Would it work thid time ???

[had8ley]

Last year, FEMA was able to procure a set of Sunset equipment and deadheaded it from it's "safe haven" of San Antonio to Avondale, a suburb of New Orleans on the west side of the river and Huey Long bridge. Ninrety five brave souls boarded that train thinking they were headed for Houston, Texas some 300 miles away. The train departed and went to the next division point (145 miles) which was Lafayette, LA Everyone was ordered off the train and put on buses to Little Rock, Arkansas. My question to my astute colleagues is thus~ did we accomplish much. if anything, by bringing a train , out of harm's way for only 95 people and if so, why the sudden change of destination? I'm told Houston said they could take no more BUT only 95 poor souls after they had already taken over 200,000? Who and what is responsible for these kinds of decisions at Amtrak? Care to help out so it doen't happen again ???

 

[George Harris]

I have a feeling that the change of destination was not a decision made by Amtrak, but by someone else.

 

[Guest]

I am sure you are correct. Amtrak would never be in the position to decide where someone will go, in fact in this case, they were asked to provide a train and did so, but then the people who had made the request realized they did not have the full information and could not produce enought people to fill the train. Like everything else during Katrina, it was poor/sloppy communication and decision making.

 

[AmtrakFan]

If I remember correcetly FEMA made the Change, so it wasn't Amtrak's Fault.

 

[1702]

From "The Great Deluge" by Douglas Brinkley (Morrow, 2006) page 91:

'Amtrak trains could also have been a tremendous asset in moving people out on Sunday, without adding to the traffic already clogging the highways. Had requests been made with even a little advance notice, trains could have been stacked in New Orleans railyards, and used to transport residents very quickly out of the bowl. Morever, when Amtrak officials repeatedly tried to offer seven hundred seats on an unscheduled train being used to move equipment out on Sunday, Mayor Nagin's office would not accept their telephone calls.

"We offered the city the opportunity to take evacuees out of harm's way," Amtrak spokesman Cliff Black complained. "The city declined." As the "Washington Post" reported, the "ghost train" left New Orleans, headed for high ground in McComb, Mississippi, at 8:30PM Sunday without evacuees, just hundreds of empty seats.'

While one might discount Brinkley's conclusion about trains being "stacked in New Orleans railyards" with "even a little advance notice", there is no doubt that Amtrak tried to be an evacuation resource but couldn't be heard.

 

[had8ley]

"We offered the city the opportunity to take evacuees out of harm's way," Amtrak spokesman Cliff Black complained. "The city declined." As the "Washington Post" reported, the "ghost train" left New Orleans, headed for high ground in McComb, Mississippi, at 8:30PM Sunday without evacuees, just hundreds of empty seats.'
While one might discount Brinkley's conclusion about trains being "stacked in New Orleans railyards" with "even a little advance notice", there is no doubt that Amtrak tried to be an evacuation resource but couldn't be heard.

Thank you for filling in the blanks. Nagin was "holed up" on the 29th floor of the Hyatt-Regency which is right next to the Super Dome and a stone's throw from NOUPT. He could have bull horned his approval for the train if he hadn't been walking (yes, walking~ there was no power for the elevators) 29 flights just to stay in a suite.

(edited by AmtrakWPK to fix quote)

 

[battalion51]

In almost any situation the quickest way to get people out of an area who lack their own means of transportation is the rails. Buses while effective, will be stuck in the same traffic as everyone else trying to get out of the area (even if contraflow is in effect). The rails offer a safe easy method to transport a large volume of people. If I remember correctly the CONO ran out in revenue service with the Crescent's consist on the head end (but the Crescent equipment was DH) and there was an additional train with 19 cars or so from the yard that was removed and sent to McComb. Anywhere along the east coast or the Gulf Coast people can be moved 500 miles from the area of impact in less than 12 hours. Not even the roads can boast that with how much traffic there is.

 

[Boxcar]

While we are still on this topic, has anyone any facts ,rumors or information on the status of passenger rail service East of New Orleans? Does the Amtrak Board still use the excuse of no stations? If so, is this a fact or just a stalling tactic? Were the platforms also destroyed?

I'm not knowledgeable enough to know the legal workings of Amtrak but do they have to provide service to the cities that no longer have stations or platforms. Why can't they provide service East of New Orleans to Florida or the cities that do have facilities at least three days a week like the Sunset operates from LA to San Antonio?This would at least give some incentives to the Cities to rebuild the stations regardless of previous ownership.

As railfans and Amtrak customers, we cannot sit by and allow the only Southern route from the West Coast to Florida too require going through Chicago without raising He** to the powers that be.

 

[battalion51]

Look the Sunset is dead east of New Orleans, that's just how it is. Management has been trying to kill this thing for years, and they've finally done it. It's never coming back.

 

[GP35]

Look the Sunset is dead east of New Orleans, that's just how it is. Management has been trying to kill this thing for years, and they've finally done it. It's never coming back.

Not true. Sunset east of NOL is coming back in a few months. Unfortunately, much needed daily service is not coming to the Sunset anytime soon.

 

[battalion51]

Until I see out back of my apartment I won't believe it.

 

[GP35]

Until I see out back of my apartment I won't believe it.

You don't see fresh air, but does that mean fresh air not exist.