Amtrak Sunset Limited

[marymouse1987]

Does anyone know if service will ever resume on the Sunset Limited between New Orleans and Orlando? We're planning our trip for next summer and I thought it would be a lot of fun to take the train. I decided to get on the Amtrak site this morning and saw that service is suspended and "future service has not been determined." Has anyone heard anything about this?

Also, has anyone ridden this line to DW? I remember wanting to ride the train between Houston and Lafayette, LA a few years ago because I thought it would be fun, but the station was a little scary so I decided not to ride. I've been to the station again recently for the A Christmas Carol Train Tour and it looked better than I remembered so I thought we'd give it another shot.

 

[DC7800]

Does anyone know if service will ever resume on the Sunset Limited between New Orleans and Orlando? We're planning our trip for next summer and I thought it would be a lot of fun to take the train. I decided to get on the Amtrak site this morning and saw that service is suspended and "future service has not been determined." Has anyone heard anything about this?

Also, has anyone ridden this line to DW? I remember wanting to ride the train between Houston and Lafayette, LA a few years ago because I thought it would be fun, but the station was a little scary so I decided not to ride. I've been to the station again recently for the A Christmas Carol Train Tour and it looked better than I remembered so I thought we'd give it another shot.

Always remember that Amtrak is very much a political animal. That's both the reason the train hasn't been running the past several years, and the mechanism by which service will eventually be resumed.

Don't hold your breath, though. A recent Amtrak report found it would require about 24 months to resume the service once money is appropriated. You can't make this stuff up - two years to restore an existing train where the equipment and most of the infrastructure is already in place (and always has been)!

Failure to eventually restore the service appears to be a violation of federal law, requiring 180 days notice before any train service may be discontinued.