By REID TUCKER
Even if it was just an inspection run, the first trip of an Amtrak train down the tracks between New Orleans and Jacksonville since 2005 proved two things: there is a great deal of public interest in seeing passenger rail service return to northwest Florida, and a great number of people want that train to make DeFuniak Springs one of its daily stops.
DeFuniak Mayor Bob Campbell, along with Walton County Economic Development Alliance Director Steve Jaeger and officials from Amtrak, the Federal Railroad Administration and the Southern Rail Commission, were aboard the train when it passed through several Panhandle cities and towns on Feb. 18. The main purpose of the ride was for Amtrak – the trade name of the National Railroad Passenger Corporation – to assess the condition of its Sunset Limited rail route between Pensacola and Jacksonville in the 10 years since Hurricane Katrina brought everything to a screeching halt. However, and more pertinently for Walton County, the inspection run was also intended to gauge public support for renewing passenger services at rural stations along the way.
What is clear at this point, Campbell said, is that daily passenger train services are in all likelihood on track to return northwest Florida, though officials aboard the train indicated a final decision is not expected to be reached until the fall by Amtrak and the other concerned agencies. What isn’t a sure thing is whether it’ll be DeFuniak Springs that is chosen as the daily train’s aforementioned rural stop, as Crestview and Chipley are both vying for the spot to be Amtrak’s pick.
“I knew this was probably going to be our last chance at getting in [Amtrak’s] ear,” Campbell said. “We knew if we didn’t do well on this ride we were probably going to get passed over.”
DeFuniak residents and visitors from around Walton County gathered by the hundreds last Friday (Feb. 19) around 10 a.m. to make sure that didn’t happen. People thronged on both sides of the railroad tracks running through the center of the city’s downtown historic district, waving flags, flashing banners and cheering in a show of support for Amtrak’s return. The official count, based on sign-ins at the Walton County Heritage Museum, which is housed in the former L&N train depot that may again soon be a working station, came in at 163 people, but there were reportedly as many as 300 people in attendance altogether.
Campbell said the DeFuniak reception was warmly received by everyone aboard the train, but he also intoned that, as high as emotions were running after the local enthusiasm, Amtrak execs and government high-ups will need to see numbers if a deal is going to stick. To that end Campbell and city staff are going to begin working with the Tourist Development Council about putting together the kind of data Amtrak will want to see. Campbell said it’s all about showing how many seats Amtrak can expect to fill at the peak of the busy tourist season, which is set to kick off in the next few months.
Passenger rail travel is, by its very nature, slower and more scenic than travel by air, and it almost necessarily attracts a more affluent or at least older clientele when compared to other modes of getting from one place to another, Campbell said. The basic idea is to pitch DeFuniak as being close to the sugar-white sands of the Gulf beaches and as having a quaint and historic – and recently remodeled – downtown train station very close to the tracks, all of which adds to the ambiance passengers expect when they travel by rail. The Walton County TDC, which also parlays on the cachet appeal of its international-tier shopping, dining and recreational activities for vacationers, would be an ideal partner if an Amtrak stop in DeFuniak is to bear fruit.
“All we can tell [Amtrak] is what we’ve got (in terms of traffic through the city), where these people are coming from, whether they’re families or couples or that kind of thing, and how long they stay,” Campbell said. “If we give [Amtrak] all those numbers, they can make up their own mind. We’re going to give them all the information we possibly can.”
The reintroduction of daily passenger rail service to northwest Florida after a decade without it is a big deal for several reasons, Campbell said. It could, of course, be part of DeFuniak’s broader economic development plan, but such a deal would also be an economical means of connecting towns and cities across the region which helps to build jobs across the Panhandle and beyond. Campbell was optimistic about the prospects after his ride to Jacksonville, but he stressed that this is just the next step in a process that began several years ago at a conference in New Orleans, and, like a train, ideas this big take some time to get up to speed.
“This trip was successful because it at least gets us to the next opportunity,” Campbell said. “The wheels are at least rolling. It doesn’t mean we’re in, but we’re definitely on their radar.”