Passenger Trains > Amtrak NOL Update

No service to/from NOL at least thru Labor Day.

1-2 turns at San Antonio
19-20 turns at Atlanta (why not Birmingham?)
58-59 turns at Memphis

No Alternate Transportation

Regarding Atlanta, the turn there gives them lots of time to service the train and turn the same equipment. They'd lose 6 hours by making the same turn at BHM.

Does this turn in Atlanta require one less trainset for the Crescent - just out of curiosity......Course I am sure members on this forum will know where I'm going with that statement!

Unless there's another way for the Crescent to get into New Orleans without going over that long lake (starts with a P) - with the rail bridge that is either completely gone or destroyed in a lot of sections - I think we'll see the Crescent turning in Atlanta for quite some time.

Not sure if there's another temporary, or short term, solution that could be worked out to get the train closer to New Orleans (perhaps down through Birmingham and to Mobile on what used to be the Gulf Breeze route).

Course lots of cleanup and other priorities need to happen before we'll see trains rolling anywhere near New Orleans if you ask me. But getting Amtrak trains a little more south (Crescent and City of New Orleans) with some sort of bus connection may help with mobility to/from the area for various types of passengers. Course the main servicing facility and turning trains at another location beside New Orleans is going to be the tough issue.

As for the Sunset - forget it. This may be the excuse to say adios!

I just hope Amtrak monitors train demand and if it can shift cars with low ridership (as a result of these various truncations) to trains bearing sold-out conditions, that would be nice - and make economic sense. If the Crescent is truncated in Atlanta would this require one less trainset for the Crescent? I don't think so, but just thought I'd ask.

With the massive flooding and sluggish public sector response, it seems clear to me that NOL will be shutdown for at least 6 months.

(Let's check back here about then and see if I was right!)

No service through Sept 7 is whats reported on Amtrak computer.

Why does almost everone hate the Sunset? It's doing better than the Starlight yet you don't pick on it. The only people who care for the Sunset and want it to become daily are the people who live in cities along its route. And i'm just tired or defending it so please stop saying kill the Sunset it doesn't deserve to die.

SunsetLtd Wrote:
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> Why does almost everone hate the Sunset? It's
> doing better than the Starlight yet you don't pick
> on it. The only people who care for the Sunset and
> want it to become daily are the people who live in
> cities along its route. And i'm just tired or
> defending it so please stop saying kill the Sunset
> it doesn't deserve to die.

How about we give the Starlight the cushion that the Sunset gets?

metrolinkvalleysub Wrote:
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> How about we give the Starlight the cushion that
> the Sunset gets?

Eventually it will now that the UP is treating it like the Sunset.

Six months?? Six years!!

I don't understand why amtrak can't come to the rescue of the people that need to get out of that area (and those that need to get IN), in other words, why terminate at Memphis on the City or Atlanta on the Crescent? Why not further south, closer to the scene, like Jackson or that area to utilize the public transportation conveyance that amtrak is SUPPOSED to be?

These trains could be used for emergency transit for thousands. Has nobody thought of this? Memphis? Atlanta? Geez. Get on board, pun intended, Amtrak.

> These trains could be used for emergency transit
> for thousands. Has nobody thought of this?
> Memphis? Atlanta? Geez. Get on board, pun
> intended, Amtrak.

Signals are out, power lines drape across the tracks, and areas are flooded. This is the situation even in Memphis and Atlanta. You can't take a train weighing hundreds of tons across soft dirt.

The only place,I am aware of that the Creasent can be turned south of Atlanta is Bham. Meridian doesn't have anyway to turn a train around,no wyes like Bham does. The only way I beleive they could run the Creasent farther south would be to run the locos back to back,instead of the usual elephant style,and run around the train at Meridian or maybe Hattiesburg.That would get you closer,but,for now that would be good enough. Maybe after NS cleans up the ROW,they could get to Slidell,not going past there for a while,until the causeway is probably rebuilt. and I-10 ain't gonna be open anytime soon either for buses.

It's a wait and see propisition, but Raindeerflame's comment is dead off, anyone knows that railroads are always the 1St forms of Transportation to get things up and running ASAP compared to others?

Efforts to get the City of New Orleans and Crescent as close to New Orleans as possible should be the goal for Amtrak. Makes transportation options for those people in the South more available, rather than terminating further north - as is the case at present. But that's understandable considering the cleanup and rebuilding of rail lines that needs to take place south of these temporary turning/truncation points. A re-route to new population centers to makeup for the lost New Orleans terminal - also a nice consideration, but requires $$ and logistics.