______________________________________ As long as we're in Washington, DC (via Chicago no less) let's take a peek at some of the the recent activity there in response to the Passenger Rail Investment and Improvement Act of 2008 (PRIIA), specifically the provision in Section 226 of the act requiring that "Amtrak develop a plan for restoring passenger rail service between New Orleans, LA and Sanford, FL, including a projected timeline, projected costs and any needed legislative changes required to do so."For some background information, click here to view or download the "Overview, Highlights and Summary of the Passenger Rail Investment and Improvement Act of 2008 (PRIIA) (Public Law No. 110-432, Division B, enacted Oct. 16, 2008, Amtrak/High-Speed Rail) Prepared March 10, 2009" prepared by the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA). To view or download the Amtrak report dated July 16, 2009 issued in response to the Section 226 requirement entitled "P.R.I.I.A. SECTION 226 GULF COAST SERVICE PLAN REPORT" click here.
The above map is shown for those who may be unfamiliar with the suspended portion of the Sunset Limited Route. Amtrak suspended service to these Sunset Limited stops in 2005 due to Hurricane Katrina damage and has not yet restarted it. According to the above referenced FRA PRIIA Overview, the Amtrak report was chartered to develop a plan for restoring service along the route. We recommend that you review the published report for yourself and come to your own conclusions. However if want to read some pointed criticism of the report check out This Week at Amtrak; 2009-07-20 and This Week at Amtrak; 2009-07-25 published by United Rail Passenger Alliance, Inc. The comments provided by United Rail Passenger Alliance and its readers clearly illustrate their frustration with the document. So hang in there all of you train travelers west of the Mississippi. If you want to travel to Orlando on the train anytime soon you'll probably need to go through Washington, DC... one way or the other. If you get a bit frustrated planning the route, go ahead and call one or two of your elected representatives there and ask them for directions. While you're on the phone you might also ask for their opinion of the Amtrak report. ______________________________________ Denver Union Station - Schedule Update In June 2009 Train Times published a general overview of the Denver Union Station Project on the California Zephyr Route. Although we're sure that the action behind the scenes continues to be fast and furious, the only item that we have to report this month is a schedule update.According to Continuum Partners, LLC "The Union Station construction schedule currently presumes start of construction this year and completion in 2013. The only schedule issues being reviewed are whether completion may be in July of 2013 or the fall of 2013, depending mostly on when construction commences this year" This differs from the Union Station completion date of mid 2012 still shown on the Denver RTD FasTraks schedule contained on http://www.rtd-fastracks.com/main_31. ______________________________________ Website News at Rail Passenger USA Rail Passenger USA Outage Rail Passenger USA experienced an unexpected server outage starting on July 24, 2009 about 3 pm MDT and ending on July 25, 2009 about 3 pm MDT. During the outage a major upgrade to the system was installed to ensure that the problem does not recur.We apologize for the inconvenience that you experienced if you attempted to connect to www.railpassengerusa.com or contact us during the outage. Hiawatha, Carl Sandburg and Illinois Zephyr Route Guides Added Route Guides for USA Regional Routes, the Hiawatha, and Carl Sandburg and Illinois Zephyr may now be viewed on the Rail Passenger USA website.Free Route Guide Downloads Now Available! (Obsolete) Power Point (.pps) and optional Adobe Reader (.pdf) downloads of Rail Passenger USA Route Guides are now available on request. To request a download go to http://railpassengerusa.com/download.php (Obsolete Link). The downloads are provided free of charge to our site visitors. Happy
Rails to You! __________________________________________________Click here to send us an email or subscribe to our newsletter Rail Passenger USA is a free website founded by Ramblin' Ray, an old train travel addict who devotes most of his time to mapping USA passenger railroad routes and preparing route guides to share with others via his website.
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