Amtrak’s Incredible Shrinking Service | Fast Company.
There is an animated map with this story that gives a great picture of the national Amtrak system and how passenger rail service has shrunk since the 60s.
Filed under: Amtrak, Passenger Rail Transportatio Policy
Trains For America 
There is no change in the route of the Sunset Limited after 2005 in the animation, yet we know that service was truncated thanks to pure politics. I would argue that if we could restore about 15 routes, including the full Sunset, and make all trains at least daily, if not twice daily, then ridership gains would be dramatic. It is true. I don’t ride Amtrak anymore because I can’t get to Texas from Florida, so it is of no use to me, and I wonder how many other people feel the same way about their need to go from X to Y or Z, but cannot. May 30th, with great reluctance, I will get my pat down, etc. and board SouthWest Airlines to Houston. The flight takes 3 hours with a stop in Tampa, and the train took 30 hours if it was (never) on time, but give me the train over a cigar tube any day of the week.
Jerry, here’s a link that you MAY be interested in: http://myrailmusings.blogspot.com/2011/01/addendum-amtrak-and-ppp-routes.html.
Share the link with other Gulf Coast residents so you’ll all have a template to work with in restoring NOL-ORL service.
And this highlights the debate … Spend a lot of money on HSR that will serve fewer people or get more bang for the buck by spreading the money around and upgrading the service over more lines to rebuild a true network?