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Gustav New Orleans Evacuation Trains


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#11 CNJRoss

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Posted 31 August 2008 - 03:18 PM

According to NARP's September newsletter, the sinkhole is located 100 yards south of Memphis Central Station's platform. Track has been taken out of service by CN and removed through the area of the hole.

Just a guess - transfer to a bus at the same location as the City of New Orleans passengers - really no different that transferring to a bus at the station for trip to a designated shelter.

Ross

#12 CNJRoss

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Posted 31 August 2008 - 04:47 PM

Memphis Commercial Appeal, 8/31:

First of four trains carrying Gustav evacuees arrives in Memphis

The first of four AMTRAK trains carrying New Orleans residents fleeing Hurricane Gustav arrived in Memphis at 11:45 Saturday night. The trains were contracted by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to bring as many as 3,500 evacuees to Memphis, where they will be dispersed to shelters.

Waiting Memphis Fire Dept. personnel and AMTRAK police helped passengers disembark, handling luggage and showing them where to go. Even Memphis City Council member Myron Lowery, still tired from his week in Denver at the Democratic National Convention, helped greet the evacuees.

Six MATA buses will take the first round, 150-200 passengers, to the Memphis Air National Guard on Democrat Road, where they will be processed and sent to 10 shelters in Memphis. FEMA officials declined to give specific locations for the shelters, saying they are restricted to government-assisted passengers.

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#13 CNJRoss

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Posted 31 August 2008 - 05:56 PM

The Christian Science Monitor, Boston, MA, 8/31:

Exodus ahead of hurricane Gustav more thorough - but some won’t go
Nearly 1 million people moved inland from the Gulf Coast over the weekend. The mass evacuation is a first test of a new and complex safety plan.


New Orleans – Nearly 1 million Gulf Coast residents fled the path of hurricane Gustav this weekend – a sign that emergency preparations among residents and public officials alike, if not perfectly smooth, are improved since hurricane Katrina swamped New Orleans and flattened parts of the Mississippi coast three years ago.

As major interstates filled during a bumper-to-bumper exodus Sunday, residents – some carrying fridges and dryers in pickup trucks – skedaddled toward Houston, Memphis, Tenn., and Atlanta to escape a storm that the National Hurricane Center called “a big boy.”

SNIP

On Saturday, buses began taking evacuees from 17 points around the city to Union Terminal, where charter buses and trains zipped them out of town. Some 14,000 residents had been moved by the time the bus evacuation ended at noon Sunday. . . .

Yet hopes for a 100 percent evacuation dimmed Sunday morning as authorities declared a noon deadline to hop an evacuation bus. What had been a crush of evacuees had slowed through Saturday. “I’m a little troubled,” says Lieutenant Governor Landrieu.

Complete article.

Comment - makes me wonder how effective the evacuation really is; 14,000 is far fewer than were expected to be "government-assisted evacuees"

-Ross

#14 KevinKorell

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Posted 03 September 2008 - 08:44 PM

I can't tell from the current media articles, but do they also do a "DE-vacuation" when the time comes officially for people to return to New Orleans (officially people can return after midnight tonight but some have already driven back in)? FEMA provided funding for the trains and the buses, so how would those people get back to New Orleans? Are they now forced to pay for regular City of New Orleans service when it comes back, or will they get complimentary trips on the equipment as it is returned to NOL to be cycled into regular service?

Edited by KevinKorell, 03 September 2008 - 08:47 PM.


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#15 CNJRoss

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Posted 05 September 2008 - 01:48 PM

I can't tell from the current media articles, but do they also do a "DE-vacuation" when the time comes officially for people to return to New Orleans (officially people can return after midnight tonight but some have already driven back in)?

Memphis Commercial Appeal, 9/5:

Trains begin returning Hurricane Gustav evacuees to New Orleans

Home is finally on the horizon for government-assisted Hurricane Gustav evacuees who began leaving the area by Amtrak train Thursday night.

Arriving at Central Station by chartered buses, the first of the 3,000 evacuees brought to the Memphis area by the Federal Emergency Management Agency late last week began their final leg back to New Orleans, where they are expected to arrive early this morning.

The remaining Memphis FEMA-assisted evacuees, about 1,000, will be bused to the station by MATA this afternoon from area shelters on their way home. And as was the case Thursday, today's passengers will be fed before departure and provided boxed dinners for the train ride, officials said. A few with special medical needs are going home by chartered bus.

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#16 KevinKorell

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Posted 05 September 2008 - 01:58 PM

That answers my question! And it appears they are using Central Station, something the regularly scheduled CONO still can't do when it returns. They are going to have to back out of Central Station northbound, and then take the freight bypass around Memphis.


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#17 CNJRoss

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Posted 05 September 2008 - 05:26 PM

That answers my question!

And it appears they are using Central Station, something the regularly scheduled CONO still can't do when it returns.

They are going to have to back out of Central Station northbound, and then take the freight bypass around Memphis.

They will also be using a detour route due to damage to the CN tracks. The following is provided courtesy of Shawn Levy:

Due to damaged track on the CN along Lake Pontchartrain from hurricane Gustav, both FEMA trains will be rerouted. FEMA-2, train set with the Amfleet equipment from the CRESCENT, was due to depart Memphis at 20:00 tonight (Thursday).

Routing is supposed to be Memphis - Jackson - Hattiesburg, MS to New Orleans via the NS. Arrival time should be 09:00 Friday. FEMA-1, Superliner CITY OF NEW ORLEANS equipment, is due to depart Memphis at 18:00 Friday, and take the same route, with same ETA. These will be the only two runs.






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