Objective

Restoring passenger rail service between Mobile and New Orleans is the current priority for the Southern Rail Commission, and this project has gained recent momentum with funding secured, and support across the three Gulf Coast states. A secondary priority is the route between Birmingham, Montgomery and Mobile.

These cities were formerly served by the Gulf Breeze route that made its final run in 1995. The State of Alabama is currently serviced by one passenger rail line, the Crescent, which serves the cities of Tuscaloosa, Birmingham and Anniston, Alabama to New Orleans and to New York City and destinations in between.

Project Overview: Mobile to New Orleans

Passenger service along the Gulf Coast has been suspended since 2005 when Hurricane Katrina destroyed critical rail infrastructure. The Southern Rail Commission and the federal, state, and local officials in Mississippi, Alabama and Louisiana have been successful in securing millions in funding that will be used to make the major infrastructure and capital investments required to allow Amtrak to move ahead with launching new, regular, reliable passenger service between New Orleans, LA and Mobile, AL, with future expansion envisioned to connect onto Orlando, FL.

Communities along this route are enthusiastically supportive of passenger rail service which will be a win for the economy, for tourism, for local business, and for all of the residents who will gain a new affordable way to travel the region. This new passenger rail will serve the coastal south in a more robust way than the old service ever did, by provide additional connectivity between growing economic centers and the region’s smaller communities, rural areas, and north-south intermodal routes. It will link visitors, employees and state residents to Gulf casinos, military bases, historic sites, tourist attractions, and colleges.

The SRC is working with the Mobile Regional Airport which is underway with a master plan and site selection process that will identify where exactly the station would be located within the Mobile airport, and FAA is anticipated to approve the master plan by the end of 2020. These capital investments will not only benefit passenger traffic, but freight as well, and the SRC is committed to supporting port access and circulation. The Mobile-New Orleans route also exemplifies the type of short corridor service Amtrak wants to establish throughout the nation.

Project Status

  • In 2016, the SRC announced the allocations for more than $2 million in funding through the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) to ten communities in Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana, including the new station at the Mobile Airport, that are underway with planning, upgrading and constructing their rail stations.

  • In May 2019, SRC was awarded a $5.45 million federal grant through the Restoration and Enhancement (R&E) Grants Program that can fund operating expenses for the first and second years of service along the restored rail line.

  • Following that grant, in June 2019, SRC was awarded a $33 million federal grant through the Consolidated Rail Infrastructure and Safety Improvements (CRISI) program to complete major infrastructure and capital improvements necessary for service restoration. These federal grants also leverage matching commitments from the States of Louisiana and Mississippi and the City of Mobile.

  • In addition, in August 2019, SRC was awarded a $4.36 million federal grant through the Restoration and Enhancement (R&E) Grants Program from FRA to SRC. This federal grant will fund operating expenses for the first year of service along the new rail line and leverages commitments of approximately $1.4 million from the states of Louisiana and Mississippi and the City of Mobile.

  • In 2020, Amtrak is currently underway with a Rail Traffic Controller study modelling the passenger rail service options to be completed in December 2020 which will detail next steps on working with CSX on track improvements.

  • The Southern Rail Commission is committed to working with Amtrak, CSX, and other local partners to overcome all hurdles and ensure the service is implemented.

  • The passenger rail project is supported as a bipartisan effort of the Mayor of Mobile, Sandy Stinson the Mobile City Council along with Gov. Phil Bryant, governor of Mississippi and Gov. John Bel Edwards, governor of Louisiana, former Congressional leaders such as Senator Wicker and Senator Cochran, Senator Shelby and Senator Hyde-Smith, and U.S. Senator Richard Shelby of Alabama.

  • Congress created the Gulf Coast Working Group (GCWG) in the 2015 federal transportation reauthorization (the FAST Act) to perform an exhaustive study on restoring the service, which was administered by the FRA.

