I have a dream that the Amtrak Floridian and that Nashville-Chattanooga-Atlanta route get built so one day I can actually have good service. And that dream could come true if the FRA, and the sate if Tennessee meet Mt demands and you send in public comment on government forms
Briefly, there isn't much good reason to go directly south and divert like this, given the city of new Orleans takes a similar route that doesn't add an extra 8 hours to the trip from tits hayday vs the city of Miami and seeks to use tracks CSX already refuses to share. If you think there should be a route from Chicago to Miami, easier routes should be leveraged, and major cities should be maximized. A route that serves south Alabama but not Mobile and serves Birmingham instead of Atlanta and Chattanooga seems like it's trying to just serve Birmingham. Better would be a Mobile - Birmingham - Nashville train that connects with a would-be city of Miami IMO. It cuts nearly 200 miles of total length and leverages more state owned and more cooperative railroads.
Okay but the previous route of the Floridian worked in a way that helped me specifically and Mobile doesn’t have a train station right now, Miami does