Jacksonville-New Orleans Reroute

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Brief passage;

• The rerouting, which occurred in the last half of 2009, involved two pairs of freight trains that had operated between Waycross, Ga., and New Orleans, via Baldwin, Tallahassee, and Pensacola, Fla., and Flomaton, Ala.
  
  Now the four trains use a slightly shorter route. From Flomaton, eastward freights operate up the M&M and Atlanta & West Point subdivisions to Montgomery, Ala., and LaGrange, Ga. From LaGrange, they use the Lineville Subdivision a short distance to Manchester, Ga., and then follow the CSX Chicago-Waycross main line into Waycross over the Fitzgerald Subdivision. Schedules of the rerouted trains are, by and large, a bit faster than before.

CSX has apparently decided that more efficient operations result from routing traffic "all over Robin Hood's barn" rather than the more direct ex-SAL "route of the Gulf Wind" and Amtrak's "suspended' Sunset Limited. Much of that route is 'dark' and of course does not have any kind of train control system that could be considered "Positive Train control' under RSIA '08.

Naturally advocates for restoration of the Amtrak service will be quick to say that CSX is the 'villain', but Amtrak is clearly not interested in restoring that service. They have had now four years since Katrina to restore the service - even if they had to move in some "double wide' house trailers to serve as station buildings - and they have clearly taken no actions whatever to restore the trains. Accordingly, it would appear CSX has fulfilled any obligation to keep the noted SAL line ready to again operate a passenger train and has now decided to operate their railroad as they see fit.

The line is fully signaled as far west as Tallahassee and beyond there it is indeed dark territory. Acoording to my information the line is still good for 79 and 59 as the case may be for passenger trains. I think the line is in pretty good
shape.
Noel Weaver

Likely WAY-X is a "hub' for CSX where trains are marshalled for all directions on the System. Therefore it has more strategic importance than does Jacksonville.

Unless some passenger agency steps forth, something tells me that "route of the Gulf Wind" is on its way to becoming a "one a day" secondary line handling only traffic originating at or consigned to on-line industries.

Flomaton to Tallahassee is dark, unsignaled territory.

The M&M, A&WP, Lineville, Fitzgerald subs route currently has 'some' excess capacity account the economic recession. If and when the economy returns to anything near normal, that excess capacity disappears and the routing will again be capacity constrained.