Amtrak moving ahead with gulf coast service

[Philip H]

https://www.wlox.com/2021/02/24/amtrak-passenger-trains-return-gulf-coast/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=snd&utm_content=wlox&fbclid=IwAR3A8L-AO3I7weoVFRWilMxIXbC-yI-Zhxp9WOuWQU88en5aw6sfGFOCeu4

[C855B]

Nice to see something... but not to JAX? That sucks.

[Philip H]

Nice to see something... but not to JAX? That sucks.

My understanding from regional reporting is that the towns in Florida along the most likely route  have yet to approve receipt of federal grant funds to rehab and upgrade stations. Plus the CSX sale of the more preferred route in Florida last year to a regional operator took the tracks out of Class 1 service.  Amtrak is not going to easily over come either issue.

https://trn.trains.com/news/news-wire/2019/03/21-csx-transportation-reaches-deal-again-to-sell-florida-panhandle-route#:~:text=JACKSONVILLE%2C%20Fla.,operator%20RailUSA%20is%20back%20on.&text=Florida%20Gulf%20%26%20Atlantic%20is%20the,companies%20RailAmerica%20and%20Patriot%20Rail.

[davefoxx]

That's good news (except for the Jacksonville part).  One this route starts up, @Philip H will have passenger train access locally for travel, and we can get Amtrak photos/videos from him for Thursday Proto Photo threads.

DFF

[Philip H]

That's good news (except for the Jacksonville part).  One this route starts up, @Philip H will have passenger train access locally for travel, and we can get Amtrak photos/videos from him for Thursday Proto Photo threads.

DFF

@davefoxx that's my plan!

[basementcalling]

Good to know the Federal Amtrak money will subsidize an essential part of TRW.

[C855B]

... the CSX sale of the more preferred route in Florida last year to a regional operator took the tracks out of Class 1 service.  ...

Didn't know that, but not a surprise, I guess. That was a really grim bit of track back when we visited Tallahassee in 2012.

[C855B]

FWIW, CSX still shows the Tallahassee line as "theirs" on the system map on their website. But even if that were the case, unless they put million$ into the ROW 'tween then and now I wouldn't want to ride a train on it. For that matter and IIRC, it was dark between Tallahassee and Pensacola. In the PTC era that wouldn't fly, either.

[Philip H]

https://www.wlox.com/2021/03/05/amtrak-announces-when-passenger-rail-service-will-begin-gulf-coast/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=snd&utm_content=wlox&fbclid=IwAR0_aJYRCV2eN7deh7mCZcDcPFse28BOAOXUIMduka4ixo2dJMHPh8Vbe3g

[p51]

CSX sold off the entire former L&N/Seaboard line from Pensacola to Baldwin (close to Jax), and it's run by the Florida Gulf & Atlantic Railroad now.
They're not putting in PTC, which is possibly a big reason CSX sold it off to start with, so you're not gonna see Amtrak east of Pensacola like all those lineside communities hoped they would.
The Sunset Limited was a joke through North Florida when it ran, as it was often many hours and late and hit key towns like Tallahassee in the middle of the night (putting off passengers in several places that weren't all that safe). If you saw the train stop on those stations along the Gulf Coast, you'd often see few (if any) passengers getting on or off.
After the '93 Big Bayou Canot wreck, I'd heard that Amtrak was wanting to kill this run, and hurricane Katrina gave them the excuse they needed (though strong lobbying forced Amtrak to put the service back as far as New Orleans).