Wednesday, January 2, 2008

Growth Defies History for Amtrak's Sunset Limited

The Sunset Limited has long been the poster child for all that is wrong with passenger rail service in the United States. Yet, somehow, this troubled route has defied history increasing both the number of riders and ticket revenues.

For more than 110 years, the Sunset Limited trains have meandered between California new New Orleans. Back then, it was operated by Southern Pacific Railroad (now part of Union Pacific), which still owns the tracks the Sunset Limited travels over from Orange, Texas to Los Angeles, California. Southern Pacific dropped the Limited from the name, along with many of the amenities that make long-distance rail travel enjoyable, in the 1960's. Amtrak took over operation in 1971, restoring the Sunset Limited name along with the sleeper and dining cars and continues offering service 3 times a week to this very day.

Amtrak extended service east of New Orleans to Florida in 199o's. A decade later, track damage from Hurricane Katrina disrupted this service which Amtrak has decided to discontinue it indefinitely. This truncated service is just one of the challenges the Sunset Limited faces.

In 1993, the Sunset Limited was involved in one of the worst Amtrak accidents on record when the train fell from a damaged bridge into a Alabama bayou killing 47 people. A year later the two locomotives derailed along with 8 other cars in Arizona, killing one persona and injuring 78. The case remains unsolved. Eighteen people were injured in 1999 when two locomotives and two cars derailed after colliding with a truck. Add such incidents to one of the worst on-time records of any Amtrak train and it's hardly surprising that the Sunset Limited has inherited Southern Pacific's reputation as the railroad people love to hate.

What may surprise people is that, after years of declining use and revenues, the Sunset Limited appears to be enjoying a renaissance. According to the most recent numbers reported by Amtrak, the Sunset Limited's ridership increased by more than 22 percent during fiscal year 2007 while ticket revenues grew by nearly 32 percent. Growth in both areas exceeded that of any other long-distance service offered by Amtrak and many of the short-distance routes.

Put another way, more than 63,000 people traveled through history last year. The territory between Tucson, Arizona and Del Rio, Texas is much the same as it was when the Sunset Limited first rolled across it in 1894. Travelers can easily imagine themselves in a Western movie or the Old West itself as they rush past mesquite and cactus and play peek-a-boo with the Rio Grande. Crossing the Pecos High Bridge they might forget they aren't flying as the train is invisibly suspended 265 feet above the Pecos River on one of the nation's highest railroad bridges. San Antonio's station is within walking distance of the Alamo.

Traveling aboard the Sunset Limited is an adventure. There are no guarantees for on-time arrivals or departures, scheduled stops or even properly working equipment. One thing travelers can count on is making new friends as they experience the southern United States in a way too few do.