posted
Have you heard that Amtrak is training crews for the resumption of the Sunset Limited east of New Orleans? I talked to an Amtrak official in Washington, DC two weeks ago and that's what she said is happening. But--she also said that CSX is dragging their feet in getting their schedules set up to receive the Sunset's run. Do you know anything else?
SunsetLtd Member # 3985
posted
Rumor has it the Sunset will return to ORL in December or January (could have been earlier) but CSX took forever in accomadating the Sunset into their schedules. Also it is also said that the Mobile, Al station will be one of those stations trailers. Now this is just a rumor going around so it MAY be true or not. But if it does return in one of those months will they publish the entire schedule in October with the new timtable? Or will they still have it as a "date to be announced"?
notelvis Member # 3071
posted
I have seen it reported in Trains Magazine and elsewhere that CSX has sold their Mobile station (where Amtrak was a tenant) to a developer. The station is slated to be demolished (if it has not already been) to make way for condominiums.
posted
Were all of the prior Sunset Limited (NOL-ORL) personnel layed off??
Gilbert B Norman Member # 1541
posted
Nor necessarily, Mr. Starlight. No question that jobs to protect the one set of equipment released were abolished. But the Sunset OBS crews are based in LA and many who were in service likely have bid and have been awarded other position.
But no question whatever, the annullment of the Sunset NOL-ORL means there are less employment opportunities in the OBS and Operating crafts.
1702 Member # 4508
posted
The Sunset crews, OBS and T&E, were mostly high-seniority people who would have simply "bumped" onto other jobs. This of course would eventually lead to the most junior people at the crew bases involved going elsewhere for work or being furloughed. The T&E crews worked as follows- New Orleans-Pensacola (New Orleans crews) Jacksonville-Pensacola and Jacksonville-Sanford (Jacksonville crews). All OBS crews were/are LAX-based.
The need for one less set of equipment wouldn't affect the OBS crew starts. Regularly-assigned OBS employees are guaranteed 180 hours per month and we all picked up a lot of overtime every month working LAX-ORL. At that time there were six crews staffing the Sunset, and Amtrak may have elected to keep it that way. The big reductions have come in the dining car staffing, going from three in the kitchen to one and three or four upstairs to two, sometimes three. As a result of that on the Sunset and the other LD trains, a rather large furlough of OBS employees in LAX must have taken place.
SilverStar092 Member # 2652
posted
Recently I posted information that Amtrak would begin qualifying runs east of New Orleans. While this is proving true, Amtrak obviously has no intention of resuming this service. The post with the link to the United Rail Passenger Alliance's stance is excellent. Amtrak is showing they don't care a bit about their customers. Without the Sunset passengers bound to and from Florida must take the long way around via the Northeast. This adds time to the journey and costs a lot more than the direct Sunset routing. The contention that the Sunset did poor business is a smokescreen. The Sunset did decent business until it became so late that passengers were run off. Generally the westbound train from Florida to NOL carried more people than the eastbound run did. This is due to timekeeping issues and also due to the fact that the westbound maintained connections from South Florida. Since the train was cut back to Orlando, it has been impossible to make reasonable connections to Miami, Weat Pal Beach, etc. Additionally, ridership is reduced by the triweekly schedule. Daily trains offer over 100% more departures per week and prevent the discouragement of bookings due to the train not operating on the desired day(s). Daily service should be added east of NOL using the City of NOL equipment that lays over for about 22 hours between runs. This would require only one more set of equipment above what the Sunset needed for its Orlando-LA triweekly trip yet it would yield over 100% higher capacity. Is anyone at Amtrak listening?
SilverStar092 Member # 2652
posted
Here is Amtrak's recent letter stating their intentions. This is pathetic as it shows they are not interested in serving the public. A company interested in improving business would find a solution instead of using America's greatest natural disaster as an excuse to swtick it to that region.
August 9, 2006
Mr. Jackson McQuigg President Florida Coalition of Rail Passengers P.O. Box 5712 Deltona, Florida 32728
Dear Mr. McQuigg:
Thank you for your letter of June 26, regarding your ongoing concerns about the resumption of passenger rail service east of New Orleans.
Enclosed for your review is a recent letter from Acting President and Chief Executive Officer David J. Hughes to the Southern Rapid Rail Transit Commission. As you will see, there is a paragraph about upcoming regulations connected with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). As you pointed out, in the past we were able to start or maintain service to stations with non-existent or primitive passenger facilities, but in the face of the upcoming regulations, we believe we will no longer be able to do so.