  • The GCWG Report was completed in July 2017 and in it the GCWG identified the preferred option as restoring service between: 1) New Orleans, LA and Mobile, AL via state-supported train for one daily round trip; and 2) N. New Orleans, LA and Orlando, FL via long-distance train for one daily round trip.

Economic Impact

  • Jacksonville State University’s study found that expanding passenger rail service within the state of Alabama would add thousands of construction and railway operations jobs and increase tourism spending throughout the state. Total economic output on Alabama’s economy is as follows: Construction and Restoration of $1.3 billion (10,800 jobs generated); Railway Operations from $6.3 million to $21.6 million (18 – 61 jobs generated), which is based on low and high end estimates; and Increased Tourism Spending from $22.8 million on low end to $389.2 million (227 – 3,867 jobs generated) on high end.

  • Critical evacuation route from gulf coast cities

  • Provides alternative modes of travel to casinos, conventions, cruise ships, and other tourist destinations

  • Relieves high congestion on highways as more than 5 million people annually visit the beaches of southern Alabama

  • Serves the workforce of growing industries such as gas, petrochemical, aerospace and shipping

Long Range Project: Birmingham to Mobile

The restoration of passenger service between Birmingham, Montgomery and Mobile, Alabama will connect the economic centers of Alabama with other regional resources, and to destinations in eastern and southeastern portions of the United States. The Birmingham to Montgomery corridor would extend from the Amtrak station, which is located within downtown Birmingham’s Intermodal Transportation Terminal, to a proposed station (Montgomery Visitor Center) in Montgomery and to a new station planned at the Mobile Airport. As the population continues to grow in these regions, more residents will be commuting along already congested roadway networks such as I-65 that are expected to only become more congested in the years ahead. Passenger rail service will provide a more efficient, cost effective, and safe alternative to highway travel across this geography.

Project Status

  • The Center for Economic Development and Business Research at Jacksonville State University recently conducted an economic impact analysis of expanding passenger rail service within the state of Alabama. The areas under consideration for this study encompass three distinct geographies: from Birmingham to Montgomery in phase I; from Montgomery to Mobile in phase II; and from Atlanta to Birmingham in phase III.

  • A feasibility study for the Montgomery to Mobile segment was completed by AECOM in June 2020 with three options considered:

    • Option One: Amtrak service restoration (Gulf Breeze) sharing a track with CSX with an average speed anticipated of 48mph, and capital cost of $345 million

    • Option Two: CSX corridor with an average speed anticipated of 70mph, and capital cost of $1.3 billion

    • Option Three: Interstate 65 alignment on a newly constructed track with an average speed anticipated of 101mph and capital cost of $9.5 billion

  • The ridership forecast concluded that higher speeds and higher frequencies result in higher ridership. Next steps are conducting further planning and outreach; identifying sponsors; conducting an alternatives analysis; meeting NEPA requirements; final design; funding agreements; right-of-way acquisitions; and construction.

  • The cities of Birmingham and Anniston have completed the planning and construction of station area improvements. The City of Mobile is currently underway with planning efforts:

    • Birmingham has completed enhancements and construction of pedestrian corridor connecting the downtown Intermodal Facility to the Amtrak platform.

    • Anniston has reconstructed the parking area and extended the existing platform at the station.

    • Mobile is working with Mobile Regional Airport which is underway with a master plan and site selection process that will identify where exactly the station would be located within the Mobile airport, and FAA is anticipated to approve the master plan by the end of 2020.

Long Range Project: Gulf Coast Passenger Rail Between New Orleans and Orlando

For project overview, click here.

Partners

  • AL Department of Economic & Community Affairs

  • AL Department of Transportation

  • Mobile County Commission

  • Mobile City Council

  • Mobile Regional Airport

  • West Alabama Regional Commission

  • Regional Planning Commission of Greater Birmingham

  • Gulf Coast Planning Commission

  • Birmingham Jefferson County Transit Authority

  • Port of Gulfport

  • Casino industry

  • Convention and tourism agencies

ALABAMA RAIL PLANS