I really wished that Amtrak could have done more, and more press coverage. People have to know it is there, and that Amtrak can be a good tool to use in disaster relief.
The rail infrastructure damage in and around New Orleans was so severe that Amtrak was a very limited option for evacuation. They could basically run one route only, to the west; and even then only took evacuees about 150 miles to a point where busses fanned out. The inflexibility of rail compared to the bus and air options reduced the real value of what Amtrak could provide. The bottom line is that in this case and given these circumstances, Amtrak was not a very effective means of evacuation.
I think the central element was and is getting those poor souls out the best way possible regardless of means. Public relations and political gamesmanship are really not that important given the human suffering. Amtrak did all they could do given limited capability and physical constraints.
Bill is partly correct in his analysis of why Amtrak didn't/couldn't do more. However, there were also sadly failings by the Fed that diminished the impact that Amtrak could have had.
The one train that did make it into the city left with only about 100 people on board, instead something closer to its capacity of 8 or 9 hundred. The reason was two fold. Part of it was lack of coordination within NOL to get people over to the train. The other half was lack of security. I understand that several of the buses were either hijacked or at least an attempt was made to hijack them.
So officials, not Amtrak, ordered the train to leave since they were worried about the safety of the train and they felt that waiting longer would not result in getting a significant number of additional people on board.
Then the Fed broke down on the other end too, since they had no further transportation ready for the 100 that Amtrak dropped off in Lafayette. They also made no arrangements with Amtrak and the host RR's to take the train further to some station that might have been closer to evacuation centers.
Further runs have been put off while they try to work out the logistics of things. Personally I think that someone decided that they didn't want to create a hero out of Amtrak, since that would run counter to the current line that Amtrak isn't a viable entity.
While buses do have more flexibility as Bill pointed out, one must also consider that many of the bridges that the buses need to use are also out of commission. Additionally those few bridges and roads that are in operation are also needed to get rescuers and National Guardsmen into the city. So filling the roads with buses for evacuation isn't exactly the smartest thing either.
Frankly sending some buses into the city for the purpose of running trips to Amtrak would IMHO make more sense. Then send the bulk of the bus fleet over to Lafayette to meet the evacuation trains. This would create less traffic in the city, and provide multiple routes for those buses to disperse those displaced by the flooding.
