Discontinued Amtrak Route You Want Revived.

[piedpiper13]

Definitely the Desert Wind and the Pioneer with returning the Miami - Orlando section back to the Sunset Limited B) B)

 

[railohio]

How 'bout a a revival of the Floridian with two northern sections to serve a Chicago and Detroit? Sections could be combined in Cincinnati with one following the route of the Cardinal to Chicago and the other traveling up CSX's Toledo Subdivision to serve Toledo, Detroit, and maybe Flint.

 

[Bill Haithcoat]

Good idea, because there was service from Detroit,Cleveland, Buffalo and other great lakes cities in the past, as distinct from service from Chicago. Names like Royal Palm. Ponce de Leon, Southland and Flamingo were involved with such service.

The Royal Palm and Ponce de Leon went via Chattanooga and Atlanta.

The Southland and Flamingo went via Knoxville and Atlanta.

 

[amtrakadirondack]

Hi! I'm glad everyone is so into the poll I created. I’m glad so many people have voted. And the results are....................... The Floridian, which took 1st, with 38.71% of the votes, the Desert Wind, which took 2nd and almost reached the Floridian, with 35.48% of the votes, and finally the Pioneer, which took 3rd, with 12.90% of the votes. I picked the Floridian, but I wish they all could be revived. Well hopefully one day they will.

Thanks,

Amtrakadirondack

 

[steve_relei]

I would also love to see Denver to Texas train service restored. It never was since Amtrak took over, but the CB&Q operated such a train for many years.

 

[railpost]

I know that this now is an old topic however I did find it on a google search of discontinued trains. Even though I do want most of the trains reinstated because they should have never been discontinued and most of the discontinued trains should have been restored a long time ago, I will have to choose the Floridian.

My choice of the Floridian is with a modified route as in 1978/79 Amtrak management had been looking into rerouting it through Atlanta Georgia and had they received the necessary funding they would have rerouted it through Atlanta Georgia.

 

[Blackshirt Husker]

Desert Wind or Three Rivers

 

[norfolkwesternhenry]

Arrowhead, I would use this route several times a year, I have a mountain bike race in duluth this year, and will need to drive, bleah.

 

[Bob Dylan]

Super Chief and Broadway Ltd.

 

[Gulfwind2]

As far as I can tell, The Floridian route has the most viable under/un-served passenger markets in the whole country. That would be even more true if the route would use the CSX trackage between Nashville and Atlanta.

 

[brianpmcdonnell17]

As far as I can tell, The Floridian route has the most viable under/un-served passenger markets in the whole country. That would be even more true if the route would use the CSX trackage between Nashville and Atlanta.

I believe the 5 biggest unserved markets are Phoenix, Las Vegas, Columbus, Nashville, and Louisville.

This route could serve 2 of those while also adding service to mid sized cities such as Macon and Chatanooga. In addition, it would increase frequency CHI-IND and JAX-MIA while connecting the major markets of Florida, Atlanta, and Chicago.

 

[west point]

A replacement for the Floridian whatever route thru ATL is going to face the harsh realities of equipment. To be operationally feasible expect 5 or 6 train sets to cover the service. this is due to the slow running of CHI - Ohio river and slow Ohio river - ATL. ATL- MIA will be 16 hours at best based on old timetables

Equipment ? Amtrak certainly does not have Superliners available and single level equipment would be short diners and sleepers and maybe lounges. Now if Amtrak can order their hoped for 600 single level cars then ???

 

[unitedstatesfan]

Isn't one omission from the list the restoration of the LD Amtrak train between New Orleans and Jacksonville?

Amktrak recently had its own special train visit stations along this route that lost their Amtrak train in 2005. The special train was met by many, and featured in a recent edition of the Amtrak (in house?) magazine or newsletter.

 

[brianpmcdonnell17]

Isn't one omission from the list the restoration of the LD Amtrak train between New Orleans and Jacksonville?

Amktrak recently had its own special train visit stations along this route that lost their Amtrak train in 2005. The special train was met by many, and featured in a recent edition of the Amtrak (in house?) magazine or newsletter.

This thread was started in 2003, 2 years before that route was suspended.

 

[neroden]

Now, the top priority is obviously the Three Rivers/Broadway Limited.

 

[JeanA]

I didn't know there was a route that went through Wyoming - was wondering why I couldn't get there from here :-/

 

[Philly Amtrak Fan]

Isn't one omission from the list the restoration of the LD Amtrak train between New Orleans and Jacksonville?

Amktrak recently had its own special train visit stations along this route that lost their Amtrak train in 2005. The special train was met by many, and featured in a recent edition of the Amtrak (in house?) magazine or newsletter.

This thread was started in 2003, 2 years before that route was suspended.

Now, the top priority is obviously the Three Rivers/Broadway Limited.

