Congresswoman Brown Calls for Restoring New Orleans-Florida Amtrak Service

For Immediate Release (#10-07)

May 5, 2010

Contacts: Ross Capon, Sean Jeans-Gail

202-408-8362 (Capon cell 301-385-6438)

At a field hearing in Miami Monday to determine how high speed rail will connect with other modes of transportation, the chair of the House Railroads Subcommittee unequivocally called for restoration of passenger train service between Florida and New Orleans.

Congresswoman Corrine Brown (D-FL) led the May 3 hearing, which focused on the federal grant Florida received to establish high speed trains between Orlando and Tampa.

Brown took the opportunity to express her concern to an Amtrak witness about the delay in restoring the New Orleans-Florida link, which Amtrak discontinued during Hurricane Katrina and has never restored—even though CSX restored its damaged rail line to better-than-new condition, reopening the line in March, 2006.

While Amtrak has gone on record to admit that the line is “the missing link” in the national passenger rail network—and still includes the New Orleans to Jacksonville in their official timetable as a “temporarily suspended” route—there has been no real effort to restore service to the corridor, outside of a restoration study done by the railroad in July 2009, which includes some cost-estimates that some industry insiders have questioned.

“I want the Sunset restored to New Orleans - Jacksonville - Orlando.  This train is vital to transcontinental transportation and an important safety backup for evacuation in a disaster,” Brown said at the hearing.  I am holding a subcommittee hearing in Jacksonville in a few weeks at which the Sunset will be a major item of discussion, and look forward to Amtrak appearing.  We must get the train back, one way or another.”

The issue highlights the strict budgetary restraints Amtrak is working under.  A full Sunset Limited route—Los Angeles to Orlando—connects the eight southernmost states, which together account for one in every three Americans, and half the nation’s population growth since 1970.  Although the economic importance of this corridor to the nation’s transportation and tourist sectors is widely recognized, Amtrak still faces undercapitalization on most of its network, and will require strong Congressional leadership to acquire the additional funds to restore service (the train company’s study puts the capital and mobilization costs at around $33 million).

Brown’s public demand that the train be restored should offer transportation advocates hope that they have finally found that leader.

“With just $1 billion budgeted for Fiscal Year 2011, we need to find a dedicated revenue source so that states, operators, and manufacturers aren’t afraid to make investments in infrastructure and manpower,” said the Chairwoman.  “I feel so passionately about this that I spearheaded a letter that over 100 Members [of Congress] signed to President Obama, requesting that he include a dedicated source of revenue for high-speed rail in the transportation reauthorization policy objectives that the Administration is developing.”

The date of the hearing in Jacksonville has yet to be determined.

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NARP is the only national organization speaking for the users of passenger trains and rail transit. We have worked since 1967 to expand the quality and quantity of passenger rail in the U.S. Our mission is to work towards a modern, customer-focused national passenger train network that provides a travel choice Americans want. Our work is supported by over 18,000 individual members.