Now if only Amtrak could start service to the state capitals that some of these diners are named after and that currently don't have service (Columbus, Baton Rouge, Nashville, Tallahassee, Montgomery, etc). lol
Tallahassee will get service if/when the City of New Orleans sends a few cars down to Orlando. I'm afraid the dearth of equipment following the Nippon-Sharyo crash test debacle may delay this.
Louisiana has the studies for Baton Rouge-New Orleans, but lacks the will to put money into it. The case will be stronger if/when service starts New Orleans-Biloxi-Mobile. (See above.)
Ohio was offered $400 million or so in Stimulus funding to serve Columbus (Cleveland and Cincinnati, too), but CSX persuaded John Kasich to oppose it in his winning campaign for governor. Now the 3-C's route is remembered as a failure. Probably better to try another route next time, like Cleveland-Toledo-CHI, or Columbus-Ft Wayne-CHI, or even Cincinnati-Indianapolis-CHI before trying to revive the 3-C roadkill.
Mongomery-Birmingham seems a sure thing, soon as the pigs fly out of the state capitol. But Birmingham-Montgomery-Mobile-Biloxi-New Orleans has failed twice before because the three-state partnership had no loyalty. Birmingham-Montgomery-Dothan AL-Tallahassee-Jacksonville-Orlando might work better with only two states as partners. That Florida route contains two in-state segments that should support corridor service.
Now, to get the train to Birmingham to start toward Florida (or New Orleans), hmmmn. The Chattanooga Choo Choo could run NYC-D.C.-Roanoke-Bristol-Knoxville-Chattanooga-Birmingham, that's a way. Splitting the Crescent at Birmingham could be another (but splitting the Crescent at Meridien for Dallas-Ft Worth sort of competes with this idea). A second train NYC-Atlanta via Richmond-Raleigh-Charlotte-ATL-Birmingham-Montgomery might work. Or CHI-Indianapolis-Louisville-Nashville-Birmingham-Montgomery could work too, but that Nashville-Louisville-Midwest segment is a main line for CSX.
So lessee. Nashville-Louisville, hostile host. Nashville-Knoxville, too much abandoned trackage. Nashville-Chattanooga, detour required. Nashville-Birmingham, hostile host. Nashville-Memphis is doable. But where do Tennesseeans want to go from Nashville and Memphis? To metropolitan Little Rock? That's a tough sell.
Moving on. Annapolis looks to lie about 30 miles from BWI on the NEC or Baltimore Penn Station. Dover likewise is served by Wilmington. Concord sits between the Vermonter's route and the Downeaster, some 70 miles either way on good roads.
Looking at the glass as half full, thanks to the Stimulus funding we will soon see service improve on the Cascades to Olympia, the Lincoln Service to Springfield, the Blue Water to Lansing, the Piedmonts to Raleigh, the Springfield Shuttles to Hartford, and the several trains on the Empire Corridor to Albany. If we only had another $10 or $12 Billion of Stimulus to invest!
