Amtrak has issued a report that includes as one proposed recommendation restoring the Sunset Limited rail service that once served Chipley.

The report says that In 1993, Amtrak’s Sunset Limited, which operated between Los Angeles, California and New Orleans, Louisiana, was extended east from New Orleans to Jacksonville, Orlando, and initially to Miami. This created a new transcontinental Amtrak route and brought passenger rail service to the Gulf Coast Region between New Orleans and Jacksonville.

ln August 2005, Sunset Limited service east of New Orleans, including Chipley, was suspended due to Hurricane Katrina, which caused massive damage to rail infrastructure on the portion of the train’s route between New Orleans, Louisiana and Mobile, Alabama. The service remains suspended today because of the cost and challenges associated with restoring service to this route.

Amtrak’s suspension of Sunset Limited service east of New Orleans at the time of Hurricane Katrina halted intercity passenger rail service at twelve stations not served by other Amtrak routes. A thirteenth station, the Sanford station in Central Florida, was removed from service in February 2005 due to damage from hurricanes preceding Hurricane Katrina. These 13 stations are referred to as the “Suspended Service Stations”. In addition to Sanford, they are:

• Bay St. Louis, Mississippi

• Gulfport, Mississippi

• Biloxi, Mississippi

• Pascagoula, Mississippi

• Mobile, Alabama

• Atmore, Alabama

• Pensacola, Florida

• Crestview, Florida (Ft. Walton Beach)

• Chipley, Florida (Panama City)

• Tallahassee, Florida

• Madison, Florida

• Lake City, Florida

Amtrak initially evaluated 12 alternatives for restoring service between New Orleans, and Florida. Of the 12 alternatives, three were selected as preferred options for evaluation in the study based upon projected ridership, revenue, operating costs, and operating loss.

The preferred options are:

• Option 1: Restore tri-weekly Sunset Limited service between Los Angeles, California and Orlando, including Chipley.

• Option 2: Extend the daily City of New Orleans service, which currently operates between Chicago, Illinois and New Orleans, Louisiana, east from New Orleans to Orlando.

• Option 3: Implement daily stand-alone overnight service between New Orleans, Louisiana and Orlando.

Each of the three proposed options would restore service between New Orleans and Orlando. This report assumes that all of the 19 stations between New Orleans and Orlando, including the 13 Suspended Service Stations, would be served by the restored service.

Projected capital and mobilization costs for restored service are $32.7 million for Option 1 (tri-weekly Sunset Limited) and $57.6 million to $96.6 million for both Option 2 (daily City of New Orleans extension) and Option 3 (daily stand-alone train).

Restoration of passenger rail service between New Orleans and Orlando would also produce mobility benefits by creating a direct link between Florida, the Gulf Coast Region, and the Central and Western United States, according to the report. Communities along the Gulf Coast, many of which have limited or no intercity public transportation service and continue to be affected by the devastation of Hurricane Katrina, would regain a passenger rail option.

Option 1, which generates the highest number of additional passenger miles per train mile, may produce some energy savings due to diversion of trips that would otherwise be taken by less energy efficient automobiles and airplanes. Options 2 and 3 are not likely to produce measurable environmental, energy or congestion relief benefits because they generate relatively few additional passenger miles per train mile operated and the distance by rail between many city pairs they would serve is considerably longer than the distance by air or highway.

Implementation of Option 1 (restoration of tri-weekly Sunset Limited) would require a minimum of 20 months lead time from the date on which funding is made available. This is due to the time required to hire, train, and qualify locomotive engineers, and to bring stations into to a state of good repair and make them ADA compliant.

This plan identifies the most viable options for restoring intercity passenger rail service between New Orleans, Louisiana and Orlando, Florida. Amtrak recommends that federal and state policymakers determine if passenger rail service should be restored between New Orleans and Orlando; and if so:

1. Identify the preferred option for service restoration; and

2. Provide the additional funding for capital and ongoing operating costs that will be required to implement that option.

Once these actions are taken, Amtrak will move quickly to initiate the steps required for service restoration, if such an option is chosen.