(The following story by Ryan Burr appeared on the News Herald website on February 8, 2009.)
PANAMA CITY, Fla. — Even if the money allotted for Amtrak is left in the final version of the economic stimulus being debated in Congress, it will not go toward restoring the Sunset Limited route on the Gulf Coast.
If approved, the stimulus money must be used for “shovel-ready” projects, said Amtrak spokesman Cliff Black. Bringing back the Sunset Limited passenger line would be a long-term undertaking. The line ran from New Orleans to Jacksonville, including stops in Chipley and Crestview, but the route was ended when Hurricane Katrina struck the Gulf Coast in 2005.
“If a decision to restore service to the Gulf Coast is enacted, Amtrak may make an investment, but we do not own the rail line or the stations in that area,” Black said.
CSX owns the rail line, and the cities own the respective train stops in their locales.
The Senate version of the stimulus currently calls for $850 million for Amtrak, $250 million to states for inter-city passenger rail grants and $2 billion for high-speed rail corridors. There have been calls from several moderate senators to cut $850 million of that money.
In addition to more high-speed rail lines, Black said funding is much needed in other capital areas, such as improvements and expansion of maintenance and equipment facilities in many large cities, fixing out-of-service rail cars and repair, and replacement of Amtrak-owned bridges in the Northeast.
Those projects, Black said, can be done fairly quickly and put a large number of people to work, which the stimulus aims to do.
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July plan
Lawmakers such as U.S. Rep. Allen Boyd, D-Monticello, and U.S. Sen. Mel Martinez, R-Fla., have supported bringing back all of the Sunset Limited route. And at the prodding of the Norwest Florida League of Cities, local governments now are passing resolutions requesting Amtrak restore the New Orleans-to-Florida service.
U.S. Rep. Corrine Brown, D-Jacksonville, who chairs a rail subcommittee, pushed comprehensive Amtrak legislation signed into law last year. It includes a requirement that the railroad come up with a plan to bring back the eastern route Boyd and Martinez are touting.
Under the new law, Amtrak has until July to come up with a plan to restore service in that area. The railroad is not required yet to act on the plan.
Black said Amtrak is still in the early stages of research options, so he did not comment on what was being explored, except to say that restoring Sunset Limited service exactly as it was is one strategy on the table. He did not want to speculate on the likelihood of the federal government, which supplies the majority of Amtrak’s funding, requiring the rail service to restart service on the Gulf Coast.
The rail tracks on the New Orleans-to-Florida segment were repaired long ago, but Amtrak’s passenger service did not resume service east of New Orleans.
Sunset Limited, particularly the eastern portion, has long ranked as one of Amtrak’s most problematic trains. In fiscal 2004, the last full year before Hurricane Katrina, the Sunset carried just 96,000 riders, including 37,000 east of New Orleans. The western portion carried 72,000 passengers in fiscal 2008, making it Amtrak’s least popular long-distance train.
The most popular long-distance route, the Empire Builder that links Chicago with the Pacific Northwest, had 554,000 riders.
The railroad already was discussing whether to discontinue the eastern portion of the Sunset Limited when Hurricane Katrina struck in August 2005. The hurricane allowed Amtrak to suspend, rather than stop, the service.
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What Amtrak and other rail passenger services could stand to gain from stimulus proposals:
HOUSE VERSION:
$800 million direct to Amtrak
$300 million to states for Amtrak projects
SENATE VERSION:
$850 million direct to Amtrak
$250 million to states for inter-city passenger rail grants
$2 billion for high-speed rail corridors