Vote scheduled to decide fate of Gulf Coast Amtrak route

A federal board has scheduled its vote on whether Amtrak’s service will return to Mississippi’s Gulf Coast with a route from Mobile to New Orleans. 

The Surface Transportation Board, a federal body made up of presidential appointees, announced Friday it will vote on the future of the passenger route on Dec. 7. The contested route has been under the board’s review for over a year, with Amtrak and the track’s freight-company owners presenting their own cases about its viability. 
There will be a final set of November hearings ahead of the vote.

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Parties to keep talking in effort to iron out Amtrak Gulf Coast dispute

The Surface Transportation Board on Tuesday granted a request from all parties involved to extend by 14 days the board-sponsored mediation regarding Amtrak’s effort to launch Gulf Coast passenger service.

Amtrak, CSX Transportation, Norfolk Southern, and the Alabama State Port Authority will continue to talk through Oct. 25. All parties agreed that “an additional 14-day period of mediation would be productive as they seek to reach an amicable resolution of this matter.”

It’s the third time the board has approved an extension of mediation since the talks began in June regarding Amtrak’s proposal to begin service between Mobile, Ala., and New Orleans.

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CP and KCS to make their case for merger in final day of STB hearings

Canadian Pacific and Kansas City Southern will make their closing arguments for their merger on Thursday, the sixth and final day of Surface Transportation Board hearings on the first Class I railroad combination in two decades.

CP and KCS also will rebut criticism and comments from other railroads, state and local officials, and shippers and their trade groups during the hearing, set to begin at 10:30 a.m. Eastern and end no later than 5:30 p.m.

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Passenger rail service could be coming to NWLA

Passenger rail service could be coming to the I-20 corridor in north Louisiana.

On Tuesday, Aug. 30, Senator Bill Cassidy met with city officials and community leaders to discuss the possibility of this passenger rail service to run between Atlanta and the Dallas/Fort Worth region through north Louisiana. Cassidy says the likelihood of this happening has increased thanks to the passage of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, which provides for $66 million in funding for passenger and freight rail service.

“An I-20 corridor passenger rail line, connecting to Atlanta and Dallas, will allow someone to live where they want and easily commute within Louisiana and beyond,” Sen. Cassidy. “State and local leadership, taking advantage of funding from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill, can make this happen.”

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Gonzales began passenger train planning a dozen years ago: 'Somebody saw the future'

The mayor of Gonzales remembers when he first learned his city would be one of the stops along a proposed passenger train line between Baton Rouge and New Orleans that looked like it might be gaining traction. 

It was 2010, and Barney Arceneaux, in his first term of office as mayor, had been invited to a meeting at the state Department of Transportation and Development in Baton Rouge.

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RAISE grant advances Louisiana passenger-rail project

A Louisiana passenger-rail project has received a $20 million federal grant for the real-estate acquisition, design and construction of two train stations.

Issued under the federal Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity (RAISE) discretionary grant program, the award will help fund construction of the Baton Rouge and Gonzales train stations that would serve restored Amtrak passenger-rail service between Baton Rouge and New Orleans, U.S. Rep. Garret Graves (R-La.) announced Aug. 8.

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Baton Rouge to New Orleans rail receiving $20M to further project

The Baton Rouge to New Orleans rail receives $20 million in funding as the project progresses, according to Congressman Garret Graves.

Graves said funding includes real estate acquisition, design, and construction of train stations in Baton Rouge and Gonzales. In a statement, Graves hits at the lack of funding Louisiana has received compared to other states investing in infrastructure:

“For the past two years, we’ve watched the U.S. Department of Transportation give away billions of dollars in grants to flawed transportation and infrastructure priorities. As a result, Louisiana has largely been left off the awards list in place of excessive funding going to California and other states. While this federal funding for the Capital Region is good news to help relieve pressure on I-10, there are high-priority projects we must get built. A new bridge crossing the Mississippi River and upgrades to Highway 30 and LA-1 needed to get built yesterday. We will continue to work with the U.S. Department of Transportation to fund priority projects — not the Administration’s pet political projects.”

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Process to bring passenger rail service back to the Coast takes another step forward

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.

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