Passenger Trains > Former Amtrak Sunset East route sold to shortline

Part of the former route of the Amtrak Sunset Limited between New Orleans LA and
Jacksonville FL is being spun off by CSX Transportation to a shortline, the
Florida, Gulf and Atlantic Railroad.

Following is the full message from CSX to customers:  

May 28, 2019 

Shipping through the Florida Panhandle?
Review this Important Information 

Effective June 1, 2019, the PA, Tallahassee and a portion of the
Bainbridge subdivisions will be under the ownership of the Florida
Gulf & Atlantic Railroad, LLC (FGA). While the sale is expected to
close on May 31, the official operations transition date is June 1 at
0001 hours.
 
Please review the below information that will be pertinent if you are
shipping through the Florida Panhandle region.
 
Car Ordering
 
FGA will now order cars for customers. Contact the FGA Sales Contact
below for further assistance:
 
FGA Contacts
 
Sales:
 
Jeff Goutcher Director, Marketing & Sales Florida Gulf & Atlantic
Railroad, LLC  (E-mail and phone number redacted)

Operations:

Seth Rutz Superintendent, Operations Florida Gulf & Atlantic
Railroad, LLC  (E-mail and phone numbers redacted)
 
Rates
 
Current and future updates to rates will be made by CSX
Transportation. In the interim:
 
Rates will stay flat through the end of contracts. CSX Transportation
will make updates to include FGA in its routes. CSX Transportation
will pay FGA their portion based on Junction Settlement practices.
 
Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) Transmissions
 
Your EDI process does not need to change. FGA will be a Junction
Settlement RR.
 
ShipCSX Functionality
 
Customers may use ShipCSX to bill out cars, however the actual
release will still need to go through the FGA interface. Customers
on FGA will have track and trace capability while on CSX
Transportation Network only.
 
Interchange Points
 
2 interchange points between CSX Transportation and Florida Gulf &
Atlantic Railroad, LLC (FGA):
 
Baldwin, Fla.* Pensacola, Fla.
 
*Billing will reflect the Baldwin Junction, however both interchanges
used operationally with no differentiation on rates.
 
Junction Settlement Short Line
 
A Junction Settlement Railroad is a Short Line Carrier that does not
participate as a line haul carrier. Settlement of revenue is
performed by CSX Transportation. CSX Transportation settles the
division of freight revenues on behalf of the short line carrier. CSX
Transportation makes interline settlement with other carriers on
behalf of this type of road.
 
Junction Settlement Routing
 
Junction Settlement Carriers show up in the route as an
Origin/Destination Junction Settlement Railroad, as depicted below:
 

Example - ShipCSX Shipping Instructions
 
The junction settlement road should be placed in the 'Switch/Junction
Settlement Railroad' section in the route details.
 
Example - EDI 404/858
 
R2*FCEN*JO*ORLND R2*CSXT*S
 
AAR Information
 
R202 - Routing Sequence Code
 
JD = Junction Settlement Carrier Following (Destination carrier
receiving revenues resulting from junction contract)
 
JO = Junction Settlement Carrier Following (Origin carrier receiving
revenues resulting from junction contract)



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 05/29/19 00:39 by GenePoon.

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This is a tragedy. Eventually this route must be part of a regional, state and national passenger system. It will be downgraded to 25 mph.

Posted from iPhone

Not like either Amtrak or the state of Florida have any interest in the line.

Posted from iPhone

> It will be downgraded to 25 mph.

Highly probable, although it may take a while.

> This is a tragedy. 

Just a natural evolution. If it puts an end to discussion of restoring the Sunset east of New Orleans, that's fine with me. Was never going to happen anyway. Someday perhaps Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama will get serious about restoring the Gulf Coast Limited NO-Mobile. 
 

ctillnc Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> > It will be downgraded to 25 mph.
>
> Highly probable, although it may take a while.
>
> > This is a tragedy. 
>
> Just a natural evolution. If it puts an end to
> discussion of restoring the Sunset east of New
> Orleans, that's fine with me. Was never going to
> happen anyway. Someday perhaps Louisiana,
> Mississippi, and Alabama will get serious about
> restoring the Gulf Coast Limited NO-Mobile. 
>  

There has been no discussion of restoring the Sunset east of New Orleans except in the fantasyland of some railfans, for at least a decade now. LOL!

If it's a fantasy, it's one that was actively encouraged by Joe Boardman and Amtrak, which operated a special train on the route in 2016.

https://news.wfsu.org/post/north-florida-communities-push-amtrak-service-train-starts-rolling

Lots of happy talk from local politicos, Boardman, and the then-head honcho at FRA, Sarah Feinberg.

http://www.southernrailcommission.org/rail-story

Much hullabaloo, I'd say, generated by the four-state junket.

Paul Wilson
Arlington, VA



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/29/19 07:37 by Dcmcrider.

Solidifying the notion that "once they're gone, they're gone forever."  

Isn't restored service to Las Vegas, NV "just around the corner"?    

I think some of that line is dark territory (unsignaled) and that gets the FRA nervous when passenger trains are involved.  If true, it was probably one of the many reasons the passenger train was not restored.

Dcmcrider Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> If it's a fantasy, it's one that was actively
> encouraged by Joe Boardman and Amtrak, which
> operated a special train on the route in 2016.
>
> https://news.wfsu.org/post/north-florida-communiti
> es-push-amtrak-service-train-starts-rolling
>
> Lots of happy talk from local politicos, Boardman,
> and the then-head honcho at FRA, Sarah Feinberg.
>
> http://www.southernrailcommission.org/rail-story
>
> Much hullabaloo, I'd say, generated by the
> four-state junket.

Talk is cheap. It takes money to railroad.

This is OLD news.

Uncle Joe

retcsxcfm Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> This is OLD news.
>
> Uncle Joe

The prior sale fell through. This is new.

prr60 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------

> The prior sale fell through. This is new.

I think Joe is more right. 

The revised agreement after the failed one had already been announced. We get a chance to post things again when you get down to the closing.

Anyhow, looks like it is happening.

Jishnu Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> There has been no discussion of restoring the
> Sunset east of New Orleans except in the
> fantasyland of some railfans, for at least a
> decade now. LOL!

Then Amtrak should have not been so cowardly to avoid the 180-day train-off period, and drop it legally.