MOBILE, Ala. — The City of Mobile will not take part in the Surface Transportation Board’s hearing on delays in launching Amtrak service between Mobile and New Orleans, Mayor Sandy Stimpson informed the board in a brief letter today (Thursday, Feb. 8).
The board announced Tuesday that it would proceed with that hearing on Feb. 14, although the parties to the agreement to allow service to proceed — Amtrak, CSX Transportation, Norfolk Southern, and the Port of Mobile — asked for its cancellation in a Feb. 1 status report, saying they had “no further information to offer” beyond that contained in their joint six-page filing [see “Amtrak, railroads ask STB to cancel …,” Trains News Wire, Feb. 2, 2024].
The filing reinforced, but did not make explicit, indications that negotiations between Amtrak and the city over land for a layover track at the planned Mobile station site are a major source of delay, noting that it has provided Mobile with a draft agreement (provided to Amtrak in November, reportedly after “months of waiting;” see “City of Mobile sends lease …,” News Wire, Nov. 6, 2023) and that the terms “must be approved by a supermajority vote of the Mobile City Council.” An ability to hear directly from Mobile officials on the status of negotiations likely would have been a significant part of the hearing.
But Stimpson, in a two-paragraph letter addressed to STB Chairman Martin J. Oberman, said the city is “appreciative” of the invitation “but must decline.
“As it stands, the City of Mobile and AmTrak [sic] are involved in forward moving negotiations on a weekly basis,” the letter reads. “Once we have reached an agreement, we will be more than happy to provide the board with a status update.”
Who is on first?