The Amtrak Daily Long-Distance Service Study was created by the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act to be completed by the Federal Railroad Administration. Its purpose is to evaluate the restoration and addition of discontinued and new long-distance passenger services, as well as the upgrading of tri-weekly long-distance services to daily operation. [1] [2] [3]
In November 2021, Congress passed the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. Section 22214 of the law orders the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) to study the restoration of all long-distance Amtrak routes that had been discontinued, daily service on non-daily trains (the Cardinal and Sunset Limited ), and the possibility of new long-distance routes—particularly those that were discontinued upon the formation of Amtrak. [4] [2] [3] The criteria for new routes under consideration is that they "link and serve large and small communities as part of a regional rail network", "advance the economic and social well-being of rural areas of the United States", "provide enhanced connectivity for the national long-distance passenger rail system", and "reflect public engagement and local and regional support for restored passenger rail service". [1] [3] [4]
Work on the Long-Distance Service Study began in September 2022. [3]
In April 2023, the FRA released information that they had successfully held a series of six working group meetings during the previous February where they met with stakeholders and worked to review the study's requirements and to evaluate discontinued services. [5] Included in the regional reports was information about current LD routes trip origin-destinatinaion pairs, as well as similar information for proposed routes. [6] Materials from the meetings indicated that the FRA was studying 18 discontinued long-distance Amtrak routes, [7] as well as four that were discontinued on Amtrak's creation in 1971: the City of Miami , George Washington , Pan-American , and San Francisco Chief . [8]
In August 2023, the FRA released their second round of meeting materials. [9]
In November 2023, the FRA released their interim report to congress describing their current progress in the study. [10]
In February 2024, the FRA released its third round of meeting materials which included a preferred draft network of fifteen new long-distance routes. [11] [12] The plan would increase the coverage of the long-distance Amtrak network by 23,200 route miles, [13] reaching an additional 45 million population, [14] 61 metropolitan statistical areas, [13] 24 congressional districts, [15] twelve National Park Service sites, [16] and two states (Wyoming and South Dakota). [15] Another round of public input will take place before the final set of actions are recommended to Congress in spring 2024. [17]
The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, doing business as Amtrak, is the national passenger railroad company of the United States. It operates inter-city rail service in 46 of the 48 contiguous U.S. states and three Canadian provinces. Amtrak is a portmanteau of the words America and track.
The Crescent is a daily long-distance passenger train operated by Amtrak between New York City and New Orleans. The 1,377-mile (2,216 km) route connects the Northeast to the Gulf Coast via the Appalachian Piedmont, with major stops in Charlotte, North Carolina; Atlanta, Georgia; and Birmingham, Alabama.
BWI Rail Station is an intermodal passenger station in Linthicum, Maryland near Baltimore/Washington International Airport (BWI). It is served by Amtrak Northeast Corridor intercity trains, MARC Penn Line regional rail trains, and several local bus lines.
The Sunset Limited is a long-distance passenger train run by Amtrak, operating on a 1,995-mile (3,211 km) route between New Orleans and Los Angeles. Major stops include Houston, San Antonio and El Paso in Texas, as well as Tucson, Arizona. Opening in 1894 through the Southern Pacific Railroad, Sunset Limited is the oldest continuously operating named train in the United States.
The North Coast Hiawatha was a long-distance passenger train operated by Amtrak between Chicago, Illinois, and Seattle, Washington.
The Southeast Corridor (SEC) is a proposed passenger rail transportation project in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern United States to extend high-speed passenger rail services from the current southern terminus of the Northeast Corridor in Washington, D.C.. Routes would extend south via Richmond and Petersburg, Virginia, with a spur to Norfolk in Virginia's Hampton Roads region; the mainline would continue south to Raleigh, Durham, Greensboro, and Charlotte, North Carolina. Since the corridor was first established in 1992, the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) has extended it further to Atlanta, Georgia and Macon, Georgia; Greenville, South Carolina; Columbia, South Carolina; Jacksonville, Florida; and Birmingham, Alabama.
The Desert Wind was an Amtrak long-distance passenger train that ran from 1979 to 1997. It operated from Chicago to Los Angeles as a section of the California Zephyr, serving Los Angeles via Salt Lake City; Ogden, Utah; and Las Vegas.
