For the first time in almost 20 years, Gulf Coast residents will be able to take a train back and forth from New Orleans and Mobile, with stops in between.
We are glad to see the service back on track. Increasing connectivity along the Gulf Coast, which already has close cultural, economic and environmental ties, is a good thing.
Amtrak’s new Gulf Coast Mardi Gras Service has sparked strong interest, and early ticket sales confirm how eager travelers are to ride the train. This is reported by the railway transport news portal Railway Supply.
A brass band blared in New Orleans' Union Passenger Terminal downtown Tuesday as nearly two dozen people gathered to celebrate the return of Amtrak's Gulf Coast route on Aug. 18.
The route, called Amtrak Mardi Gras Service, will transport passengers between New Orleans and Mobile, Alabama, with stops in the Mississippi coastal cities of Bay St. Louis, Gulfport Biloxi and Pascagoula. It is the first passenger train line to run daily between New Orleans and Mobile since 1996, when the last service, Gulf Coast Limited, shut down.
Tickets are now on sale for a train service between New Orleans and Mobile, Alabama, that has been revived 20 years after it was halted by Hurricane Katrina.
The new, twice-daily Amtrak Mardi Gras Service begins on August 18, and will take three hours and 43 minutes to travel the 145-mile Gulf Coast route.
Amtrak announced Tuesday that service for its new Gulf Coast route between New Orleans and Mobile, Alabama, starts Aug. 18.
Amtrak Mardi Gras Service will begin on Aug. 18, with fares starting at $15 for a one-way trip to New Orleans, officials closely aligned with the long-planned project announced Tuesday.
“One word we can use to describe how we feel today, and that’s ‘finally,’” said Amtrak Vice President Nicole Bucich, in Mobile for a news conference Tuesday announcing the train’s start date, schedule and fares.
Since Amtrak’s beginning in 1971, its routes have evolved—and unfortunately, in many cases, devolved. In its early days, Amtrak took over several regional passenger services, inheriting a sprawling rail network. Over the years, routes have been canceled, rerouted, shortened, or stripped of stops. Once covering far more of the U.S. map, Amtrak is now focused largely on coastal corridors and a few key cross-country lines.
In a filing with the city’s Board of Zoning Adjustment, Amtrak lays out new details of its planned passenger train service between the Port City and New Orleans, including the times.
The Board of Zoning Adjustment on May 6 will take up Amtrak’s request for a “special exception” to zoning regulations that would allow construction of a temporary train station on Water Street next to Cooper Riverside Park. In documents made public Monday, Amtrak indicated that it plans for trains to leave Mobile at 6:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m., with trains returning 11:18 a.m. and 9:14 p.m.
“Construction issues” have pushed back the projected start of the Amtrak Mardi Gras Service by a couple of weeks, the head of the Southern Rail Commission told FOX10 News on Wednesday.
Chairman Knox Ross said that means the route between Mobile and New Orleans likely will not go live until the end of July or beginning of August.
“We know the train’s gonna run,” he said. “It’s just a matter of getting to that point.”