Amtrak says Alabama support not required for Gulf Coast return

Amtrak does not need unanimous political support from the three states included in a revised Gulf Coast passenger rail route, according to a filing from the nation’s passenger rail operator to the U.S. Surface Transportation Board on Tuesday.

Amtrak, in the filing, disputes claims from two freight operators – CSX and Norfolk Southern – that Alabama’s support is needed for the return of passenger rail between New Orleans and Mobile. Amtrak also urges the STB to decide the impact that two daily passenger trains entering into Mobile would disrupt “potential freight impacts” for the region’s economy.

“The (STB) is charged with deciding whether Amtrak’s proposed Gulf Coast Service ‘would impair unreasonably freight transportation (of CSX and NS) with (the freight operators) having the burden of demonstrating that additional trains will impair the freight transportation,” the filing states. “It is unclear why CSX and NS apparently believe the board is not well-equipped to undertake this analysis.”

The filing requests the STB to deny the freight operator’s request for the federal agency to dismiss Amtrak’s request to restart passenger rail service along the Gulf Coast connecting Union Station in New Orleans to a drop-off location near Cooper Riverside Park along Mobile’s waterfront. The service would also include four Mississippi stops – Bay St. Louis, Gulfport, Biloxi, and Pascagoula. ...............(more)

https://www.masstransitmag.com/rail/news/21220636/al-amtrak-says-alabama-support-not-required-for-gulf-coast-return