RIDGELAND, Miss. — A federal grant seeks almost $179 million to fund improvements for Amtrak Gulf Coast service between New Orleans and Mobile, Ala., while CSX Transportation will pay almost $10 million toward the matching funds for those improvements, according to a news report.
The non-profit news site Mississippi Today reports the Alabama State Port Authority will contribute $750,000 as part of the $44 million in matching funds toward the project. Amtrak is contributing $6 million. The total of about $223 million would address some 12 separate areas where improvements are needed — projects such as new switches and turnouts, siding extensions, crossovers, and station, yard, and crossing improvements.
The news site received a copy of the Southern Rail Commission’s application for a Consolidated Rail Infrastructure and Safety Improvements (CRISI) grant through a Freedom of Information Act request.
Amtrak, CSX, Norfolk Southern, and the Port Authority reached agreement on a deal allowing Gulf Coast service last month, avoiding a precedent-setting Surface Transportation Board ruling on Amtrak’s ability to start service despite what the freight railroads said would be “unreasonable impairment” of their operations [see “Amtrak, freight railroads say they have a deal …,” Trains News Wire, Nov. 22, 2022].
Since then, the parties have offered no details on that agreement, saying it is confidential. Amtrak did say at a Southern Rail Commission meeting last week that it would start service sometime in 2023, although it did not specify whether it would initially operate just one or two round trips. Since it took its effort to launch Gulf Coast service to the STB in 2021, its intent has been to run two daily round trips.
The application says the infrastructure will take until 2026 to complete, but that the Amtrak trains can run while the bulk of improvements are being made. Among other details, the Mississippi Today report also notes that CSX will build a new station track in Mobile, allowing trains to stop there without blocking the main line.
Southern Rail Commission chairman Knox Ross told Mississippi Today the improvements would result in a 3-hour, 23-minute running time for the Gulf Coast trains, but declined further comment. An Amtrak spokesman declined to comment on the report to Trains News Wire.
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