(The following report by Tony Bridges appeared on the Tallahassee Democrat website on October 11.)
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Looks like the Sunset Limited, the only passenger train with service to Tallahassee, will be a little late for its next stop.
About six months late, at least.
That’s how long railroad officials estimate it could take to repair tracks ripped up in the path of Hurricane Katrina. In the meantime, the Limited won’t be running the eastern half of its route. Train travelers will have to make other plans.
“It’s definitely disrupted things,” said regular rider Jack Turner, a state worker in Tallahassee. “I really miss it right now.”
The Limited normally runs three days a week from Orlando to Los Angeles, along a route Amtrak calls “orange groves to orange groves.” It’s a 68-hour trip, one way, with stops in Jacksonville; Bayou Blue, La.; and Yuma, Ariz., among dozens of others.
Tallahassee was added in 1993 and now accounts for nearly 3,000 passengers a year, between arrivals and departures.
Turner said he’s been taking the Limited for vacations and family visits since the beginning. In May, he rode the train to Phoenix and back to see his son compete in a science fair.
The way he describes it, the train beats out planes and automobiles when it comes to traveling – plenty of scenery and interesting passengers, and a dining car when he gets hungry.
“What restaurant has a view that’s changing every second?” he said. “It’s really a great way to go.”
He’d been planning a couple of trips – one coming back from South Florida, and the other a return from California – for the fall. Now, that won’t happen.
The Limited’s route has been interrupted before, including a brief period last year after Hurricane Ivan damaged tracks near Pensacola. But this will be the longest outage since the train began stopping in Tallahassee.
Katrina chewed up nearly 30 miles of track and destroyed six bridges, according to Gary Sease, spokesman for CSX Transportation, the company that owns the rails.
Total estimate for repairs and lost revenue: $250 million.
Amtrak leases the rails for the Sunset Limited line. After Katrina, the rail company ended the route at San Antonio until repairs could be made.
Meanwhile, there are no plans to reroute the train in the meantime.