Amtrak seeks ruling on permission to use freight rail tracks for Mobile passenger service

Amtrak will ask the U.S. Surface Transportation Board (STB) to require two freight rail companies to allow access for two daily passenger trains from New Orleans to Mobile, starting in 2022. 

Under STB procedures CSX and Norfolk Southern Railway would be required to provide Amtrak with access to the trains, or prove to the public why they can’t successfully host them, according to an Amtrak statement released Tuesday afternoon. 

Amtrak has a legal right to use the route and claims it has up to $66 million for targeted improvements. The potential investments have been approved by the Federal Railroad Administration and others, according to the statement. 

Amtrak has asked for expedited consideration in the filing to allow for round trips to begin on or about Jan. 1, 2022. 

 “Amtrak has a right to use these railroads’ tracks but, unfortunately, we have been unable to reach agreement after years of effort just to operate two short and quick round trip Amtrak trains,” Dennis Newman, Amtrak Executive Vice President for Planning and Asset Development, said in the statement. “It is time for the STB to step in to protect Amtrak’s rights to use freight railroad tracks to support service across America.” 

 Before Hurricane Katrina, Amtrak served the Gulf Coast region via three different services, two of which successfully ran daily between the same city pairs as the proposed Gulf Coast service, along with the tri-weekly Sunset Limited (Trains 1 & 2). The Sunset Limited was suspended between New Orleans and Florida when Katrina washed away much of the CSX railroad in 2005. Residents of the Gulf states, as well as local, state, and federal officials, requested the return of Amtrak passenger service to the region ever since CSX rebuilt the railroad in 2006.

 Usage of the route by CSX and NS is far from its capacity. Under the planned schedule, each morning and each afternoon, an Amtrak train would depart from both Mobile and New Orleans, passing each other in Mississippi, where almost $45 million in improvements are proposed and funded. Amtrak operations at Mobile would be scheduled with approximately 12 hours between the two departures and 10 hours between the two arrivals.

 It’s unclear how this decision will impact a previous Mobile City Council decision to fund all of the roughly $3 million in statewide funding for operation of the train. Some councilors have voiced concerns about the incomplete modeling study, which Amtrak appears to be abandoning. The funding was initially approved based on the outcome of the study, which now won’t be completed.