MOBILE, Ala. — Another step in the long-running effort to launch Amtrak service between Mobile and New Orleans is set for Tuesday, Oct. 22, when officials including U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg take part in a groundbreaking ceremony for an Amtrak layover track and platform in Mobile.
The ceremony is set for 2 p.m. at 101 S. Water Street in downtown Mobile.
AL.com reports others on hand will include Federal Railroad Administration Administrator Amit Bose, U.S. Rep. Jerry Carl (R-Mobile), Mobile Mayor Sandy Stimpson, and representatives from Amtrak and the Southern Rail Commission.
Mobile finally approved the terms of a lease for land at the platform site, as well as a funding agreement to support the Gulf Coast service, in August [see “Mobile, Ala., council votes to approve …,” Trains News Wire, Aug. 6, 2024]. A start date for the two daily round trips remains unknown.
CSX agreed to build the layover track as part of the 2022 settlement of the case before the Surface Transportation Board in which Amtrak was trying to compel that railroad and Norfolk Southern to allow operation of the trains.
This should be a non issue if railway infrastructure were supported like highways, airports, and seaports. That said, there would be no need for Amtrak as private railways would have incentives to operate passenger trains at the high standards they had commensurate with advancing technology including high speed passenger trains.