Amtrak has submitted applications for approximately $716 million in Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) funding for 16 proposed projects around the country that would improve Long Distance reliability, reduce travel times and expand service.
Amtrak has submitted applications for approximately $716 million in Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) funding for 16 proposed projects around the country that would improve Long Distance reliability, reduce travel times and expand service.
Passenger rail service along the northern Gulf Coast has been on hiatus ever since Hurricane Katrina in 2005. The storm damaged a lot of infrastructure and since then the only trains that have been running the coastal route are freight trains.
However, this past December an agreement was reached between Amtrak, CSX Transportation, Norfolk Southern Railway Company and the Port of Mobile reached a deal that allows freight and passenger trains to share the tracks on the Gulf Coast corridor. That agreement literally set wheels in motion for the return of passenger rail.
The mayors of Monroe, Ruston, and Shreveport, Louisiana, have joined forces with the mayor of Vicksburg, Mississippi to fight for new Amtrak service through their communities. This move has placed these four local officials at the center of the national conversation about expanding long-distance passenger rail service.
Residents and visitors to the Queen City will soon see a bustle of activity near Union Station as Amtrak looks to overhaul its passenger platforms.
In a meeting last week, Community Development Director Craig Hitt told the Meridian City Council Amtrak had requested permission to make improvements to its facilities and needed the city’s permission, as part of the project would involve city-owned property.
“This is a project that Amtrak has asked us to participate in, basically just allowing them to come in and do the work,” he said. “Some of it will be done on city property, but they will be covering all the costs.”
The construction of a train stop, and a track leading to it in downtown Mobile, is the final infrastructure issue that needs to be addressed before Amtrak can restart passenger trains along the Gulf Coast for the first time in 18 years, officials say.
Mobile is the only city along the route to New Orleans without infrastructure built to accommodate an Amtrak train. Other cities that are stops along the Gulf Coast route – Pascagoula, Biloxi, Gulfport, and Bay St. Louis – have train stops or depots ready to go in preparation for Amtrak’s restart.
Two powerhouses of passenger trail transport — the Southern Rail Commission and Amtrak — said they will seek funding towards one day restoring service along the Interstate 20 corridor between Fort Worth and Meridian, Miss., a 500-mile link that has been dormant for decades.
“This has the potential to be the first new Amtrak service of its kind in more than 25 years and it would come in an area that has long been underserved by passenger rail,” SRC Chairman Knox Ross said in a press release announcing the effort to get Federal Railroad Administration funding for a study.
Amtrak is preparing to resume passenger operations across Mississippi’s Gulf Coast, which has been unavailable since Hurricane Katrina disrupted the route in 2005. The route will operate between New Orleans and Mobile, stopping in four Mississippi cities along the way. Southern Rail Commissioner Knox Ross says this new schedule will be more robust, and Amtrak is finalizing several necessities before the new service can begin.
“Conductors and engineers are getting themselves familiar with the route and learning all the different intricacies of running a passenger train on that route. And that will be going on for quite some time,” says Ross. “There’s about seven crews to qualify, and each one of those crews takes about six weeks I’m told.”
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Rail enthusiasts may soon have a new option for exploring the United States.
Amtrak recently announced a partnership with the Southern Rail Commission to explore extending rail service connecting New York City, Atlanta, and Dallas/Fort Worth via the I-20 Crescent train line. According to the rail line, this idea has been in development for over 20 years, and only since the recent passage of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act has it been able to take a step forward into possible existence.
The merger of Canadian Pacific and Kansas City Southern may be a union of two freight railroads, but it is likely to matter for passenger railroading, as well.
Amtrak had formally supported the railroads’ merger application before the Surface Transportation Board. That reflected CP’s backing for passenger operations between New Orleans and Baton Rouge, La. [see “Canadian Pacific commits to New Orleans-Baton Rouge passenger train …,” Trains News Wire, Dec. 8, 2021] and support for a study of a Meridian, Miss.,-Fort Worth, Texas, section of the New York-New Orleans Crescent [see “Amtrak seeks expansion …,” News Wire, March 10, 2023 ] And CP has a solid record handling Amtrak trains, having received an A grade in the passenger operator’s most recent host railroad report card.
This week in Curious Louisiana, reader Tommy Thompson has his attention turned firmly to the rails.
"Regarding the new passenger rail service between Baton Rouge and New Orleans: have you heard any updates?" he writes. "Is it still a go? Will the locomotives be diesel or electric? Where will station(s) be located in New Orleans and Baton Rouge?"