We understand the issues you continue to raise and want you to know that none of us likes the idea of cutting train service. We have talked to the State of Florida about their interest in helping support passenger service across the Panhandle region. We appreciate that your organization continues to believe that the Sunset Limited provided a service with relevance to the traveling public, but we believe that the actual relevancy of this particular service is an open question. In connection with the on-time performance issues Mr. Hughes references in the enclosed letter, Amtrak spent an unacceptably high $378,000 on passenger inconvenience costs for disruptions east of New Orleans in Fiscal 2005 due to the unreliability of this train. The Sunset Limited ran only three times a week, serving many Gulf Coast communities at night, with low ridership at most of the intermediate stops. Even if the train ran on time, the route is among the slowest on the Amtrak system, taking 21 hours to travel between New Orleans and Orlando, compared to under 11 hours by highway. Ridership on the route declined in the last few years, and most passengers passed through stations in the Panhandle. Total boardings and alightings in Fiscal 2005 were 3,254 in Pensacola; 1,212 in Crestview; 1,424 in Chipley; 2,488 in Tallahassee; 362 in Madison; and 606 in Lake City. Mr. Jackson McQuigg August 9, 2006 Page 2
Against that backdrop, I ask you and your organization to give greater consideration to a mounting threat to the other Florida services that served over 900,000 passengers last year. On-time performance on the host railroad, CSX, continues to deteriorate. In June, the Auto Train was on-time just 3.6 percent of the time, averaged nearly 4 hours late, and had two round-trips annulled. The average in July started out even worse, over 5 hours late during the first half of the month, but ended at over 3 hours late for the entire month. The performance of the Silver Service trains is similarly bleak, with service to Tampa seriously curtailed. While there were individual instances when bad weather or Amtrak mechanical problems were factors that caused delays, the preponderance of delays are related to factors under CSX control. We respectfully request that your organization begin to work on ways to address these serious threats to your more popular, daily services.
Sincerely,
David M. Laney Chairman of the Board
cc: David J. Hughes
Enclosure Mr. Jackson McQuigg August 9, 2006 Page 3
bcc: Bill Crosbie Alicia Serfaty Joe McHugh Todd Stennis
Gilbert B Norman Member # 1541
posted
I must wonder what the October timetable will show regarding the Sunset - the existing Orlando-LA route "temporarilly annulled' Orlando-NO, or the reality of the shortened NO-LA route.
I believe, as I have been stating for the past year, the service is "kaput". Amtrak and CSX have their excuse named Katrina and both intend to use it, advocacy groups notwithstanding.
And lastly, to the Florida group advocating the Sunset's restoration: there are other battles in Florida to be fought, such as the proposed De Land-Poinciana service that would of course serve Orlando. Here, there are people to ride and traffic congestion to make it worth their while. Even the West Coast proposal that "I've heard of' through Lee County (Ft Myers) has some possibility of merit.
SilverStar092 Member # 2652
posted
With all due respect to Mr. Norman, this should not be a case of long distance vs. commuter rail. A through route between Florida and points west is badly needed, either in the form of the Sunset Limited (or old Gulf Wind) or a direct Florida to Chicago route. The latter would be great but CSX and NS always claim congested routes so FL to NOL is the best alternative. The Orlando commuter routes have been announced by the State and are likely to happen with or without the Sunset. Fort Myers service is highly unlikely. There is no need and the tracks are in condition for about 20 mph operation by an owner that is not on firm footing. Let's not pit one thing against another: resume service across the Panhandle and work toward the Orlando commuter lines.
SilverStar092 Member # 2652
posted
With all due respect to Mr. Norman, this should not be a case of long distance vs. commuter rail. A through route between Florida and points west is badly needed, either in the form of the Sunset Limited (or old Gulf Wind) or a direct Florida to Chicago route. The latter would be great but CSX and NS always claim congested routes so FL to NOL is the best alternative. The Orlando commuter routes have been announced by the State and are likely to happen with or without the Sunset. Fort Myers service is highly unlikely. There is no need and the tracks are in condition for about 20 mph operation by an owner that is not on firm footing. Let's not pit one thing against another: resume service across the Panhandle and work toward the Orlando commuter lines.
George Harris Member # 2077
posted
Exactly, SilverStar. This whole thing of trying to play off rail service "A" against rail service "B" is essentially a divide an conquor strategy from those that would like to kill all of it. About the only exception to this is those that seem to think that promoting the concept of killing off the long distance service will somehow help the northeast corridor survive. They seem to have forgotten that they don't have enough senators to make anything happen if the rest of the country is mad at them.
Geoff M Member # 153
posted
Allegedly CSX took advantage of the closure by realigning and upgrading parts of the route. Does that mean the travel time has been reduced by any significant amount?
Geoff M.
George Harris Member # 2077
posted
Geoff, my guess would be no. George
Boyce Member # 2719
posted
I think that the training of crews (if true) and the fact that Amtrak still retains the original Sunset route on its website, is an indication of its return or maybe its just wishful thinking.
gp35 Member # 3971
posted
My source says LA-Orl resume, but no daily anytime soon. I preferr both, but daily between LA-NOL helps the route more than LA-Orl.
posted