The announcement was made Saturday in St. Louis at the 20th anniversary meeting of TEMPO, the Texas Eagle Marketing and Performance Organization, by Josephine Jordan, UP’s passenger operations general manager, and Kim Fossland, passenger operations director.
It came as a surprise to Flatonia City Council and TEMPO member Mark Eversole, who has been petitioning UP, Amtrak, and town officials to make the stop a reality following years of hearing “we can’t do that” from his railroad contacts.
Jordan told the group that perseverance by all concerned led to a Flatonia field trip in which the pros and cons of various locations were debated. UP personnel, Amtrak Los Angeles-based deputy general manager Mike Chandler, and city engineers agreed on a prospective location downtown between Market and Second Streets.
Separately, Jordan and Amtrak spokesman Marc Magliari announced at the meeting that the Sunset Limited would resume service to and from New Orleans — subject to possible slow order delays — through Houston next Friday eastbound and Saturday westbound.
Wasn’t it diesel powered in 1957? I know Amtrak was not steam powered. HJH
David, Roanoke,VA really should not be a terminal station but rather an intermediate station for extended passenger train service to Bristol,Johnson City,Knoxville And Chattanooga,Tn,Decatur,AL,Corinth,MS,Memphis,TN,Little Rock,Ar,Dallas,Ft. Worth,Abilene,Sweetwater,Midland,Odessa and El Paso,TX..This service is doable and would be all on major rail lines that are well maintained. This would open up service to The Great Smoky Mountains and the resort cities of Sevierville,Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg,TN which are in close proximity to Knoxville. Just think of all the new city pairs that this new service would enable!!
I’m happy for the town getting its station, but a look at Google Maps indicates a strong speculation that UP got someone to pay for a passing siding where there was none before (although there does seem to be one west of town). If everyone is happy that it’s a “win-win”, fine. With Superliner cars, the platform height to meet ADA requirements shouldn’t be a freight car clearance issue; that’s the legitimate reason to call for special trackage on an intermediate station. The full dedicated platform track that’s apparently to be built here, rather than “offset” tracks, is only justified at a terminal station (e.g. the new Roanoke, VA station).
A map would make this article and comments clearer.
Sugar Land,with its population of around 90,000 should be considered as a stop on the Sunset Limited irregardless of its proximity to Houston. Other cities that are close to large cities but have Amtrak stops include Naperville, and Homewood,IL,Independence,Lee’s Summit and Kirkwood,MO and Anaheim,Fullerton and Pomona,CA just to name a few. Also, on The Texas Eagle route, Mesquite with a population of around 150,000 and Arlington with a population of around 400,000 should definitely be considered for stops.
I know Correct English as well as most others. Unless its a fact correction, these editing details are a waste of all our time and are very annoying period. Get your own self blog that no one would read but would satisfy your ego. The rest of will continue to understand the meat of the message. Meyer cease and desist.
Paul, You are right about Seguin,maybe it should still be considered since it is about halfway between Flatonia and San Antonio. I had originally thought that Schulenburg was the best choice,but Flatonia will serve it along with quite a few other cities and towns in the extended area.
The selection of Flatonia (pop.: 1,408 in 2016) as an Amtrak stop is a surprise given its tiny size. Seguin (pop.: 27,864 in 2015) is the more deserving city as the largest city (aside from Sugar Land which is contiguous to Houston) between Houston and San Antonio.
Be that as it may, officials of Flatonia put in a lot of effort to have their town designated a station stop for The Sunset Limited”. I have yet to hear about the officials in Seguin putting in as much effort for “The Sunset Limited” to stop there. The Flatonia officials and their constituents are to be commended for their successful campaign.
This will be the first time “The Sunset Limited” made an intermediate station stop between Houston and San Antonio since the train was steam powered.
Getting a stop established in Flatonia,Texas is good news for that area as well as The Sunset Limited,as there was currently no stop between San Antonio and Houston. Now if the city of Uvalde,Texas would get behind a stop there,it would make a lot of sense also, as Uvalde is about halfway between San Antonio and Del Rio and would be a good stop for the scenic Texas Hill Country and the beautiful Frio River area. Adding these important stops and becoming a daily train would result in great benefits for The Sunset Limited and the entire area that it serves.
“Attendees at Saturday’s St. Louis TEMPO meeting that are working toward a Sunset Limited Fatonia, Texas, stop”
Fatonia, really?
The number of typos by TRAINS in these “Newswire” segments is amazing.