End the Crescent and the Sunset Limited

Well, maybe not end them, per se.

The Sunset Limited is one of Amtrak’s coolest routes, but it’s one of the most disappointing as well. Running from L.A. to NOLA, it runs through some of the fastest-growing cities in the nation. You wouldn’t know it, though; the SL only carried about 100,000 passengers in FY 2013. This means that the route has the dubious distinction of being Amtrak’s fourth-longest, at nearly 2,000 miles, AND having the fourth-lowest ridership. It loses ten of millions of dollars per year, in spite of (or perhaps due to) the fact that it only runs in each direction only three times a week.

I’m also focused on the Crescent, which runs from NYC to NOLA. While it boasts three times the ridership of the SL over about 650 less miles, its still only carries barely over two hundred people per passenger mile. The problem is, of course, that the routes are just too damned long, which makes the trains arrive and leave major cities like Atlanta and San Antonio at horrible times.

From two to four: this map uses color to show how the Sunset Limited and the Crescent could become four routes of approximately 700 miles. Los Angeles, El Paso, Houston, Atlanta, and New York are the connection points. The maps have been oriented to suggest a somewhat straight line.

Both the Sunset Limited and the Crescent need to go into retirement. In their place, I propose creating four interlinked long-distance lines, each around the magical 700-mile length that makes Congress consider them part of the national network. Each of these lines can be broken into two pieces (making eight interlinked lines) that would fit the Brookings recommended 400 mile-limit, should Congress change its funding structure or the routes profit in the future. Here are the four, from L.A to New York:

Los Angeles – El Paso, with service to Palm Springs, Phoenix, Tucson, and places in between. I feel like there is a good song about desert or Arizona or something, but for now I’m going for the Desert Sunrise. Later, Phoenix could become a splitting point to create two lines, making L.A. – Phoenix and Phoenix – El Paso.

El Paso – Houston, with Service to San Antonio and three small cities in between, possibly with a continuation to Galveston. I thought about calling this the Yellow Rose in reference to the popular song, but I have since learned it had racist origins. So instead, I’m referencing Houston’s most famous resident–not Sam, silly. The Houston Rocket, a la Beyonce.

Houston – Atlanta, with service to New Orleans, Birmingham, and places between. There are a ton of name options here, and I can’t make up my mind. The Johnny B. Goode? The Sweet Home Express? For the former, I can just picture a retro ad campaign: “Go, Johnny Go! Go!”

Atlanta – New York, with service to Raleigh, D.C., Baltimore, Philadelphia, and cities in between.. This route would be popular, and once again we have plenty of naming option. Something to do with the Big Apple and the Georgia Peach… Tutti Frutti? It means “all fruits” in Italian, but it’s probably too ridiculous.  What about the Big Peach?

The Proud Mary: St. Louis – New Orleans

I’ve been inspired to come up with this blog after I read the Brookings Report on Amtrak, which stresses that a whopping 83% of rail passengers ride intercity routes that run 400 miles or less. That really sucks for Amtrak because Congress requires it to operate a national network of long-distance routes that run more that 700 miles.

I’ve been playing with the idea of reworking the long-distance network into a national network of interconnected, approximately-700-miles-or-less routes that try to get as close to the minimum “long-distance” length as possible.  An easy “test” candidate for this route and brand change is The City of New Orleans, a train that operates on 934 miles of track between Chicago and New Orleans, once daily in each direction. The route is among the most interesting corridors in the nation, but it is in desperate need of an overhaul.

First, the easy part: The City of New Orleans’ has to change its awful name. Its legacy dates to 1947, and its lasting popularity (with some) dates to a Steve Goodwin song sung by Arlo Guthrie in 1972. Just listen:

It’s a slow, sad, and nostalgic song about the death of passenger rail. “Fifteen cars and fifteen restless riders?” “Freight years full of old black men?” The name is also confusing in a modern world dominated by search engines, where folks would confuse the train with the actual municipality. Don’t get me wrong: naming trains after classic songs is a great idea, and it should be a naming convention for other routes, but this is the wrong song for this route, especially if you consider that it runs through some of the most musically storied cities in the nation.

Here’s what I propose instead.

A proposed map of the Proud Mary. Note: this alignment includes a reroute through Tunica, MS and Clarksdale, MS.

 

WOO-WEE. Not only does this song actually have a  pulse, it is chock full of references to the cities  served by the route. St. Louis, Memphis, and  New Orleans were all deeply connected to paddle boats on the Mississippi River. Ike Turner got his start in  the Mississippi Delta. Come on, Amtrak, this is an easy fix. In the image above, I’m also proposing a change in the Missisippi Delta. Currently, trains do not stop in between Memphis and Greenwood, missing two of the Delta’s major tourist attractions.

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In my proposal, the line would head southwest from a junction north of Robbinsonville, MS, stop at Tunica, continue on through Clarksdale with a southeast turn in that city, and then reconnect to the old route at the Swan Lake Junction north of Greenwood.

The Clarksdale reroute is a “pie-in-the-sky” idea, since Tunica County’s segment of the track right-of-way was abandoned and sold off years ago and Mississippi isn’t known for farsighted transportation investment, but I figure that Tunica’s casinos would be financially invested in restoring passenger rail service (carless folks would have to wait and spend more money until the next train to leave the casino). Coahoma County (Clarksdale’s county) actually owns and (somewhat) maintains its section of the proposed route as a shortline.

Overall, this reroute would require: buying about 20 miles of old right-of-way, though some of these purchases could be negated by running the line along Highway 61; upgrading 80 miles of track to higher speed standards–assuming a cost of 4 – 7.5 million a mile, that’s 320-600 million dollars (numbers based on a Minnesota report, but the lower figure assumes lower labor and construction costs in the south); building two new enclosed stations at an assumed cost of approximately 3.5 million each, based on the total cost of a new station in Huntley, IL; and annual maintenance costs associated with maintaining track, signals, etc. for 110-mph service.

If momentum built among Delta political leaders for making this happen, I think Amtrak might even be interested in owning the Clarksdale segment, which would add eighty miles to its paltry 730 miles of right-of-way. If that happened, riders between Greenwood and Memphis would be able to fly through that segment in about an hour.