The Gulf Coast continues to wait for its long-awaited Amtrak service. But at least now it knows the name for the trains between Mobile, Ala., and New Orleans.
The two daily round trips will be known as Amtrak Mardi Gras Service, the company announced today. No date for the start of service was announced beyond “this summer.”
“Amtrak Mardi Gras Service is a natural choice for the name of the new trains that will reflect the region’s distinctive culture,” Amtrak President Roger Harris said in a press release. “Travel should be about more than just getting somewhere. Our goal is to have some of that festive Mardi Gras feeling on every trip, sharing the culture of the Gulf Coast region while connecting with the rest of the Amtrak network.”
Amtrak has completed all operating agreements for the service, operated under contract to the states of Louisiana and Mississippi with the city of Mobile providing additional financial support.
“This service will open the Mississippi Gulf Coast to a whole new tourism market,” said Southern Rail Commission Chairman Knox Ross, “making already wonderful places even better by supporting local businesses, attracting more visitors, and strengthening the entire southern region’s infrastructure and economy.”
Unveiling of the name is the latest step forward in a process that began in 2015. It has included negotiations between Amtrak and the host railroads; Surface Transportation Board hearings; Alabama’s refusal to join in funding the trains; and resistance by some officials in Mobile before the city finally agreed to provide funding, albeit with significant conditions [see “Mobile, Ala., council votes to approve …,” Trains News Wire, Aug. 6, 2024].
In the wake of the council’s approval, there had been hopes that service might be launched in time for the 2025 Super Bowl in New Orleans or Mardi Gras, but those events are now past. At last report, necessary construction in Mobile (a new station platform and layover track) is not complete, although work began in October [see “Mobile groundbreaking …,” News Wire, Oct. 23, 2024]. The SRC’s Ross told Trains News Wire that unexpected issues with relocating utilities at the station site had delayed the construction process for about a month. He had previously told WLOX-TV that service was expected to begin in June “or a little past that.”
The route last saw passenger service in 2005, before through Sunset Limited service to Florida was suspended as a result of Hurricane Katrina. Amtrak also operated the Gulf Coast Limited on the route between April 1984 and January 1985, and again from June 1996 to March 1997. Funding issues with one or more of the host states led to the cancellation of that service in both cases.
