Trying to lure passenger service back to the Coast

[Philip H]

Post Katrina, Amtrak stopped the Sunset Limited in New Orleans instead of running it to Jacksonville. CSX claimed its many washed out bridges needed to be repaired but even when that happened the train didn’t go further east. So the local communities on the coast have been fighting since to get service back. Bay St. Louis is throwing down some funds now - we will see if it matters.

https://www.seacoastecho.com/news/bay-okays-rail-service-investment/article_c6e50180-4d26-11e9-bb93-63962b3dc195.html#utm_campaign=blox&utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social

[Point353]

With precision railroading now in force, wouldn't CSX insist on having Amtrak hold a week's worth of trains at New Orleans and Orlando so that one longer train could be run once a week in each direction?

[Philip H]

They work it out elsewhere so I imagine it will work down here if CSX gets paid enough.

[C855B]

It probably has a snowball's chance. From what I have been reading, Amtrak is working very hard in the background to shut down long-distance ("LD") trains by changing their mandate to "corridor" service, accomplishing this by limiting routes to 750 miles. NOL-JAX works for that. So you may very well get a train as a splashy PR offset to elimination of bigger fish.

The biggest problem I see blocking this is the poor condition of CSX's plant and the large portions of it that are still dark. I somehow don't see CSX reaching into their pockets to build PTC on this line, either.

[Philip H]

The plan down here is actually in decent shape. The Katrina destroyed bridges were all rebuilt and all the track has been reballasted and welded in the last few years. Signaling is all hooded Vader’s though I don’t know if the underlying relays etc have been upgraded recently. I’d have to look again but I also thought I saw a PTC installation on the main behind my house. I may well have that part wrong.