Crescent (Amtrak)

From Free net encyclopedia

The Crescent is a passenger train operated by Amtrak in the eastern part of the United States. It runs 1377 miles (2216 km) daily from Pennsylvania Station in New York City to New Orleans Union Passenger Terminal in New Orleans, Louisiana as train 19 and returns on the same route as train 20. Most of the route of the Crescent is on the Norfolk Southern Railway.

1 History
2 Tracks
3 Station stops
4 External links
5 References

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History

Before Amtrak took over the route, a train called the Southern Crescent was operated by the Southern Railway, a predecessor of Norfolk Southern, from Washington, DC's Union Station south to New Orleans. The Southern Railway did not join Amtrak when it was created in 1971, but continued to operate the Southern Crescent independently. The Southern Crescent became one of the two last privately operated long-distance passenger services in the United States. On February 1, 1979, Southern left the passenger business and turned over operation of the train to Amtrak, which renamed it and extended it north to New York. The train was also rerouted southwest of Atlanta, Georgia, following what had been the route of the Southerner rather than the Southern Crescent (which used Atlanta and West Point Railroad, Western Railway of Alabama and Louisville and Nashville Railroad trackage past Atlanta, running via Mobile, Alabama). [1]

When Hurricane Katrina struck Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama in August 2005, the Crescent was temporarily truncated to Atlanta. Service was restored first as far as Meridian, Mississippi as an interim measure as Norfolk Southern crews worked to repair the damage to their lines serving the Gulf Coast. Amtrak restored service to New Orleans on October 9, 2005 with the northbound Crescent's 7:20 AM departure; the first southbound arrival occurred later in the day. [2]