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Amtrak Could Roll Through Our Area Again
July 20, 2009
Amtrak passenger rail service could return to the area, if Congress gives approval to a three-option plan presented late last week. If either plan is approved, Atmore’s iconic train station could be demolished.
Hurricane Katrina spelled an end to the coast to coast Sunset Limited service between Los Angeles and Florida, with 13 stops including Atmore and Pensacola. The railway between New Orleans and Mobile was left unusable by the massive storm.
Now Amtrak is proposing three options for restoring service between New Orleans and Orlando:
- Restoration of the tri-weekly Sunset Limited between Los Angeles and Orlando.
- Extend the daily City of New Orleans service east from New Orleans to Orlando. The train currently operates between Chicago, Illinois and New Orleans.
- Implement stand-alone overnight service between New Orleans and Orlando.
All three of the proposals have some common elements that would be noticeable in North Escambia, Atmore and surrounding areas. Any of the three trains would operate on the old Sunset Limited route in our area. From Mobile, the trains would head to Atmore, make a stop, and continue to Pensacola. Along the way from Atmore to Pensacola, the train would pass through Flomaton and North Escambia — the route currently taken by many freight trains each day.
Atmore’s iconic station — often used a symbol of the town — would be demolished under either of the three passenger rail plans presented to Congress. (Read more here.) The station is aging, in disrepair and does not meet current Americans with Disabilities Act standards. Rebuilding the station and platform would cost $740,147, according to Amtrak estimates.
In Pensacola – Escambia County, Florida’s only stop — it would take $431,242 to upgrade the rail station for signage and general repairs.
Restoring the Sunset Limited service would be the cheapest of the three options, according to the Amtrak report to Congress, at about $10.8 million in direct costs. The other two options top $20 million. The Sunset Limited would have the lowest operating costs as well. The Sunset Limited route, however, was ranked as one of the biggest money losers in the entire Amtrak system before its demise to Hurricane Katrina.
The report estimates it would take up to 20 months for station improvements to restore the Sunset Limited. Additional time would be needed, up to two years, just to take delivery on the new trains needed to extend the City of New Orleans route or create the new stand-along New Orleans to Orlando route.
The next step is for Congress to review the proposal, make recommendations and provide a funding source.
Comments
13 Responses to “Amtrak Could Roll Through Our Area Again”
I have lived in Japan where all highways are toll roads and the train is cheap to ride. You could get on a rapid train which hit major stops in an area then catch the local to get you near your home. There was also the bullet train which ran between major cities. I have also lived in Europe where trains go between countries and major cities. Again, roads were taxed, but trains were fairly inexpensive. I have also live in the SF Bay area and Cal Tran is fantastic! Hey, I love to drive. It gives me the freedom to keep my own schedule and not rely on someone else. But there are times when I’d like to take a train too. Until we adopt some form of this we are going to be dependent on the oil. How about this? You pay $10 per car to get on the highway. Take that money and build an excellent electric train system. Put solar panels all along the route from here to Jacksonville to generate power & sell excess to Gulf Power. There are all sorts of possibilities. I read the article in the Jacksonville Paper. I am now officially embarrassed that I live in Pensacola.
Rebuild the Amtrak station. I’d visit family more often in Pensacola; I live in N.Y. I don’t like/true, st planes. The planes may be safer but plane ACCIDENTS are NOT! ———————William Siemon
Atmore’s okay, but the old Flomaton depot, complete with vaulted ceilings and fountains, now that was something to see… Too bad they wouldn’t rebuild that one!
The biggest competitor of passenger trains are free highways. If the Federal government charged people the cost of using the highways and eliminated the gas tax it would make a world of difference in the demand for more trains. Until we stop hiding the real costs of highways and until we pay a fair price for parking passenger trains will continue to cost a bunch of money to subsidize. If highways were not subsidized, we could have trains that would support themselves and there would be many more to choose from.
BEWARE::::
CSX is trying to get PUBLIC money to upgrade there track
so they will bring back Amtrak…….
Its estimated that it cost in excess of 10 million dollars !!!!!!
THAT IS OUR MONEY, folks…………………………………..
I frequently rode the Sunset from Jacksonville to Houston and my last trip was 3 weeks before Katrina. Amtrak has used every excuse in the book to not bring the service back, and if you read the details of the report covering this issue, it is just another snow job to explain their inaction.
I love Passenger Trains, and Most Amtrak folks are great, but I think it is time to fire the whole lot of them from the lowest Asst. VP up and put in a management that really wants to please the people and not themselves.
Molino mom, your exactly right about the other papers…also, I get tired of reading the same old stories in both papers, sometimes word for word. Atmore is to small for 2 papers, and I was hoping one would eventually bow out. I know I can always come here and read the latest headlines, which is good because I work so much, i don’t have time to sit and watch any of the news anymore…good work!
Great idea. I just completed a wonderful train trip from Atlanta to San Antonio,Tx Trains are competitive in price , fun to travel and relaxing.. If you like this plan contact your congressmen and others to show your support.
personally, id love to see some of OUR stimulus monies be directed towards this infrastructure project…daytona is my home and its just a hop, skip and a jump from orlando….and then, there are shuttels that commute between orlando and daytona ….i dont think that ive ever ridden on a train either…sounds exciting to me!
This would be awesome. Thanks northescambia for covering the big stories in atmore that the newspaper here don’t. I don’t think we’d every hear about this stuff unless you did it. OF course, they will probably copy you on Wednesday. Betcha.
I guess I’m pretty easy to please, but one of the things that I really want to do in life is take a long train ride.
I’d love to get a train running through Atmore and/or Pensacola. It would make going to New York realistic but a loing route. The views in the fall time would be awesome. Then also going out to see a Lakers game would be somewhat reasonable too!
Have you ever noticed that Atmore news appears here first, then they write about it in the two Atmore papers? And that’s a really cool picture at the top of the page,BTW.