JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - In a move that could complicate a resumption of Amtrak's Sunset Limited service between New Orleans and Florida, CSX has rerouted all through freight traffic from the Florida Panhandle line used by the Sunset before Hurricane Katrina struck in 2005.
The rerouting, which occurred in the last half of 2009, involved two pairs of freight trains that had operated between Waycross, Ga., and New Orleans, via Baldwin, Tallahassee, and Pensacola, Fla., and Flomaton, Ala.
Now the four trains use a slightly shorter route. From Flomaton, eastward freights operate up the M&M and Atlanta & West Point subdivisions to Montgomery, Ala., and LaGrange, Ga. From LaGrange, they use the Lineville Subdivision a short distance to Manchester, Ga., and then follow the CSX Chicago-Waycross main line into Waycross over the Fitzgerald Subdivision. Schedules of the rerouted trains are, by and large, a bit faster than before.
CSX would not comment on the reasons for the rerouting, but the benefits are obvious. Freight train volume across the Florida Panhandle have fallen significantly since 2000, when five freights each way (including a pair of New Orleans-Jacksonville, Fla., intermodal trains) used the route through Tallahassee, in addition to the triweekly Sunset Limited. Amtrak suspended the Sunset indefinitely east of New Orleans after disruption caused by Katrina five years ago.
Now, with train frequency down to two trains each way plus local freights, CSX can concentrate the New Orleans-Florida business on other routes with better signaling and track structure, and presumably forgo much of the maintenance costs associated with the Panhandle line.
Amtrak is considering a resumption of passenger train service via Tallahassee to Orlando. CSX, if it chooses, could argue that Amtrak should pay to keep the Tallahassee route maintained for speeds as high as 79 mph, because it would be the primary user. CSX would not reveal whether maintenance of the Tallahassee route has been cut, and Amtrak would not comment when asked whose responsibility it would be to pay for upkeep to support 79-mph track.
In a study last year mandated by Congress, Amtrak suggested two options in addition to restoring the triweekly Sunset, whose present route is between Los Angeles and New Orleans. One would be to extend the daily Chicago-New Orleans train, the City of New Orleans, to Orlando on a daily basis. The other would be to run a daily stand-alone train solely between New Orleans and Orlando. Startup capital costs associated with these options range from $33 million to as much as $97 million, Amtrak says, and would include $20 million for installation of positive train control technology.
The good news is this: CSX said last year that it would require "significant capacity improvements" as a condition to a service resumption. Its rerouting of freight traffic away from hundreds of miles of the route in question may make that demand moot. But in its place could come a demand that Amtrak pony up more money to maintain passenger-train speeds over the portion no longer used by CSX freight trains. - Fred W. Frailey |