(The following story by Dave Hodges appeared on the Tallahassee Democrat website on June 13.)
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Artist and schoolteacher Vaughan Greene likes to travel and says she would ride Amtrak if the passenger trains came through Tallahassee like they once did.
Advertisement
She knows the issue boils down to money, and she’s right. Greene is hoping the missing part of Amtrak’s Sunset Limited route between New Orleans and Jacksonville will be restored.
“Right now, I’d ride the Sunset Limited and I’d definitely go to Jacksonville,” said Greene, who lives in Inlet Beach part of the year and Chattanooga, Tenn., the rest. “And from New Orleans, I could go further west.”
“We need it. We really need it,” she added. “It’s time.”
In Washington, the House has passed its version of a $14.9 billion Amtrak authorization bill that funds the passenger service for another five years, and backers say it offers another option for motorists plagued by high fuel costs.
What’s different about this Amtrak bill (HR 6003), however, is it contains a requirement that the national passenger rail service produce a plan for Congress that will include a projected timeline for restoring service between New Orleans and Sanford, near Orlando, as well as the associated costs for reinstating the service. Amtrak has nine months from the date the legislation is signed to deliver its proposal.
Before its closing in 2005 after Hurricane Katrina, the Sunset Limited’s North Florida stops included Crestview, Chipley, Tallahassee, Madison, Lake City and Jacksonville. Since then, however, the trains have run only between New Orleans and Los Angeles.
CSX Corp.’s damaged rails were repaired and freight traffic resumed. However, Amtrak has been reluctant to resume passenger service, citing declining ridership, scheduling conflicts and operating losses.
Now, with higher gasoline prices, Amtrak is attracting more riders. From October to May, 18.4 million passengers took the train systemwide, up 10.9 percent from the same period a year ago, said Karina Romero, manager of media relations for Amtrak in Washington, D.C.
“We are attributing about half that increase to the price of gas,” she explained.
Amtrak’s Silver Star ridership is up 8 percent and the Silver Meteor, 8.2 percent. Both provide service between Florida and New York City. AutoTrain, which transports passengers and their vehicles from Sanford to Lorton, Va., has risen 5.3 percent.
Fuel usage actually gives Amtrak an edge over other modes of travel, according to the U.S. Department of Energy. On an energy-consumed-per-passenger-mile basis, an Amtrak passenger train is 18 percent more efficient than a commercial airliner. The department’s figures are from 2003, the latest available.
Train efficiency has attracted more business from freight shippers accustomed to relying on trucks. That has railroad operators worried about system capacity. The nation’s 140,000-mile network of rails is already showing signs of congestion, with resulting schedule delays and late shipments. Passenger service is a part of that system demand.
“With the economy and the gas prices picking up, obviously there is going to be higher level of interest in that service,” said U.S. Rep. Allen Boyd, D-North Florida, of Amtrak’s appeal. Florida’s congressional delegation, notably Rep. Corrine Brown, D-Jacksonville, supports the service and Brown has made the return of the Sunset Limited a priority.