WASHINGTON — CSX Transportation and Norfolk Southern say addition of Amtrak trains along the Gulf Coast would cause a “systematic failure” in their ability to provide freight service, based on traffic modeling, and would “devastate first-mile last-mile service to freight customers in the region,” according to a filing with the Surface Transportation Board.
But while they ask for the STB to deny Amtrak’s application to operate on the route between New Orleans and Mobile, Ala., the railroads say they would withdraw their objection to the service if 
Amtrak agrees to pay for 14 capacity improvement projects involving more than 23 miles of new track.
In a separate filing, the Alabama State Port Authority contends the passenger operation will “unreasonably impair freight transportation” at the Port of Mobile and with its railroad, Terminal Railway Alabama State Docks,” and that the board should deny Amtrak’s application for service.
Both documents were filed on Wednesday and made available on the STB website on Thursday.
The 277-page filing of opening evidence for the two railroads is in response to the STB proceeding initiated by Amtrak in March [see “Amtrak asks STB to require CSX, NS to allow Gulf Coast service,” Trains News Wire, March 16, 2021]. At that time, Amtrak noted a lack of progress after more than five years of studies.
In a Thursday statement, CSX said it is not opposed to new passenger service as long as it does not negatively impact freight; that Rail Traffic Controller modeling is standard practice to determine impacts of passenger service; and that “Amtrak abandoned a nearly completed study that would have established this for the proposed new Gulf Coast service.” CSX and NS worked with a third party to complete the study, which CSX says “highlights the unique and challenging features of the New Orleans-to-Mobile corridor, including 150 miles of single-tracked main line, 13 moveable bridges that open on demand to maritime traffic, 160 grade crossings through communities (1.1 crossings per mile average) and four busy ports and freight gateways.” CSX says study identifies the 14 projects that the railroads say should be a minimum condition for Amtrak service.
Amtrak said in a statement that it “will review the filing by CSX with NS – and respond accordingly.” It declined to comment on the port’s filing giving the port’s uncertain status as a party in the proceeding, as noted below.
“The board would be well-justified in simply dismissing this case,” the railroads write in a summary of their filing. “In the event the Board does not dismiss or deny Amtrak’s request, at a minimum, the Board should impose conditions requiring Amtrak to fund, build, and install the additional infrastructure required to prevent a near catastrophic meltdown of freight operations, and to do so in a manner that does not unreasonably interfere with freight operations.”
While the railroads say Amtrak would have to agree to the full set of projects for them to withdraw their objection to the Gulf Coast service, the filing also indicates that at the board’s direction, they have developed a subset of solutions that would allow service to begin before all 14 projects are completed.
Those projects, they say, differ from previous infrastructure proposals because they reflect specifics of Amtrak’s proposed schedule and route. The list of includes extensions of three sidings, four segments of double-tracking, one new 12,100-foot siding, a 14,000-foot bypass in New Orleans’ Gentilly neighborhood, and 3,200 feet of new track at the Mobile station, for a total of 122,000 feet of new track. Also included would be new power switches at two locations. The document offers no estimate for the cost of these projects.
Port filing seeks construction of flyover
The port authority’s 54-page filing comes despite an earlier contention by Amtrak that the port and its railroad, Terminal Alabama State Docks, are not parties to the dispute and not entitled to present evidence or argument without permission to do so [see “Amtrak asks STB to compel cooperation …,” Trains News Wire, Oct. 20, 2021].
The port’s filing does not acknowledge that Amtrak contention. It says the passenger service will have an adverse impact because Terminal Railway operations depend on the ability to cross the CSX lines that will host the Amtrak trains.
It says that it would be amenable to working with Amtrak on mitigating the impact of passenger service, but Amtrak has not yet offered to discuss such projects. The port proposes mitigation efforts that would include keeping Amtrak from operating into downtown Mobile, instead service a station west at the proposed Brookley Aeroplex site; construction by Amtrak of a lengthy flyover that would allow the Terminal Railway to move between its Interchange and Riverfront yards without using CSX trackage; alternately and less effectively, a bypass track that would decrease use of the CSX mainline for operations at Riverfront yard, and a project to improve movements between Interchange Yard and the Port of Mobile’s McDuffie Island coal terminal.
Without such mitigation, the port says the Amtrak application must be denied because the governing legislation “does not permit Amtrak to force freight railroads to accept new passenger trains that will unreasonably impair freight service.”
— Updated and revised at 3 p.m. CDT to include CSX statement on filing; updated at 10:55 a.m. on Nov. 5 with Amtrak statement.
