Amtrak’s exact return date to the Gulf Coast remains unknown, but the Mobile City Council will play a major role in determining the extent of the Port City’s involvement.

A supermajority of five council members will need to vote in support of a lease agreement between the city, Amtrak and CSX to allow for the Water Street construction of a platform that will serve as the final train stop along the Mobile-to-New Orleans route.

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It could come down to one vote. At least two of the seven council members have expressed serious philosophical concerns over the Amtrak Gulf Coast project.

The overall service, as proposed, will connect Mobile to New Orleans with four stops in Mississippi – Bay St. Louis, Gulfport, Biloxi and Pascagoula. It’s a twice-daily operation, with trains leaving in the morning and late afternoons from both Mobile and New Orleans.

The political reality in Mobile was not discussed much during Friday’s Southern Rail Commission quarterly meeting in Point Clear. But the lease, which remains under negotiations between the rail operators and Mobile Mayor Sandy Stimpson’s administration, looms large over an anticipated 2024 start of passenger trains between New Orleans and Mobile.

“That’s important,” said Knox Ross, the commission’s chairman, after the SRC meeting. “It’s important for Mobile.”

Asked what might happen if the council does not approve the agreement, Ross said, “We would have to find a different way to do it, I guess.”

Council members say it’s too early to tell how they will vote, saying they have not even been approached about a lease agreement. The council’s vote on a land lease deal, if it’s approved, would trigger the construction of the Mobile platform that is needed to restart the service.

The train stops in Mississippi are ready for Amtrak service to restart.

“Nothing has even been brought before us to consider,” said Councilman Ben Reynolds. “It will be interesting to see how it pans out.”

He added, “My position is philosophically, I don’t want it to be a heavy burden for the taxpayer to be a novelty for a few people. I don’t want our folks hauled out of town and driven over to a casino (along the Mississippi Gulf Coast). That doesn’t help us here in Mobile much.

Pushing for Mobile

Ross and Marc Magliari, spokesman with Amtrak, said the service in Mobile could be beneficial to the cruise industry that will restart next month with the arrival of the Carnival Spirit. The city’s cruise terminal is within walking distance of the proposed location of the train platform’s location adjacent to Cooper Riverside Park and the Arthur R. Outlaw Mobile Convention Center.

Magliari, asked about the need for five votes on the council, said while he wasn’t a pundit, he believed that residents along the Gulf Coast – including Mobile – want to see the trains return for the first time on a regular basis since Hurricane Katrina damaged the line in 2015.

“Talking to folks anywhere on the Gulf Coast, and I spend a lot of time on the Gulf Coast and they know I’m a part of this (project), I hear, ‘When is the train coming?’” Magliari said. “Look at Mobile … they have a bigger cruise ship coming (in October). That wasn’t part of the discussion when this conversation (about Amtrak) began.”

He added, “Mobile is developing a park with Hall of Fame players right next to where the train station will be, and (next to) the cruise terminal and museums. It’s a huge opportunity.”

Only three members of the council remain from early 2020, the last time there was a vote on Amtrak. The council voted 6-1 to commit $3 million to support the train’s operations. The “No” vote came from Councilman Joel Daves, who has long questioned the project and once called it a “joy ride for the affluent.”

Daves said Friday it was too early to tell how the lease agreement will shake out.

The newest member of the council, Josh Woods, said he wasn’t prepared to make an opinion.

Waiting on grant

The situation in Mobile is only part of a series of issues that have to unfold before Amtrak can begin the service.

It’s part of a waiting-game for a project that has been under consideration for over a decade.

The biggest issue is the timing of receipt of the $223 million grant from the federal Consolidated Rail Infrastructure and Safety Improvements (CRISI) program. The CRISI grant money is expected to be released this fall to help support a host of infrastructure improvements along the Gulf Coast route, Ross said.

The Federal Railroad Administration is charged with awarding the money. Officials had expected the money, and the construction work to have been underway earlier this year.

“The issue is more of a staffing issue with the Federal Railroad Administration,” Ross said. “For most of its life, (the FRA) has been a safety organization. In the past four-to-five years, they’ve become a major grant organization. They’ve had to staff up for this. They are working diligently. That’s not meant to be a criticism for them but they’ve been handed by Congress a new set of responsibilities.”

The money is needed to build the platform and a layover track in downtown Mobile. The extra track will be used for the Amtrak trains and prevent interference with the existing freight trains that operate on the line owned by CSX.

Ross said additional work is needed in Louisiana to improve safety along the route.

He said the entirety of the $223 million will upgrade the route into a “21st century freight railroad.”

The upgrades were part of a negotiated settlement between Amtrak, CSX, Norfolk Southern and the Alabama State Port Authority before the U.S. Surface Transportation Board (STB). The STB oversaw a proceeding last year into the fate of the Gulf Coast route that drew nationwide interest. It ended with a settlement that was reached in November that allows Amtrak to operate along the Gulf Coast.

“Basically, now you have 14,000-foot trains running on a railroad from the 1950s,” Ross said. “They run in one direction at a time while accommodating for passenger trains.”

Wait continues

The Amtrak route’s fares, schedules and branding will not be released until 90 days before the trains run, Ross said.

“We got to get that right,” he said. “We’ve been running projections on certain known variables. We don’t want to come out and tell you the fare will be ‘X’ and then get closer and say, ‘That is not where it should be.’ People will call it a bait and switch. We want to tell them accurate information when we know it.”

Ross said the fare could be comparable to the Chicago-to-Grand Rapids, Michigan, route. The fee for that route runs around $35 one-way, and as much as $78 for business class.

The Mobile-to-New Orleans route is referred to as a “state-supported” connection, and not part of a long-distance route. The last time Amtrak rolled through Mobile was before Katrina in 2005, and it was part of the Sunset Limited route that connected Jacksonville to Los Angeles. The new service, officials say, is not comparable to what was once in Mobile.

Magliari said one of the features to the Gulf Coast route will include a dining car with localized food and drink options. Previous media reporting suggests the train could have a Mardi Gras theme, drawing on the annual Carnival celebrations that are part of the cultural fabric along the Gulf Coast. SRC members say it’s too early to announce the train’s name or branding.

But exactly when those trains will return is anyone’s guess. Amtrak once hoped to have passenger trains operating this past New Year’s Day. After the settlement in the STB case late last year, the hope for restored operations was pushed into this fall, or before the end of 2023.

That isn’t happening, either.

“We’re saying 2024,” said Magliari.

“As soon as we can get this done,” Ross said.