routes to Jacksonville FL

[Amtrak Alan]

Will the Sunset Limited ever get extended to Jacksonville again and will the coast routes that now end in Savannah be extended into Jacksonville?

 

[jis]

My take on those two questions is "No" and "Maybe".

If anything ever gets extended in the form of Sunset it will be to Orlando, not JAX. But more likely NOL - JAX will be served bycorridor trains anchored at both ends with possibly a gap in the middle, i.e. NOL - Mobile, and JAX to Tallahassee maybe, with nothing between Mobile and Tallahassee, if the states involved step upto the plate with funding either for Amtrak or their own agencies running the train.

If the Palmetto could be run more reliably on a tighter schedule to Savannah cutting about an hour in running time then it might get extended to JAX, not otherwise. I don;t really see a Silver Palm all the way to Tampa/Miami happening anytime soon.

 

[xyzzy]

I agree with Jis, the occasional clamor for restoration of the SL east of NOL notwithstanding. Given the timekeeping record of CSX on the ex-RF&P and also in the black hole between Collier Yard and Rocky Mount, I don't foresee any schedule changes to 89/90 -- at least not until NCDOT gets the three new crossovers installed. Reconversion of 89/90 to the Silver Palm is probably something that Amtrak would like to do, but Amtrak would like to do a lot of things that it cannot.