When Hurricane Katrina blew through the Gulf Coast, it devastated all sorts of infrastructure, including coastal highways — and train tracks. Now, a debate between Amtrak and freight railroads is playing out over whether there will again be passenger rail from New Orleans to the Atlantic seaboard, or something like the services available until 2005.
Expanding passenger rail from New Orleans: Where to stop, what hurdles remain
Throughout the last century, rail stations dotted south Louisiana and the Mississippi Gulf Coast as passenger trains ferried commuters between New Orleans, Baton Rouge and Mobile, stopping in towns and cities along the way.
But the last several decades have not been kind to passenger rail. Kansas City Southern ended its Southern Belle service between New Orleans and Baton Rouge in 1969. Then, in 2005, Hurricane Katrina destroyed the tracks between New Orleans and Mobile, putting a halt to the service eastward and turning depots along the coast into artifacts of a bygone era.
The battle that will determine the future of American passenger rail
Amtrak has money to expand, but it doesn’t own the railroad tracks. A stalled effort along the Gulf Coast is a test of its ability to grow.
Months after Washington approved billions to significantly expand Amtrak’s footprint across the country, an early attempt at growth has reached an impasse in a test case that could define the American rail network for a generation.
The escalating clash is playing out on the Gulf Coast, where Amtrak wants to restore service 17 years after Hurricane Katrina flooded the region’s rail infrastructure. Amid fanfare over federal money as a president nicknamed “Amtrak Joe” watches from the White House, the passenger rail and the freight railroads that control the tracks are in mediation to resolve disputes over Amtrak’s proposed service levels.
At the core of the conflict is a mandate that requires freight railroads to give passenger trains access to rail track and preference over other rail traffic. A federal board is weighing the fate of Gulf Coast passenger service in a triallike process pitting Amtrak against freight railroads. Because Amtrak operates mostly on tracks owned by others, the case could set precedent as the passenger railroad embarks on a $75 billion expansion with bipartisan support.
Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg has list of projects from Louisiana to consider
Louisiana will get its share of the more than $1 trillion in infrastructure spending that President Joe Biden and Congress are sending to states, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said Friday.
But he doesn’t have any news yet for state officials and residents clamoring for approval of their favored projects, Buttigieg said in an interview at the Essence Festival in New Orleans, before appearing on a panel with two other cabinet officials.
Louisiana has a long wish list, including expanded passenger rail for New Orleans, the possible removal of the Claiborne Expressway and a new bridge for Baton Rouge.
Gulf Coast train route: Amtrak heads to mediation with access to new traffic data
A federal board has ruled freight rail company CSX must share previously unseen traffic data with Amtrak as the two move toward mediation over the future of the proposed Gulf Coast train route.
The Surface Transportation Board’s ruling came Friday and calls for CSX to grant Amtrak access to materials the freight company had designated as “highly confidential.” Amtrak needs that information to create traffic studies to show the impacts a proposed passenger train could have on the route.
The board is asking all parties – including Amtrak and CSX – to file traffic studies as evidence and ordered them to meet with a mediator.
CSX, NS again ask for mediation in Gulf Coast case; Amtrak remains opposed
Freight railroads, Mobile port chance mediation could succeed has increased; Amtrak says railroads turn down request for modeling, other information
The freight railroads involved in the Surface Transportation Board’s proceeding over Gulf Coast passenger service have again asked that the matter be sent to mediation — and Amtrak is again opposing that request.
In a May 19 filing, CSX Transportation, Norfolk Southern, and the Alabama State Port Authority and its its short line renewed a request for mediation they previously made in March [see “CSX, NS ask regulators to order mediation …,” Trains News Wire, March 28, 2022].
Amtrak opposed that request, which was quickly turned down by the STB on the grounds that not all parties favored mediation. But the board’ said the parties would be free to ask again following the conclusion of the hearing on the case [see “STB denies mediation request …,” News Wire, April 1].
Louisiana lawmaker seeks funds toward Amtrak route along I-20 corridor
Louisiana state Sen. Greg Tarver has made a proposal to the state Senate to get $10 million allocated for Northwest Louisiana to go toward the Amtrak passenger rail route that would follow the I-20 corridor between Dallas and Atlanta.
Secrecy issues dominate as Gulf Coast STB hearing continues: Analysis
Cross-examination of Jim Blair, Amtrak’s senior director of host railroads, consumed the full 8-hour, 28-minute session Monday as the Surface Transportation Board’s hearing on the effort to launch passenger service between New Orleans and Mobile, Ala., resumed after an almost three-week hiatus.
Blair was questioned by lawyers from Norfolk Southern, CSX Transportation, and the Port of Mobile; redirect questioning from an Amtrak attorney was held over until the hearing resumes today (Wednesday, May 11), at 9:30 a.m. EDT. That session will be lived streamed at the STB YouTube channel, which also has recordings of Monday’s session and those of the previous eight days.
People vs. cargo: How a battle over Amtrak’s Gulf Coast line could shape the future of passenger rail
Ever since Hurricane Katrina swept across the Deep South in 2005, shredding the region’s railways, it’s been impossible to take a train heading east from New Orleans to the rest of the Gulf Coast. For years, Amtrak has been trying to restore service in the form of a twice-a-day line between New Orleans and Mobile, Alabama. But it’s met fierce resistance from two rail giants — CSX and Norfolk Southern — which own most of the tracks that the agency wants to use.
Amtrak runs Baton Rouge-New Orleans inspection train
Trip including governor, railroad CEOs touts partnership hinging on approval of CP-KCS merger
A decades-long effort to create a Louisiana passenger rail corridor between the state capital of Baton Rouge and New Orleans moved a step closer Wednesday when Gov. John Bel Edwards joined Amtrak, federal, and railroad officials on an inspection run along the route.
Among those joining the governor, a Democrat, were Amit Bose, Federal Railroad Administration administrator; Canadian Pacific CEO Keith Creel and his Kansas City Southern counterpart, Pat Ottensmeyer; and Amtrak President Stephen Gardner.
The 12-car KCS consist reprises colors of the route’s last scheduled passenger train, the Southern Belle, which made its final run in 1969. The event was especially significant, because attempts to conduct passenger inspection trips on the 80-mile Baton Rouge-New Orleans route had been rebuffed for more than 20 years.