Latest Gulf Coast report to STB ‘hopeful’ of progress

MOBILE, Ala.  —“Hopeful” is the key word in the status report on Gulf Coast passenger service submitted by Amtrak, CSX, Norfolk Southern, and the Port of Mobile to the Surface Transportation Board last week.

The May 1 report was required by the STB after a February hearing and subsequent explanation of delays was short on specifics [see “Gulf Coast impasse at Mobile …,” Trains News Wire, March 18, 2024]. It says “significant progress” and “biweekly coordination calls” have taken place with the Federal Railroad Administration regarding necessary alterations to a years-old Consolidated Rail Infrastructure and Safety Improvement (CRISI) grant.

In a step toward ending the long delay over a Mobile station site, the City of Mobile’s Board of Zoning Adjustment is scheduled to hold a hearing today (Monday, May 6) to approve a special zoning exception for the proposed Mobile station track and platform. The board’s decision regarding the site, currently a parking lot partially owned by the city, will trigger a state-mandated,15-day appeal period. If the board approves the exception, and no appeals are filed, Amtrak will, at the end of the 15 days, file a request for a “categorial exclusion” with the FRA under the route’s environmental review process.

Granting of the exclusion would confirm that no adverse environmental impacts would occur if the platform and layover track were built as shown in the proposed plan agreed to by Amtrak and CSX. Amtrak expects the FRA approval of exclusion, and adjustments to the CRISI grant, by the end of May. A previous status report in March suggested the CRISI approval would occur by April 26.

Additionally, the report says says meetings have taken place every two weeks since March 15 between Amtrak and the city “to finalize both the Lease Agreement for the Mobile Station Project and the Restoration and Enhancement Grant Matching Fund Agreement.” Additional meetings are scheduled for today and Tuesday.

What hasn’t been spelled out — and isn’t in this report — is the reason all those meetings have been needed. Mobile’s city council must re-approve what had been a $3 million match to a federal grant that provides operating assistance “to initiate, restore, or enhance intercity passenger rail service.” Mississippi and Louisiana have previously agreed to supply the match, which covers operating support for six years on a sliding scale: 90% in the first year of operation to 30% in the sixth year.

Mobile officials have voiced objections to Amtrak service, primarily over potential harm to the Port of Mobile, a primary source of commerce, based on initial contentions from the port and CSX during 2022 hearings that the two daily passenger round trips would disrupt freight service. But a settlement later that year — while still largely confidential — provided improvements benefitting both the railroad and the port through the CRISI grant [see “Gulf Coast grant application details planned infrastructure projects,” News Wire, Dec. 24, 2022]. Those capacity upgrades can’t begin until Mobile agrees to a station lease, so the port has a vested interest in communicating the need for expeditious approval to city leaders.

Meanwhile, a Friends of Amtrak public Facebook group has been gaining followers to locally promote the economic development and mobility benefits other Gulf Coast communities have embraced and are eagerly awaiting.

The report to the STB concludes, “Amtrak is hopeful that the Mobile City Council will schedule a vote to approve both the Lease Agreement and the Restoration and Enhancement Grant Match Funding Agreement in May 2024, and is hopeful that these agreements will be executed in June 2024.”