per year; an alternative to flying would be interesting alternative for some.

I like the idea. However . . . The pre-Amtrak service on this route was two nights and one day to Jacksonville. Seriously doubt that this could be beat today. Doubtful that the mid 1950's run times could even be met. I don't know much about north of Cincinatti, but the two Cincinatti to Atlanta routes, NS via Chattanooga and CSX via Knoxville both took about 12 to 14 hours when passenger trains ran, and generally about 14 plus at the time service ended. Both line are heavily used freight corridors, so any time under 16 hours would probably be very unreliable, and this being over a distance of about 400 miles. Atlanta to Jacksonville via Savannah would mean NS ex CofG line which did it in 6 hours up to about 1970, but have no idea what could be done now. It is so far as I know unsignaled south of Macon GA. The NS ex Southern line used by the Kansas City Florida Special meats the ex aCL CSX line at Jesup Ga and is relatively uncongested. However, it is unsignaled south of Macon and is now low speed, 25 mph?? Almost dead straight but is anyone interested in spending the approximately $2 million per mile needed to make it a fast railroad?

George

 

[AmtrakWPK]

I don't know if getting all the way south to Ft. Myers from Tampa would make sense at this point as it would require laying rail in southwest Florida in some places where it no longer exists, and/or a very substantial upgrade of existing, very slow speed track. But if you were going to do it, I would run it all the way south to Naples and then continue east across the I-75 corridor to Ft. Lauderdale to give you a commuter line between Ft. Myers/Naples on the southwest Florida coast to West Palm-Miami on the southeast coast. Bear in mind that the land down there is exceeding expensive, but if you could use the I-75 right-of-way, which runs past Tampa, down to Naples, and over to Ft. Lauderdale, that would probably work pretty well. If you laid the track, you might be able to get an expansion of Tri-Rail to provide more of a global south Florida commuter service. Seminole Gulf does currently have track all the way south to North Naples (well, Bonita Beach, anyway) but it doesn't go all the way north to Tampa. It snakes north through Ft. Myers, then northeast to Arcadia, where it interconnects with CSX. Seminole Gulf also has a segment from around Bradenton (north of Sarasota, south of Tampa), where there is an interconnection with CSX south from Tampa. Seminole Gulf's segment goes from around Bradenton south to Venice, but there is no connection south to Ft. Myers from there. Amtrak currently operates a bus from Ft. Myers Travel Plaza (essentially a truck stop at a Ft. Myers exit on I-75) up to Tampa, east through Lakeland, and over to Orlando, to supply a Ft. Myers-Tampa-Lakeland bridge to and from 97-98 Silver Meteor. They also have a bus from Tampa northeast through Ocala/Gainesville up to JAX that supplies a connection to the trains for the cities that used to be served by the Silver Palm route in west central Florida. Seminole Gulf, by the way, operates a dinner train, excursion trains, and a mystery dinner theatre train out of Ft. Myers. We rode their dinner theatre train once and really enjoyed it.

 

[MrFSS]

Seminole Gulf, by the way, operates a dinner train, excursion trains, and a mystery dinner theatre train out of Ft. Myers. We rode their dinner theatre train once and really enjoyed it.

I rode that train a few years ago. It was the most rough train ride I've ever had in my life. You couldn't even stand up while the train was moving for fear of being thrown to the floor. Eating must be fun on the dinner trains!
Here's a shot I took that day. I understand this engine may now be retired, again.

 

[AmtrakWPK]

As I remember, they parked the train at the midpoint (the engineer walked through the train from the front engine to the rear engine, to switch directions for the return trip) so that meal service (and the theatre scenes) would be with the train stationary. They appear to have some new equipment - http://www.semgulf.com/new-images/header.gif since we were there last. http://www.semgulf.com/images-excursion/Image1.jpg

and while we're a little OT anyway, there's also a rather nice rail museum with rolling stock in the vicinity of all this, in Parrish, east of Bradenton: The Florida Gulf Coast Railroad Museum, Inc., http://www.frrm.org with something interesting coming up. Feb 2007 "Month of Steam", an appearance by the Flagg Coal Co. Number 75, steam engine. http://www.frrm.org/images/febsteam.jpg

 

[AmtCHI]

Twin Cities-Des Moines- KC- Oklahoma City

Chi-Florida

multiple chi-msp trips daily

 

[chucklehead]

Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe :lol:

but seriously: portland to boise to jackson hole to wall (south dakota) to chi town.

