United Rail Passenger Alliance

Volume 3 Number 31

1. There was a startling news announcement by the Associated Press in Florida and some of the Southeastern states last week. Many Florida news outlets picked up the story that said a freight train derailment in California was disrupting Amtrak service for about 1,000 passengers, some as far away as Florida.The Associated Press breathlessly reported that service on the tri-weekly Sunset Limited, which travels between Los Angeles and Orlando, was cancelled due to the freight train derailment.Oops! The Sunset Limited hasn’t operated east of New Orleans since Hurricane Katrina hit almost a full year ago. Of course, the CSX main line between New Orleans and Jacksonville, Florida has been reopened for months now, but still not a Sunset Limited in sight. One rather flimsy excuse is that so many of the Amtrak stations were blown away or heavily damaged by Hurricane Katrina. But, we all know, Amtrak has a long, long history of bringing in portable trailers for temporary stations when a permanent building isn’t available.

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