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Daily Service Proposal
Amtrak is working on a proposed major service change along the historic Sunset Limited Route. At this
point that is all that it is but here are the basics as far as have been revealed. Daily service can
be established between New Orleans, Chicago, and Los Angeles using existing equipment. In saying this
it must be understood that service can just be established because the new service could only use the equipment in
the present Sunset Limited, Texas Eagle equipment pool. Why, because that for now is all of the
equipment that is available so if you want daily service this is what you have to work with.
With this is mind it is obvious not everyone is going to get what service they want or need at the outset.
Currently the Texas Eagle runs 1305 miles daily from Chicago to San Antonio with thru cars for Los Angeles
(421 - 422) on three of those days. Three times a week the Sunset Limited runs 1423 miles from
San Antonio to Los Angeles with the thru cars from the Texas Eagle added (421 - 422).
Three times a week the Sunset Limited runs 573 miles from New Orleans to San Antonio.
Currently and for the last few years there has been no Sunset Limited service east of New Orleans.
There is a Congressional mandate for Amtrak to study resumption of service to this segment and upon
what the results of the study shows reestablish service. This service is not coming anytime soon so
for the purposes of this establishment of daily service is not a factor.
The equipment shortage really makes it tight to get this up and running. There are not enough sleepers
and coaches available to make it a thru seat ride for New Orleans to Los Angeles passengers. In fact
over the entire system there will be less space available at the outset but it will be a daily service which is a
great trade off. With that in mind it is felt that a cross platform transfer in San Antonio will have
to be used.
To make this less of a hassle for the passengers, they will be allowed to stay on board
whichever train arrives in San Antonio first until time to transfer to the thru train. At least they
won't have to get out into the hot or cold to wait. The station at San Antonio although new is simply
too small to shelter a large number of passengers.
The service from San Antonio to New Orleans will be Superliner cars and will be made up of two train sets.
There is no sleeper available for this service. The schedules will be set to provide
good service times in San Antonio, Houston, and New Orleans. With the shorter run time keeping should
be good.
Some of the problems to be solved in getting this up and running include but not limited to: are the training of additional
crews, getting the money to start up, and not at the bottom of the list in any way getting the railroads to give
the ok for daily service on this route and for the very top level of Amtrak Management to sign off on the program.
If all of the stars should be in alignment the service could begin around October, we shall see.
This information was compiled from various meetings and sources not Amtrak directly and is felt to be accurate
at the present time.
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