The Pioneer was an Amtrak long-distance passenger train that ran between Seattle and Chicago via Portland, Boise, Salt Lake City, and Denver. Operating from 1977 to 1997, the Pioneer was the last passenger rail route to serve Wyoming, Southern Idaho, or Eastern Oregon.
The Floridian was a train operated by Amtrak from 1971 to 1979 that ran between Chicago and Florida, with two branches south of Jacksonville terminating at Miami and St. Petersburg. For its Nashville to Montgomery segment, its route followed that of several former Louisville & Nashville Railroad (L&N) passenger trains, including the Pan-American and the Humming Bird. Originating in Chicago, the train served Lafayette and Bloomington, Indiana; Louisville and Bowling Green, Kentucky; Nashville, Tennessee; Decatur, Birmingham, Montgomery and Dothan, Alabama; and Thomasville, Valdosta and Waycross, Georgia.
Schuylkill River Passenger Rail is a proposed passenger train service along the Schuylkill River between Philadelphia and Reading, Pennsylvania, with intermediate stops in Norristown, King of Prussia, Phoenixville, and Pottstown.
Plans for high-speed rail in the United States date back to the High-Speed Ground Transportation Act of 1965. Various state and federal proposals have followed. Despite being one of the world's first countries to get high-speed trains, it failed to spread. Definitions of what constitutes high-speed rail vary, including a range of speeds over 110 mph (180 km/h) and dedicated rail lines. Inter-city rail with top speeds between 90 and 125 mph is sometimes referred to in the United States as higher-speed rail.
The Lone Star was an Amtrak passenger train that ran between Chicago and Houston, or Dallas via Kansas City, Wichita, Oklahoma City, and Fort Worth. The train was renamed from the Texas Chief, which the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway had introduced in 1948. Amtrak discontinued the Lone Star in 1979.
Front Range Passenger Rail is a proposed inter-city passenger train service along the Front Range and broader I-25 corridors in Colorado and Wyoming. Most proposals envision a route from Pueblo north to Colorado Springs, Denver, Boulder, and Fort Collins. Extensions north to Cheyenne and south to Trinidad, Albuquerque, and even El Paso have been discussed.
The Gulf Coast Limited was a passenger train service operated by Amtrak along the Gulf Coast of the United States. It ran daily between New Orleans, Louisiana, and Mobile, Alabama, with stops in Bay St. Louis, Gulfport, Biloxi, and Pascagoula, Mississippi. The route first operated in 1984–1985, and again in 1996–1997.
The National Limited was a passenger train that ran between Kansas City, Missouri, and both New York City and Washington, D.C., splitting in Pennsylvania. Amtrak operated the train from 1971 to 1979.
The Eastern Flyer was a proposed medium distance inter-city train traveling between Oklahoma City in central Oklahoma and Tulsa in north-eastern Oklahoma. It was originally planned to be a private operation by the Iowa Pacific Railroad, and its services were to have included a dome car, coaches and full meal service. This would have been the first regular passenger service to Tulsa since the Santa Fe discontinued service in 1971.
Coolidge station was a train station in Coolidge, Arizona, served by Amtrak's Sunset Limited and Texas Eagle trains. Amtrak service to this station was discontinued in June 1996 when trains were rerouted to Maricopa.
The Borealis, referred to as Twin Cities–Milwaukee–Chicago (TCMC) during planning, is an Amtrak inter-city rail service that operates daily between Chicago, Illinois, and Saint Paul, Minnesota, via Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The first service began on May 21, 2024, under the Amtrak Midwest brand.
The Long Distance Service Line is the division of Amtrak responsible for operating all intercity passenger train services in the United States longer than 750 miles (1,210 km). There are fifteen such routes as of 2023, serving over 300 stations in 39 states.
The Phoenix–Tucson passenger rail is a planned inter-city passenger train service to be operated by Amtrak in the Arizona Sun Corridor between Phoenix and Tucson, the two most populous cities in Arizona. As proposed, the train would run from Buckeye to Tucson with major stops in Downtown Phoenix, Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport, and Tempe.
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