York1The Mississippi casinos are only an hour away by car from New Orleans, which has its own casinos.
Yeah and I can tell you the Dallas experience with the Shreveport Casinos is they are happy with bus service and will not pay more to subsidize a train. It was attempted twice to help pay for Dallas to Meridian, Miss train to connect with the Southern Crescent. Both times the Casinos backed away once they saw what they would be expected to contribute and the overall cost of the service.
York1CSX is very much against it. They are busy enough without Amtrak.
True as that maybe they are under pressure from the Federal DOT along with the STB to comply with Amtrak's wishes. In fact Sec of DOT Butigeg told Amtrak to push hard on the service and the Feds would back them up. Ultimately, the project is probably going to go through initially because of Federal lobbying and support but will later fail because of lack of grass roots support.
I keep making the statement here in the Forums that the key to State Service and the Template to follow is what was done in Wisconsin. Get the core of local businesses on board, then develope some grass roots support, then approach the State DOT who will approach Amtrak. Without that complete chain.....I don't see how Amtrak state supported service will last or be spared budget cuts later. Wisconsin did well with the Hiawatha service because ultimately they were replacing approx 60-70 trains a day between Chicago and Milwaukee that existed in the 1940's-1950's that the kids of the WWII generation remembered, then of course Milwaukee has a LOT of businessmen that do business in Chicago and shuttle their employees back and forth and used to depend on both C&NW and Milwaukee Road passenger trains between Chicago and Milwaukee. There was also somewhat of a demand for Milwaukee to Kansas City as well as Chicago to Toronto.
People scoff at the idea of a Detroit to Toronto Train now but they are rather not well informed there either. GM and Ford both have a chunk of Detroit staff that cross the river each day from Windsor, Ont as well as business operations in and around Toronto, Ont. Ford will recruit heavily from Ont for the new Michigan Central Station development.....So will Google. You have ridership between Detroit and Toronto just with the automakers alone, not to mention their parts suppliers. And to top it off the Dearborn Station is right across the street from Ford's World HQ. The Toronto train already has key business and grass roots support as well. Crossing the Canadian Border by car or bus in Detroit is a royal pain and very time consumming. Train could speed that crossing up and be time competitive there. Not to mention that the train station in Toronto is right downtown at a major 4 star hotel and has excellent service with GO Transit trains.
BaltACDIf Amtrak expects to get any patronage on the train, they will call it 'The Gambler' and market it to those who patronize the Gulf Coast casinos. Outside of that clentele who is traveling between New Orleans and Mobile?
In a better situation, Amtrak could run the train from New Orleans to Orlando (Jacksonville connecting to Orlando).
That would at least allow traffic from Texas and further west to connect to Florida.
Again, the issue would be Alabama. They have very little to gain, other than if the train could stop east of Mobile along the Gulf. There are nice beaches there.
At one time, Mississippi was one of very few places that had casinos. They drew tourists from a large area. Now, they are just one of many states with casinos.
That said, if a family in Dallas or Houston is going to visit Disneyworld, are they willing to use two days of their vacation each way riding a train, or spend extra days at Disney after a 2½ hour plane flight?
York1 John
York1 CMStPnP Amtrak is getting ahead of itself again. I agree with you. Amtrak might get it started, but the states, especially Alabama, will not want to put in the money needed to keep it going. Mississippi and Louisiana have pie in the sky ideas of an economic boon with this train, although I can't picture that much since the drive is only three hours by car. The Mississippi casinos are only an hour away by car from New Orleans, which has its own casinos. With all that, I think the biggest issue will be this route would be on CSX track, and CSX is very much against it. They are busy enough without Amtrak.
CMStPnP Amtrak is getting ahead of itself again.
I agree with you. Amtrak might get it started, but the states, especially Alabama, will not want to put in the money needed to keep it going.
Mississippi and Louisiana have pie in the sky ideas of an economic boon with this train, although I can't picture that much since the drive is only three hours by car. The Mississippi casinos are only an hour away by car from New Orleans, which has its own casinos.
With all that, I think the biggest issue will be this route would be on CSX track, and CSX is very much against it. They are busy enough without Amtrak.
If Amtrak expects to get any patronage on the train, they will call it 'The Gambler' and market it to those who patronize the Gulf Coast casinos. Outside of that clentele who is traveling between New Orleans and Mobile?
Never too old to have a happy childhood!
CMStPnPAmtrak is getting ahead of itself again.
York1If Amtrak is willing to pick up the cost, it might finally happen.
Um, not so much. Amtrak is getting ahead of itself again. If you look at the update I posted on the Chicago to Twin Cities route you will see how that Amtrak program pans out. Amtrak picks up the full cost in the first year only after that over the next few years the cost rapidly tapers off to the states. So at most this train will only be running maybe 2 years before the states really have to step forward with subsidy money and if they do not then Amtrak will pull the plug.
The other strength of the program is neither Amtrak nor the States are really paying 100% for the rail improvements the railroads demand. They are pulling that money from other grants from the Feds, so they get a deep discount there and Amtrak does as well.
That is the working template for all their "We have money now to run trains on our own" programs with the states participating. It is not a program for Amtrak to foot the bill, it is a program to get the states hooked by overcomming the initial price shock of startup costs. In effect if the states renew beyond 5 years to 10, Amtrak will make the money back it extended the first two years plus probably more money than that because of the markup Amtrak has on it's services.
The states and Amtrak get a huge financial break from the rail improvements being demanded as Amtrak and/or the states pull almost all that money in via grants from other Federal or State Programs...........slashing startup costs even more.
This issue has been kicking around for a while with both CSX and NS strongly opposed to almost any proposal.
This has been on the drawing board for years, but there may be changes.
Louisiana and Mississippi have both been on board for years, but Alabama has not.
If Amtrak is willing to pick up the cost, it might finally happen.
https://www.bizneworleans.com/amtrak-plans-train-station-upgrades-if-gulf-coast-route-approved/
New Orleans feels this would be a major help for tourist dollars, and Mississippi is looking for traffic to their casinos along the Gulf coast. I don't think Mobile sees much return for the cost.
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