New Orleans and Dominican Republic. The city is served by Amtrak. The New Orleans Union Passenger Terminal is the central rail depot and is served by the "Crescent", operating between New Orleans and New York City; the "City of New Orleans", operating between New Orleans and Chicago and the "Sunset Limited", operating between New Orleans and Los Angeles. Up until August 2005 (when Hurricane Katrina struck), the "Sunset Limited's" route continued east to Orlando. With the strategic benefits of both the port and its double-track Mississippi River crossings, the city attracted six of the seven Class I railroads in North America: Union
Hurricane preparedness for New Orleans Hurricane Ivan's threat to the city resulted in the largest evacuation of the city to date. Mayor Ray Nagin issued a call for a voluntary evacuation of the city at 6 pm on September 13. An estimated 600,000 or more evacuated from Greater New Orleans. The contraflow plan was put into full effect for the first time, but rather late in the evacuation due to various confusions. This proved valuable practice, for the contraflow was implemented much more smoothly in 2005. Hurricane Pam was a hypothetical hurricane used as a disaster scenario to drive planning for a 13-parish area in