Amtrak announces when passenger rail service will begin on Gulf Coast

BILOXI, Miss. (WLOX) - After last week’s announcement that the passenger rail service would be returning next year to the Gulf Coast, Amtrak is narrowing that timeframe down a bit.

On Friday, Amtrak announced that it hopes to start running the trains in January 2022.

During the quarterly meeting of the Southern Rail Commission on Friday, Amtrak Vice President of Stations and Accessibility Dr. David Handera made the announcement.

“Amtrak recently dispatched a full team to assess the remaining work underway on stations along the Mobile to New Orleans route to ensure they are ready for passenger rail service to start in 2022,” said Dr. Handera. “Amtrak will work with the cities on a phased approach to initially modify the existing platforms and complete all needed repairs in the path of travel.”

According to Handera, Amtrak’s intent is to pay for these repairs, which are subject to FRA approval, and also to invest in constructing new accessible, well-lit, ADA complaint platforms in phase two.

“We are working with FRA on assembling funding sources for short-term and long-term repairs, and will work collaboratively with the cities to redirect current grant funds towards other station upgrades that improve the path of travel to the station, such as accessible parking, lighting, and other depot amenities,” said Handera.

With funding secured for the first three years of operations for the New Orleans to Mobile service, Amtrak said they intend to start service in January 2022.

The SRC has secured over $66 million in federal grants and local matching funds for improvements to railroad infrastructure that will benefit passenger and freight service along the route.

The SRC awarded grants to Mobile, Gulfport, Biloxi, Pascagoula, and Bay St. Louis for planning and improvements to rail stations along the Mobile to New Orleans route. Under Amtrak’s new commitment, Amtrak would repair existing platforms in Bay St. Louis, Gulfport, Biloxi and Mobile in phase one and install new platforms in phase two.

In Pascagoula, Amtrak would bring in a temporary platform in phase one and install a new platform in phase two. In Mobile, the city plans to locate the rail station at the new Mobile airport at Brookley Field, but is awaiting the final results of an alternatives analysis before determining the final station location.

Amtrak officials stated, “We cannot commit to investment in additional locations today in Mobile, but will work closely with Mobile officials on their plans which would follow Amtrak’s normal course of planning for new station development.”

Amtrak official: Gulf Coast service starting in 2022

Amtrak passenger service along the Gulf Coast is on target to return in 2022 and could come in the early part of next year, an official with the railroad company confirmed Tuesday.

Marc Magliari, spokesman for Amtrak, said the nation’s passenger rail service reached out to CSX and Norfolk Southern in January to inform them “that we intend to begin service in 2022” that will connect New Orleans to Mobile with four stops in Mississippi – Bay St. Louis, Gulfport, Biloxi, and Pascagoula. It will be the first time that passenger trains have rolled along the Gulf Coast in more than 16 years.

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An effort to restore regular passenger rail service through southern Montana is gaining steam, but proponents near and far believe its success will depend on Congress creating a multi-state commission to get trains rolling again.

While support is growing for the train’s return in Montana, success will depend on getting neighboring states onboard, like North Dakota and Idaho. Strohmaier is hoping that Congress will create a multi-state railroad commission modeled after one on the Gulf Coast that has been advocating for expanded passenger rail service in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama. The Southern Rail Commission was created by an act of Congress in 1982 and is the only such group of its type in the country.

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President Joe Biden took thousands of train trips between his Delaware home and Washington, D.C., when he was in the Senate, earning him the title “Amtrak Joe.”

Pete Buttigieg, the incoming U.S. transportation secretary, who earned the nickname “Mayor Pete” during last year’s presidential contest, advocated for improved passenger rail service as mayor of South Bend, Indiana.

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Buttigieg, the former mayor of South Bend, Indiana and 2020 presidential candidate, was recently tapped by President Biden for the job of Secretary of Transportation.

According to NPR, Buttigieg received a “downright warm” reception at his confirmation hearing Thursday. And during this “warm reception,“ Senator Roger Wicker, who chaired the hearing, invited Buttigieg to the Gulf Coast - an offer which Buttigieg happily accepted.

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Much has been written about Biden’s personal affinity for the nation’s only passenger railroad, which relies during a normal year on about $2 billion in federal subsidies. How Biden, as a young widower and first-term senator, rode Amtrak to and from his Delaware home so he could tuck his two boys into bed each night. How his years riding the rails put him on a first-name basis with Amtrak staff. How he announced his first presidential bid at the train station in Wilmington in 1987.

But less has been written about the substantive work the president-elect did to earn his reputation as the railroad’s most ardent backer in Congress.

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