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During a field hearing held on May 3 to determine how high-speed rail will connect with other transportation modes, Rep. Corrine Brown (D-Fla.) urged Amtrak to reinstate passenger-rail service between Jacksonville, Fla., and New Orleans. The route was discontinued after Hurricane Katrina and has not been restored.

During the hearing, which focused on the federal grant Florida received to establish high-speed trains between Orlando and Tampa, Brown expressed concern about the delay in reinstating passenger-rail service.

“This train is vital to transcontinental transportation and an important safety backup for evacuation in a disaster,” she said.

Brown, who serves as chairman of the House Subcommittee on Railroads, Pipelines and Hazardous Materials, plans to hold a hearing in Jacksonville in the coming weeks to discuss the Sunset route.

Amtrak officials, who believe the line is the “missing link” in the national passenger-rail network, still include the New Orleans-to-Jacksonville service in their official timetable as a “temporarily suspended” route. However, there’s been no real effort to restore service to the corridor, aside from a restoration study completed in July 2009, according to the National Association of Railroad Passengers.