 

[Guest]

Twin Cities-Des Moines- KC- Oklahoma City

I'll second that. I took an Amtrak trip to LA once and had to first drive 6 hours to Fort Madison, IA to catch the Southwest Chief. It was either that or go from Mpls to Chicago on the Empire Builder and then wait 23-1/2 hours for the next Chief to leave, because it departs one half-hour before the Empire arrives. Or I suppose I could've taken the Empire out to the Seattle area and then head down the coast, adding a whole day to the trip. They need one good north-south route in the middle of the country, along the I-35 corridor. Even if it didn't run every day it'd be a huge help.

 

[BobWeaver]

I was spotting trains in Folkston, GA last week and an Amtrak recent retiree was there along with a current Amtrak employee, who worked in their safety department and was there to promote Operation Lifesaver as well as scope out school buses not stopping before the tracks in town. I overheard the two talking about delays on the soon-to-be-passing-through Silver Meteor (#98) and so I joined them in the conversation. By the way, there is apparently a lot of dead time between Palatka and Jacksonville, and 98 passed through almost on time. Anyways, the two were talking about how hard and how long Amtrak has been trying to get a route on the Florida East Coast from Jacksonville / St. Augustine to West Palm Beach and Miami too, but FEC will NOT cooperate. This would mean that FEC would have to build sidings, something that they apparently do not want to do.

On the subject of AutoTrain, I believe that one is wrong when they say that the AutoTrain only runs to Virginia and not to D.C. This is of course correct, because Lorton is clearly in Virginia. But when the Capitol building is a very short 20 to 25 minute drive from the AutoTrain station in Lorton, you might as well consider it running to D.C. I have thought about an idea about AutoTrain lately as well. The train makes a stop in Florence, SC to change crews, refuel, service cars, etc. Would it not be practical to make Florence a midpoint terminal? And by this I mean make Florence be an en-route Lorton or Sanford. Auto racks would be full and ready to connect to the existing train so that the train could leave as soon as possible, and those cars bound for Florence could be in auto racks at the end of the train so that they can be easily connected. Comments?

 

[AlanB]

I have thought about an idea about AutoTrain lately as well. The train makes a stop in Florence, SC to change crews, refuel, service cars, etc. Would it not be practical to make Florence a midpoint terminal? And by this I mean make Florence be an en-route Lorton or Sanford. Auto racks would be full and ready to connect to the existing train so that the train could leave as soon as possible, and those cars bound for Florence could be in auto racks at the end of the train so that they can be easily connected. Comments?

It's an interesting idea, but I'm not sure that there is enough of a market for that area, especially with the unatractive calling times. I personally think that auto trains would do best in markets where the ride is more than 600 miles and involves a full overnight.

 

[BobWeaver]

yeah, a valid point indeed. they both make their stops around midnight or so, assuming that csx dispatching doesn't give them the shaft

 

[VentureForth]

I would like to see:
El Paso

Albuquerque

Denver

Casper

Billings

West Glacier

Albuquerque

Denver

Rapid City

St. Paul

For starters

Oh, I really like these. Amtrak has a distinct shortage of routes that go from the SE to the NW. Almost all flow (interstates, too) are SW to NE.

I would also like to see the Crescent Star come into existence --> Meridian MS, Shreveport LA, Greenville TX, Dallas. It would be a WHOLE lot faster access to the NEC than to have to go through Chicago.

 

[D.P. Roberts]

I would just like to see a train - ANY train - go through Ohio (the seventh most populous state in the nation) during daylight hours.

 

[George Harris]

Ohio cries out for a series of "corridor" trains both within the state and connecting cities in adjacent states:

Pittsburg Cleveland Toledo Detroit

Buffalo Cleveland Columbus Cincinatti

Pittsburg Columbus Indianapolis St. Louis

Cincinatti Detroit

Cincinatti Columbus Toledo detroit

Cincinatti Indianapolis Chicago

Cincinatti Indianapolis St. Louis

As North Carolina has shown, even if not really fast, a few a day connecting major cities will over time build up good ridership, andthe distances and citiy sizes should make the Ohio trains have a lot greater ridership than those in North Carolina.

The goings on in California have shown that if you have good frequency you also get greater ridership PER TRAIN thn if you have only one or two.

 

[Guest]

Connection between Florida and Atlanta/North Georgia is a must.

I hate driving 10 hours to mountains, I would prefers sleeping in the train instead

Also most states need short distance trains like in California (LA-SanDiego).

In Europe this is the most popular transportation for distances like 2-3 hours.

What is the problem to establish for example 5-6 trains per day between Tampa and Orlando?

Thousands of people are driving this route every day.

They are talking for years about new high speed train between Tampa and Orlando,

but why to build new tracks if tracks are already exist???