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Gulf Breeze

The Gulf Breeze at Montgomery in June 1990
Overview
Service type	Inter-city rail
System	Amtrak
Status	Discontinued
Locale	Eastern United States
First service	October 27, 1989
Last service	April 1, 1995
Former operator(s)	Amtrak
Route
Termini	New York, New York Mobile, Alabama
Stops	31
Distance travelled	1,299 miles (2,091 km) (New York–Mobile) 275 miles (443 km) (Birmingham–Mobile)
Service frequency	Daily each way
Train number(s)	519, 520
On-board services
Class(es)	Standard and first class
Seating arrangements	Reserved Coach Seat
Sleeping arrangements	Roomette Bedrooms
Catering facilities	Dining Car Lounge Car
Baggage facilities	Checked baggage available at stations north of Birmingham
Technical
Track gauge	4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm)
Track owner(s)	CSX Transportation
Route map Legend Northeast Corridor to Boston 0 mi New York City NY NJ Hudson River North River Tunnels 10 mi 16 km Newark Penn 58 mi 93 km Trenton NJ PA 91 mi 146 km Philadelphia–30th Street PA DE 116 mi 187 km Wilmington DE MD 185 mi 298 km Baltimore MD DC 225 mi 362 km Washington, D.C. DC VA 234 mi 377 km Alexandria 258 mi 415 km Manassas 292 mi 470 km Culpeper 337 mi 542 km Charlottesville 398 mi 641 km Lynchburg 461 mi 742 km Danville VA NC 512 mi 824 km Greensboro 524 mi 843 km High Point 558 mi 898 km Salisbury 601 mi 967 km Charlotte 625 mi 1006 km Gastonia NC SC 678 mi 1091 km Spartanburg 709 mi 1141 km Greenville 739 mi 1189 km Clemson SC GA 772 mi 1242 km Toccoa 810 mi 1304 km Gainesville 858 mi 1381 km Atlanta GA AL 960 mi 1545 km Anniston 1024 mi 1648 km Birmingham Crescent to New Orleans 1120 mi 1802 km Montgomery 1164 mi 1873 km Greenville 1201 mi 1933 km Evergreen 1225 mi 1971 km Brewton Sunset Limited to Miami (post-1993) 1254 mi 2018 km Atmore 1274 mi 2050 km Bay Minette 1299 mi 2091 km Mobile Sunset Limited to Los Angeles (post-1993) This diagram: view talk edit

The Gulf Breeze was a daily passenger train operated by Amtrak between New York City and Mobile, Alabama, as a section of the Crescent. Southbound, the Gulf Breeze split from the Crescent in Birmingham to serve an additional seven stations in Alabama on a 275-mile (443 km) route south to Mobile. The service ran from 1989 until 1995.

History

Amtrak introduced the Gulf Breeze on October 27, 1989, as a section of the Crescent (New York City–New Orleans). Costs of operation were split between Amtrak and the state, with the latter contributing about $1.3 million per year. Annual ridership in FY 1994, the last full year of operation, was 7,737. In December 1994 Amtrak announced that the Gulf Breeze would be discontinued as part of a broad cost-cutting measure which saw other services eliminated or reduced. The last Gulf Breeze ran on April 1, 1995, and was replaced by bus service.

Later that year attempts were made under the auspices of the Southern High Speed Rail Commission to resurrect the Gulf Breeze as a Mobile–New Orleans service, sharing part of the Sunset Limited's route. This was eventually realized as the Gulf Coast Limited, a joint effort between Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana which operated 1996–1997.

Route

The Gulf Breeze split from the Crescent at Birmingham and ran south through Montgomery to Mobile on the Gulf of Mexico, while the Crescent continued southwest through Mississippi to New Orleans. At the time Mobile was served also by the Sunset Limited (Orlando, Florida–Los Angeles, California).

As of 2023, Birmingham (served by the Crescent) is the only Gulf Breeze station still in operation. Mobile and Atmore were served by the Gulf Coast Limited in 1996–1997, and by the Sunset Limited from 1993 to 2005. The remaining stations have not seen passenger rail service since the cancellation of the Gulf Breeze.

Station stops

References

1. "Gulf Breeze button". Amtrak.com. November 14, 2012. Retrieved September 3, 2014.
2. Diehl, Stan (December 15, 1994). "CUTS BIRMINGHAM TO MOBILE LINK RAIL SERVICE PRUNED NATIONWIDE". Birmingham News.
3. "AMTRAK ELIMINATES GULF BREEZE TRAIN SERVICE; REPLACES WITH THRUWAY BUS SERVICE". PR Newswire. April 3, 1995.
4. "The little train route that could gets the go-ahead". Coast Business. April 10, 1995. p. 7.
5. Durantine, Peter (November 13, 1989). "Orient Express-Style Train Launches Washington to Chicago Run". Washington Business Journal. p. 31.

External links

Media related to Gulf Breeze (train) at Wikimedia Commons

• Southern High-Speed Rail Commission Archived November 9, 2018, at the Wayback Machine

• Former Amtrak routes
• Passenger rail transportation in Alabama
• Railway services introduced in 1989
• 1995 disestablishments in the United States
• Railway services discontinued in 1995
• Former long distance Amtrak routes