WASHINGTON — Having been told there is a “substantial probability” the parties involved can reach an agreement through mediation, the Surface Transportation Board has agreed to postpone the final two days of hearings over Amtrak’s efforts to launch Gulf Coast passenger service until Nov. 30 and Dec. 1.
The hearings had been scheduled for Nov. 17-18. But when the board granted the latest request from Amtrak, CSX Transportation, Norfolk Southern, and the Alabama State Port Authority to extend mediation, it also left the door open to cancel or delay those hearings [see “STB orders more mediation …,” Trains News Wire, Nov. 2, 2022]. To do so, all parties had to agree, and their CEO needed to submit statements indicating the probability of a settlement. Today — Thursday, Nov. 10 — was the date those statements were due.
In today’s decision granting the postponement, the board directed the parties to provide a joint stats report by Monday, Nov. 21, indicating whether they have reached a settlement or that the hearing and closing arguments are still needed. If the hearings are needed, they will be held via Zoom, beginning Nov. 30 at 10:30 a.m. EST. The board’s voting conference to decide the case remains scheduled for Dec. 7.
The board had requested the parties to provide a list of witnesses to take part in the hearing by Nov. 23, but in a separate filing today, Amtrak, the freight railroads, and the Port Authority told the STB they had agreed they will not call any witnesses and request that any reconvened hearing consist only of closing arguments.
“I am glad the CEOs feel that negotiations are progressing and an agreement is in sight,” U.S. Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.), a proponent of the Gulf Coast service, said in a statement. “After more than 17 years, residents along the Mississippi Gulf Coast deserve to have Amtrak service restored as soon as possible. I appreciate the time invested by the Surface Transportation Board to keep this matter a priority, and I remain hopeful that Amtrak, CSX, Norfolk Southern, and the Port of Mobile will use this second mediation period granted by the board to resolve this matter.”
— Updated Nov. 11 at 6:50 a.m. CST with Wicker statement.
Really—