More than ten years ago, a passenger rail service went through multiple stops here in Northwest Florida, but was never re-established after Hurricane Katrina.
For the past six months, there's been discussion between Amtrak, the Southern Rail Commission, and leaders across Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Florida about restoring a passenger line from New Orleans to Orlando.
The Southern Rail Commission received a report from Amtrak that outlines options and critical steps for the restoration of passenger rail service that was never restored after Hurricane Katrina.
“We have an unprecedented amount of support from elected officials and partners from all over the Gulf Coast region,” said Gregory B. White, chairman of the Southern Rail Commission. “These leaders understand that rail means increased economic, cultural and industrial opportunity. And increased opportunity translates to increased quality of life for our vibrant communities.”
After the Senate approved a $325 billion bill, the Southern Rail Commission provided an update on the progress for restoring rail service along the Gulf Coast.
The meeting hosted mayors from around the region, business and industry groups with a vested interest in rail, and other key stakeholders.
Read more about the meeting and our plan to move Gulf Coast passenger rail forward in the new year.
$325 billion transportation bill could spur Gulf Coast Amtrak line (AL.com)
Gulf Coast Passenger Rail: 3 to 5 years away? (WBRC Fox 6 News)
PENSACOLA, Fla. - There's a push to bring passenger train travel back to Pensacola.
The Southern Rail Commission is starting talks with cities across four states. They have invited mayors from cities across the Gulf Coast to their quarterly meeting to talk about the issue.
It has been roughly 10 years since Amtrak’s Sunset Limited provided passenger rail service to the Gulf Coast, but the Southern Rail Commission will host a meeting in Mobile on Friday, Dec. 4, to discuss the possibility of its return.
When: Friday, December 4, 2015 at 9:00 am
Location: Mobile, Alabama
Meeting Site: Battle House Renaissance Mobile Hotel
The head of the U.S. Department of Transportation said that urban planners and engineers have a chance to build transit systems that create opportunities for more people.
“We have an opportunity to make this generation of American transportation planning the most restorative in our history,” Anthony Foxx, secretary of the federal transportation department said Wednesday during his closing keynote address to the Louisiana Smart Growth Summit. The 10th annual summit was held Tuesday and Wednesday at the Shaw Center for the Arts in downtown Baton Rouge.
The effort to develop a passenger rail line linking New Orleans and Baton Rouge could be gaining momentum.
The topic came up Wednesday during the 10th annual Louisiana Smart Growth Summit at the Shaw Center for the Arts in downtown Baton Rouge.
Knox Ross, secretary-treasurer of the Southern Rail Commission, an agency set up to promote rail service, said the cities that are succeeding and growing have made tremendous commitments to rail.
New Chairman Greg White and the Southern Rail Commission were featured in an article on AL.com that detailed the forthcoming plans for Amtrak representatives to attend the December 4 Commission meeting in Mobile.
Greg White has been elected chairman of the Southern Rail Commission.
The SRC engages and informs public and private rail interests to support and influence southeast rail initiatives. “I am honored and humbled to assume the chairmanship of this critical organization,” White said. “The Commission has made an enormous amount of progress in recent years and I look forward to continuing our advocacy of comprehensive passenger rail as a driver of economic resilience and quality of life for communities across the Southeast United States.”