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SRC asks city to fund Amtrak return

Posted by Dale Liesch | Dec 18, 2019 | Bay Briefs | 0 |

Members of the Southern Rail Commission (SRC) have asked the city to fund the local match for a federal grant that would pay the majority of costs associated with bringing Amtrak service back to Mobile. 

Amtrak and the SRC have said they can bring passenger rail service back to the Port City in two years in the form of twice-daily service from Mobile to New Orleans, if the City Council approves a maximum $3 million commitment in local funds over three years. 

Dan Dealy, a consultant hired by SRC, said the local match would bolster a federal grant program designed to provide supplemental funding for the first three years of rail service. Dealy said the funds would pay for 80 percent of the operating costs the first year, 60 percent the second year and 40 percent the third year. The remainder of the operating costs would be covered by passenger-generated revenue, he said, like food and beverage sales. The commitment from the city would cover any outstanding costs. 

The “conservative” plan Amtrak is using to calculate the needed funding, estimates that three coaches per train would be at least 40 percent full and those passengers would spend $18.33 each, Dealy said. With four trains per day, that equals out to 38,400 passengers per year. 

The SRC is calculating that the city’s commitment would break down to about $725,000 in the first year, $929,000 in the second year and $1.3 million in the last year of the grant. Dealy said the city would be required to participate in those first three years. 

The SRC is calculating ticket prices for one-way fares to New Orleans would average between $28 and $35, he said, which means the $3 million estimated for the local contribution could be less. 

“I don’t think it’ll be that much,” SRC Chairman Wiley Blankenship said of the $3 million commitment. 

SRC officials had previously reached out to Gov. Kay Ivey’s office for the local match, but through this resolution are now seeking funding from the city. 

“We’re coming straight to the city,” Blankenship said. “If the city really want this … they can fund this. If they want this to happen, the ball’s in the court of the city and the mayor to do this.” 

Blankenship said the SRC would still possibly ask the state for help with infrastructure upgrades. 

The council heard the resolution on first read on Tuesday, Dec. 17 and doesn’t have another meeting scheduled until Dec. 31. Meanwhile the SRC is facing a Tuesday, Jan. 6 deadline to have a grant written in order to receive federal funds. Both Blankenship and Dealy said they anticipated a Dec. 31 up or down vote. 

“I believe there were really good questions asked by councilors …,” Blankenship said of the council’s reaction to the resolution as presented. “I’m hoping they all are looking at this as a benefit for all Mobilians.” 

Blankenship said the trains will bring visitors and their money to Mobile. 

“This will provide a transportation option for those who do not wish to take I-10 to New Orleans on the Mississippi coast,” he said. “This checks the box in many areas of quality of life.” 

City acting Chief of Staff and Finance Executive Director Paul Wesch said the money for the commitment could be budgeted in 2023 and a previous station design plan could be altered slightly to move passenger loading and offloading to the Brookley Aeroplex. 

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About The Author

Dale Liesch

Dale Liesch

Dale Liesch has been a reporter at Lagniappe since February 2014. He covers all aspects of the city of Mobile, including the mayor, City Council, the Mobile Housing Board of Commissioners, GulfQuest National Maritime Museum of the Gulf of Mexico and others. He studied journalism at The University of Alabama and graduated in 2007. He came to Lagniappe, after several years in the newspaper industry. He achieved the position of news editor at The Alexander City Outlook before moving to Virginia and then subsequently moving back a few years later. He has a number of Alabama and Virginia Press association awards to his name. He grew up in the wilderness of Baldwin County, among several different varieties of animals including: dogs, cats, ducks, chickens, a horse and an angry goat. He now lives in the Oakleigh neighborhood of Mobile with his wife, Hillary, and daughter, Joan. The family currently has no goats, angry or otherwise, but is ruled by the whims of two very energetic dogs.

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