Obviously a lot has changed since the original thread.

If I had voted back in 2003, I'd probably have said Floridian. Even today, despite everything I say the Floridian would give you access to two new markets you don't have now (Louisville and Nashville). It's back to the "economies of scale" argument. You have all of the tracks/stations to restart the BL/TR today and that's not the case for the Floridian or "SL East". But you don't really gain any new markets. If I had to choose between the Floridian and the Gulf Coast, I'd probably say Gulf Coast because it helps better connect the South (and if it comes in the form of the CONO extension, there's your Floridian, although without Louisville and Nashville).

I'm not completely sold on the National Limited despite it serving Philly. I'm not sure if going to STL/KCY is that big a deal for me (although losing Columbus, Ohio from the Amtrak system was bad).

To me, the Lone Star wassn't just San Antonio to Laredo, it was serving Wichita (still no service today), Oklahoma City (just Heartland Flyer), and providing direct service from CHI to HOS (which still doesn't exist today although it did with the Texas Eagle split in the 90's). When discussing an East Coast to Texas route, usually through Meridian is the first thought. But I wonder if going from Houston up through the old Lone Star route to STL, then the old National Limited route to NYC or WAS would be viable (you'd get back Columbus and IND-STL as well).

The other I'd have an interest for would be the Desert Wind or at the very least something that serves Vegas. I'm not a big fan of the Northwest so I have no interest in the NCH or Pioneer coming back.

 

[Seaboard92]

My vote is the Floridian. It would give the benefit of added service on two corridors (I consider JAX-MIA a LD Corridor) and bring in several new markets. But it's very hard with the L&I railroad between Indy and Louisville having a very slow running speed despite recent improvements. It might actually be faster to run via CIN and take the L&N back to Louisville from there. Of course you also could go directly south on NS but miss Louisville and Nashville which would hurt the train some.

 

[jis]

My vote is the Floridian. It would give the benefit of added service on two corridors (I consider JAX-MIA a LD Corridor) and bring in several new markets. But it's very hard with the L&I railroad between Indy and Louisville having a very slow running speed despite recent improvements. It might actually be faster to run via CIN and take the L&N back to Louisville from there. Of course you also could go directly south on NS but miss Louisville and Nashville which would hurt the train some.

The thing most likely to happen in the way of Chicago - Florida service as things stand, is the extension of the CONO to Orlando.

 

[Mystic River Dragon]

Darn, you can't change your vote--I changed my mind after looking at old pictures of the Floridian--yes, that one would be lovely to have back!

 

[jis]

Darn, you can't change your vote--I changed my mind after looking at old pictures of the Floridian--yes, that one would be lovely to have back!

Just start another vote with the contemporary state of affairs and vote on it. Web pages and discussion threads are going really cheap these days :;

 

[Philly Amtrak Fan]

Let's ignore the obvious how much it costs and the argument over whether federal or state money would be used. How about the track conditions of these old lines and if any of the old stations on the lines still exist? There has been plenty said about the Floridian route but how about the National Limited or Lone Star among others? Are any of them worth pursuing that wouldn't cause the Amtrak budget to skyrocket (other than the BL/TR of course which has most if not all of the infrastructure in use right now)?

 

[Devil's Advocate]

Whatever might be brought back today would be extremely easy to retire again during the next budget fight negotiation. If I'm going to wish for something it would be continued funding of what remains today. Still kind of iffy but at least it's based on something that's reasonably achievable.

 

[Philly Amtrak Fan]

Whatever might be brought back today would be extremely easy to retire again during the next budget fight negotiation. If I'm going to wish for something it would be continued funding of what remains today. Still kind of iffy but at least it's based on something that's realistically achievable.

Not necessarily. Now you can actually get rid of Byrd Crap.

 

[jis]

Let's ignore the obvious how much it costs and the argument over whether federal or state money would be used. How about the track conditions of these old lines and if any of the old stations on the lines still exist? There has been plenty said about the Floridian route but how about the National Limited or Lone Star among others? Are any of them worth pursuing that wouldn't cause the Amtrak budget to skyrocket (other than the BL/TR of course which has most if not all of the infrastructure in use right now)?

So you want us to discuss without considering cost what may be practical without causing the Amtrak budget to skyrocket? Do you see the obvious contradiction in that requirement you just stated?

Anyhow, the route from Indy to St. Louis has fine track condition to operate a passenger train. The route from Kansas City to Fort Worth to operate the Lone Star (or the erstwhile Texas Chief pre-Amtrak) at least upto Fort Worth is just fine.

Actually the original BL ex-Pennsy route via Fort Wayne, is not really easy to use anymore at all. The original TR route on ex B&O via Yougnstown, Akron, Garrett and Nappanee is pretty much in the same shape as when the BL was moved to it, and later the TR was placed on it.