On Monday, Bay St. Louis became the first city on the Mississippi Coast to begin construction on a set of projects needed before Amtrak can begin running trains from New Orleans to Mobile with four stops in South Mississippi.

“I think this is the first boots on the ground infrastructure commitment people have seen,” said Knox Ross, Southern Rail Commission chairman.

The ground breaking ceremony marked the beginning of construction to reactivate Bay St. Louis’ Amtrak station by upgrading the train platforms.

“It’s going to be big for the city, it’s going to allow us to get people out of New Orleans and into our Coast,” said Bay St. Louis Mayor Mike Favre.