FEMA's
Evacuation Trains
By
Tom Parker
History
In
the aftermath of Katrina, governmental agencies, particularly FEMA,
stung by criticism for by their response both prior to and after the
storm, went back to the drawing board and formulated new plans for
future emergencies.
At
issue was the failure to utilize Amtrak in the evacuation effort and
reports of Amtrak trains leaving New Orleans empty.
In
2006, FEMA entered into a $700,000 per year year with Amtrak to
provide emergency railroad transportation services for evacuating
persons from New Orleans and the Gulf Coast. This contract provided for 24 rail cars with stored equipment, food
and provisions, an equipment mobilization plan, refrigerated rail
cars, staff mobilization plans, insurance, and standby costs. The
plan called for transportation 6000 evacuees by rail from New
Orleans' Union Passenger Terminal to the Memphis, Tennesssee “Rail
Depot” using two 24 car trains, with each train having a capacity
of 1500 persons. Both trains were to make two trips within a forty
eight hour window. One of the considerations in selection of a
destination was “that
arrival locations are suitable for a safe unloading operation and
that arrangements are in place to care for the evacuees”.
In
December 2007, the lease for the storage of these cars in New Orleans
(and presumably the contract) expired and the cars were removed to
Delaware. On August 1st and 2nd,
2008, 10 ex Connecticut Department of Transportation (CDOT) cars were
moved to New Orleans on the Crescent for “hurricane storage”.
Preparations
for Gustav
In
anticipation of hurricane Gustav hitting New Orleans, Amtrak ran five
locomotives to New Orleans on train #59 from Chicago on August 28th.
AMTK 122 was in the lead with engines 87, 115, 139 and 63 trailing.
The additional power was for use on evacuation trains out of New
Orleans.6
On
August 29th, with hurricane Gustav projected to make
landfall on September 1st, Amtrak announced suspension of
service for the three trains serving New Orleans; the Sunset Limited
was stopped at San Antonio, the Crescent at Atlanta and the City of
New Orleans from Chicago was cancelled. 7
Using
the Amtrak equipment on hand in New Orleans and the 10 CDOT commuter
cars, two evacuation trains were assembled, designated by railfans as
FEMA-1 and FEMA-2
Evacuation
New Orleans Mayor
Ray Nagen announced the mandatory evacuation of residents of the West
Bank starting at 8:00 AM, Sunday, August 31st with
evacuation of the rest of the city to begin four hours later at
noon.
Under plans
developed post Katrina, residents with no other means to leave the
city were to call 311 and register for pick up at one of 17
designated spots around the city. They would then be transported to
Union Passenger Terminal where they would be evacuated from the city
by bus and train.
FEMA-1, departed
New Orleans Union Terminal at 11:30 AM, August 31st , with 1024 mostly elderly and disabled evacuees . FEMA-2 followed at 3:00 PM 4
with 876 evacuees. Upon arrival in Memphis early Sunday morning each train was met by 20
to 25 MATA buses and about a half dozen ambulances. Evacuees were
taken to the National Guard Armory on Democrat Road where they were
processed and transferred to one of ten shelters in West Tennessee
After the trains
delivered the first group of evacuees, they returned to New Orleans
for an anticipated additional 1676 passengers. However, when FEMA-1 returned to Memphis at 3:30 Sunday morning
there were only 101 evacuees on board. FEMA-2 evidently returned to Memphis empty, although there was one
report that the evacuees on FEMA-2's second trip detrained at
Jackson, MS.
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The same
procedure was followed the next day.
853 evacuees3
boarded FEMA-1, which was minus sufficient Superliner cars and
power for a northbound City of New Orleans from Memphis scheduled to
leave from Central Station at its usual time of 10:40 PM that same
night.With FEMA-1 at
Central Station, FEMA-2 was held at Memphis' North Yard. On
Wednesday, September 3rd, FEMA-1 was relocated to North
Yard and by Thursday afternoon, FEMA-2 had been spotted at Central
Station. An estimated 1000 evacuees from the Jackson, TN, area began
boarding the train for their return to New Orleans with departure “sometime
after 8:00PM”
Track damage
along Lake Ponchartrain by hurricane Gustav necessitated that the
two FEMA trains be detoured.
The CN McComb Sub
had a large section of track washed out in the vicinity of the Bonnet
Carre' spillway and the returning trains were rerouted via the
Canadian National to Hattiesburg, MS and then via the Norfolk
Southern to New Orleans.
City
of New Orleans Returns To Central Station
By
Tom Parker
The City of New
Orleans had it a little tougher than norm for nearly a month as a
result of hurricanes Gustav and Ike.
On August 29th
Amtrak suspended train 58 and 59 for their entire route due to the
approaching Gustav. It was not until a week later, on Friday,
September 5th that service was restored between
Memphis and Chicago. Service south of Memphis remained suspended due
to a washout along Lake Ponchartrain. For a very brief period, from
the night of September 5th through September 8th,
regular passenger service returned to Central Station after an
absence of over four months.
When srvice over
the entire route was restored from Chicago on Monday, September 8th
and from New Orleans on Tuesday, September 9th, Amtrak
again started bypassing Central Station and using the temporary
facility near Johnston Yard.
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FEMA-1
at Central Station 9/1/08 Tom Parker Photo
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FEMA-1
looking south from Nettleton Avenue 9/1/08 Tom Parker Photo
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It was over a
week before the track was repaired and train service was restored. In
the interim, buses service was substituted between McComb and New
Orleans.
Finally,
on September 20th
the “City” again rolled into New Orleans. The first northbound
train departed New Orleans the following day.
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FEMA-2
at North Yard (Looking South) 9/2/08 Tom Parker Photo
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FEMA-2 at North Yard
(Looking North) 9/2/08. Don't know where the reefer came from,
perhaps they picked it up on the second trip. It probably made the
move from Woodstock interesting! Tom Parker
Photo
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