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[quote user="D.Carleton"]   <blockquote> <div><img src="/TRCCS/Themes/trc/images/icon-quote.gif" /> THEKINGOFDISTRUCTION:</div> <div>   This is something I really need to get off my chest. </div> </blockquote>   Why did Amtrak send the Sunset Limited east of New Orleans in the first place? Simply put, enough advocates convinced the right people (including Graham Claytor) that running east to Florida would be worth it. Passenger loadings east of New Orleans were higher than west even in the worst of times so it looks like the advocates were right. Was ridership for the train ever high prior to it being sent to Florida? Not really. It has been tri-weekly since the SP days. I also heard the reason for the Sunset's notorious delays in the past was because of the Union Pacific railroad. Is this true or is it a conspiracy theory that was stirred up in the railfan community? It is true...sorta. The Sunset began running east in 1993. The UP acquired the SP in 1996. The whole railroad melted down affecting the Sunset as well. The Sunset Route became a stratigic link for UP as it now connected the ports of LA/LB to the former Texas Pacific route east of El Paso to the Mid-South (Memphis). As a result UP is undertaking a massive double tracking as has been documented in the General Forums of this board. (Thank you KP.) If it is true what did Amtrak do to the Union Pacific that justified delaying the Sunset? Nothing really, they were just there. [/quote] I would like to see the ridership numbers for the segments east of New Orleans compared to the segments west of NO.  I have been told that the New Orleans to Florida load factor was very low.  Moreover, I was told that the train dropped a coach and one locomotive at NO, at least in the later years, for the run to Florida because of the light loads. I have ridden the Sunset from San Antonio to LAX and back at least 10 times.  More importantly, I have driven along most of the route between Del Rio and Tucson many times (I go to Alpine and Tucson at least three times a year by car to bicycle).  The Sunset route is a single track railroad.  When freight traffic volumes are high, as was the case prior to the recession, serious bottlenecks developed.  Amtrak was a low priority, so the Sunset was shunted frequently off onto sidings. Someone at Amtrak probably woke up to the fact that the Sunset Limited was losing more money per passenger mile than any other still operating Amtrak long distance train with the exception of the Cardinal.  Even bureaucrats in-charge of a non-competitive enterprise will eventually take notice of collapsing financials. Moreover, Katrina gave Amtrak management a good excuse to drop a train that was and still is hemorrhaging heaps of money.  Nothing like a little natural disaster to stiffen the backbone.
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