Hotline #735-A

Hurricane Andrew, or at least the anticipation of it, is having a serious effect on Amtrak service this week. Since the evening of August 23, all Silver Meteor and Silver Star service has been confined to north of Tampa. The Miami Amtrak station had some water damage but was open to employees today. The CSX line between Miami and West Palm Beach had some fallen trees, but they have already been cleared and the track has been inspected and judged sound. CSX is waiting for local utilities to restore power for operation of the signals and grade crossing lights. It is possible the first Amtrak train will run to Miami tomorrow night.

The Tri-Rail commuter service was able to move all its rolling stock to Orlando before the storm hit and possibly will start up service on August 27.

Miami's Metrorail serves more of the area most affected by the storm than Amtrak or Tri-Rail do. There were reports of damage to that system but there is little concrete information at this time.

Further west, tonight, the Gulf Breeze will be turned at Mobile, as normal, but the Crescent will be turned at Slidell, the City of New Orleans at Jackson, and the Sunset Limited at San Antonio. Tomorrow night both the Gulf Breeze and Crescent will be cut back to Birmingham. How soon any of these trains resume normal service will depend on where the hurricane strikes land and how much damage each railroad sustains.