According to posts on Trainorders.com (which means take all this with a grain of salt) Amtrak is preparing to participate in an evacuation service operating from a point outside of New Orleans. The reports state that they are sending a train of Horizon fleet cars from the west coast. Additionally, a NY area commuter agency (MNCR?) has also offered up to 20 cars and locomotives.Also there are reports that PV's will be leased by insurance companies for use as mobile offices. In regards to the earlier post about having a reserve fleet of emergency passeger equipment. In the early 1960's the US Government took into storage many retired Pullman sleepers in the event that they were needed for wartime use. Does anyone here have details on this project? A government reserve fleet of cars would not just be useful for major emergencies such as this, but could also help to bolster regular commuter fleets for providing service to major events or periodic times of high demand.http://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?4,990733,nodelay=1http://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?4,991132Tom Cornillie

I think it is very clear from this experience that the time to evacuate people is before the storm when the transportation structure is intact, not afterwards when it is torn to pieces. Which leads to the interesting question of why the mayor and the governor did not follow their own evacuation plan, drawn up long before this event, that called for all available school buses to be used to evacuate the residents. Every person you got out before the storm was one more person you didn't have to rescue afterwards.

With all due respect, I'm forced to apply a cynical eye to this. Please keep in mind I have some background in disaster relief and emergency management, with a minor in the history of disasters.The scale of this catastrophe is perhaps unique to New Orleans. We would not be looking at the same scope of disaster had an identical storm hit, say, Galveston, Houston, Miami, Charleston, Los Angeles, Norfolk, Jacksonville, etc.The problem with mass evacuations of this scope is that for every evacuation that prevents mass casualties, we have/would have several that would retroactively be deemed unnecessary or an over-reaction. A city's evacuation and resettlement is a huge kick to the gut of any local economy, and is not to be taken lightly. Eventually, we would be questioning the wisdom of every (annual?) evacuation of Miami, Savannah, Pensacola, etc.Sad to say, I regret that it's entirely possible that the current results we are seeing in New Orleans is perhaps the best that could have been hoped for under the general circumstances. Even if New Orleans had had the entire Amtrak fleet at its disposal, as well as every bus in the South, we would not have gotten that city evacuated in time. The wisdom to be questioned is not how to get out those who have no other means of escape, but that of New Orleans' very existence as a sitting duck full of poor people below sea level between the Mississippi River and Lake Ponchartrain.I have been discussing options for "emergency rolling stock" with a couple of the commuter-car brokers for the past couple of days. They are all quite willing to turn over rolling stock for temporary use in this emergency, provided appropriate authorization, costs, and liability can be arranged/addressed. However, the one, at least, seems mistrustful of the competence of FEMA, DHS, etc. to handle a designated emergency fleet long-term. I can't say I blame him.