Amtrak service between New Orleans and Florida

[Caesar La Rock]

ORLANDO, Fla. — Editor’s note: This story is available as a result of a content partnership between WFTV and the Orlando Business Journal.

A bill in the Florida Legislature could set the stage for the return of an Amtrak service which has not been directly connected to Orlando since 2005.

House Bill 833 and Senate Bill 966 look to allow the state to join the Southern Rail Commission, a group of states which advocates for the expansion of passenger rail in the Southern U.S. The Sunset Limited service ran a segment from New Orleans to Orlando until Hurricane Katrina wiped out rail infrastructure in 2005, leaving the route as only servicing New Orleans to Los Angeles.


Florida Reps. Yvonne Hayes Hinson (D-Gainesville) and Daryl Campbell (D-Fort Lauderdale) filed the house bill, while Florida Sen. Tracie Davis (D-Jacksonville) introduced the senate version.

https://www.wftv.com/news/local/how...rlando-may-return/S6SD525Y4RDSJB6K6LELEK4HSE/

P.S. This was the only article I could find that wasn't behind a paywall. So this is interesting, the state could end up joining the SRC.

 

[Cal]

Highly doubt it will pass, but we'll see. Even if it does, I think there's a lot of obstacles to restore service between NOLA and Florida. Other corridor routes and connections to Atlanta (if even possible) would probably take precedent.

 

[George Harris]

This subject has been covered extensively in other threads.

 

[Cal H]

Thanks for sharing the info with us. Seems like the advocacy group by itself would be harmless enough (to the FL legislature), but maybe there would be costs associated with it - to perform studies or hire a lobbyist? Keep us posted on the outcome of these bills please.